1847.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



275 



of prosperity has there been less political agitation than in 1847, when a 

 general election is held, during which party feeling is almost extinct. 



The experience of every fact conlirms the truth of that theory which 

 asserts that railways are not made with new capital or new labour, but by 

 the increased energy of the labour of the country. This or something like 

 it must be the truth, and it is neither inconsistent, nor improbable; no more 

 80 than the admitted fact, that while the ratio of agricultural labourers is 

 diminishing, the extent of cultivation and production is increasing, 

 • If new labourers and new food be not required for railway purposes, 

 new capital cannot be required to the amount proposed, and the capital re- 

 quired can only be the small amount of ready money necessary for the tem- 

 porary representation or "clearing" of the transactions. 



This may appear very diflicult of belief to those who conceive that every 

 figure of £ 5. d. put forward must be the representation of solid bullion ; 

 but it has nevertheless the guarantees of truth. The development of the 

 machinery whereby a hundred million's worth of railways is produced in a 

 year may elude analysis in our imperfect acquaintance with the true opera- 

 tions of currency, but it does not invalidate the conclusions. Me may ex- 

 pect that as the machinery acquires perfection the operations will enlarge, 

 and it is instructive to look back for a few years and to witness our present 

 progress. In 1810 a return of railway calls, made by iMr. Earle Langston, 

 a Manchester sharebroker, gave as the total for that year, £7,191,390. 

 This sura, during the time of getting it in caused the greatest alarm, the 

 calls in the first quarter of 1840 amounting to no less a sura than £2,106,090, 

 and it was pronounced utterly impossible for the resources, capital, in- 

 come, and surplus revenue of the country to produce any such sum. It 

 was, however, produced. 



In 1847 the amount of calls in some single weeks was as much as the 

 whole yearly amount of 1840 ; and we are not aware, notwithstanding what 

 the rimes says, that the capital of the country is exhausted. 



We cannot conceal the uneasiness with which we contemplate the pro- 

 spects of the country in reference to railway operations, in consequence of 

 recent operations and events. When the continuous period of depression 

 arrives, and when it is most difficult to work the financial machinery, the 

 construction of railways will have so far diminished, that the means of 

 adequate employment and exercise for the working population will not be 

 found. If, in consequence of this year's abundant harvest, and the fall in 

 prices which will result, a period of speculation and share gambling should 

 next year arise, it cannot now be directed towards railways, and will there- 

 fore, in all probability, take the only open field of foreign raining, which is 

 under no such restrictions; and therefore the evil of 1825 may be renewed. 



We will only say a few words by way of conclusion. '• Let railways 

 be free, and the less legislation and inspection the better for the country." 



THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 

 No. II. 

 The dispersion of the Greek and Roman antiquities consequent upon the 

 demolition of the old rooms, and tne non-completion of the new ones, causes 

 some confusion, and there is a ditiiculty in finding them ; but this will soon 

 he remedied. The arrangement is altogether so imperfect, that it leads us 

 to remarks more discursive than they otherwise would be. It is, however 

 the temptation of a large collection like that of the British Museum, to pre- 

 sent a great variety of objects to the gaze, and to excite at each moment 

 some new thought, little dependent on those which have just gone before. 

 This is the great medicinal power of such collections to a mind diseased or 

 worn down ; it is a quality of refreshing the jaded thoughts, of awakening 

 new ones, of alluring the weary gaze, a temptation now to close and busy 

 scrutiny, anon to sit down in quiet meditation. We may call such a place a 

 sanatorium for the artist and man of taste, while it is the best place of ex- 

 ercise and refreshment for one in the full vigour of his powers. The Museum 

 is however much less visited by architects and other artists than might be 

 expected, though it is not neglected by the amateur. If we are to judge by 

 their modes of acting, our English professors have strange ideas as to the 

 cultivation of taste, for they seem to think that it will grow and feed, like 

 some exotic plants, on air, or rather grow without feeding. How many men 

 are to be found not wanting in means, who have neither library nor museum, 

 who never read, and who never study works of art at home and abroad, but 

 trust to the daily plodding of an office as their only school. 



In going round the Museum, and seeing the number of unintelligent, nay 

 even of bruialized and debauched countenances among the visitants, the 

 question is naturally raised, "Can the Museum do such parties any good.'" 

 Take, for instance, those least capable of appreciating the immediate worth 

 of the objects they see, who pass round, scarcely moved by the wonders 

 about them — the observer will not deny that even they feel a beneficial in- 

 fluence. Novelty or strangeness will always operate upon every mind to 

 awaken it to some extent, and it is a great object to effect this in those 

 minds which are most brutalised ; to awaken attention is to cultivate the 

 first quality of the mind, and to lay the way for its further exercise. 



It is scarcely possible to look at any department of the Museum, without 

 finding some useful example, even if wauderingamid the chaos now reigning. 

 Who, for instance, can look at the collection of tombs and urns, without 

 seeing the great superiority of the Romans in all artistic exercises over our- 

 selves ? An English churchyard is a set of stereotyped stone or wooden tablets, 

 sometimes varied by a pile of monstrous ugliness. One head-stone is like 

 another, except in as far as it is necessary to inscribe it to John Thomas, in- 

 stead of Thomas Johns ; for, could the inscriptions be interchanged, the spec- 

 tators of the head-stones would be none the wiser which is which. The 

 cemetery system has in some degree broken in upon this monotony, and 

 created a greater variety of forms ; but still they are limited, and confined, as 

 we may say, to sets. The mourner may purchase a No. 1 obelisk, or a No. 3 

 urn, as he would select a knife from a Sheffield pattern-card, or a printed 

 muslin from a numbered specimen. A large lot of number ones and number 

 threes is manufactured and worked up; for as to individuality of design, it is 

 out of the question. It is not asked for, and the tomb-makers are guided 

 accordingly. Anyone who goes into a tomb-yard either in the New-Road 

 or elsewhere, will find that the tradesman has an urn, an obelisk, a cross, a 

 sarcophagus, a broken pillar, an altar-tomb, a coffin-tomb, and one of each 

 of the recognised patterns. 



In looking at the Roman urns in the Museum, and which being for one 

 general purpose, are in some degree restricted in form, it is notwithstanding 

 exceedingly pleasing to notice the great variety of design. It would be 

 hard to find an English grave-yard which, with a greater number of tombs, 

 could show such a pleasing application of artistic taste. Limited as to size, 

 which goes little beyond a foot or fifteen inches cube, the Romans have 

 made the most of their small material. The block of marble, alabaster, or 

 stone, is carved into various forms. Some are perfect vases, one is a cir- 

 cular temple, another a fragment of a column ; this is a square block deco- 

 rated with a simple festoon, another lias a fafade with pilasters mantis ; 

 again, the proportions being those of a double cube, a raised oblong with 

 festoon and tablet is flanked by torches at the corners; on some, the deceased 

 is represented in various attitudes. The form and decorations vary in each 

 example. 



The Roman urns must have been wrought at little expense of material and 

 little cost for workmanship, and yet very pleasing works are produced: while 

 with us, great material and lavish workmanship are unattended with artistic 

 effort. The same degree of labour which with us is bestowed on the mason's 

 work, would suffice for that of the carver. While we acknowledge the 

 artistic qualities of the Roman examples, their design is not always the most 

 fitting, and it is very rarely applicable for modern purposes ; some of the 

 emblems are suitable only to Roman associations, while some seem to have 

 no significance. Other designs are, however, pleasing. An urn, which is not 

 numbered, has two very sharply cut medallion half-lengths of husband and 

 wife; others have high relief busts of the deceased, or of a married pair. 

 Again, the deceased is sometimes represented reclining on a couch in such an 

 attitude half-raised as to allow the likeness to be given. We, who like cabinet 

 pictures and cabinet works of art, might imitate this. 



We have long thought that the establishment among us of public grave- 

 yards and cemeteries is well calculated to promote the application of art to 

 memorials of the dead, and though we have noticed above our present defi- 

 ciencies, yet we are quite ready to acknowledge the great improvement which 

 has taken place of late years. We believe the chief obstacle now is the want 

 of proper workmen, for the execution of a common design of foliage or flowers 

 is still expensive. The Schools of Design are partly remedying this, by sup- 

 plying better trained men ; but the demand is still great, and the remunera- 

 tion is too great for a class of labour which cannot be valued much higher 

 than mechanical labour. Had the prejudices of the academicians been com- 

 plied with in the establishment of the School of Design at Somerset House, 

 and the declaration enforced, we should have been worse off than we are now. 

 A declaration that a student in a school of design would not become a history 

 painter or sculptor, portrait painter, animal painter, landscape or flower 



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