1843 ] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



alt.ir, the top stone of which is marked, as is often the case with 

 ancient altar stones, with five small crosses, one at each corner and one 

 in the centre, the latter being the larger. 8 Each of the other sides 

 has a semi-circular arched way in it. The building is paved with 

 black and red tiles about 4 in. square each. 



In the rectangular building and cloisters which present the work of 

 several periods, the columns where they remain are very short, and 

 have leafed capitals similar to some in Tournay Cathedral. They are 

 formed of the grey Tournay stone, and in some few instances have 

 octagon shafts as is also the case in the Cathedral. The arches of 

 the cloisters were pointed ; they were formed of brick, with stone ribs 

 and corbels (sculptured with foliage and figures), and were of more 

 recent date than the walls. The rectangular building is paved with 

 red, yellow, and black, glazed tiles of various shapes and sizes (some 

 being very small) disposed in patterns. 



The history of this building ranges over a considerable period. In 

 the year G36, King Dagobert of France, sent St. Amand to Ghent to 

 preach Christianity. St. Amand having made many converts, founded 

 two monasteries, one of which was on the site of the remains in ques- 

 tion. A few years afterwards, Allowin, surnamed Bavon, was induced 

 by the teaching of St. Amand to quit the world, and having given the 

 whole of his property to the latter monastery, obtained permission to 

 construct a cell in the neighbouring wood, where he died in 054. The 

 monastery then took his name, a church was dedicated to him, and the 

 whole quarter was termed, for many years, the town of St. Bavon. In 

 816, the monks fled to avoid the Normans, and took refuge in Eng- 

 land. John of Gaunt was born in this monastery in 1341, and at the 



6 The crosses upon ancient altar stones were intended to mark the spots 

 anointed with chrism at its dedication. A Pontifical printed at Home in 

 1595, and now preserved in the British Museum, shows iliat a bishop when 

 consecrating a church, was enjoined to mark will) his thumb dipped in the 

 chrism, twelve crosses on the walls of the church, and others on the door, 

 altar, <s.c. See Arclueologia, vol. XXV, p. 213. 275. 



11 The area of the cloister is about 10U feet square ; the diameter of the 

 octagonal building is about 20 feet. 



beginning of the lGtll century the whole establishment was destroyed, 

 in order to construct a citadel on the site.'" 



In the "Notice Hiztorique de Gaud" it is stated that in 1067, Bail- 

 douin, Bishop of Noyou, and Liebert, Bishop of Cambray, consecrated 

 the church of St. Bavon, and deposited there, in a private chapel, the 

 relics of St. Macaire, who, it was supposed, had freed the city from 

 the plague by his prayers, some few years before. The style of the 

 octagon building before mentioned, still called the chapel of St. Ma- 

 caire, agrees with this date satisfactorily. 1 ' 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 



FASCICULUS XLV. 



" I must have liberty 

 With il, as large a charier as the w nds, 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. Although not propounded ix cathedra, the doctrine broached by 

 the Premier Professor, has made quite a-sensation, filling all with sur- 

 prise, and some with a panic feeling. It is the opinion of more than 

 one in the profession that our architectural Professors are nearly all 

 bewitched. As if it was not enough to have Hosking preach down 

 Vitruvianism, we have now Cockerell preaching up rank architectural 

 Radicalism. He goes to the extent of turning every thing topsv-turvy, 

 without regard to those most comfortable of all things — our preju- 

 dices. What is to become of our reverence for precedent and autho- 

 rity, if copyism is henceforth to be proscribed, and every one expected 

 to give us his own ideas. It may be all very well for those who pos- 

 sess taste, and have ideas of their own; but then what is to become 

 of those poor devils who have none ? If they must neither borrow nor 

 steal, their fate will be hard indeed. While Professor Pugin would 

 merely lead us back to the "dark ages," bidding us look for light and 

 enlightenment there, the Royal Academy Professor would fain turn us 

 adrift, to grope about in more than Egyptian darkness. Surely it is 

 better to be tethered to a stake with a yard or two of rope, than to 

 have the precious liberty of rambling at will blindfold among pitfalls 

 and precipices. So, at any rate, think some. After copyism has 

 served them so well, they must now hear it reviled by the ugly epi- 

 thets of "dull" and "unmanly"! and that by a Professor, too! Why, 

 he might as well have called it stupid and old-icumaniah, for that was, 

 no doubt, his meaning. As to invention, that is, of a truth, most ven- 

 turesome work, but then, be it remembered, 



" Things out of hope, are compass'd oft by vent'ring." 



II. It argues very great forbearance on the part of Welby Pugin 

 that he has not had a fling at Abbotsford, for it is certainly quite as 

 miserable and trumpery as any of the architectural " monstrosities " 

 he has shown up in his "Contrasts," or quizzed in his "True Prin- 

 ciples," although concocted out of the ideas of so many persons who 

 were successively consulted by the " Great Magician," but who have 

 shown themselves to be no conjurors. Stark, Terry, Burn, Blore, 

 Atkinson, all prescribed in turn, and bedoctored till they bedevilled it. 

 Whichever be the best of Scott's works, Abbotsford is decidedly his 

 worst — mere "Carpenter's Gothic," and a "Tea-Garden Castle." 

 Fortunate would it be for the credit of his own taste, and also for the 

 credit of those employed upon that pet fancy of his, were it to be 

 demolished at once, instead of being piously preserved as a monu- 



i" The abbot ;.nd monks were removed to the cathedral church of St. John 

 the Baptist, in the city of Ghent, from that lime called the church of St. 



' ' l" cannot omit mentioning with reference to Ghent, that M. L. Roelandt 

 to whom the city is indebted for many important buildings, (amongst them 

 the must elegant little theatre and ball-room that I know of,) is en 

 upon a new Palais de Justice of large extent. The window dressings ol the 

 principal floor have mors than ordinary imp rtance given to them, ami form 

 a principal leature in the facade, L'hej consist each ol twodiset 

 Corinthian columns supported on corbels, with entablature and pediment, 

 and corresponding pilasters on the lace of the building. 



5* 



