I84G.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEEU AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



13 



per ceot. of the amount subscribed. This increased deposit, however, is not 

 required in tlie case of bills which have been before parliament in 1S4j, and 

 may be re-introduced in 1S46, or of undertakings provisionally registered 

 before it was issued, or such as had their subscri[)tion contract executed, or 

 partly executed, on the 29th of July, 1845. Among the important parha- 

 ♦nentary proceedings of tlie session we may refer to the passing of tlie Rail- 

 way Clauses' Consolidation Act, by which all fnture railway acts will be 

 much sir.iphfied ; and the appointment, in consequence of a motion in the 

 House of Commons by Mr. Cobden, of a Royal Commission " for inquiring 

 whether, in future I'rivate Acts of Parliament for the construction of rail- 

 ways, provision ought to be made for securing a uniform gauge, and whether 

 it would be expedient and practicable to take measures to bring the railwavs 

 already constructed, or in progress of construction, in Great Urilain, into 

 uniformity of gauge : and to inquire whether any other mode of obviating or 

 mitigating the serious impediments to the internal traffic of the country, 

 which are represented as likely to arise from the want of a uniform gauge, 

 could not be adopted." 



We regret we cannot find space for more tbau a brief enumeration of 

 the greater part of llie remaining subjects of information. There are some 

 very valuable tables comparing rates of life insurance in dilTerent com- 

 panies, abstracts of public acts of parliament, and parliamentary docu- 

 ments, a chronicle of the sessions, and a numerical account of petitions 

 and private bills. The informatiou throughout these chapters is arranged 

 in a very careful and satisfactory manner. 



The thirteenth chapter treats of " Public Improvements," and is divided 

 into three sections headed respectively, " General Improvements," 

 " Churches," and " Miscellaneous Buildings." Of this part of the work we 

 regret to say that we cannot speak in the same terms of commendation as 

 of the rest. "Whether it be that the conductors have here towards the end 

 of the volume been compelled to put their remarks together in a more 

 hasty manner than iu the preceding parts, we cannot tell ; but the diction 

 is careless and very frequently ungrammalical, and many sentences re- 

 quire to be read several times before the meaning of them can be ascer- 

 tained. Of these faults however we should not complain, (as we do not 

 here profess to write a literary criticism) were the language s flicieuUy 

 perspicuous to explain the views of the authors. This however is by no 

 means invariably the case, and even when we succed in finding out what 

 ideas on architectural subjects are intended, we are seldom recompensed 

 for the labour of discovery. 



The first piece of criticism is on the architecture of the new buildings 

 behind the Royal Exchange. Unfortunately enough these buildings are 

 praised for the qualification which they least of all possess. Speaking of 

 the arrangement of the windows, it is observed that it '* is such as not to 

 cut up the mass itself into littleness, as is too generally the case owing to 

 the windows being put too closely together, which inevilably occasions an 

 ordinary dwelling-house look to prevail." Now without otTering any 

 opinion of our own on the merits of the building in question we may state, 

 as a simple fact, that the ground floor of the building exhibits one continual 

 series of arched window-openings. separiUed only by piers. Iu many of 

 the conservatories which are attached to large country seats, and are built 

 to assimilate in architecture to the contiguous buildings, the aggregate 

 surface of the windows is not so great compared with that of the masonry, 

 as it is in the ground floor of the buildings behind the Royal Exchange. 

 The observation that " this arcade is exceedingly well proportioned as to 

 the quantity of window opening as compared with the entii-e surface," was 

 written, it may be suspected, before the writer saw the building.* 



The next subject of commentary is Trafalgar Square. Of this it is 

 said, " The two fountains seem to have altogether disappointed the 

 public; for not only have they been ridiculed by those who make mere 

 ridicule pass for criticism, but have been spoken of seriously by those 

 who profess to deal in sober criticism as things of 'intense ugliness,' 

 which is rather too severe, since the insignijicance of their aiipcaraiice 

 is at least an equal defect." This passage, of course, contains a reference 

 to the criticism of the Trafalgar-Square fountains, which appeared some 

 time since in the Civil Engineer and Architects' Journal : the objection 

 now raised to that criticism is odd enough. First, insignificance of 

 appearance is spoken of as something distinct and separable from 

 ugliness ; secondly, the former of these qualities, though it is said to be 

 an "equal defect" with the latter, is assigned — not as an additional 



* By these obsercations we do not intend the slightest censure of the actual arrange- 

 ment of the windows, which is perfectly unobjectionable, considering the purpose and 

 site of tile buildings; we state tlie simple facts of the c ise to shew the ridiculous and 

 ignorant absurdity of the criticism. From a rouRh admeasurement which we have made, 

 we are quite certain that the space for glass occupies upwards of two-thirds of the 

 ground frontage— which is, in fact, no more than a continued series of glazed arcades I 



reason for its condemnation — but on an altogether new system of logic, 

 as a proof that our criticism was "rather too severe"! — "which is 

 rather too severe, since the insignificancy of their appearance is at least an 

 e'lual defect" ! 



-\nother " defect " is discovered in the architecture of Trafalgar 

 Square, which certainly never suggested itself to ourselves. The writer, 

 whose knowledge of the English language is as profound as his know- 

 ledge of architecture, says that "a singularly disagreeable effect" is 

 produced, because "the tops of the wall are not nude to rise and fall like 

 hedges ." We confess that this plan of making Trafalgar-Square 

 " agreeable " never occurred to us. An excuse for all the defects noticed, 

 is, however, found in the consideration that the site was a very bad one! 

 "Barry certainly here undertook a very ungrateful task, it-being hardly 

 possible to make anything satisfaclory out of such an ill-arranged spot." 

 We always imagined that the principal cause of the public disappoint- 

 ment respecting Trafalgar Square, was, that "one of the nobli-st sites in 

 Europe " was sacrificed in an abortive attempt at architectural display. 



In commending the new buildings in Lincoln's Inn, it is observed that 

 the ceilings, "though only of deal iinpainted, have the appearance of 

 being of a superior kind of wood, great depth of hue and lustre being 

 imparted to it by some novel process or preparation." The word " uu- 

 painted " is marked in italics, to intimate, we presume, that the imitation 

 is excused from censure, because it is not produced by paint — that the 

 weight of the censure depends not on the simple fact of deception, but the 

 method of ellectingil. This principle is that of the Spartans who used to 

 punish their children for larcenies — when they committed them clumsily. 



Had the writers on "public improvements" been accustoiue<l to be 

 present at the hall-dinners at Lincoln's Inn, they might frequently have 

 heard the merits of the ceilings in question dismissed somewhat unceri- 

 moniously by the appellation — "Brummagem." The criticism, to be sure, is 

 not that of professed architects, but it is at least that of gentlemen and men 

 of educated taste. 



In noticing buildings deserving of admiration, there is a particularly 

 unfortunate tendency to choose for commendation the very particulars 

 which a judicious friend might have passed over in silence. The above is 

 a striking instance, but there are many others. In the Colosseum, the first 

 subject of commendation is the circumstance, " that the columns. &c., are 

 of white marble — or, at least, have all the appearance of being so," being 

 formed of a composition " that imitates that material most decepiivelij ." 

 The new church at Leeds is said to exhibit a " most praiseworthy regard 

 to permanent excellence," the last quality we should assign to a Colhic 

 Church with plaister ceilings. 



The final chapters of the work are a " Bankruptcy Analysis," and a 

 " Necrological Table of Literary Men and Artists." The volume, though 

 not absolutely free from grave faults, may, on the whole, be pronounced a 

 valuable and certainly cheap repository of the information usually coniained 

 in a " Year-book." 



Ancient and Modern Architecture ; consisting of Views, Plans, Elcvalions, 



Sections, and Details of the most Remarkable Edifices in the U'or/i/. 



Edited by M. Jules Gailuadaud. Series the second. Parts 35, 42. 



London : Firmin Didot, 18.15, quarto. 



We have already noticed some of the previous nnmbers of this series of 

 engravings ; those before us embrace almost every kind of architecture, 

 as may be seen from the following list of the principal subjects : — Church 

 of St. Zachary, at V'enice ; Theotocos Church, at Constantinople ; St. 

 Etienne du Mont, Paris; Flavian Amphitheatre, Rome; the beautiful 

 temples of Vesta at Tivoli ; Celtic Monuments, kc. The engravings are 

 executed in a very satisfaclory manner, a due regard to pictorial effect 

 being observed, without a sacrifice of the accuracy of the architectural 

 details. The letter-press, however, occupies by far too small a portion of 

 the work, which, owing to this defect, has too much the character of a 

 picture-book for a work on ancient and modern architecture. The 

 archaeological notices are, however, carefully selected, and are verified, for 

 the most part, by formidable arrays of authorities. We have selected the 

 following extract, to give some idea of this part of the work. It is a 

 description of the Chnrch of the Theotocos (mother of God) at Constanti- 

 nople, a very important specimen of a style not very well known in this 

 country — the Byzantine : — 



" The plan lies east and west, the surface of the soil sloping from the apsis 

 to the facade, so as to require a double flight of steps to reach the principal 

 entrance ; two p'brches, with columns opening towards the west, admit the 

 the light to a spacious vestibule, which is extended round the corner, along 



