1846.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



379 



would be tbe result of the new, in additions to, or alterations of, a pre- 

 existing ediBce. In fact, tliey thought they could improve upon it. Of 

 this principle many of the most interesting illustrations might very easily 

 be adduced, did space allow their insertion. Scarcely ever did they com- 

 pose a single detail even with a view of suiting the older work ; for in 

 truth they had a thorough contempt for uniformi'y. They placed traceried 

 windows of many lights in juxla-posilion with single lancets, pointed with 

 semicircular arches, aud complex Gothic columns with ;)laiD and heavy 



Komanesque piers It is very possible that the masons themselves, 



in always using the stjie of their day, desired to stamp an imperishable 



evidence of date upon the works they were executing In altering 



churches, the parts most generally preserved were doorways, nave piers 

 aud arches, north-west aisle windows (for some unexplained reason), 

 sedilia, piscinas, fonts. The parts most commonly innovated were windows, 

 aisle walls, clerestories, roofs, porches, chantry chapels. 



"It is very singular to observe how even the slighiest changes and turn- 

 ings of style were regularly adopted in the progress of such large build- 

 ings as required a great number of years for their completion. For exam- 

 ple, the west elevation of York Cathedral exhibits early Middle Pointed 

 work in its lower part, while the belfry windows, battlements, and pinna- 

 cles are finished of pure Third Pointed detail^ These changes we may 

 attribute to the succession of new master masons, each of whom could or 

 would design only in the details of his day. 



" Every master mason must have been able at all times to command the 

 services of workmen well acq<iaiuted with and accustomed to the working. 

 Perhaps tliese operatives {coiij'iires) accompanied him from place to place ; 

 certainly they must generally have devoted their lives to the work ; for the 

 exquisite chiselling of the boss, and floriated capital, or the statuary aud 

 canopy work of such a place as the Lady Chapel at Ely, could never have 

 be*n attained without intense and zealous application, aided by great lasle 

 and artistic feeling, and long practice. Probably the few modern archi- 

 tects to whose lot it has fallen to carry out work of this description, would 

 verify this from their own experience. It is one thing to design, another 

 to find workmen capable of executing accurately the more minute and 

 difficult details. That such workmen did anciently exist, and in great 

 numbers too, is proved by the works they have left behind them as monu- 

 ments of their skill. It is probable that they worked by drawings, as at 

 present; or the plans were laid out for them by the master's hand, as oc- 

 casion required ; of which perhaps the diagrams and geometric marks 

 sometimes found on the stones of disjointed buildings may be taken as ex- 

 amples. Yet there are parts occasionally to be met with which must be 

 called ' botches,' and which are clearly the results of extemporary con- 

 structive ingenuity without any pre-arranged plan There must 



have been, for centuries previous to the change of religion, a constant, 

 untiring, incessant zeal for church building, a zeal which is more striking, 

 when contrasted with the dead apathy, or at least the almost exclusive 

 plundering and demolishing, which from first to last has characterised the 

 new system. Only let the reader contemplate the vast quantity of ancient 

 ecclesiastical work we still have left, taking into account the enormous 

 destruction of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the unceasing 

 havoc of the combined causes of neglect, avarice, and profanation, which 

 have been in active operation for three hundred years ! When we think of 

 some towns having anciently had forty or fifty great churches, where not 

 more than ten or a dozen now appear, all the rest having long ago been 

 razed to their very foundations; of a thousand abbeys aud religious 

 houses, of which scarcely one hundred shattered ruins now remain, though 

 some of them were fully as large and splendid as our first-rate Cathedrals, 

 — Glastonbury, Heading, Bury St. Edmund's ; when we know fully what 

 we have lost, in comparison with what we have left, — we shall be indeed 

 amazed at the almost superhuman efl'orls of the media;val church ! It has 

 been computed that each one of these vast Cathedrals or conventual edifices 

 would cost, in our times aud with our much greater facilities, from five to 

 eight hundred thousand pounds. A million of money must have been 

 expended on the fabric of some of our greatest churches ; and if we may 

 credit the accounts of the vast wealth stolen by Henry VIII. from Can- 

 terbury aud Lincoln Cathedrals, aud include all the vestments, plate, and 

 other furnitures, the stained glass, pictures, tombs, silver statues, and 

 shrines, we are justified in doubling that sum. How inadequate a notion 

 do our present bare, dilapidated, aud rifled structures aUurd,of the amount 

 which religion once bestowed on the Church, and which irreligion has 

 sacrilegiously taken from her !" 



There are many other parts of the work from which we should like to 

 make extracts, but our limits prevent us from extending them. We must 

 therefore refer the reader to the work itself: we cannot however omit the 

 following quotation in which the ancient and modern principles of church 

 building are happily contrasted. 



" Let us now observe how completely every one of these principles has 

 been INVERTED in modern practice, and we shall have obtained some clue 

 in tracing the causes of modern failures. 



"Modern principles are: 



" 1. To make buildings uniform by equal and similar wings, correspond- 

 ing doorways, windows of the same size and kind, level ami regular ele- 

 vations, not broken up into parts of greater or less prominence and height. 

 Every Gothic new building in Cambridge exhibits these faults, which are 



o*seter Cathedral was, however, carried out on a UDlTorm plan for fifty years by 

 Bt&tiop Quivit. 



the certain result of the same hand composing in two contradictory styles, 

 Classic and Gothic. 



" 2. To add unnecessary and unmeaning ornament in conspicuous posi- 

 tions to attract the eye and produce a showy appearance, leaving the less 

 exposed parts bare and naked in the contrast. 



" 3. To place effect before utility, as by building an inconvenient or un- 

 necessary feature because it is supposed to look well. Hence we have 

 doors which afl'ord no entrance, turrets with no available interior, and 

 chimne}s which do not emit smoke. 



"4. To erect buildings whose primary idea is that of a large unbroken 

 area, without columns and arches, with wide roofs, and without distinct 

 component parts. .Such jcere the great majority of the modern churches, 

 which often had neither buttress, nor string course, nor arch in the whole 

 design ; in short, nothing Gothic about them except the minor details. 



" 5. To use usijue ail nauseam a few hackneyed Gothic details, copied 

 from celebrated churches or cathedrals, or borrowed from books; and to 

 apply the.-e without sufficient regard to diflereace in the kinds aud charac- 

 ter of buildings. 



"6. To sacrifice solidity and strength to unnecessary and adventitious 

 ornament, and to impoverish the fabric to obtain the greatest possible 

 amount of conspicuous but needless decoration. 



" 7. To arrange exterior elevations without regard to the nature of the. 

 inferior, or to force the latter to suit the former; as to give the outward 

 appearance of nave and aisles where there are no columns or arches in- 

 side ; of three gabled roofs where there is but one flat ceiling within ; of 

 pinnacles or gable-crosses which are but chimneys. Hence the custom of 

 building jnas/is either to hide necessary parts which do exist, or to give the 

 idea of those which do not. 



" 8. To be satisfied with actual weakness without even apparent light- 

 ness, as by the use of plaistered timber to imitate stone, and by the omis- 

 sion of essenlini constructive details, such as shafts, mouldings, aud the 

 visible resistances of lateral thrusts. 



"All might be summed up in a very few words. The ancient church- 

 men built for God, not for man ; for the church, not for private interest; 

 for religion, not for fame; for endurance, not by contract; for devotion, 

 not iu a spirit of economy ; pro salute anima, non pro crumena." 



There are of course many opinions incidentally expressed by our author, 

 which might be disputed — such as the indiscriminate intolerance of Classic 

 architecture, &c., but it is not necessary to discuss here topics which have 

 been fully treated in other parts of this Journal. The student who desires 

 to learn the elements of Christian architecture accurately, may be confi- 

 dently referred to this work. Our criticism however relates exclusively 

 to the architectural information : respecting the religious dogmas which 

 the author briefly propounds, or rather alludes to, it is not within our pro- 

 vince to offer an opinion, beyond an expression of regret that Mr. Paley 

 has suflfered his name to be involved in the religious dissensions which 

 unhappily exist iu our Universities. These disputes are in any case de- 

 plorable, but the evil of them is greatly increased when they tend to 

 diminish the public esteem of our academic institutions as " seminaries of 

 sound learning and religious education." 



STEAM NAVIGATION.— GUN STEAMERS. 

 (With Engravings, Plate XIX.) 

 We are indebted for the followingjudicious remarks on a better adapta- 

 tion of the light classes of steamers to the objects of the naval service, to 

 a letter from Mr. Kedpield to the Navy Commissioners of the United 

 States, published in the Franklin Journal. It is a sequel to the report 

 given in this Journal in September last, p. 2G7. 



1st. The proportion of length to breadth in these steamers should never 

 be less than the average of class C— the length being equal to nii.e hreatlths 

 or diameters; aud, if extended to nine and a half, or even ten diameters, 

 this will perhaps be within the limits of maximum advantage. These 

 ratios of length are especially required for objects yet to be noticed. The 

 proportion of depth, however, may be slightly increased, if sufficient care 

 be taken to restrict the top weight. 



2ud. The extreme horizontal outline of the deck and guards should be 

 brought within an angle of fourteen degrees from the midship line at Ihe 

 bow and steru ; in order not only to ease of motion, but to favour the de- 

 flection of the shot of an enemy from the hull when engaged head or stern 

 on. The bow and stern angles at the water line will necessarily be much 

 finer — say within the semi-angle of eight or ten degrees. The stem and 

 stern post should be nearly vertical, and the floor frames, or at least their 

 rudimentary forms, should be extended forward and aft to the joinings of 

 the stem and stern post ; dispensing altogether with the common " dead 

 wood" of the steru. Suitable provision should also be made for steering 

 iu opposite directions, with either stem or stern foremost. 



3id. The deck frame should consist of plank-sawed and deep-moulded 

 scantlings, one to each frame of the vessel, and screw-bolted to the same 

 in crossing to the guard or fender line. The common deck knees should 



47* 



