1845] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



333 



THE BOOKSELLERS' PROVIDENT RETREAT. 



If the Booksellers be, as Johnson said of them, the best p itrons of 

 literature— as no doubt they are whou its inten sts happen exactly to 

 coini-ide willi and promote their own — they show themselves to be 

 about the very worst patrons of architecture, for they have just pa- 

 tronized a most wretched design for their Provident Retreat, at Abbot's 

 Langley; the first stone of which was laiil ou the 3rtl of September ; 

 Ibe better and more sensible part of the ceremony on tlie occ isiou 

 being an early cold dinner, called, for gentility's sake, a breakfast. 

 There was, of course, the usual dose of speeches to be swallowed, as 

 well as eatables and drinkables, yet, somehow or other, nothing was 

 said with respect to the intended building; nor did the Earl of Claren- 

 don, in return for the compliments paid him, venture to compliment 

 the booksellers upon thi- t.iste they had shovvu in their selection of a 

 design. We admit that the matter is not one of any great moment 

 in itself, yet the Booksellers might, for the same outlay as they con- 

 template, have a building very far superior in architectural quality to 

 many that are very much larger, and which now stand as so many 

 lamentable records'of opportunities thrown away. The getting one 

 paltry thing the more may seem a mere trifle, but then it is no trille 

 to tiiid a number of paltry and ridiculous things stuck up all over 

 the country: the items are insignificant, but the ainount is a fearful 

 one. " Take care of the pence" is a very good maxim in architectural 

 matters, as well as in money matters: if we study good taste in our 

 buildings generally, let them belong to whatever class they may, there 

 will be no danger of either bad taste, or want of taste, being shown in 

 our public edifices and monumental structures; whereas, although 

 there is no lack of excitement and talking whenever a competition 

 takes place for something worth scrambling for, as holding an unusually 

 lucrative prize, ordinary competitions are passed over as matters of no 

 interest or concern to any one except the parties actually engaged in 

 them. 



People have a right, it will be said, to please themselves; true — 

 yet, even this right must be understood, ctuu grario salis, or it might, 

 in time, be extended to the privilege of pleasing one's-self by putting 

 one's hand into another persun's pocket. The right is a qualified and 

 limited one : a man is perfectly at liberty to go into a shop and cull 

 out from the articles oH'ered for his selection one of the very worst 

 patterns of all ; but no set of men, let them call themselves what they 

 may, have any right to invite architects to send in drawings to a com- 

 petition under the pretence of intending to choose the best design — or, 

 if not the very best of all, still, one of real merit, and then select the 

 very worst — or what must be considered such by those who do not 

 know that there was something slill worse offered. At airy rale, it 

 would be merely honest were committees to say to competitors, " We 

 do not pretend to be judges of architecture ; we do not pledge our- 

 selves to select the best design that may be sent in ; we only want to 

 have the opportunity of rummaging over whatever you shall think fit 

 to show us ; and as to choosing a design from them — why, in that we 

 mean to pltase ourselves." Had the booksellers thus forewarned the 

 competitors, we could have admired their sincerity, if nothing else. 

 But what is the position in which the Booksellers — their committee at 

 least — have placed themselves? Whether it was knowingly, nr 

 through sheer ignorance, they have chosen such a despicably maudlin 

 and wretched design, that it proclaims either their injustice and bad 

 faith towards the other competitors, or their own utter incapacity and 

 bad taste. That choice is so far an injury to others who may be 

 known to have engaged in the competition, as the natural, though irr- 

 considerate inference is, that bad as the one chosen may be, not one 

 of the others was so good. Even granting for a moment that such 

 really was the case, the only way then left for the committee, if they 

 bad a grain of taste in them, was to reject the designs, one and all, as 

 being every one of thera far below the mark, and as manifesting com- 

 plete ignorance of style, and of every architectural quality. We 

 should very much like to know upon what grounds the committee 

 justified to themselves the choice they have made; or are we to 

 suppose that the sckclion was conducted alter the manner of a rajjk, 

 and that they left luck to decide for them ? If so, they certainly can- 

 not boast of their good fortune, though the author of the design has 

 uo reason to be dls>atistied with his. We should, too, like to know 

 if, after choosing such a design, any one of the committee could dare 

 to look any of the other competitors in the f.ice? 



Committees may not be formally responsdjle to any one for their 

 proceedings, or li.eir decisions, but they ought at least to be made to 

 leel that they are in some measure responsible lo public opinion, ami 

 should be taught that if they refuse to jiay deference to it, they must 

 expect nothing else than its hissings and its hootings. The Book- 

 Sellers' committee Lave fairly exposed themselves to derision, because, 



allhongh they themselves say nothing, the choice they have made 

 proclaims aloud for them — T/im is our lasle! We do not pretend to 

 sav why we have come to such conclusion, but this is, in our opinion, 

 the best and most suitable design among all that were offered us. So 

 long as il satisfies us, we care not who may be dissatisfied; and it is 

 sheer impertinence in other people to inquire into our reasons. 



Admitting that the power of acting just as they please, confers on 

 committees ami other bodies the right of exercising, « discnlion, 

 similar power gives public opinion the undoubted right of expressing 

 itself without restraint ; so that at any rate there is right pitted against 

 right, though on which side mighl lies is not yet decided. Some may 

 think the particular case hardly calls for such animadversion, yet it is 

 [irecisely owing lo the practice of winking at the arbitrary proceedings 

 of committees on ordinary occasions, that the general system of com- 

 petition has grown up to what it is — a notoriously corrupt one, stamped 

 by chicanery, favoritism, and intrigue, by shameless bad faith towards 

 competitors, and frequently by the most shameless bad taste on the 

 part of judges, who seim to have b^en appointed on account of their 

 stupidity. 



COAL FIELDS I\ CHINA. 



I5v K. C. Tavlob. 



{i'rom tlu Journal of the Franklin Institute.) 



In the East Indies various depots of European coal have been establish- 

 ed, for the service of the British goverumeut steamers. This fuel, for the 

 most part, it is uri<lerstood, consists of the anlliracitous and partially bitu- 

 minous coals of South Wales, of course obtained at great expense. It ap- 

 pears that 5000 tons of English coal, at a freightage of about il. per tun, 

 are annually imported into Bombay, for the Company's steamers. Bitu- 

 minous coals have been derived from much less distant sources; among 

 which the Burdwan coal (ield, in the vicinity of Calcutta, may be uauied. 

 Mergui Island, also, in the Bay of Bengal, has lately furnished some steam 

 coal lo Singapore. The sleam ships ou the China seas, during the war 

 with that vast country, were supplied from these various sources. 



It is probable that coal was discovered, and was in common use in 

 China, long before it was knowu in the western world. It is mentioned 

 by a noble traveller of the 13lh century, as abounding throughout the whole 

 province of " Cathay," of which Pekin is the capital, " where certain 

 black stones are dug out of the mountains, which stones burn when kindled, 

 and keep alive for a long time, and are used by many persons, notwiih. 

 standing the abundance of wood." 



Among the people of Pekin, three kinds are in use. 



1. That emplojed by the blacksmiths. It yields more flame than the 

 other qualities ; is more tierce, but is subject to decrepitate in the lire ; ou 

 which account, probably, the blacksmiths use it pounded in miuute par- 

 ticles. 



2. A harder and stronger coal used for culinary purposes, giving out 

 more (lame than tlie other sorts so employed ; it is less quickly cuusuuied, 

 and leaves a residuum of gray ashes. There are several gradations of 

 these. The best are bard to break, of a fine grain, a deep black colour, 

 soiling Ihe hands less than the others. It sometimes is sufficiently siliceous 

 to give the lire with steel. Others have a very coarse grain, are easilv 

 broken, and make a bright lire, leaving a reddish ash. Another specie's 

 crackles, or decrepitates, when first placed on the fire; and falls down, 

 almost entirely, iu scales, which close the passage of the air, and stifle lUo 

 fire. . 



3. A soft, feebly burning coal, giving out less heat than the 2iid class ; 

 consuming more quickly, it breaks widi greater facility, and in general is 

 of deeper black than the sorts previously mentioned. It is commonly this 

 description, which, being mixed with coal dusi and a fourth part oiclay, 

 is employed to form an artificial and economical fuel. This being moulded 

 iu the form of bricks and balls are sold in the shops of Pekiu. Wa^oii 

 loads of coal dust are hrouglit to that city fcr this sole purpuse. 



Nearly the whole of Ihe pioperlies and applications are now in every- 

 day use in the United States, and are familiar to all. They are, in fact, 

 the natural results suggested by qualities possessed iuconimun by the com- 

 bustibles of remote parts of ihe same globe. Even ihe modern method of 

 warming all Ihe apartmenls of our dwellings, which we view as tlie result 

 of sui)erior practical and scientific investigation, was in use with very 

 liule deviation, centuries ago, by ihe Chinese. Many a patented artificial 

 fuel compound, both in Europe and America, has been iu practical opera- 

 tion iu Cliina, at least a thousand years. 



4. Anthracite. Anotherdescriptionof coal abounding about 30 lea"urs 

 from Pekin, but which was not then iu such general use there as the o°tlier 

 kinds, is called by the Chinese Che-tan. Che means a stone, but Ian is 

 the name they give to wood charcoal. Therefore, according to the ■'enius 

 of Ihe Chinese language, lliis compound word signilies a substance resem- 

 bling or having the common properlies of stone and charcoal. There can 

 be little difiiculty here iu recognising the variety of coal which, in our 

 day, has been denominated anthracite, a compoiiud word of similar mean- 

 lug. 



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