1840.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



403 



of an alderman, and on perfect good-nature in the person of a sar- 

 castic satirist. 



V. In an article in the Gardener's Magazine for November occurs 

 the following bit of architectural comment : " in returning we observed 

 two frightful chapels; the Hanover Chapel at Peckham, in the form of 

 a pentagon, with small mean windows without facings, and red brick 

 walls without cornices or any decoration whatever: and another chapel 

 nearer Cambervvell, of larger size, with similar walls, and three or four 

 Scorns of naked windows like those of a third-rate dwelling-house! 

 Chapels in general, throughout the country, are at present a disgrace 

 to it, in an architectural point of view ; but it is to be hoped that the 

 spread of knowledge and taste will raise them to a par with other 



, religious buildings." Yes, our chapels — and churches, too — generally 

 are a disgrace to the country, as well on account of the beggarly, 

 shabby, sordid meanness, as for the execrably bad taste they display. 

 But as for the good taste that is to lead to a better system of things, 

 •where is it to come from ? Certainly not from the fountain head — not 

 from the Church Commissioners. However, I will not be quite sure 

 that even brick boxes, with three or four stories of sash windows, are 

 not a degree more endurable than those most trumpery Golhicisings 

 or Grecianizings, as the case may be, which spring up like mushrooms 

 in the purlieus of Islington, &c., and whose scanty pauper finery forms 

 a contrast no less ludicrous than woful, with the bareness of their 

 posterior parts. Economy is excellent, but the economy which treats 

 itself with a smart shirt front, while it denies itself a pair of breeches, 

 cannot possibly be extolled for its nice attention to decency. 



VI. If I am rightly informed, more than one of the Islingtonian 

 buildings alluded to is the joint production of two architects, in which 

 case, to judge from the littleness of their united taste, the taste of 

 each singly must be exceedingly little indeed. Or, would not the 

 rather stale anecdote of the two helpmates come in here most pat ? 

 " What are you doing. Jack ? " "Nothing, sir." "And Tom, what 

 are you doing there ? " "Please, sir, I'm just helping Jack." It was 

 undoubtedly after some such fashion that the Messrs. Tom and Jack 

 there employed assisted each other in providing taste for the Isling- 

 tonians. Certain it is that taste fares no better among Church Com- 

 missioners than among their worships the Churchwardens. 



ON THE ORIGIN OF ALPHABETIC WRITING ON MONU- 

 MENTS, TOMBS, &c., IN ANCIENT GREECE. 



Amongst the many -pleasures connected with historic research, may 

 be recorded that which the antiquary feels, as the evidences of some 

 lost truth unfold themselves to his eye. To find how link after link 

 completes the chain, or how the past is restored to observation after a 

 lapse of centuries, is no less interesting, however, to the architect, the 

 painter, and the sculptor, whenever the purposes of art are assisted by 

 such a discovery. With this preface of apology for discussing the 

 present subject, I humbly offer my opinions, with the unpretending 

 ■wish only, that it may lead to a deeper attention from others. My 

 idea of handling the theme arose from a remark of Canina's upon some 

 ancient tombs found at Coere, (now Cervetri, or Ceveteri). His re- 

 mark is embodied in a paper, read at the Institute on the 30th March, 

 1840. He concludes from the peculiar form of the Greek characters 

 of the inscriptions, that the tomb must have been erected before the 

 Trojan war. Now the Trojan war is an event — an epoch in history. 

 It encompasses within it a variety of interesting facts, customs, man- 

 ners and rites. To determine the existence of alphabetic writing, as 

 existing on monuments and tombs, before or after that period, is no 

 less interesting ; especially as in the investigation we trample on the 

 memory of the honoured dead ; for whom art has done and expected 

 so much, and for whose deeds and memorable acts, genius has prepared 

 such monuments of beauty and of skill. 



Canina evidently presumes alphabetic writing as common to the 

 tombs of the great before the Trojan war. Witli submission then to 

 his opinion, as well as to others, who I know agree with him, I will 

 assume the contrary, and endeavour to prove it of a later period. 



First, I rely greatly on the authority of Homer, on the minuteness, 

 care, and correctness of that poet, on his punctilious observance of 

 customs, and on the extreme finish of his descriptions. Assuming this, 

 I turn to the tale of hfAXeporpov (Iliad Gth, 1G8), not to disprove the non- 

 existence of letters, &c., but to reveal Wolfius a German commentator 

 upon Homer, guilty of the same idea as myself, since upon that tale, 

 he presumes alphabetic writing unknown in the heroic ages. Secondly, 

 our introduction to Patroclus's tomb, has no mention of any inscription, 

 or written memorial. Thirdly, that the word ■ypaijjeii' of such frequent 

 occurrence, according to Guoquet, "ne signifie jamais chez Homer 

 •que representer oOi decrire un objet." Fourthly, that wherever com- 



mands are given, or messages sent, they are done verbally ; and when- 

 ever a treaty is ratified, it is done by sacrifice, or oath. Then again, 

 Virgil's careful picture of Misemis's death and burial, and of the tomb 

 erected, &c., mentions no inscription, which strengthens the argument, 

 when we consider that Enoeas is trying to pacify the spirit of that hero 

 in the infernal regions, with a minute detail of all the honours and tri- 

 butes paid to his memory. To omit one observance, would display a 

 carelessness totally at variance with an otherwise ingenious recital. 



Besides no nation was ever more jealous than the Greeks of funeral 

 honours. The advantages of an illustrious victory were often neglected 

 to perform this duty. Victorious generals were sacrified for want of 

 zeal in burying the soldiers slain in battle ; whilst the auguries they 

 derived from, and the vows they made over tombs, evince with what 

 earnestness, the depositaries of the precepts of religion, had ever re- 

 commended the duties of the sepulchre. But perhaps it may be said 

 that Guoquet in his work "sur les origines des lois, des sciences et des 

 arts," admits the existence of alphabetic writing in Greece before the 

 Trojan war. If so, let it be remembered, he adds, " that it was less 

 practised." Besides if Guoquet were correct in his supposition, the 

 knowledge of letters as a medium of conveying thoughts through the 

 body of the people, must necessarily prove tardy and progressive. And 

 although we believe it in existence at the time of Cadmus, still a 

 natural inference would be, that the priests, as in ancient Egypt, were 

 for a long time alone familiar with the written or descriptive language. 

 The fact, too, that the Mexicans and Peruvians had attained to a 

 great degree of civilization, without the use of letters, may assist such 

 an idea. 



The question then naturally arises, how, if inscriptions be to memo- 

 ralize worth, or to record virtue, and how, if the knowledge of letters 

 be assumed as slight, partial and confined, could the object be 

 effected ; or why would the artist chisel out in letters, the deeds of the 

 departed, when most of the passers by were unable to interpret. Upon 

 these grounds I humbly dispute the remark of Canina's : and I do so, 

 not for the bare love of agitating subjects, which but for the curious 

 and ingenious, would be contentedly dismissed, as unworthy and 

 trivial ; but from an anxiety to arouse the slumbering energies of the 

 artist, and to invite a cool and rational enquiry into the antiquities, 

 literature and minutive of his art. 



Frederick East. 



November, 1840. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE HYPSOMETER. 



^11 Instrument invented by Johk Sang, Esq., Land Surveyor, for 

 taking the Heights of Trees, Buildings, and other objects. Communi- 

 cated by Mr. Sang, Land Surveyor, Kirkcaldy. 



(From the Gardeners' Magazine.) 



I have taken the first leisure hour to make you the instrument for 

 measuring the height of trees and buildings which I mentioned to you 

 when having the pleasure of visiting you at Bayswater. It is sent by 

 post at the same time as this letter. 



The instrument was tried on some houses and trees here, and it 

 gave their height (especially the houses) with great accuracy. It is 

 rather difficult to manage at first, but after a few trials it becomes 

 quite easy. The method is as follows : — 



By means of a small hook (if a knot of white cloth be attached to it, 

 so much the better), fix the end of a tape line to the bole of the tree, 

 at exactly the height of the observer's eye from the ground. Retire 

 from the tree, letting the tape line unwind until, by using the instru- 

 ment, the top of the tree and the end of the tape line are seen quite 

 close together. Add the height of the observer's eye to the length of 

 the tape line, and the sum is the height of the tree. Now, the diffi- 

 culty is, to catch the image of the top of the tree in the instrument, 

 and it is this which requires a few trials, although any person who has 

 been accustomed to use a sextant will do it at the very first. Hold 

 the instrument at one of the milled ends, taking care that the fingers 

 do not project over any of the holes, and that the brim of the hat is 

 out of the way. Apply the eye to the round hole marked a in fig. 1, 

 and look through in the direction of the small square hole b, the in- 

 strument being held so that the line joining a 6 is about level, while the 

 large square hole c is turned towards the sky. You will then see some 

 object directly through the small hole, and at the same time the image 

 of some other object, the light from which enters the large aperture, 

 and, after being reflected by the two mirrors inside, passes into the 

 eye. Whatever two objects are thus seen in contact, subtend at the 

 eye an angle of 45°, as in fig. 2 ; so that, if one of them be the end of 

 the tape line on a level, or nearly so, vvith the observer's eye, while 



3 I Z 



