1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



41 



(This very fine her.dWilkie ami I saw in the Town-liiiU nt Plimpton, 

 1809, iJi per/let pnscrcalioit. Would any mm of taste b;"lieve tliat 

 this portrait, given Ijy Sir Joshua, as a mark of respect, to tlie corpo- 

 ration of liis nativi' placf, for having elected liim mayor, km actually 

 sold, brought to town, olFered to the National Gallery and rcfuHid, and 

 what is now become of it nol)ody on earth knows ! 



Everybody concerned in this transaction ought to lose one tar ! — 

 B. R. H.) 



Miss Molesworlli— Drapery painted wilh oil colour first, after cera 

 alone. 



Miss Ridge, ditto. 

 Lady Granby, ditto. 



PriDcepe — on raw cloth senzi olio, Venice turp. et cera. (Seen by 

 Sir George the year before it was burnt at Belvoir, and said by him 

 to be perfect.— 13. R. H.) 



Aug. 1770. — Hope — My own copy, first oil, then Venice t. e cera, 

 verm, white and black, poi varnisht with Venice e cera — light red and 

 black. 



17S1.— Dido, oil. (In beautiful condition.— B. R. H.) Manner- 

 colours to lie used, Indian red, liglit ditto, blue and black, finisht with 

 varnish without oil, poi ritoccato con giallo. 



Thus end the extracts, and a more interestiug collection can hardly 

 be imagined. 



They shew Sir Joshua's eagerness for improvement, and the restless 

 uncertainly of his mind. Whilst he used every gum, and every spirit, 

 and every oil, which earth produces, to get the brilliiuit body of Titian's 

 colour, Tiliao had gone on quietly on one species of white ground, 

 viz. calcined pipe-clav and clialk '{vide Haqum's report on removing 

 Pietro Martyre from the wood), had never used anything but limted 

 oil ; all that geminy splendour, which Reynolds aimed at immediately, 

 was owing in Titian to the simple use of the simplest material, guided 

 by his exquisite feeling for tone, and leaving time to settle and conso- 

 lidate his surfiice, substance, and touch. 



I earnestly hope these extracts will not induce one student to cease 

 drawing hands and feet, head and body, or proceeding to master the 

 skeleton, muscles and construction, which great and solid principles 

 may now be said to have taken root all over England, and that they 

 will never indulge in sucli tricks and schemes till they can do so on 

 the firm foundation of drawing, and when that element is mastered 

 they may indulge in the wildest flights with security, and perhaps 

 honour. 



B. R. Haydo.v. 



ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF MILITARY ENGINEERS ON 

 ARCHITECTURAL WORKS. 



Sir, — In the letter by "A Civilian" which appeared inyour Journal 

 for May, 184 1, after alluding to military engineers in the Ordnance 

 and Admiralty departments, mention is made of "an humble, ill paid 

 individual, usually emanating from the carpenter's bench, and rising 

 through the grade of Foreman to what is called Clerk of Works" 



Happening to know something of the internal arrangements of the 

 engineering branches of the public service, it may be as well, for the in- 

 formation of those who are studying the several branches of the build- 

 ing profession, to state what were a few vears ago, and what are now, 

 the regulations in regard to the " civil" branch. Formerly, a gentle- 

 man who was candidate for the situation of Clerk of Works was 

 required to possess qualifications which could only be possessed by a 

 well educated architect. That i>rofession, like others, has overgrown, 

 and many men of talent were tempted to enter the service, under 

 prospects held out to them of future preferment and reward. The 

 engineering branch of the service ^lrogre^sed in intelligence, from the 

 description of persons by whom the situation of clerk of works was filled; 

 but whether the military branch of it found they could not mould men 

 of talent and education to their purposes, and drive and insult them 

 as they pli'ascd, or whether they had recourse to that change in the 

 mode of admission to the department, which was made on the recom- 

 nii'ndation of a committee, sucli as usually manages these matters, 

 for the purpose of obtaining the valjiable services of any of cur pro 



fessiond brethren that might be compelleil by untoward circumstances 

 to enter their department, at a less rate of pay, it is hard to determine, 

 for the greatest acts of nieanness and injustice are daily anil hourly 

 committed, by those w ho preside over the management (God save the 

 mark I) of that ill paid and insulted branch of her Majesty's service. 



Let any one acquainted with the mimitix and detail of the architect 

 and surveyor's profession go into the engineering ollice, at an extensive 

 station, and there inspect the work performed by that abused and ill 

 paid public servant ; let him watch the deep feeling of disgust with 

 which he performs his laborious duties, goadi'd by the annoyances of 

 those who (ri!ceiving seven or eight times the clerk of works' daily 

 pay), know little or nothing of the work to be performed, or one half 

 the mental labour to prepare those documents to which they allix their 

 names, and which, from ignorance of the time and attention requisite 

 to bestow on matters involving not only theoretical but practical 

 knowledge of an honourable and highly intellectual profession, are 

 hurried on with that precipitation which renders the duty of the 

 working part of the department one of the most perfect slavery. The 

 public work is thereby performed without proper consideration; and 

 if any censure is to be attached to the parties who execute such 

 works, the poor clerk of works is made the scape goat; if any praise, 

 the military engineer will take care he has that. But this is not all, 

 perhaps certain features of a design are agreed on, the affair is then 

 given to a cleik of works, or perhaps a poor, humble foreman of works 

 at Gs. per diem ! ! who has to prepare his designs, specification, work- 

 ing drawings, and detailed estimate, and superintend and measure the 

 work; and all this, which involves knowledge of a first-rate order, for 

 (is. or perhaps ?s. Vid. per diem ! ! Let us hear no more of the govern- 

 ment patronage of the fine arts, when such dirty shifts as these are 

 ri sorted to for raising public edifices. The public, or the profession, 

 little dream of the insult and degradation men of first rate talent are 

 often fated to endure; and who having embarked in a service, the 

 nature of which they were utterly ignorant of, are compelled to remain 

 in it, not from any iiking to it, but from having quitted the walks of 

 that profession in which they were brought up, and having, by an 

 iScnus/aliius, been led to enter the public service. True, indeed, is it 

 that worldly minded motives influence the English people, to the ex- 

 clusion of all others, and this is the cause vUiy they so shamefully neg- 

 lect men of genius and talent, and prefer those in whom worldly- 

 mindedness is the ruling principle ol character. Many a man, whom 

 the world applauds anil honours, gains his distinction from the position 

 in which fortune has placed him in society or oliice, and is indebted for 

 the foundation of his fame and fortune to another of more genius but 

 less knowledge of the world. This is a sad state of things, but it is 

 too true; anil those of rank, fortune, and power, it is much to be 

 lamented, are ever ready to countenance not only apathy, bat total in- 

 difference, to the sufferings and privations of men of known professional 

 talent. 



There are many highly estimable men who have direction of the 

 engineering department of the public service, but there are also those 

 who have called down the curses of their fellow men on their heads. 



It was once related that a certain was so obnoxious, from the 



tyranny and oppression exercised towards those under him, that four 

 individuals absolutely went on their knees and called down the most 

 horrid curses from Him, wdiom nature shudders at addressing as any 

 other than a God of peace and love. This is, indeed, an awlul pic- 

 ture of any branch of her Majesty's service, and in a country laying 

 claim to civilization, but it is nevectheless a true one. 



The statement of " Civilian" in your Journal of May, 1841, is one 

 which every man acquainted with the working of that branch of the 

 service to vvhich he alludes must admit to be faithfully drawn; and 

 " Veritas," who replies to him in June following, might luve saved 

 himself the trouble of showing out his figure, which there is little diffi- 

 culty in discerning to be warlike, although he states he is a "Civil 

 Engineer." 



Personal abuse ought never be resorted to, and it is with no wish to 

 wound the feelings of any indiviilual that these statements are made, 

 but from a wish that the profession, of which the writer is an humble 

 member, should know liovv matters are managed in the engineer 

 branch of the service, and that they should serve as a beacon to those 

 v%lio may make wreck not only of all worldly comfort, but of that 

 liap|)iness and peace of mind compared with which all the honours, 

 riches, and enjoyments of this world are as nothing. 



Bills are brought into parliament to emancipate black slaves, and 

 twenly millions of money given from the pockets of the Country for that 

 purpose! The poor labouring classes of the United Kingdom, who 

 work so many bonis wilh their hands, and are subjected to such pain 

 and privation ha\e very justly attracted tlii' sympathies and interest 

 of the country. Are men whom their God has endowed with a higher 

 order of iutclkct than either of these classes, (who are bound in the worst 



6 



