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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



[OOTJ 



ceive certain perculiarities distingnishing the style from that of the older 

 Greek friezes with which we are acquaiuted. With no trace of the care- 

 less, barbaric ignorance so apparent in the Lyrian friezes, with more ela- 

 borate a«d skilful execution than the Fhygalian, these sculptures still want 

 the simplicity, repose, and unconscious beauty of the art of Phidias. 

 Though the general composition is finely conceived, the design and treat- 

 ment are not without mannerism. The true proportions of the fijurfS, 

 when compared w ilh those of the Elgin sculptures, appear unnaturally 

 elongalud ; and the graceful flow of the draperies is singularly contrasted 

 with the poverty and meagreness of some of the anatomical details and the 

 constraint of the attitudes. We are at once reminded of Pliny's descrip- 

 tion of tlie new style introduced by Lysippus ; — who, in order to give 

 greater height to bis figures, substituted a greater dryness of treatment for 

 the squareness, and full muscular development of the earlier school. \l ith 

 this change in the type commenced that general decadence in Art which 

 may be traced step by step in the coins of the Seleucidic, and other suc- 

 cessors of Alexander; and which, from the evidence of the Hudrun mar- 

 bles, according to their presumed date, must have been already introduced 

 B.C. 350. This is rather an earlier epoch than that from which the decline 

 of sculpture is usually dated : and it must be confessed that the Hudrun 

 friezes, when compared with the reliefs of the choragic monument of Lysi- 

 crales, a contemporary work, and other sculptures considered to be of the 

 same period, exhibit far more strikingly the characteristic of decadence ; 

 and might, in the absence of all historical data, be assigned with great 

 probability to the century after the death of Alexander, B.C. 329. Me will 

 not, however, here anticipate a discussion involving the historical research 

 and critical knowledge of art which will be required to solve the question 

 whether the Budrun Marbles can be identified with the friezes of the 

 Alausoleum. The surface of the sculpture is tolerably preserved — the 

 marble not of very fine quality. 



Launch of an Iron Steamer at Liverpool, built by Messrs. Vernon and 

 Co., took place on the 8lh of September, she is named the Haddington, and 

 is bailt for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Her 

 dimensions are length between perpendiculars, 221 feet, overall 240 feet, 

 breadth of beam 36 feet, depih of engine room 21 feet tonnage, new mea- 

 surement 200 tons. The engines are of 450 horse, constructed on the direct 

 action principle by Messrs. Bury, Curtis and Kennedy, of Liverpool. 



The Norman Tower at Jiiiri/. — The great eastern arch is removed, and 

 the snperstruetiure will be supported by shores until the insertion of the 

 new arch is completed. 



Excavations in the Acropolis. — The Archaiologieal Society of Athens are 

 busily pursuing the work of investigation. We trust they may be enabled to 

 set at rest the disputed points respecting the architecture of the interior of 

 the Parthenon. 



The Electric Telegraphs of the United Stales extend to 1659 miles. 



The Railway Monopolij. — A correspondent of the Times, under the signa- 

 ture " Cato," gives the following illustration of the effect of low fares. 

 The charges on the Glasgow and Ayr line are — 1st class, ^d. ; 2iid class, 

 l^d. ; 3rd class, |d. per mile. The returns last year were ninety thousand 

 pounds, the expenses thirty-six thousand pounds, leaving a profit of fifty. 

 four thousand pounds, or nearly sixty per cent, of the gross returns .' 



The London and North Western Company are about to carry the mail to 

 between London and Liverpool in five hours, including stoppages. 



The Doncaster Station of the Great Northern Railway will, with neces- 

 sary buildings and premises, occupy 35 acres. 



Brighton to Havre.- -Great efforts are about to be made to effect rapid 

 communication between these towils. Under the auspices of the Rouen 

 and Brighton Railway Companies, it is proposed to deepen the harbour at 

 Havre, and to construct a floating breakwater off Brighton Pier. Wlien 

 these works are completed it is expected that passengers will be able to em. 

 bark and disembark at all states of the tide and wind ; and the journey 

 from Paris to London will occupy 12 hours. 



The Folkestone Pier progresses rapidly. 



The Portland Breaiumter. — Active preparations are being made for the 

 commencement of the works, and the transmission of materials. 



The Works at Devonport are carried on with great activity. There will 

 be two basins, each 625 feet long; two docks, 309 feet long; another dock, 

 406 feet long ; and a factory, 800 feet by 320 feet. 



The Gas Companies at Bristol have reduced the price of gas to 6s. per 

 1,000 cubic feet. 



Glastonbury Market Cross is completed. 



Ihe Manchester Parks appear to have cost 30,000i. 



Rouen Railway. — The commission appointed to investigate the accident 

 from the use of liquid hydrogen gas to light the Post-ofiiee carriage have re- 

 ported thereon, the continued use of that method of lighting will probably 

 lead tu frequent explosions. 



Draw- Bridge on the Brighton and Hastings Line. — There is a draw-bridge 

 on this line, near Lewes, similar to that over the Arun, described Vol. VIll , 

 p. 269. An engine-driver, a few weeks ago, mistaking, or neglecting the 

 signal to stop, endeavoured to cross the river when tlie bridge was drawn 

 back, and, consequently, drove the engine into the water. No one was 

 injured. 



The JtriglUvn iiailwuy Company intend to run express trains to London 

 in one hour and a quarter, instead of one hour and a half, as heretofore. 



The New Ciuitdhall at Bristol is in Ihe late Tudor style. The front is 

 built of Bath stone and elaborately ornamented ; but the building is said 

 to be ill-ventilated and ill-lighted. Mr Pope is the architect. 



St. James's, Bristol, is being restored under the direction of Mr. Fripp, 

 The ancient architecture is chiefly Norman, and the architect appears to 

 be treating it in a very unceremonious manner. He has removed an an. 

 cient piscina to make way for an arcade at the east end, of his own design, 

 and some of the pillars which have swerved from the perpendicular he has 

 coated with plaster to make them look straight. 



Museum of Economic Geology. — A site has been prepared for the new 

 building by pulling down some houses in Piocadilly, near St. James's 

 church ; but there are great complaints of the dilatory manner in which 

 the works proceed. 



Blackburn Exchange Buildings. — The competing designs having been 

 examined by Mr. Cockerell, R..\., the first prize has heeu awarded to Messrs. 

 Dickson and Brackspear ; the second to Messrs. Bank and Clarke ; the 

 third to Mr. Wilson, of Bath. 



The Liverpool Dock Works. — The expenditure for the year ending June 

 24, 1846, is £321,491 for new works. 



Kemerlon Church. — Archdeacon Thorpe's liberal offer to rebuild the north 

 aisle and erect aspire, at the expense of Jt;i,500, provided the parish would 

 contribute £500, has been accepted by the parishioners after some oppo- 

 sition. 



Government Offices, Wliifehall. — The remains of the ancient chapel of 

 Cardinal Wolsey are about to follow the fate of St. Stephen's Chapel. Is 

 St. Margaret's Church to be the third sacrifice to the " Westminster Im- 

 provements" ? Verily it becomes us well to sneer in the Nineteenth cen- 

 tury at the iconoclastic fury of the Puritans ! Had we less self-complacency 

 in comparing our architecture with that of our ancestors, the following quo- 

 tation from a recent number of the BuiWer, might be listened to. — "The 

 recommendation of a select committee to remove St. Margaret's Church we 

 protest against strenuously ; restore it — improve it — make it a fitting ad- 

 junct to the neighbouring buildings, but don't think of destroying it. 



The Academic des Beaux-Arts at Paris lately awarded the prizes 

 of architecture. The subject proposed for competition was the construction 

 of a Museum of Natural History. The successful candidates were— first, 

 M. Normand, 24 years ; second, M. Monge, 25 years ; and, third, M. Ponthieu, 

 29 years of age. 



Manchester Soiree. — The Manchester annual soiree this month, with 

 Lord Morpeth in the chair, boasts of an att.-active jilatform assemblage, 

 whose names and eloquence will, no doubt, crowd the spacious rooms, and 

 bring fruitful contributions to encourage the worthily ambitious literature of 

 this populous place. 



Wellington Statue. — Mr. C. R. Cockerell, R. A., the architect, has addressed 

 a letter to the Times, on the subject of this statue, and added, " one more 

 voice to the outcry already so justly raised against the erection of the statue 

 on the arch at Hyde Park corner." He calls it a solecism in art, seriously 

 involving the honour of the country. " The solecism consists," he says, " in 

 the proposition to place a statue of colossal dimensions as an ornament to a 

 triumphal arch of disproportionate magnitude, so that the ornament and the 

 principal are in danger of changing places, and ihe major may become the 

 subordinate of the minor ; and again, in proposing to place that ornament 

 on an axis at right angles with tliat of the arch itself." An unparalleled 

 hero, it is said, may have an unparalleled position ; but in questions of this 

 nature, he properly observes we naturally turn to classical examples. We\ 

 We wish the committee would ! All Bellori's examples in his book on the 

 triumphal arches of Rome arc against this infatuated sub-committee ; the 

 architect of the arch, Mr. Decimus Burton himself, is against its being there; 

 the artists, the journals, and the good sense of the country have denounced 

 it. " Had the sub-committee condescended," fhe says, " to seek the advice 

 of professional men, the disgrace they are preparing for themselves, and the 

 trouble to the public in replacing this fine work in an accessable and proper 

 site might have been spared." 



New Harbour at Holyhead. — The obstacles which have hitherto prevented 

 the commencement of the public works in this harbour, are now, it is said, 

 entirely removed, and the works are to be immediately begun. Captain 

 Beechey, of the surveying steamer the Firefly, with the assistance of Mr. 

 Rendell, and a number of divers from Portsmouth, made a most minute 

 survey of the sea ground ;that is to form the harbour ; which has proved 

 to be equal to that of any harbour in the kingdom. Hitherto an opinion 

 was entertained by many nautical men that it would always be a dangerous 

 harbour, on account of the supposed rocky nature of its anchorage ; but the 

 jiresent survey has dissipated this idea ; for, with the exception of one or 

 two small insignificant rocks, there is excellent holding ground within the 

 entire space to be inclosed for the new harbour. 



At the Academie of Sciences, Paris, a i)ai)er from M. Jobard was received 

 on the Chinese system of boring wells by means of a rope instead of metallic 

 rods. He states that M. Goublet-Collet has adopted this system with the best 

 results in Champagne ; and that the cost is only 3 fr. per foot, without any 

 increase according to depth. The whole of the apparatus costs only 500 fr. — 

 B. Biot, in his own name and in those of Messrs. Babioet and Pouillet, read 

 a favourable report on an apparatus, constructed by M. Rumkorff, to facili- 

 tat.; the exhibition of the optical phenomena produced by transparent bodies 

 when they are placed between the opposite poles of a magnet of great 

 power. 



