1S43.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



:.> 



of another kind it is, that, instead of a mere swinish multitude, they 

 should have an intelligent public to deal with. As far as there is 

 cause for complaint in that respect at all, it is not that there are so 

 many " amateurs " and persons without the pale of the profession 

 who study, or pretend to study, architecture, but that there are so 

 few. Infinitely better would it be if the whole public, that is all 

 persons of education were in a manner amateurs. 



III. At last Boz has introduced a new character— one which has 

 hitherto not been handled by either dramatist or novelist — in the per- 

 son of Mr. Pecksniff", the architect. All other professions — the medical 

 and the legal more especially, have been represented and shown up 

 so frequently, that characters of that class are almost worn out. The 

 wonder, therefore, is that no one should have before thought of 

 turning to the architectural one. Whether, in entering upon this fresh 

 track, Mr. Dickens has provided himself with a carte du pays, re- 

 mains to be seen, for all that can be understood at present is, that 

 Pecksniff* is to be a very prominent character in the work ; but it is 

 not quite so clear if he is intended to be the representative of a class 

 in the profession, or merely an individual who might equally well have 

 been represented as belonging to any other. If, as he very well may do, 

 Boz should show up the peculiar kind of charlatanry which stamps 

 the architectural quack, and distinguishes him from all others of the 

 duck-like genus — should he expose the arts by which men totally 

 destitute of artistical talent and feeling for art, obtain credit with the 

 public for being artists — should he disclose some of the clever tricks 

 practised at competitions by very " respectable " people — should he 

 indulge in some pleasant hits at the vox el prceterea nihil pedants, who 

 can merely talk by book and by rote, without an idea of their own — 

 should he, among other things, exhibit Pecksniff as an architectural 

 lecturer, gammoning his bewildered audiences with mere rhodomon- 

 tade and fiction, — should he do this, Dickens will deserve our thanks, 

 and the gratitude of the honest part of the profession. Still we have 

 our misgivings, and suspect that Pecksniff will turn out rather an 

 overdrawn and ill-drawn caricature, than an ably delineated character 

 and portraiture from real life. Of extravagant and tedious caricatu re 

 there is certainly not a little, in the manner in which Pecksniff is first 

 presented to us — blown down by the wind at his own door. Had any 

 one else given us such a tirade of laboured nothingness, and dull at- 

 tempt at grotesque pleasantry, it would at once have been pronounced 

 intolerably childish stuff'; whereas, now the critics will perhaps dis- 

 cover it to be ^ery fine — one, indeed, has done so already. 



IV. I entertain about the same affection for law books that Gwilt 

 does for German architecture and German architects. Why does not 

 a second Omar come to purge the world of them ? Even a book 

 bound in "law fashion" has to me a very odious look; it seems to 

 Lave put on the uniform of that Tartuffe race of wolves in sheep's 

 clothing, or at any rate wolves dressed up in calf's skin. Neverthe- 

 less, I have done that which a month ago I should have said was im- 

 possible ; yes, I have actually been seduced into reading an articl e in 

 the Law Magazine, one, certaiuly, that I should never have thought of 

 looking for there, consequently might never have known of at all, had 

 it not been put into my hands by a friend, when, to my utter astonish- 

 ment, I found it contained a paper headed "Architectural Novelties".' 

 It was like having a sovereign palmed upon one between a couple of 

 halfpence; almost was it like my first meeting with Young's desctip- 

 tions of magnificent country seats, sparkling like bright and verdant 

 oases over the arid waste of such dreary matter as crops, and hoeing 

 and drilling. Most truly does the poet say : 



" Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 

 The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear." 



yet I doubt if the dark unfathomed caves, or bottomless pit of the 

 law, contain anything more relating to architecture, whether in the 

 shape of "novelties" or antiquities. There can, however, be no 

 doubt, that a vast number of papers, of one kind or another, relating to 

 architecture lie buried in literary journals and periodicals, foreign ones 

 more especially. Were the best, or even some of the most interesting 

 of them, collected and reprinted, they would form a Heading Architec- 



tural Library of considerable extent. It is by poking about in periodi- 

 cals that we stumble upon such treasures as Edward Collow's descrip- 

 tions of, and remarks on, many of the recent public buildings of Paris- 

 things, therefore not likely to be met with by gentlemen like Gwilt, who 

 despises periodical literature, and, though he has not ventured to say 

 so, no doubt abhors architectural periodicals most of all. Neither are 

 they likely to come to the notice of those who pore over the writings 

 of the " venerable" Vitruvius, and carefully collate all the readings of 

 different authors, in hopes of being able to catch a glimpse of the 

 meaning of the mysterious " Scamilli impares." But the Law Magazine ; 

 — be it known, then, to all whom it may concern, that its article on 

 "Architectural Novelties" gives some account of the Hall and Li- 

 brary about to be erected by Mr. Hanlwick, in the gardens at Lincoln's 

 Inn, at the south-west corner or south end of the terrace. The build- 

 ing is to be of red brick, and in the style of the older parts of Hamp- 

 ton Court. The Hall or Dining Room will be 120 X 15 and 54 feet 

 high, and the Library 80x40 and 4^> feet high; and both will have 

 timber roofs. The remainder and longer part of the article relates 

 to the restorations and embellishments of the Temple Church. 



V. Raczynski is pleased to speak in exceedingly complimentary 

 terms of the architecture of Edinburgh, and its recent buildings, as 

 being in better taste than those of London ; but then it is only in such 

 safe general terms, that what he says amounts to nothing — at least to 

 nothing more than a bare opinion to that effect, for he does not even 

 mention a single one of the structures he pretends to admire. If the 

 Nelson Monument was one of them, his praise is not greatly to be 

 coveted. Speaking of that " monstrosity," the writer of the. "Re- 

 marks on the Edinburgh Parthenon," tells us that " it ought to be 

 pulled down" ; nor is the same unlikely to be said of the other "Nel- 

 son Monument" in Trafalgar Square. 



VI. It is provoking to find that the stupid Germans now propose to 

 erect a public monument to Schinkel, just after Gwilt has put an ex- 

 tinguisher upon him. A public monument to a fellow' who was no 

 more than a mere " scene painter " in architecture ! to one who was 

 little better than an audacious heretic in the art, an insolent reformer, 

 setting at defiance both Pope Vitruvius and Pope Palladio, and did 

 not even abide by the authority of the Greeks themselves, but would 

 fain be "tampering" with the ancient orders, like a conceited cox- 

 comb as he was, in the hope of improving them, or at least of pro- 

 ducing something as good, and not quite so hackneyed. A monument 

 to Schinkel, indeed ! Zounds ! we will be revenged on those scurvy 

 Germans, for we will erect a public monument to Gwilt ; therefore 

 the sooner he gives us the opportunity of doing so, the better. 



PONT DU CARROUSEL, PARIS. 



In the Journal of August, 1S42, I stated that an improvement 

 worthy of notice had been introduced in the construction of the Pont 

 du Carrousel, at Paris, consisting in the application of wrought iron 

 keys, so disposed as to obtain great precision in setting the segments 

 of the tubular voussoirs, of which the arches of this bridge are com- 

 posed. My intention is to explain more particularly in this paper, 

 how far the application of these keys materially facilitated the casting 

 of the voussoirs separately, and to show their useful effect in the con- 

 struction of the arc on the piers. 



The amount of contraction of cast iron, in the act of cooling in the 

 mould in which it has been run, is variable; for although, as stated, the 

 general average may be considered to be about -p^, this measure can- 

 not be taken as an absolute quantity: it may be sensibly modified, by 

 many circumstances, such as the quality of the metal, its temperature 

 when run into the mould, and the greater or less rapidity of the 

 cooling process. This difference is not of material importance in 

 short pieces, but in a length of upwards of 160 feet, it may amount 

 to some inches, and when the pieces are cast in great lengths, (or even 

 if they are in short lengths,) and the joints are intended to bed fairly 

 against each other, as is the case in bridges of the ordinary con- 



