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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. [November, 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 



FASCICULUS LXVI. 



" I must have liberty 

 Wilhal, as large a charter as the winds, 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. The tables are now completely turned ; — after being contemptuously 

 derided anil rejected as utter barbarism, Gothic Architecture has come 

 nearly all at once to be considered by us the architecture par excellence, 

 and to be regarded with a degree of earnest and apparently sincere affec- 

 tion on the part of the public generally — that portion of it at least which 

 has any voice in such matters, — that contrasts most forcibly with the posi- 

 tive indifference, and the gross ignorance resulting from that indifference, 

 in regard to those styles which are of more universal application, not only 

 among ourselves, but throughout all Europe ; and which, moreover, must 

 continue to be so. Without saying that by far too much atlention is now 

 given to the study of Gothic architecture and ecclesiastical archasology, it 

 may truly be affirmed, that by far too little is bestowed on the study of the 

 art generally. Most assuredly it is not on account of a competent know- 

 ledge of it being more easily acquired than that of Grecian and I!oman,aud 

 the styles derived from them, that Gothic architecture recommends itself to 

 amateur students, since it is by far more complex — beyond all comparison 

 more intricate. Whether it be that Gothic is thought belter calculated for, 

 and is better relished as an amateur pursuit, on account of its not having 

 been reduced to dry and formal technical rules and measurements, and so 

 far answers more to the character of art, and the study of it accordingly is 

 looked upon as a less mechanical one than that of our usual styles, — and a 

 good deal may be attributed to this particular view of the matter, — most 

 indisputable it is, that Gothic now engrosses public favour and attention 

 almost entirely. As far as that style is concerned, we seem most anxiously 

 solicitous to do the very best we can, according to our means and our 

 knowledge — though it must be admitted, that we do not always show our 

 knowledge in pr< 'portion to our means and the occasion afforded ; and such 

 solicitude is praiseworthy enough ; but then, on the other band, we are just 

 as markedly indifferent to all that is not Gothic. The worthy public appear 

 to be of opinion that whatever be done in any other style of architecture than 

 Gothic, it is noaffair of theirs, — that it is one in which neither they, nor good 

 taste and our national credit for art, are interested ; — one so completely out 

 of their jurisdiction, that they have no right to exercise even the control of 

 opinion over it. National monuments and monumental structures may be 

 left to take their chance for turning out bad or good, — if the former, well ; 

 if otherwise, " "tis pity, but it can't now be helped !" — and what is almost 

 tlie worst part of the matter is, that no warning is taken by us from pre- 

 vious signal failures and unlucky mishaps of the kind, but mischief is left 

 to work undisturbedly till it brings us to that wonderfully consolatory 

 " Can't be helped." 



II. If we could now get rid entirely of all the other styles employed by 

 us, and henceforth confine ourselves to Gothic alone, as our national, uni- 

 versal, and exclusive one for buildings of every class, both public and pri- 

 vate, there would be something like reason and good sense in the giving 

 our undivided study and solicitude to that one style of the art. We might 

 then be justified in treating all the others as Gothic itself was treated at the 

 "Revival," by the classical or raiher pseudo-classical school, who fairly 

 kicked it out of doors as ao illshapeu monster — a hideous Caliban brute, 

 that had taken possession of, and defiled the sanctuary of art. If we ac- 

 tually can discard all other styles, well and good ; but surely so long as 

 we either are under the positive necessity of having recourse to them, or 

 continue to make use of them voluntarily, the public ought to be just as 

 much interested in understanding those styles, and in securing for them- 

 selves equally worthy productions of their kind in them, as in Gothic, if 

 they can at all distinguish between what is good and bad — what is in con- 

 formity with, or in opposition to, the professed style in other modes of archi- 

 tecture. Why then, if it be worth while to cultivate architectural taste at 

 all, should it be cultivated only on one side, when one side is not sufficient 

 for us? Or, if we can tolerate the most crude abortions for our national — 

 at least public-edifices, for those which, if not ornaments, are very conspi- 

 cuous objects in cities — provided they do not come under the denomination 

 of Gothic, why should we be so especially anxious and fastidious in regard 

 to the latter style, — so excessively scrupulous as to literal exactness for 

 every particular io our modern imitations of itf If any sort of Grecian — or 



whatever else be its particular naiue — will serve our purpose, any sort of 

 Gothic might do so just as well. Why it does not — why we are so much 

 less patient of bad Gothic than of bad anything else, is easily explained : 

 the public have begun to take up the study of it as a pet pursuit, and the 

 taste for it is now growing and spreading itself very rapidly. Wonderful 

 to say, people have at length discovered, or are beginning to discover — at 

 least as far as Gothic is concerned — that there is considerable interest in 

 the study of architecture for its own sake, and as matter of taste and mental 

 occupation, without the slighest reference to any farther results, and with- 

 out any interference from the question of cui bono ? The same might also 

 be the case with the study of architecture generally, were but the silly pre- 

 judices which stand in the way of its being done, once resolutely pushed 

 aside. 



III. Hardly would the taste for Gothic architecture have extended it- 

 self as it has done, had it been looked upon io the same light as the study 

 of the art taken generally, is; for that seems to be considered of no value 

 or interest except to those who pursue it professionally, — dry and dull 

 difficult of acquisition, and useless when acquired ; in short, a study which 

 any well-educated person may avow or betray his utter ignorance of 

 without the least discredit to his information or his taste. The excep- 

 tion in favour of Gothic architecture as a recreative study, seems to be 

 partly owing to its not having fallen into the clutches of professional men, 

 and been chopped up by them into dry ruies, and formal professional trea- 

 ties. For the impulse in the direction of Golhicism, — at first considered 

 a widely errant and eccentric one, — we are indebted not to professional but 

 to amateur students ; to the diligence with which they have prosecuted 

 their inquiries, and to their industry in communicating to the public the 

 fruits of their labours. The zeal w hich they have manifested in this last 

 respect, and their efforts to disseminate more and more widely a relish for 

 their own pursuits, certainly form a distinguishing trait between them and 

 professional men generally, and have perhaps caused some feeling of soreness 

 and jealousy on the part of the latter. It is not every one, however, that has 

 been equally courageous or else equally indiscreet as Gvvilt, when he ven- 

 tured both openly and in the most marked manner to censure those who 

 not being professional persons take upon themselves to write upon Gothic 

 architecture, or arcliitecture at all ; hinting at the same time pretty plainly 

 that they were not only very officious with their services where they were 

 not wanted, but that they neglected their own proper duties, while attempt- 

 ing to study what they could not understand. Yet it i« mainly to writers 

 of that class that the public are indebted for what knowledge of Gothic 

 architecture they possess, and for the means of studying it; nor is it the 

 public alone who have been so benefited, but professional men also. There- 

 fore even admitting that the labours of such writers may be more or less 

 unsatisfactory and imperfect, still they ought to be received by those in 

 the profession with some sort of graciousness as free-offering coutributiuns 

 towards the common stock of architectural information. Or if architects 

 deem it both mischievous and presumptuous that any other than themselves 

 should undertake to instruct the public, why do not they themselves take 

 up the pen? — why do they not condescend to abate a little of their pro. 

 fessional dignity — I have heard it sometimes called sulkiness — and write 

 upon their art, in its character of a liberal study, unconnected with the 

 merely operative processes of building? 



IV. The truth is, very few profe.-sional writers upon architecture seem 

 at all to understand what kind of information it is that other persons re- 

 quire, or how to communicate it in an attractive and interesting manner. 

 They are apt — whether they do it wilfully or not — to make strange mys- 

 teries of many things which if properly explained would be found perfectly 

 simple and intelligible. They scarcely ever care to enter intotheraiiona/eof 

 the matters they treat of, or to elucidate principles. Even as regards the 

 Orders, their knowledge for the most part appears to be little better than 

 empirical — merely such as is acquired by memory and by rote ; and after all 

 our slavish mechanical copies of the Orders, employed as they are on every 

 occasion alike with the most wearisome repetition, say more for the skill 

 of the mason, than for any sort of mind or imagination on the part of the 

 architect who designs them. Whereas it may be presumed, that a real 

 knowledge of the orders and members of ancient architecture, founded upon 

 artistic study of them, would enable architects to do much more with them 

 than merely reproduce them according to extant examples, even therein 

 limiting themselves to a very few, without so much as trying to catch a 

 single fresh idea from other models, which, though they may be less per- 

 fect and less satisfactory upon the whole, afford hints that we ought to 

 take advantage of. By adopting a system of mere copying — which now, 

 that the examples in use are all to be found accurately drawn out in en- 



