1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



173 



been able to discover, is in the English translation of tlie Hypneroto- 

 macbi, 'tlie Strife of Love in a Dreame,' 1592. The original pas- 

 sagf, describing the fa9ade of a temple, ' Al frontispicio overo fas- 

 tigio,' &c. is translated (and with the marginal note) as follows : 



"' And to return to the view of the whole frame, in the disposing 

 thereof as aforesaide, the Coronices by a perpendycular lyne were 

 corrospondent and agreeing with the faling out of the whol wiirke, 

 the Stilliced or Perimeter, or vlter part of the vppermost Coronice, 

 onely except,' (p. 22,) ('il' stillicidio della suprema cornice.') The 

 'stillicidio' is generally 'gocciolatoio' in Italian. The insertion of 

 the word Perimeltr seems to show that this writer derived Periment 

 from it, as a space surrounded or bounded by a perimeter of mould- 

 ings. Pedamenlo in Italian is used by Scamozzi for the Sterecbate.' " 

 The marginal note referred to is, " A periment in corrupt English." 

 In pursuing our notice of this valuable contribution to the literature 

 of architecture, we must confine ourselves to a few examples illus- 

 trative of Professor Willis's mode of investigation, in which it has 

 either produced new results or corrected existing errors. The term 

 orb, which has puzzled Mr. Willson, and another equally obscure, 

 *hich he has confounded with it, viz., cross quarters, are both ex- 

 plained thus — 



" It is well known that in the later periods of Gothic architecture 

 the use of stone panelled tracery increased gradually to so great an 

 extent, that in the more elaborate buildings the walls and vaults, and 

 every space unoccupied by actual windows, were covered by them. I 

 shall proceed to show that these panels were termed 'orbs.' This I 

 shall do by comparing three independent passages, in which the word 

 iiccurs, with the existing buildings to which they refer. 



" The Indenture for the tomb of King Richard II. and his Qneen, in 

 Westminster Abbey, covenants that there shall be niches for statues on each 

 side iiaving orbs between them to match. ' Et les ditz masons ferront 

 nieasous (maisons) pur xii images, c'est assavoir vi a lune coste et vi a lautre 

 coste du dite touinbe, et le remenaunt du dite toumbe sera fait ove (avec) 

 orbes accordauntz et scmblables as dites measons." 



"Accordingly the tomb has tabernables (maisons) at the sides 

 between which are placed blank panels (orbs) corresponding to them, 

 as mny be seen from the drawing of the tomb of Edward the Third, 

 which is exactly similar, in Blore's ' Monumental Remains.' 



" William of Worctstre describes the tower of St. Stephen's at Bristol in 

 the following words; 



' Haljet 4 storyes et ibi in quarta stori sunt campans. 



In superior! historia trcs orlix in qualibet pauella. 



In secunda et tercia historia sunt duce orlia; in qualibet panella 4 panel- 

 larum. 



In inferiori historia sunt in duobus panellis in qualibet panella south and 

 west fenestrse, in aliis duobus panellis ex parte boriali et orientali sunt duse 

 archae.'" 



" If orba be translated 'a blank window,' the above becomes a cor- 

 rect description of the existing tower. For its decoration consists 

 not so much in stone panelling as in literal blank windows, vvhicii are 

 formed in each story. The lower windows are open as usual, but in 

 the upper story, where the bells are, the blank tracery is not piercecl, 

 but a window-opening is formed between pait of the raullious only of 

 the central blank windows of each side. The description, if translated 

 thus, will agree perfectly with the tower as it stands: — 



The tower has four stories, and the bells are in the fourth or upper story. 



In the upper story there are three blani windows on each side. 



In the second and third stories are two blani windows on each side of the 

 four. 



In the lower story there are windows on the south and west sides, but on 

 the north and east there are arches, (for on these sides the tower 

 joins the church.) 



" There exists an indenture for the furnishing of one tower at some one 

 of the corners of King's College Chapel (probably as an experiment) ; for in 

 the same document it is covenanted that all the fynyalls (pinnacles) of the 

 same Chapel shall be made according to one that had been set up. It is 

 agreed that the said tower is to have ' fynyalls, rysant gabliletts, batlements, 

 orbys, and crosse quarters, and every otherthynge belongyng to the same — 

 accordyng to a plat thereof made.' This description corresponds very well 

 with the existing tower." 



" I shall return to this in the next section, and shall now merely 

 point out the orb, or blank panel, with its cinquefoil head, observing 

 that this is not opened with tracery for glass as usual, but that the 

 tracery, or string of cross quarters, is so introduced, as to be a mere 

 piercing of part of the stone panel, without destroying its character 

 us a blank panel. 



" As in all these examples the word so plainly applies itself to a 

 blank or blind window, I imagine it must be derived from the Norman 

 French orbe, ' qui est cache, secret, privee de quelque chose, aveuele, 

 Orbus. hit.' f M H > e 



"The fact that stone panelling was first called bv a name that im- 

 plies a blank window, would explain the historv of its introduction 

 into mediaeval architecture, even if the existing examples did not show 

 il." 



The familiar terras mullion and tracery seem to be traced no higher 

 than to Sir Christopher Wren. The original form of the former word 

 (sometimes written munnion) seems to be monial, derived from the 

 French " moyen, qui est au milieu," the old form of which is meian 

 or menel. They are called " menaux or croisillons des fenctres," in 

 that language. " These words (mullion and lr..c#ry) were adopted by 

 Bentham and Milner, both evidently deriving ihem from Wren, from 

 whom they quote largely with admiration. Dr. Plot, his cotemporary, 

 also uses the word ; and from these authorities the words derive their 

 present universal employment. Other early antiquarians make use of 

 awkward circumlocutions for tracery. Thus Wartort, one of the first 

 admiri-rs of Gothic architecture, can yet find no better terms for this 

 beautiful and characteristic principle of decoration than 'Ramified 

 windows divided into several lights, and branched out at the top into 

 a multiplicity of whimsical shapes and compartments.' But soon 

 after he introduces a description of 'fret-work thrown like a web of 

 embroidery over the old Saxon vanlting of Gloucester.' Instead of 

 tracery every mediaeval account relating to windows contains an abun- 

 dance of stones calledybrm ^/eces, and allusions to ybrms, which, as I 

 shall proceed to show, was their proper word for the tracery. 



" In France the stone frames of Gothic windows are to this dav 

 termed ybrmes de vitres, forms or seats for glass ; for, as is well knowii, 

 the word form (pronounced with the long o) bears, amongst others, the 

 sense of a seat or receptacle, as a long bench or the seat of a hare. 

 Bailey definesybrm (in mechanics) to be a kind of mould whereon a 

 thing is fastened or wrought ; and we have examples of this in the 

 printer's forme of types. In French and in the mediaeval Latin the 

 stalls of a choir are so termed, and the French use it for a stone drv 

 dock." 



Professor Willis approves of Sir James Hall's term of cusps for the 

 points in tracery, which Rickman has misapplied to the curve, and 

 not to the point, the mathematical cusp being the point formed bv 

 two parts of curves meeting. On the authority of William of Wor- 

 cester, gtrdese appears to be the mediaeval term for these pointi. The 

 application of this term was first made by Mr. Willson, but he writes 

 the vioxd gentisc, being misled by the printed edition of the " Itini- 

 rarium." Finial is proved to apply to the entire pyramidal portion 

 of a pinnacle, and not to the extreme termination. The proper me- 

 diaeval name for the latter seems to be the croppe, which means also 

 the top of a tree, and corse or body, is the square shaft. 



We must not, however, extend the limits of this review. The 

 paper concludes with some very curious particulars respecting the 

 herses or canopies placed over the coffins at royal obsequies. A com- 

 plete account of four herses erected at the funeral of Anne, Queen of 

 Richard II , is extant, from which they appear to have been elaborate 

 architectural compositions modelled in wax. Every part of the work 

 is minutely described, and the terms evidently apply to a profusion 

 of tabernacle work, to which the immense quantity of four tons and 

 a half of wax was applied, independently of that consumed in tapers 

 and links, amounting to above two tons more. The herse set up on 

 that occasion at Westminster is described as containing "280" but- 

 tresses of different sizes, 72 " botants," or arch buttresses, and 96 

 bodies, besides housyngs, &c., and 428 tapers. 



We must conclude by thanking the author for this valuable ad- 

 dition to the many obligations under which he h;;s already laid the 

 friends and professors of architecture, by his researches and publica- 

 tions. 



ROYAL EXCHANGE CLOCK. 



Sir — A copy of a letter in reference to the clock and chimes making for 

 the New Royal Exchange, dated Brighton, 21st July, and signed E. J. Dent, 

 of 82, Strand, and 33, Cockspur-street, addressed to Mr. Whitehurst, of 

 Derby, having been very generally circulated among the members of the cor- 

 poration of London, in wbich it is stated that I was a competitor to be em- 

 ployed to make the clock and chimes for that building, I beg to say that 

 statement is wholly incorrect, the direct contrary being the case. In a letter 

 I had occasion to write to R. Lambert Jones, Esq., the chairman of the 

 building committee, so long since as the 8th of February, 1843, I staled my 

 determination not to be a candidate, and repeated the same to Mr. Tite, the 

 architect to the building, in a letter dated the 27th ofu Jly, in answer to «n 

 appUcation from that gentleman to furnish a tender and estimate ; and in a 

 letter dated two days subsequent, he expressed his regret at my determina- 

 tion. Your insertion of this communication will much oblige, 

 Sir, your most obedient servant, 



B. L. Vdlliamt. 



Pall Mall, Jpril 16, lS4i. 



