1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



439 



The Companion to the Atmannc for lSi5. With Seven }Voodcul» of 

 Buildings. 



With respect to the general character of Hiis annual publicalion, we 

 need not say anything more than that it is still kept up with the same 

 diligence and ability as have uniformly been displayed in if. Indeed, 

 as regards that portion of its contents which is of more immediate 

 interest to our own readers, and which, we think, must be the most 

 attractive to the public generally, this new volume contains about 

 half as much again of architectural mformation and description as the 

 preceding one did, which space we should like to see still further in- 

 creased, although the labour of collecting materials even for no more 

 than is at present given must, no doubt, be very great, since, unlike 

 all others, architects are apt to be far more reserved than at all com- 

 municative with respect to their works. The buildings here spoken 

 of most at length are — the Royal Exchange ; a cluiieh at Haugh, near 

 Bolton-le-Moors, entirely constructed of terra cotta, and having an 

 openwork spire; the two chapels at Nunhead Cemetery; Pugin's 

 Roman Catholic Church at Nottingham, and St. Bernard's Monastery ; 

 two Institutes at Preston, the "Philosophical" and the "Mechanic's" ; 

 the Conservative Clubhouse ; and the New Law Courts, or Guildhall, 

 at Bristol. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 



Session 1844-45. — Ordinary Mketings. 



Chair to be taken at 8 o'clock on the following Monday evenings : — De- 

 cember 2, 16, 1844; January 13, 27; February 10, 24; March 10, 31 ; 

 April 14, 28 ; May *5, 12, 26 ; June 9, 23 ; July 7, 21. 



* Annual General Meeting of Members only. 



THE LATE COMPETITION KOR THE CHORISTERS' SCHOOL, MAG- 

 DALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD. 



Sir, — Having seen from the careful perusal of your paper the great interest 

 you take in the prolossion generally, anil the desire you have aluays evinced 

 towards exposing any grievances with which it may be assailed, 1 have taken 

 tlie liberty of addressing you on llie subject of the present faulty mode of 

 competing for new buildings now so generally adopted, and frequently so 

 unjustly terminated, and woidd call your attention particularly to that fur 

 the Choristers' School for Magdalen College, Oxford, which has, I hear, been 

 decided in favour of a design sent in by Mr. Derrick, aichilect, of thai city. 



In the printed instructions issued to architects who might be willing to 

 compete, it was disanclly specified that the designs must be sent in by the 

 first of October, ample time being given (nearly two months) for completing 

 the designs in question. 



In commencing a competition two ques'ions of the greatest importance na- 

 turally suggest themselves to the architect, first the sum of money to be e.'i- 

 pended, secondly the time allowed for preparing the plans, these are then 

 considered as fixed points to be scrupulously observed, and he proceeds ac- 

 cordingly, however, on the present occasion all such general rules appear to 

 have been treated with contempt by both parties, the facts of the case being 

 simply these,— Mr. Derrick, who sends in his dravyings at least two weeks 

 after the time specified, is appointed to carry out his designs, he bein- a 

 resident at Oxford, and having access, as any one had who was taken in by 

 a member of the college, to the room where all the drawings already sent in 

 were exhibited. The sum of £20 each has, I hear, been voted to Messrs. 

 Allom, Pugin, and another; the estimate of the furmer being flKOO more 

 than the sum mentioned to be expended (£5000),' and the second only sub- 

 mitting a pen and ink perspective view ot what he considered the building 

 ought to be, instead of sending plans, sections, and elevations as expectiil 

 from the other competitors. I most say I am much surprised at such a ter- 

 mination to a competition wdiich I hoped, knowing the high characters of 

 the parties who had to make the selection, would have proved itself a pattern 

 of justice and impartiality, and can only attribute U to a want of knowledge 

 bf business on their part, and must in conclusion call upon ihc profession 

 generally to come forward and appeal to the Instilutc of British Architects 

 to take the necessary steps to put an end (o a system marked with such gross 

 injustice. The Institute is an incorporated body ]iussessing a royal charter, 

 and It is scarcely necessary to add that public bodies can easily accomplish 

 that which a private individual would not venture to attempt. 



Unless some remedy is found lor this crying evil, these repeated acts of 



inconsistent conduct must necessarily lend to lower the profession in the eyes 

 <d' the public, and will end by destroying its respectahilily altogether, when 

 thi'y see such treatment as it constantly sull'ers borne with impunily, and 

 without any measures being taken to remedy the evil, and at the same time 

 protect professional men from wasting Iheir money and valuable time in such 

 an unprofitable manner. 



r>y inserting the above in your very useful paper you w ill put others on 

 their guard in future, and at the same time oblige your obedient servant, 



A Constant Reader. 



London, Nov. 25, 1844. 



1 This amount was not specilied in the printed instrntlions, but that can he no cxcnse 

 lor of course on so essential a point application would he made to the bursar of the col' 

 lege, who named £!>W> immediately n the sum to b« spent on the proposed new building. 



THE CAMBRIDGE CAMDEN SOCIETY. 



The Ecclaiclogisl. 



The present age is characterized by a retrospective spirit, which 

 prevails at once in literature, in science, and in art. At a time con- 

 fessedly favourable to the progress of knowledge, and to the discovery 

 and development of new ideas, there exists a mania for resuscitation, 

 a general anxiety that old intellectual treasures should not be forgotten 

 or neglected by reason of the abundance of new wealth. A feeling of 

 this nature cannot be objectionable per se, and if ever liable to objec- 

 tion, it will be only when exhibited in an intemperate manner, or on 

 unworthy objects. It is an almost universal feeling, and has manifested 

 itself in ways strangely various, and by eH'ecIs most ludicrously dis- 

 crepant. It has produced, for instance, the various societies which 

 republish obsolete and forgotten books, it has renewed a taste for old 

 music, resuscitated Bach and Jomelli, stimulated the study of the 

 older dramatists, and eftected the public performance of the plays of 

 Massinger. To this same endemic we owe the revival of the harpsi- 

 chord, and to it the fashion for frescoes and cartoons, Flanders chimes 

 and encaustic tiles ; and unconsciously inHuenced by one and the same 

 spirit Fanny Ellsler and Doctor Pusey have introduced, she the 

 minuets of the old French court at the opera, he the ail-but system of 

 theology at Oxford; at Cambridge the disease has assumed a mililer 

 form — it has terminated in a Camden Society. 



The Camden Society, most of our readers are aware, is a collection 

 of amateur architects, reverend tectonick enthusiasts, modern Nehe- 

 niiahs, who, under the somewhat pagan motto Donee lempla rtj'eceris, 

 aim at a radical reform of church architecture, send their younger 

 members flying about the country with "lead-tape" to copy mould- 

 ings, and with "heel-ball" (of the nature of which composition, as 

 well as the orthography of its name, we own ourselves profoundly 

 ignorant,) to rub avv.iy at old brass monuments and obtain delineations 

 of them; also hold monthly meetings with honorary president, hono- 

 rary secretary, and all complete ; restore churches and drive the in- 

 cumbents out of their senses by their modern-antique zeal, and finally 

 publish the somewhat flippant, and occasionally ungrammatical, but 

 withal, in many respects, excellent periodical before us — the"Ec- 

 clisiologist." 



That this publication has done much to revive the true spirit of 

 Christian architecture, to protect the old memorials of that art from 

 the injuries of time and the still more ruthless attacks of officious ig- 

 norance, to give back to the cathedral its grandeur, the village church 

 its simple beauty, none but the biassed will deny. Bui, alas, the un- 

 prejudiced observer will too often have reason to grieve that in a 

 cause so noble, and so worthily advocated, zeal has degenerated into 

 intolerance, confidence into dogmatism, boldness into bigotry, that 

 assertions have been made without proof, and maintained in defiance 

 of it ; that accidental accessories of the art have been mistaken fur its 

 fundamental principles, and mere architectural rules have been con- 

 founded, or at least intimately connected, with religious doctrine. 



If anything of human art may elevate the soul to noble purpose, 

 cheer it when exaninate, solemnize it in its careless or impassioned 

 moods, it is those venerable records of olden piety the stately minster 

 lifting itself up, sternly and alone, speaking thougli silently, and telling 

 ever wondrous stories of the dead and of the past; or the sweet sim- 

 ple country church, moss-grown, time-stained, which raises its beauti- 

 ful head above its coeval trees, the simple and touching memorial of 

 ancestral faith. 



If anything of human ignorance may excite indignation, instead of 

 pity or contempt, it is the meddling barbarism of churchwarden archi- 

 tecture, which mars the reverend piles more hopelessly than the 

 ravages of the elements, and still worse, far worse, the Wesleyan 

 Gothic of modern sciolism, which apes the ancient Christian archi- 

 tecture accurately enough to travesty it, and copies it in the letter 

 with a fatal fidelity by which its spirit is violated or altogether con- 

 cealed. How, then, must the lover of beauty grieve that they who 



3B« 



