262 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[August, 



of the Christian art, at least to cover its walls with painting and 

 sculpture, as we see in many old Gothic churches of the north, on 

 which some of the pictorial splendour of Italy and the warm coun- 

 tries seem to shine ; and on whose lofty ailes and carved pavement, 

 the sun, through the diapered windows, sheds its gorgeous colouring. 



Such an edifice as that of which Steinbach was the architect-in- 

 chief, the glory of whose construction none but the ignorant would 

 gainsay, was a powerful motive to induce the inhabitants of other 

 cities who could not boast of such a monument, to build such another; 

 that at least they might not be thought wanting in zeal for, or behind- 

 hand in thus making a proclamation of, the new faith which at that 

 time was spreading itself through all Christendom. Accordingly we 

 find a striking similarity among all the great churches of the 13th and 

 14th centuries, and a conformity in their plan, arrangement, and de- 

 coration, which leads us to believe, beyond a doubt, that no other form 

 was so well suited to the mode of worship, both in these and subse- 

 quent periods; and that it proceeded from some regular society, such 

 as the freemasons, whose principles were the same, and for a time, 

 universal. The disposition of these cruciform churches, sometimes 

 without, but more generally with, a range of side chapels, corres- 

 ponding with the division of the side ailes, was, from the time of 

 Constantine, more or less imitated by all civilized Europe; and there 

 needs not a stronger argument in their favour, than in the difficulty 

 that was experienced whenever an attempt was made to improve 

 upon it. Abolish it, and with it we abolish the ceremonies of the 

 religion for which it is intended. But this is not all. A departure 

 from the system exhibited in these ecclesiastical buildings, has been 

 attended with the most dangerous consequences to art. It has been 

 the ambition of all nations, who have excelled in architecture, and 

 been masters of its true principles, to exhibit them, even to an osten- 

 tatious degree, in their proudest fabrics. Such a display of science 

 commands attention, though it might be said it was done for mere 

 love of glory; and this was particularly the case in the works we are 

 considering. Now the moderns are too apt to do just the contrary ; 

 to disguise the construction of their edifices, that is to say, such 

 churches as those which are unworthy of the name, and whose con- 

 struction, from the sordid and unscientific means employed upon them, 

 it was wisest to conceal. But can anything be conceived more de- 

 grading to art ; and is it not to such causes we owe many failures that 

 have occurred in modern church-architecture i The architects of any- 

 one of the splendid churches alluded to, would not have been guilty 

 of anything so mean. They felt it was one of the requisites of art 

 to exhibit undisguised the great triumphs which the mind had 

 made in it ; and to raise pleasure, or excite emulation, in the souls of 

 all those who contemplated such a production of human wisdom. 

 It might appear strange, therefore, that Wren and Jones, both 

 of whom were at the head of such an institution, so little under- 

 stood or appreciated that Gothic, which was once such a favourite 

 among its members. But the cause will be easily explained, if we 

 consider it was the fate of this noble art to decline after it had reached 

 its meridian point ; that a hankering after something new and uncom- 

 mon hastened its downfall; and that its beautiful proportions and de- 

 tails became obsolete when the taste for the architecture of the 

 Greeks and Romans naturally brought on the revival of classic an- 

 tiquity. ' 



The same uniformity of character, mentioned above, may be ob- 

 served in public works of a civil kind, such as the castles and bridges. 

 The former were absolutely necessary at a time when wars were fre- 

 quent; and the latter afforded such security to travellers, who might 

 otherwise be exposed to pirates on the river, that the building of 

 them was considered an act of charity ; and those to whom they were 

 entrusted were styled f'ratrei ponti/es. - It appears they constructed a 



' See Durance's " Glossanum." anil Bishop Gregory's account of them. 



- Here, however. I recollect I am not doing Wren justice, for notwith- 

 standing the passion for the antique, which prevailed in his time.be proposed 

 the election of a cathedral in the Gothic style, the original drawings of 

 which are at Oxford. Perhaps he was the only man who conceived at that 

 period such a design. Everyone knows his admiration of the construction 

 of the roof of King's College Chapel. 



great number in Italy and in the southern provinces of France; and 

 the remains of these old bridges and chateaux, are often so pictu- 

 resque, that it is worth while to undertake a journey on purpose to 

 see and study them. 



Now- it will not be denied that architecture owes much to the ex- 

 istence of such fraternities; especially during the middle ages, when 

 they were like so many learned republics; when kings and nobles 

 were proud to take a part in their proceedings and assist in promoting 

 their enterprizes. There is no period of history in which we do not 

 find men associating together when bent upon accomplishing any 

 object to which individual exertions were, of course, unequal. The 

 ancients could never have succeeded in their temples, their roads, their 

 thermaes or their aqueducts, had they not condemned their slaves, and 

 all whom they had conquered, to labour on these great works. The 

 population and industry of one single kingdom were not sufficient. 

 Nearly all Asia, for instance, contributed to the building of the famous 

 Diana of Ephesus : and one of those prodigious stones in the pyra- 

 mids, which almost alarms the inhabitants of the north, must have re- 

 quired in placing it just in its proper place, or even in mana»in" r 

 the engine by which it was raised, double and treble the number of 

 labourers which we usually employ on one of our public edifices. In 

 more recent times it was the custom, when a palace, a castle, or a 

 church was in progress, and workmen were scarce, to authorize offi- 

 cers to collect them wherever they might be found, in the same wav 

 as they j/n** men for the militia, and detain them in the king's ser- 

 vice, as it was called, until the works were completed. 



A powerful means of ennobling architecture, as well as any pursuit 

 on which the human mind may be engaged, is found in this principle 

 of concentration. The idea of bringing together the fruits of the in- 

 dustry of past ages, naturally originates among all civilized societies. 

 We look in all flourishing cities for those academies for the arts, 

 those museums, and schools of design, which are among the happiest 

 evidences of the power and well-directed wealth of a nation, and 

 without which the arts would make but a very poor and feeble pro- 

 gress towards perfection. We recognize this principle, moreover, in 

 those encyclopedias of knowledge, whose treasures enrich the libra- 

 ries of Europe, and which are as indispensable to the man of letters 

 as the collected remains of Greek art are to the sculptor; nor do we 

 hesitate in classing the founders of such works and such repositories 

 among the benefactors of our race. For what would be the condition 

 of the fine arts or of the human mind if London were without its 

 British Museum and Royal Academy; Paris without the Louvre and 

 Ecole des Beaux Arts: or Italy without its Vatican? 



( To be continued.) 



THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Public attention is so engrossed by matters connected with the new 

 " Palace at Westminster," or by other schemes of improvement for 

 the metropolis, that no one seems now to take any interest in — to care 

 for, or even to remember the British Museum, just as if it were of no 

 importance whatever. This indifference may probably be owing to 

 all hope having been long ago abandoned, of that structure being ren- 

 dered a worthy piece of monumental architecture ; for as far as it is 

 built at present, its exterior is a perfect nullity. Still, even at this 

 " eleventh hour," there is opportunity for redeeming its character, by 

 making something satisfactory of the facade which has to be added, 

 and will now be commenced, we presume, at no very distant time. 

 For what remains to be done, however, that which actually has been 

 done is so very insufficient a pledge, that it is to be hoped we shall be 

 afforded the means of quieting our misgivings, and ascertaining be- 

 forehand what we are to expect. Some, or rather now many years 

 ago, Sir Robert Peel declared in Parliament, that the design for the 

 front of the British Museum was an architectural chef d'eeurre: we 

 had our doubts at the time, and so far from being dissipated, they are 

 now stronger than ever; — or to speak out more plainly, we have very 



