1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



23 



abutments built in the slope. These beams are 10 ft. in depth, and are formed 

 by a series of flat iron bars 2J in. wide by J in. thick crossing one another at 

 an angle of 45^; at 5 ft. 6 in. above the bottom edge, transverse bearers of 

 angle iron are fixed similar to those now used for supporting tlie decks of 

 iron steam vessels, and upon those the planking for the roadway is fastened. 

 The account of the mode of construction, and of the raising and fi-^iing the 

 lattice beams, by Messrs. Perry of Dublin the contractors, was given in detail, 

 and the author stated that, although it was expected that considerable deflec- 

 tion would occur, which was provided for by forming the beams with a curve 

 of 12 in. in the centre, they did not sink at all even when heavy weights 

 passed over them. The total cost of the structure, including the masonry of 

 the abutments was £510. It was stated that this bridge had been erected 

 by Mr. Macneill, JI .Inst. C. E. in order to test the soumlness of this kind of 

 structure before he applied it in a bridge of 240 ft. span to carry the Dublin 

 and Drogbcda Railway over a canal. 



The meeting adjourned to January 16th instant, when it was announced 

 that the Annual Meeting would be held for the election of the council and 

 officers. 



ARCHITECTURE. 



Report of a Course of Lectures delivered by Professor Cockekkll, at the 

 Royal Academy. 



(Specially reported for this Journal.) 



Lecture I. 



Mr. President — The fine arts, whether they are regarded as an intel- 

 lectual gratification intimately connected with mental advancement, or as the 

 noblest recreation of which our nature is capable, should always be a subject 

 of the highest importance amongst a polished and civilized community ; and 

 the Professor, however arduous and responsible his duties may be, will hail 

 with satisfaction the returning season of his labours as a pulilic and private 

 benefit, so far as he may have it in his power, to illustrate his art by sound 

 argument and profitable suggestions : and, as a true lover of his art, will re- 

 joice in a candid discussion of its principles, regarding such discussion as a 

 whetstone, whereby truth may be elicited and maintained. But the art es- 

 pecially which I so badly represent, demands, as a peculiarly learned art, the 

 guidance of that experience which may point out the sources of its consti- 

 tution, call into exercise the reasoning faculties, and engender a deep inte- 

 rest in its behalf. 



Under the blessings of peace, architecture assumes peculiar interest. We 

 may daily see the happy effects arising from the encouraging sentiment of 

 emulation ; expressions of regard for architecture have become almost uni- 

 versal ; and we can scarcely look into the public prints without discovering 

 some evidence of this fact ; parliament for the first time has promoted such 

 works, and has given a stimulus to them, which only patronage can give to 

 the higher works of art. 



The saying of the painter Barry, that he lived a century too soon, appears 

 to be verified in the success which has crowned the exertions of his able 

 successor in name ; and the lambent flame which this academy has kept 

 alive through good and evil report, seems now to shine forth with greater 

 lustre. How great then should be our endeavours to qualify ourselves for 

 this improved state of things ! 



The study of the fine arts is, as has been truly stated, the study of the 

 " true and beautiful in nature." This science engaged the attention of 

 Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and the ancient philosophers ; the fine arts have 

 long been studied in the universities on the Continent ; and it is now, 1 trust, 

 becoming general in this country. The London University has already com- 

 menced ; and Oxford and Cambridge will no doubt follow. An illustrious 

 member of Oxford, (Mr. Gracewell,) in a remarkable paper published a few 

 weeks ago, recommends a union between literature and the fine arts, and 

 remarks that the fine arts being founded on the unchanging moral and intel- 

 lectual nature of man, admit of being taught as dogmatically as the prin- 

 ciples of any other science. In this respect they are unlike the useful 

 arts ; but when the useful arts have procured us the necessaries of life, 

 the fine arts are found equally essential to enjoyment. Apollo and the Muses 

 are only gifts to such a state of society, whilst they tend to check the progress 

 of avarice, pride, and the other vices which follow in their train. 



The arts will hail the proposition of Mr. Gracewell. Such a system, and 

 in the hands of scholars, will go far to establish a respect for those branches 

 of learning, and by thus uniting the elegancies of literature with those of 

 art, each will illustrate the other ; and by this means employment and 

 amusement will be found for a large portion of society, who but for such a 

 unity would regard the arts as toUs. 



The union of literature is obviously essential to the fine arts, and it has 

 been ever so since the days of Socrates. The Grecian arts excelled through 

 this circumstance. Many of Jocko's inventions were taken from the sug- 

 gestions of the poet ; so with Raphael and Reynolds and others, iu whose 

 works the suggestions of the poet may clearly be traced. Reynolds no 

 doubt derived many ideas from conversation with Burke, Johnson, and other 

 literari of the day. But whilst we leave to far more accomplished scholars 

 the discussion of the fine arts, we have practical studies which we must en- 

 deavour to obtain and understand as the means of acquiring that greatctt of 

 all blessings, sound judgment. 



We know, that like good taste and virtue, sound judgment depends not 

 upon argument, syllogism, or sophistry, but must be cultivated by a beautiful 

 and dispassionate revision of the best specimens of art. Philosophical dis- 

 cussions upon the sublime and beautiful will always be valuable as one of 

 the means of instruction ; but the subject is so subtle that it is not to be 

 circumscribed by language, however logical. It is after all to genius we 

 must look for the exact adjustment of those qualities on which the beautiful 

 depend. The artist may lay down incontrovertibly his principles of art, but 

 their adoption in particular proportions may not always succeed. To the 

 practical student only belong the scruples and the grains of proportion, and 

 it is in labour only combined with genius that the phdosopher's stone is to 

 be found by the artist. (The Professor here referred to some works of art 

 by Palladio and Peruzzi, to show that where to apply the great principle of 

 order was peculiarly the province of the man of genius, and was only to be 

 decided by him.) 



The speculative part of the fine arts, without the assistance of manual 

 operation, can never attain perfection. Each department of art is of suffi- 

 cient importance to occupy the whole attention of one man, but it is essen- 

 tial in an art where so many details are involved, that the student should 

 occasionally be awakened to an enlarged view of the subject, and it is for 

 this purpose that I have in former lectures taken extended views of the his- 

 tory of our art, and directed your attention to the magnitude of its extent; 

 for to know what has been done, is to know what can be done. Charles V. 

 said well that a man who possessed many languages, became, in fact, multi« 

 plied into many individuals, and enjoyed in an increased degree the privilege 

 of existence. And the same remark might be applied to the architectural 

 historian, whose experience teaches him the peculiarities of different nations, 

 and points out to him the propriety or otherwise of peculiar appUcations to 

 particular circumstances. 



We are thus led to consider the practice of the fine arts, as but another 

 language by which the moral and political subjects of the day are modelled 

 and expressed -. and as the literature and language of one period are not api)li- 

 cable to another age, so is it with the practice of the fine arts. For instance, 

 imagine the republication of the Nnremburg Chronicle of 1492, as the 

 journal of science of the present day ; or of the works of Gore, Spenser or 

 Chaucer, for the entertainment of the readers at the West-end of the pre- 

 sent day. To follow the same principle in the fine arts would be equally 

 preposterous. 



When Edward III was engaged in his palace at Westminster, he granted 

 a precept to — it might be the president of that day — compelling him to 

 press all the painters throughout the country to go and assist at Id. a day. 

 Now let us suppose an officer despatched by Her Majesty on a similar expe- 

 dition — to procure painters at \d. a day; what an amusing exhibition should 

 we not have ! What complaints ! What paragraphs in the newspapers ! 

 What petitions to the Commons House of Parliament I Thus we find the 

 practice ever varying, though the principles remain the same. We admire 

 the works of Chaucer, Gore, and Spenser, but it is the intrinsic beauty of 

 their poetry that we admire, and not the language in which it is dressed : 

 so we should be as glad to receive a commission now as in King Edward's 

 time, but it is the compulsion at \d. a day that we should not like. 



I have also in preceding lectures recommended the study of those reper- 

 tories of the experiments of past ages, which whilst they improved the un- 

 derstanding, proved the consistency of those great principles on which our 

 art is built. Through the means of literature we may discuss the utility of 

 popular conceits, and we thus arrive at those things that have received the 

 praise of succeeding ages. When we consider, for instance, that Vitruvius 

 composed his rules upon the science of the Greeks, good sense would seem 

 to inculcate a respect to such rules ; but such respect has not been awarded 

 to them : for myself, however, I can only say, that my daily experience en- 

 forces upon me the greatest respect for his authority. 



The Pantheon at Rome is a systylc ; now M. Souplot has presumed to depart 

 from the practice, and has made his portico merely diastyle, and the conse- 

 quence of this startling diversion is, that the portico is meagre and unsatis- 

 factory. I cite this instance only as proving my position, that respect 

 should be paid to the theories and precepts of great masters if they are found 

 to coincide with common sense and good practice. 



Last year, when the Parthenon was cleared of the ruins, and some of the 

 columns were exposed, it was found that there was a gradual rising of the 

 columns of the central flank, so that the flank formed the arc of a large circle, 

 and not a straight line from east to west. And this is in accordance witli 

 the principles laid down by Vitruvius, for, he says, if they he set out level 

 they wUl appear to have sunk. This rule, however, has not been followed 

 out at the important national work of the church of La Madeleine at Paris, 

 and elsewhere. Let us inquire now of experienced builders, and we 

 shall find 500 who know not so much as the name of Vitruvius, who will 

 tell you when you build a barn, " be sure to make the roof hog-backed, for 

 if you set it out level, it will look as if it had fallen." So says Mr. Harvey, 

 a most respectable builder of Ipswich, and indeed I have heard it from my 

 youth upwards ; and thus we find that theory and experience agree. The 

 professor in every art, is well justified in repeating to his students, the advice 

 he has given to them to follow the principles and precepts of great masters 

 without hesitation ; if the practice appear strange, still, hesitate not ; when 

 you have tested the principles by practice, you will find their advantage, and 

 will learn from time the reverence they deserve. 



In enforcing this principle, Pope beautifully observes : — 



