1S40.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



75 



'luently taiitjoiit to tlie arc C D. In the same manner it may be proved 

 'o be tangent to A B. Therefore L M is tlie common tangent required. 



If, on the other hand, it be reqnired to move the curve A B along 

 the tangent I A, from which it springs, until it comes in contact with 

 the curve C D. 



From the centre P draw P F paraUel to 1 A, wliich protkice in the 

 direction A G ; and from O as a centre, imd vvitli a radius equal to the 

 sum of the radii of the given curves, describe an arc of a circle inter- 

 secting P F and Q. Tlie point tj will be the centre of the curve which 

 will touch the curve C D and the straight line T G -/and, if we draw 

 O Q and Q G, the latter perpendicular to AG, the points E and G, 

 where these two lines cut the curve C D -and the straight Hue A G, 

 respectively, will be the points of contact, and tlie arc E G will be the 

 reqnired curve. 



For {j G and Q E are each e((ual to the radius P A, and the former 

 is perpendicular to AG, and the latter to the tangent to the curve CD 

 at the point E. Therefore EG is the [losition of the requin:d curve. 



We have thus far only considered the c;ise where the failure has re- 

 sulted from making one of the curves spring from the wrong point of 

 the tangent. In the other case, that is, when the operation of setting 

 out one or both of the curves has been inaccurately performed, there 

 is no remedy but to set it out again with more care. 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 

 FASCICULUS XIII. 



" I must have liberly 

 Withal, as large a cliarter as the winds, 

 To l;lo\v on whom 1 please." 



I. Let B. of Derby be whoever he may, his remarks on Competiti(in 

 Designs are very much to the purpose ; and he not only hits the right 

 nail on the head, but gives it a clincher, when lie hints very broadly 

 that the profession have to thank themselves for the abuses which 

 now prevail with respect to competition. If instead of merely shrug- 

 ging their shoulders with a most Turk-like resignation, they were to 

 apply them heartily to the wdieel, they might extricate theinselves 

 from a position they affect lo deplore. Surely if the Institute were to 

 set about doing so iu downright earnest, they might both de\ ise and 

 enforce a greatly better system of competition than the hollow, shuf- 

 fling, delusive one now practised. Undonlitedly there are many diffi- 

 culties to contend with, — first and foremost, their own apathy, indif- 

 ference and want of unanimity of purpose. Souie among them are 

 notoriously opposed to comiietition altogether, and perhaps that the 

 bungling and blundering now so rife in it, w ill sooner or later cause it 

 to be abandoned entirely. <!)thers seem to be afraid of making any 

 stir about what does not immediately concern them as individuals. 

 On that very account all the more imperative is it that the Institute 

 as a body ought to consult the interests of the profession generally. 

 And if competition be not a case wherein it ought to interfere with 

 all its authorit}', — be not more especially one which calls for hearty 

 co-operation, I should very much like to know where co-operation can 

 at any time be of positive service. Were the Institute a private Club, 

 it might be left to do as it pleased : liut it is — and it may be presumed, 

 ■wishes to be considered in a very ditferent light, — to cut a figure iu 

 the eyes of the public. 



il. Whetlier any one will agree with me or not, I incline to the 

 opinion that so far from being at all calculated to improve architectural 

 taste, such a work as Nash's Mansions is likely to flatter a very corrupt 

 one, and to create a prejudice in favour of a style that taken apart 

 from the associations and accidents, is characterii^ed by fantastic tlull- 

 iiess, by incoherent caprices, by expensive ugliness, and by a grotesque 

 combination of extravagant embellishment and offensive meanness. 

 What then, am I insensible to the charm which the mastery of tlie 

 artist's pencil has communicated to the series of architectural subjects 

 above-named ? Certainly not, because it is precisely on account of 

 the fascination with wdiicli he has invested them, that I hold them to 

 be dangerous, and apt to seduce, and mislead those who have not the 

 power of discriminating between the architectural deformity of many 

 of the scenes, and the pictorial attractiveness with which they are 

 represented. Undoubtedly many of them are highly picturesque in 

 themselves, and rendered still more so by the manner in wdiich they 

 are treated, and by the adventitious interest arising from costume and 

 figures. Still as architecture, they are for the most part naught, — > 

 absolutely frightful. Were equal witchery of effect put into it, not 

 the homeliest merely, but nearly the most insipid subject of the kind 

 might be rendered captivating, — an old barn, a village carpenter's 

 sliop) or the kitcUen of a cotuUiy iuuf The chief differenve would be 



that in such case persons would not be similarly imposed upon, but 

 instead of attributing any beauty to the scene itself, or being at all 

 blinded to its \incouthness, would perceive that the pleasure it affords 

 arises entirely from the charms with which the pencil has arrayed it, 



lil. I should very much like to know if, among the numerous 

 churches which have been erected of late years, there be a single one 

 whose interior possesses, or even approximates in any degree to so- 

 lemnity of character, wdiich (piality, it may be presumed, is perfectly 

 appropriate and becoming, or, in fact, to be considered indispensable, 

 to a place of worship. Among all the new churches I have seen, I 

 have certainly not beheld one possessing internally any thing liku 

 solemnity in its general effect ; on the contrary, ditl'or how much they 

 may as to all other circumstances, they agree as far as the absence of 

 that quality goes. Some are dismal and mean enough, others, if not 

 |)articularly tasteful, smart enough, just the very places for a fashion- 

 able congregation, wliom the architect generally takes care to arrange 

 so that they shall make as goodly a show as the audience of a theatre, 

 and be able to reconnoitre each other without obstruction. In fact, 

 there is, so far, very much more of the play-house than of the house 

 of prayer in such buildings — nothing calculated to inspire feelings of 

 reverence. Neither does it make much diflt^rence what style be em- 

 ployed, since the interiors of our modern Gothic churches have no 

 greater air of impressive solemnity than have those in any other stylo. 

 In only very few instances is there any attempt to keep up the mere 

 corporeal semblance of the style; all its spirit, all its attractions, are 

 gone. Richness seems to be quite out of the question, and soberness 

 almost equally so, for notwithstanding tlie excessive parsimoniousness 

 which betrays itself, there is also a good deal of vulgar jauntiness and 

 spruceness, bad enough in itself, and thus rendered doubly odious. In 

 some of these buildings a tawdry organ-case is the principal object, 

 all the rest consisting only of base, coldly glaring wdiite walls, pews 

 and galleries, the altar itself being hardly noticeable, except on ac- 

 count of the meanness it displays. In short, it is to be feared that our 

 new churches, taken generally, are not calculated to impress foreigners 

 w itii any high opinion — I do not say, of our taste, but of our religious 

 ardour, if the latter may be judged of from the externals of public 

 worship. 



IV. The Reformers have completely discomfited the Conservatives, 

 if not in politics, most certainly in architecture. The poor Conserva- 

 tive Clubhouse now looks sulkier than ever, now that the rival edifice 

 proudly displays itself in its full majesty. I gladly hail the Reform 

 Clubhouse, as an auspicious omen of reform in architecture ; it being 

 likely to disgust with that vapid and poverty-stricken so called clas- 

 sical style, which at the best has given us little more than scraps and 

 bits of "Grecian architecture, and that chiefly as regards columns alone, 

 since any thing with a shelf on top of it will, we find, do for an en- 

 tablature. Gooil lack, my old friend Classicality, how strangely hast 

 thou been cockneyfied since thou took up thy abode among us! It 

 grieves one to think of it, and yet one cannot help laughing, either, at 

 the grotesque figure thou niakest in thy present costume, and what is 

 the worst part of the business is, thou hast been thus fantastically 

 tricked by those who all the while have professed the utmost respect 

 for thee. 



V. I was pleasingly surprized the other day by the sight of a very 

 great rarity, naniely, an architectural volume both amply and beauti- 

 fully illustrated with engravings, though only a very few copies of the 

 work was printed for distribution among the author's friends. The 

 work appears lo ha\"e been got up without the least regard to ex- 

 pellee, and so far forms a most complete contrast to the bhmdering, 

 ostentatious, niggardness manifested in the " )n-ivately printed" yet 

 tolerably well known volume of Sir J. Soane's, containing a set of 

 coarse and almost caricature prints, intended to show different parts of 

 his own house. On such occasions there is no excuse wlKitever for 

 stinginess, or anything like it, because a man had better keep his 

 money in his pocket, than fling it away in purchasing for himself the 

 reputation of being an extravagant hanks and a miserly spendthrift. 



But I have not mentioned tlie name of the liberal-spirited individual 

 who, iu the work first alluded to, has so worthily illustrated the interior 

 architecture of his paternal residence at Great Yarmouth— W. F. 

 Palmer, Esq., F.S.A. Such an example ought to be made known as 

 extensively as possible, for if there were a few more of the kind, it; 

 would not be amiss. If it be said it argues a mere mania, it is to be 

 hoped that a mania of this kind will prove quite as catching as that; 

 which induces peojile to fling themselves off the Monument, to the 

 extreme horror of those philanthropists who would read of their jump- 

 ing into the Thames quite unconcernedly. Yet it is rather to be ap- 

 prehended that architectural mania, amateur-mania, will never prove 

 infectious in this country. The truth is, John Bull is likely to stick 

 fast to his old inouymaniu, which, in plain English, is literally a 

 moiwij' mania, 



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