IS40.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



353 



article in a German review whieh animadverted mast severely updn our pre- 

 sent extraordiiary prediloctinn for " mob literature," upon our Jack Slieppard 

 and Oliver Twist mania, and upon productions of that Newgate school of 

 literature which is calculated only lo hegct a low and scoundrelly sympathy 

 with crime and vice : — an odd taste fur a people who ixive themselves the airs 

 of being the most moral nation on the f.ace of the earth. Hardly more com- 

 plimentary are some of the remarks we have met with in foreign publications, 

 in regard to our feeling for art, and the mode in which we profess to encourage 

 it. As far, too, as architecture is concerned. English buildings do not always 

 make that favourable impression upon foreigners which it were to be wished 

 they should do. 



Whether this state of things is at all to be regretted or not, certain it 

 is that we have no leason to be surprised at it; whereas it would be 

 almost miraculous were we to find a strong love of art diffused through- 

 out the public without any pains being taken to implant it, or there 

 being anything in the present constitution of society to cherish a pas- 

 sion for art, as was formerly the case in this country, as well as others, 

 when art was munificently patronized by the church. There is now 

 scarcely any inducement for those wdio have leisure, to devote any of 

 it to architecture as a recreative study, for they, no doubt, know that 

 they would have very few to sympathize with them, and also that they 

 may be wholly ignorant of it with perfect impunity. 



Possibly the time — should it arrive at all — is not very far distant, 

 when an acquaintance with tlie principles and elements of architecture 

 will be considered nearly as indispensable as several other things that 

 are now taught as accomplishments. At any rate it will be no fault of 

 Mr. Wightwick's should such not prove lo be the case, the primary 

 object of his work being to gain proselytes to the study from among 

 the educated of both sexes, although hitherto there seems to have 

 been a kind of Salic law, excluding females from it altogether. 

 Yet wherefore an art which depends so much upon the beauty of 

 forms and their combinations, and the study of which tends so greatly 

 to correct and refine taste generally, should have been considered un- 

 siiited for the female sex, or else far above their mental faculties, is 

 one of those questions that wlien considered without prejudice, startle 

 us by there being any occasion for putting them at all. There can be 

 little doubt but that indirectly at least, female taste — or rather the 

 want of it — has been more influential than is suspected, upon archi- 

 tecture ; for almost one entire branch of the art has in consequence 

 been exterminated — or rather checked and prevented from developing 

 itself; that wdiich shoidd properly belong to the architect and the 

 artist, being allowed to devolve upon the upholsterer. We cannot, 

 however, allow ourselves to enter here upon a topic that would lead 

 us on to a very great length, and shall therefore merely observe that 

 architecture had been previous'y recommended as a very suitable study 

 for females, both in the Foreign Quarterly and Loudon's Architectural 

 Magazine ; therefore supposing theie is any absurdity in such view of 

 the matter, it is not here broached for the first time by Mr. W., al- 

 though his advice in that respect, will, no doubt, appear entirely novel 

 to most of his readers. Whether so considered or not, we trust that 

 it will not be altogether thrown away ; and coming directly from a 

 professional man, it may probably, have greater weight than it else 

 would. So far from objecting to it ourselves, we could wish that the 

 author had expatiated more fully upon this particular point, and had 

 gone so far as to advise that those who have any inclination for the 

 study at all should go through such a course of elementary lessons 

 with an Archifecture -master, as would familiarize them with all the 

 technicalties of architectural drawing and detail, and thereby enable 

 them to carry on their studies afterwards by themselves. Until an 

 acquaintance with geometrical representation be formed, and a relish 

 acqidred for that as well as perspective delineation, little progress 

 can be made in the pursuit ; and although such mode of study may at 

 first sight appear formidably tedious, it in fact opens a source of in- 

 terest unknown to those who for want of sucli instruction see only 

 general masses and forms, without taking any note of minor traits 

 which confer individual character and expression. 



Why then not call in the Architectural Master? — Because, people 

 wili^ay, it would be so very odd, and after all the acquirement itself 

 woiild be a useless one, especially to ladies. This last ought of course 

 to be admitted as a most reasonable reason; yet when we consider by 

 how many exceedingly useless pursuits women now suffer themselves 

 to be engrossed, that of architecture would be such a trifling pecca- 

 dillo, that it need not weigh heavily upon their utilitarian consciences. 

 It would seem, however, that there is at least one lady, and she too of 

 high rank, who does not consider architecture — that is, the EEsthetic or 

 artistical part of it, either an unfeminine or a vulgar study ; for as 

 Mr. Wightwick has dedicated his volume to the Countess of Morley, 

 we may presume that in her he lias met with that example which h is 

 encouraged him to recommend the study to others of the sex. If it 

 be true — but as we have only newspaper report for it, it is just as 

 likely to be false, — if it be true, we say, that her Majesty is now taking 



lessons in etching, we hope she will, by and by, condescend to take 

 some also in architecture, because there her taste might prove of sin- 

 gidar benpfit, and might encourage works that would redound to the 

 credit of the age and of the nation, whereas her Majesty's etchings are 

 likely to have just as much effect upon art as those of any other young 

 lady — and no more. Had George IV. possessed a tithe of the taste for 

 which he was so liberally credited by flattery, Buckingham Palace 

 would have been a worthy architectural monument of his reign, instead 

 of being, as at present, an ignominious one, and even Windsor might 

 have, perhaps, been better by several degrees, than it now actually is. 

 If there be any one of the fine arts which it is more especially desir- 

 able that a sovereign should be able to appreciate, it is surely archi- 

 tecture, because its more important productions are durable, and ought 

 therefore to be noble, memorials of the period when they were 

 erected. 



If we have thus far said very little in regard to the volume before 

 us, it is Mr. Wightwick himself who has diverted our attention from 

 its contents generally, by adapting it to those who are without the pale 

 of the profession, and by his endeavouring to enlist as many as he can 

 into the volunteer corps of amateurs. And if we have confined 

 our attention to this single point, it is because we consider it to be 

 one of paramount importance, and perhaps go further in regard to it 

 than even Mr. Wightwick himself, being of opinion that unless the 

 public be educated to understand and relish architecture as a fine art, 

 it is almost hopeless to expect that it should flourish among us. We 

 may probably bestow some further notice on this work, but lest we 

 should not do so, we will here express our hearty approbation of the 

 writer's intention; nor do we entertain any doubt as to his book 

 effecting considerable good. 



A Treatise on Engineering Field Worjc. By Peter Bruff, C. E. 

 Second edition, corrected and enlarged. London: Simpkin and 

 Marshall. 1840. 



In our last number we took a cursory glance at the contents of this 

 work, we shall now proceed to point out what is additional in the new 

 edition: in the first place we must state that the whole of the work 

 has been carefully revised, and that there are several passages distri- 

 buted throughout, which did not appear in the former edition; we 

 shall now confine ourselves to the leading subjects which have been 

 introduced in the present volume. 



Chapter 3 is entirely new, and contains directions for conducting a 

 survey, laying out a base line, a most important object in land survey- 

 ing, and more particularly in railway surveying; for the latter we 

 think it should be, if possible, marked out the whole length of the line 

 by the engineer or his principal assistant, and that the connection of 

 the work of the different surveyors should also be done by him. This 

 chapter likewise contains some useful directions for the student in 

 detecting and avoiding errors. 



In chapter 4 we have some judicious observations on parish survey- 

 ing, and remarks on Captain Dawson's directions for the surveys made 

 under the Tithe Commissioners. , 



Chapter 5 contains instructions for surveying with angular instru- 

 ments — town surveys and subterranean surveying. 



In chapter (j there are several hints for facilitating calculations, and 

 various methods and instruments explained for that purpose ; for our 

 own part, we are generally averse to most ready reckoners, for in nine 

 cases out of ten, if a person has any nouce, he will beat, by mental 

 calculation, one who has recourse to tables and instruments, both in 

 accuracy and time; — we, however, shall give the description of an in- 

 strument which, Mr. Bruff tells us, has lately been adopted in the Tithe 

 Commissioners Office, and which appears to be an instrument not easily 

 put out of order. 



"The last, and most simple method, which we shall describe, and 

 which is now in the course of adoption by all surveyors, and at present 

 exclusively employed at the Tithe Commission Office, presents the 

 greatest facility in peiforming computations, without in the least 

 damaging the plans, by equalizing boundaries, &c., as by all the pre- 

 vious contrivances. "The principle of the plan has long been in use 

 by some few surveyors, but they prudently kept it to themselves, in 

 order that the price of such work might not be reduced; but at last 

 the method has become publicly known, and a vast reduction has taken 

 place in the remuneration of such operations. In the first place, 

 tracing paper of a superior quality is procured, and parallel lines, at 

 exactly one chain apart, drawn in one direction only along the whole 

 width of the paper. This paper is then carefully laid over the en- 

 closure which is to be computed ; the scale to which the map has 

 been plotted is then laid on the first division of one chain — the ine- 



3 B 



