82 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



I have a vo'ume of fiicts from tlie experience of five or six other 

 persons of similar character. Now, Sir, if these unquestionable errors 

 of our practice and flefects of our established usages and institutions, 

 which strike at the root of all the best impulses and dearest ties of the 

 community, do not prove the want of an Exposition I shall cease to 

 judge of facts by my senses, or call n|)on those of other men. Now to 

 the ways and means I propose for forming their Exposition. 



To raise live thousand shares — devisable by will, but not transfer- 

 able in the way of traffic— at ten pounds per share, with calls of £1 

 only at periods to be fixed, and with powers to call for a future ten 

 pounds on each share, or raise additional shares of the same value 

 and in the same manner, would amply suffice. 



The commencement of course requires some funds; hut in a. bo jici/ide 

 utilitarian cause, and which could scarcely fail in its objects and end, 

 scores of capitalists would be ready to aid us. It might be provided 

 that as soon as one thousand shares are subscribed — the business of 

 the Institution was to commence. If all party feeling, all political and 

 polemical prejudice be excluded, I have no doubt of success : a cora- 

 xnittee of friends to the cause should be at once solicited, a secretary, 

 pro tempore, appointed, &c. &c. 



A council of twenty-four should govern the affairs ; six councillors 

 going out every year and others chosen. The secretary, collector and 

 servants alone to be paid. 



On deciding upon a plan of building, such should be chosen as 

 would admit of each portion being part and parcel of an uniform 

 whole, and so constructed at first that it might be gradually enlarged. 

 With reference to receipts beyond [laid up capital — first, there would 

 be certain ones arising from fees of one shilling, to be paid on admis- 

 sion, in every five pounds value of the admitted article; secondly, 

 one shilling from each visitor Wmitted on any one of the four days of 

 the week when it is not open for gratuitous admission, Monday and 

 Tuesday being devoted for public admittance gratuitously. There 

 would also be the gifts and bequests from the affluent. 



WlLHELM DE WiNTERTON. 



December 4, 1844. 



ON MONUMENTS. 

 (Abridged from the Ecclcsiologlst.^ ) 



The theory and proprieties of Christian Monuments have naturally engaged 

 considerable attention during the last few years, as forming a most important 

 part in that revival ot architectural laste, which seems at length to have par- 

 tially dawned in this country. Much investigation of ancient examples, and 

 much eloquent enforcement of their universally tine feeling and graceful 

 beauty, have already effected more than we might have hoped for in improv- 

 ing modern practice, and in checking that restless and ill-judging caprice, 

 which owned no standard of excellence, and had no consciousness of the ab- 

 surdities of its own creation. The half-naked marble effigy, the heathen em- 

 blems of inverted torch and cinerary vase, the pediment and the pilaster, the 

 cupld and the cherub, have given place, in many a church, to the Catholic 

 symbol of the blessed Cross, the glowing Memorial window, or the consoling 

 and inspiring portraitures of Saint and Angel. Once more will monuments 

 .represent the departed, sleeping, as of old, in hopeful peace: not dead, ex- 

 tinct, annihilated, nor agam in any unreal attitude of life ; but only as it 

 were, in expectant slumber, withdrawn bat for a time from their fellowship 

 with earth. In a word, we are beginning to feel the force and meaning of 

 these things, and heartily to abjure and detest the wretched and profane 

 trash which, for the last two centuries, has distigured our churches. 



So searching has been the enquiry into this subject, that perhaps little now 

 remains to be said about monuments, viewed simply as architectural features. 

 It will not be our object to attempt to throw additional light on what is 

 already well understood, but rather to discuss the ancient principles in con- 

 nexion with present usage, in order to point out what kinds of monuments 

 are best unilt-r particular circumstances, and how they may be treated in an 

 age which refuses unconditionally to accept, even on questions of architec- 

 tural propriety, the authority of medieval antiquity. 



The evils of sepulture within the walls of churches are now beginning to 

 be felt and acknowledged. Many an old church has already been brought to 

 the grotmd from this cause ; and many more are, to this day, distorted, dis- 

 jointed, and seriously endangered (as was our own St. .Sepulchre's, till its re- 

 Cf nt restoration), from the lapsing of the foundations through the same means. 

 And though this extensive mischief has generally been caused by the most 

 culpable carelessness, and might perhaps be easily avoided in future, still 

 there are other reasons which combine to render the practice decidedly ob- 



jectionable, except under certain circumstances, which we shall hereafter ex- 

 plain. 



All the ancient monuments which are to be met with in this country, may 

 be classed under eight general heads. 



These are : 



1. .Sculptured coffin-stones. 



2. Recumbent efligies. 



3. Plain and low sepulchral recesses, with or without either of the abova. 



4. Brasses and incised slabs. 



5. Canopied mural tombs, differing from (3) in size, projection from tlie 

 wall, and degree of richness. 



6. High-tombs, often bearing a brass or an effigy of stone or alabaster. 



7. Floor-crosses and Lombardic slabs. 



8. Sunken effigies, i.e., slabs showing a part only of a figure, in an open 

 circle or quatrefoil, at the head or feet, or both. 



Each of these will demand a few observations as to their appropriate use. 



For a Founder, especially if of rank or consequence, nothing can be more 

 correct than a low arched recess in the chancel or aisle wall, provided the 

 style be not later than Decorated. A low shelf, or ledge of maaonry, should 

 be placed under it against the wall, upon which either a recumbent effigy with 

 clasped hands may be laid, or a coifin-stoup, sculptured in bold relief with a 

 floriated Cross. If it be preferred, it is still less expensive to lay down a flat 

 slab of dark native marble, bearing an incised Cross with fioriated stem and 

 calvary, and with the arms or badge of the deceased by the side, and a legend 

 cut in deep characters round the edge. This is an elegant and simple design. 

 At the .same time we should have some hesitation in recommending its intro- 

 duction in an ancient church, which would in some sort be committing an 

 anachronism ; but in a new edifice, and under the above circumstances, it is 

 perhaps almost exclusively correct. For it is probable that founders' tombs 

 were peculiar both in position and design. Even now they are common 

 enough in the north wall of chancels, though a vast number may have been 

 destroyed in demolishing credences and sepulchres, for which they were often 

 used, or may now lie hidden behind wooden altar-panelling. If the founder 

 of any new church should desire this ancient form of sepidture, the tomb 

 might very well be constructed during his life-time, and a recess prepared 

 under the wall in laying the foundations. Such anticipative works were ex- 

 tremely common in ancient times, as we may infer from dates and names 

 partly cut and never finished. 



Recumbent effigies are confessedly among the most touching and interest- 

 ing ornaments of a church. We doubt if any object more strongly arrests 

 the attention of all, whether young or old, learned in, or ignorant of Eccle- 

 siology, than the simple figure, as it lies prostrate over the tomb, ungraceful 

 though it be in its drapery -folds, and rudely severe in its outlines. The 

 cross-legged knight in his hauberk of mail ; the bishop with chasuble and 

 staff; the abbess in wimple and habit. 



The same, but in a much less degree, might be said of Brasses. Here how- 

 ever we have no hesitation in urging our artists to recover so fine and effec- 

 tive a department of Catholic art. We believe that brasses are the most 

 fitting kind of monument that, under general circumstances, could be adopted. 

 When we consider that their cost would not e.iceed, and seldom equal, that 

 of mural tablets, we shall think it strange indeed that a positive and most 

 unsightly disfigurement should so long have been universally preferred to 

 one of the greatest ornaments which a church can possess. There may in- 

 deed be at present a difficulty in procuring them of correct execution, and 

 reasonable cost, though we shall always be glad to give information how this 

 may be done ; but a general demand for them would immediately produce the 

 requisite supply.* 



Sculptured or incised slabs are precisely on the same principle as brasses, 

 for which they were probably a less costly substitute. These are generally 

 late, and of alabaster; but early examples are found, sometimes on high 

 tombs. It may be remarked that various slabs of this kind are sometimes 

 marked with five small Crosses, like altar-stones, as at St. Peter's, Temps- 

 ford, Bedfordshire; a circumstance likely to mislead. We have met with 

 several other instances ; one at St. John's, Stamford. 



The canopied mural tomb is the most costly and beautiful of all monuments. 

 It ought to have crockets, pinnacles, finials, shafts, buttresses, panels, and 

 tracery, with under-groinings, colour, gilding, and diapers, according to the 

 style and design. In some cathedrals these stand isolated like a shrine ; but 

 this is rarely the case in parish churches, where they are almost always 

 strictly murnl^ Generally they are formed in the wall, which is recessed to 

 the depth of about two feet, to include a table-tomb without projecting beyond 

 the wall-line. Effigies seem the most usual and appropriate complements of 



2 We have seen soroe excellent brasses furnished by the Messrs. Walker, of Londgn. 

 One large double brass, with canopies and legend, cost j^60; another, a floriated Cross, 

 with calvary and legend, jtM6. We take this opportunity of informing our readers that 

 these gentlemen have made arrangements for mailing monumental brasses to any size and 

 degree of richness. 



3 The most beautiful example within seven miles of Cambridge, is at AU Saints, Land., 

 beach. The fine specimens at St. Michael, Truropington, and All Saints, Utile Shelford, 

 may also be mentioned. 



