1847.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEEERAND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



95 



of tlie Hamburg-Bergedorf railway, a "d several other of our most iaflu- 

 eutial citizens, invited Mr. Giles to a grand dinner at Streil's Hotel, on 

 wliicli occasion ihey presented lijm vvitli a handsome piece of plate, and an 

 address, testifying their high appreciation of his professional and private 

 worth; expressing at the same time their deep regrets at his retirement 

 from among them." — Hamlmrgh Paper. 



King's College Engineering Society. — A Society has been instituted by 

 the sludenls of the Department of Applied Sciences. King's College, Lon- 

 don, for the purpose of the reading of Essays, the taking in of the various 

 scientitic puljlications, and forming a library of works connected with the 

 Department. There is at present a small library, quite inadequate to the 

 purpose, and we are surprised tlie Council of the College have not provided 

 the students with a better one. The students have been much assisted in 

 the formation of the Society by the Rev. M. O'Brien, M.A., Dean of 

 the Department, and by the other Professors. 



The Royal Academy. — In the Architectural department the Gold Medal 

 and the Discourses of Reynolds and West, will be given for the best design 

 for a Gothic church, the whole comprised in one general and regular com- 

 position. The design must be as large as an entire sheet of double ele- 

 phant will admit, and to consist of a plan, elevation, section, and perspec- 

 tive view. A Silver Medal will be given for the best figured drawing of 

 the entrance and interior of the Temple Church. 



Photographic Portraits. — Continued improvements are being made in 

 photography. Tlie latest which we have to record is the work of Mr. Kil- 

 burn, who has opened an establishment in Regent-street, where the speci- 

 mens on view are among the most perfect that we have yet seen. The 

 principal improvement is in colour, which, in Mr. Kilburn's portraits, has 

 not the prevailing defect of faintness, but possesses the depth and body of 

 a finished painting. This quality renders a portrait valuable as a work of 

 art, which is otherwise rarely the case— the likeness being generally the 

 only recommendation. Indeed, the process of colouring requires the same 

 care and skill as in an ivory miniature. Nor is this attention ill bestowed, 

 for the distinctness thus given to the subject has hitherto been a great 

 desideratum, the polished surface of the picture in most cases requirfn? a 

 peculiar direction of the light in order to distinguish its details.— Z>«i/i; 

 News. 



Westminster Abbey.— It is stated that the Dean and Chapter of West- 

 minster have very laudably determined on restoring to the tombs of Queen 

 Eleanor and King Henry V. the rich old contemporary iron-work, taken 

 down on the reconimeudalion of Sir Francis Chantrey, sold at so much a 

 cwt. to an ironmonger in Westminster, and subsequently rebouglit by the 

 Dean and Chapter, and allowed to rust in an adjoining vault. This iron- 

 ■work forms au integral part of each monument — the sculptor and smith 

 generally working, in medieval times, in the same spirit and to the same 

 end. Chanlrey's reason for recommending the removal of the whole of the 

 iron-work throughout the Abbey was, that it too often served as steps or 

 ladders to the Westminster boys to mutilate noses, &c., merely from wan- 

 tonness ; and to over curious collectors to climb to portions of monuments 

 otherwise beyond their reach. In many of the modern monuments the 

 ironwork was erected merely for proieclion, and not unoflen disfigured the 

 monument it was placed before. Here the recommendation was judicious, 

 but when it was extended to mediaeval monuments, a piece of barbarism 

 ■was committed not likely, we think and trust, to occur again. — A paper on 

 the same subject was read at a late meeting of the Freemasons of the 

 Church, by Mr. John Brown. He slated that in the Blaize chapel, in the 

 Abbey, is deposited the iron canopy which formerly surmounted the beau- 

 tiful tomb of Queen Eleanor. Neale, in his "History of M'estminster," 

 mentions that '• since the coronation, a considerable improvement has been 

 effected in the interior appearance of the Abbey Church, by a general 

 cleaning of the monuments and the removal of the iron-work which screened 

 them." Now, at this coronation, which must have been that of George the 

 Fourth, the iron-work not only of the tomb of Queen Eleanor, but that of 

 Henry V , were placed in the dark recesses of (he Blaize chapel, where 

 Wiey have been seldom viewed by parties who have visited the Abbey 

 The tomb of Henry V. is at the east end of the chapel ; the head of the 

 Jsicg, which the vergers say was made of silver, was taken away in the 

 time of the troubles. Neale says " all the damage in the Abbey was not 

 aotie m the time of the troubles." 



OBITUARY. 



We regret (o record the death of the distinguished artist, William Collins, 

 R.A., which took place on the 17ih ult., at his residence, Devunport- 

 street, Hyde-park-gardens. Mr. Collins was in his 59th yrar. Critics 

 jp art associate the name of Collins with everything that is pleasing in rural 

 lir^L-i" '''''^" P''='^'°S Hops," "Children gathering Blackberries," and 



Children examiniyg the Contents of a Net;" with everything that is 

 connected wnh (he Iffe of a fishrrmau on the sea coast, " Fishermen com- 

 3Dg Ashore beloie Sunrise," " Fishermen on the Look-out," and " Fisher- 

 men getting out their Nets." Mr. Collins was the son of a picture dealer 

 and cleaner— a mnn of ready wit- hut best remembered by his " Life of 

 Morland, the Paimer." His sou William was born in 1788, and e.\hibiled for 



the first time at the Royal Academy, in the year ISOO, at the age of twenty- 

 one. In IS15, he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 

 1829 a royal academician. A very considerable alteration was made by 

 i\lr. Collins in his style and manner of painting after his visit to Italy in 

 the years I8S7 and 183S. Like his friend Wilkie, he became ambitious of 

 greater efl^jrts, and visitors at the Academy were surprised to see an old 

 favourite quitting his sea shore scenes, his muscle gatherers, and shrimpers, 

 for "The Iwo Disciples of Emmaus," and "Our Saviour with the 

 Doctors in the Temple." The latter picture is now at Bowood, the seat of 

 the Marquis of Lansdowne. The head of Christ is uncommonly poor— 

 the heads of the doctors finely painted, but rather vulgarly conceived. The 

 colouring is very powerful and harmonious. But it is not by his more am- 

 bitious efforts that Mr. Collins will be tried ; some of his sea-shore scenes 

 are exquisitely irue to nature : and his " Rustic Civility," (boys opening 

 a gate,) and his " Happy as a King," (a boy swinging on the lop of a 

 gate,) are incidents happily conceived and charmingly painted His 

 " Fetching the Doctor," in the exhibition of 1845, possesses a quiet humour 

 ddferent altogether from any of his former efforts. Mr. Collins received a 

 large price for his pictures. 



RAIL'WAV IKTELliIGEWCE. 



Trent Valley. — The works on this line are fast advancing towards com- 

 pletion. The tunnel is driven Ihrougli, and nearly all bricked, and in a few days will be 

 finished. All the i-utlings are done, as are also all the bridges, and the whole of the tine 

 wilt be completed in a few weelcs ; but as it will be necessary to let the works consolidate, 

 the 1st of May has been named by the directors for opening. 



Dundalti and Enniskil/eii. — The works on this line are in such a forward 

 state that it will be opened tor passengers in November nest. 



Londonderry and EunisKitlen.— This line, betweeu Strabane and Derry, 

 is nearly completed, and about to be opened. 



Communication between Trieste and the Rhine. — The governments of 

 Austria and Bavaria have come to an agreement for establishing direct railway communi- 

 cation from Trieste to tlie Rhine. The agreement is to extend to Salzburg the line from 

 Trieste to Vienna, on which the Austrian government is actively employed, and after- 

 wards carry it as far as Munich. 



Cost of constructing Railways in France. — The financial reports presented 

 to the French government by the engineers charged with the construction of the three 

 radways in the centre of France, give the following estimate of the e."ipense. The section 

 between Vierzon and the conanence of the Allier and the Loire, the length of which is 

 3L'.194 metres, will cost 6,60(l,0i'Of., or i;3,9-(51. per kilometre. The section from Vienoa. 

 to Chateauroui-, of the length of 89.091 metrus, will cost S.L'BO.OOOf., being 138,379f. per 

 kilometre. The section from Chateauronx to Limoges, the length of which is /t),4l9 

 metres, will cost 15.000,000f ,or l9(),2o6f. per kilometre. These three sections will there- 

 fore cost 28,?>ii0,0t)l>f,, including the compensation for gror.nd, works of art, guard-houses, 

 &c. 



Railway from the Adriatic to the North .S'ca.— Extract of a letter from 

 Vienna: "The establishment of a railway from the coast of the Adriatic to the Norttl 

 Sea wilt probably meet with no other obstacles than those presented by ti:e immense ex- 

 tent of the line and the nature of the soil. At present it is difficult to decide whether 

 this tine will be finished sooner than that fr m Marseilles to the Dover Straits, We, 

 however, think that the German line will be the first completed, from the fact that several 

 large sections are already constructed, viz. : from Cilley to Bruck, fiom Munich to Augs- 

 burg, from Bruchsat to Manbeim, from Bonn to Cologne, and from Cologne to Ostend. 

 Bavaria displays the greatest activity in uniting its railways with those of Austria by the 

 frontier of the circle of Salzburg. 



Amiens and Boulogne.— Opening of the Abbeville Section. — This line, 

 which will offer such facilities for intercourse between Paris and London, as it unites 

 with the Northern line at Amiens, is in such an advanced state that the opening of the 

 Amiens and Abbeville section is fixed for the ist instant. This section is 45 kilometres 

 in length, and is divided into seven stations, viz.: Amiens, the point of departure, Aitly, 

 Picquigny, Hangest, Longpre, Pont Remy, and Abbeville. The company has just sub- 

 mitted to the superior administration its rate of charges for passengers, parcels, fish, 

 merchandise, &c. 



Rouen and Havre. — The council o( ponts et chaiissr'cs has not yet come to 

 a decision respecting the further tests which are to be applied to the viaducts on this 

 line to determine the solidity of the works. In the meanwhiie, however, the company is 

 making active preparations for opening the line in the beginning of this month. The 

 intended rate of charges has been submitted to the authorities. The length of the line is 

 95 kilometres, and there will be t!ie following 11 stations :— Rouen, Maromme, Malaw- 

 nay, Barentin, Panilly, MolbvUle, Eyvetut, Alvimare, St. Uomain, Harfleur, and Havie. 



London, Brighton, and S0uth Coast. — The Lords of the Admiralty have 

 given their sanction to the proposed alterations in connexion with this line at Newhavea 

 harbour. The works on ihe line are rapidly progressing in several parts, and the works 

 at the harbour will commence immediately. 



The Birkenhead and Chester E.vtension will, it is said, be opened on the 

 3Ist of March. 



Reading and Hungerford. — The branch line of rail from Reading to 



Hungerlord, througti Newbury, is rapidly progressing, and it is expected will be fully 

 completedfor the general traffic by the first ol June. The branch line will be 26 miles 

 in length. 



Ipswich and Bury. — Extension to Norwich. — Mr. Locke has completed 

 a re-survey of this line, by which it has been much improved, and the work and time for 

 completion has been diminished. The contract for the entu-e line has been let to Messrs. 

 Brassey. Active operations upon the iieuviest part of the line will commence immedi. 

 ateiy. 



Waterford and Limerick Railway. — The Treasury minute has been re- 

 ceived, authoiising the above company to construct 50 miles of earth-works. Thus will 

 many thousands be employed immediately on a truly reproductive work, and the labour- 

 rate will cease on Ihe baronies through which it passes — at least in a great measure, 

 Tsveoty-eight miles of this railway opens from Limerick to Tipperary on the first of May. 

 The engines and carriages are ready; the latter were all manufactured in Ireland. 



