1S43.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



above rise a very elegant triforium and lofty clerestory. Behind the 

 triforium is a series of peculiar quatrefoil lights, blocked up and un- 

 known until lately (as indeed was the whole of the triforium), but now 

 again filled with stained glass. 



The choir is elevated above the nave by three steps, for about one- 

 third its extent, and then by a fourth the remainder of the length, and 

 is paved with black and white marble in squares. The high altar 

 has four additional steps. The pillars in the choir were originally 

 constructed with that daring which characterizes many of the earlier 

 efforts of pointed architecture, and soon gave symptoms of insuffici- 

 ency. They were then strengthened by additional masonry at the 

 back, and even now are remarkable for their lightness and elegance. 

 It mav be mentioned, that when the choir was rebuilt, the old chancel 

 arch which was probably semi-circular, was cut away to make room for 

 a pointed arch ; as also was the case at the entrance from the transept 

 to the aisle of the choir on each side. Painting and gilding have been 

 used throughout as a means of decoration, and will probably be again 

 resorted to when the whole of the substantial repairs have been exe- 

 cuted. : A series of flying buttresses (seen in the sketch, at the head 

 of the second chapter), surround the choir externally, and it is be- 

 tween these that the chapels are formed, terminating in gables. 8 The 

 roof of the choir above the vaulting is of oak, and of great height. 



Round the outside of the clerestory of the nave there is a continu- 

 ous gallery, formed within the thickness of the walls, and faced by small 

 octagon columns and arches of the Tournay stone, originally polished. 9 

 Elsewhere there are various galleries in the walls, so that all parts of 

 the building are practicable. 



The same stone is employed in the construction of the building as 

 the rock consists of on which it stands, so that it may be said to be a 

 continuation of the solid substratum. Nevertheless, there are many very 

 serious fissures and settlements, especially in the transept and choir, 

 which need extensive repair. The west front of the building has 

 been disfigured by various alterations; a groined porch in the pointed 

 style extends the whole length of the front, and above it a large 

 pointed window has been introduced, so as to destroy entirely its 

 original character. ' ° There is a variety of sculpture under the 

 porch, but the greater part of it is modern and very uninteresting. 

 The cathedral is entered by two doors, one on the north side of the 

 nave, and the other on the south, adjoining the transept. The north 

 door is seen in the external view of the north absis at the head of 

 the next chapter, (Fig. 2,) and is of the transition period. It con- 

 sists of a semi-circular archway beneath a pointed trefoil arch, the 

 whole profusely adorned with ranges of sculptured figures, animals, 

 and foliage. On each side of the light which occurs between the 

 circular and the pointed arch, is a small twisted column. The four 

 towers of the transept are each different in detail, and have been 

 executed at different times. They all display, however, a mixture of 

 pointed and semi-circular arches. 



The whole length of the cathedral within the walls is, as nearly as 

 I can estimate it, 420 feet. The transept, which is nearly in the 

 centre of the building, is 212 feet from north to south. The width 

 of the nave including the ailes, is 70 feet; the choir is a few feet 

 wider. The height of the choir is 110 feet. As a datum for com- 

 parison, it may be mentioned, that Salisbury Cathedral, according to 

 Mr. Britton, is 450 feet long within the walls, "S feet wide in the 

 nave, and that the height of the choir is SI feet; in other words, it 

 is 30 feet longer, 8 feet wider, and 29 feet lower than that of Tournay. 



' In a chapel, south side of choir, the spandrils of an arcade are painted 

 to represent angels bearing scrolls. 



6 These flying buttresses are double. The upper arch was apparently 

 formed first, and this being found insufficient the lower arch was then 

 added. 



There is a curious gallery of this description round the Eglise de 

 Chateau in Tournay. 



10 The west frunt had originally two small towers at the angles. These 

 towers at the extremity of the west front are found in many buildings in 

 Belgium, at the E-jlise de Chateau before mentioned, St. Bavon, Ghent, &c. 



(To be continued^) 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 



FASCICULUS XLIV. 



" I must have liberty 

 Withal, as large a charter as the winds, 

 To blow on whom I please.'' 



I. Were architectural performance to keep pace with architectural 

 promise in this country, we should have some magnificent works ; but 

 as ill-luck will have it, either something or other interferes to check 

 the undertaking — to blight it in the bud, or the thing itself turns out 

 wofully inferior to promise — far more liberal than discreet. Of such 

 untoward turn-outs, not a few might be enumerated. The poor Edin- 

 burgh Parthenon was nipped in the bud : after a few cf its columns 

 were put up, it was discovered that " Auld Reekie " was not another 

 Athens, and that an Hellenic Doric face would look as awkwardly 

 upon the Calton Hill, as the helmet of Minerva herself upon an old 

 washerwoman or Meg Dods. It was to have been a temple of Scot- 

 tish worthies, but some one asked where they were to find worthies 

 to fill it ; so though that Parthenon did not fall to the ground — for 

 there was nothing but a few columns to fall, and they are still stand- 

 ing — the scheme did. Not so that of Buckingham Palace ; that w : as 

 erected, and remains a monument of those twins in architectural 

 taste, King George (IV.) and Mister Nash. We were there pro- 

 mised "a magnificent edifice in the most dignified style of Grecian 

 architecture." So magnificent was the original design — so carefully 

 had every part been studied beforehand, that no sooner were the two 

 little boxes intended for wings put up, than it was found out that they 

 were intolerably paltry, and must come down again ; and afterwards, 

 another grand discovery was made, namely, that the little dome on 

 the centre of the west- front, was so impertinent as to show itself from 

 the Park, where it was not intended to be seen — and that it would so, 

 might have been ascertained, by a model of the intended structure ; but 

 models are expensive things — too expensive to be thought of by such a 

 strict economist, and so careful of John Bull's pocket, as was John Nash ! 

 The National Gallery, at any rate its facade, was to have been a pro- 

 digiously classical piece of architecture; whereas, its turn-out ex- 

 hibits to us a "beggarly account of empty" niches above, and a 

 cockney display of area railings, and kitchen windows below ; to say 

 nothing of a blank pediment — typical, perhaps, of the state of sculp- 

 ture in this country ; of scaffold poles left sticking by way of garde-fou 

 between the columns of the portico ; of the dome, which looks about 

 as elegant, though somewhat less droll, than the huge cowl at the Old 

 Bailey. The York column was to have rivalled that of Trajan, but 

 as it was found impossible to eke out the Duke's martial achieve- 

 ments so as to cover the shaft with them, that part is left quite bare : 

 nevertheless, it is still, no doubt, the express image of its prototype. 

 The Nelson monument — ah ! what was the Nelson monument to 

 have been, or rather, what was it not to have been? There we were 

 told to anticipate a work, of which English art would have reason to 

 be proud. " All the talents " were called out on that occasion, and we 

 have got a tolerably decent model of one of the five orders, upon the 

 top of which, Nelson will look like the wick of a candle burnt down 

 to its socket. Again was public expectation raised to the highest 

 pitch: the new Royal Exchange was to be a phoenix— in more senses 

 than one— an edifice worthy of the first country in the world, and of 

 the dignity of the City of London.— Well, if it should not exactly 

 answer to our ideas of what is worthy of the first, it will doubtless 

 amply redeem the promise put forth for it as regards the last, since 

 should it turn out to have a more shop-keeping than dignified physi- 

 ognomy, all the more characteristic may it be of the dignity of the 

 City. 



II. Hardly will his letter to the Athenceum obtain for Professor 

 Cockered a benediction from Professor Pugin ; neither is it likely to 

 be much better relished by Puseyites, Camdenists, and " Ecclesiolo- 

 gists," and whatever other 18/8 there may be of the same kind. 

 " Until the subject of our ancient architecture is studied," says the 

 Professor, " the true spirit and intention of that architecture will 



