18S0.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL, 



79 



ought to be known, — if clay or lime aboveground, he will think 

 about tile or lime kilns. A fair analysis of the soils is to be made, 

 to know whether anything is wanting in them, and whence it is 

 most readily to he got. The streams of water must be looked 

 after, and it must be settled what is to be drained off, and what can 

 be kept for catchwater meadows, or to feed the crops. It may be 

 worth while thinking whether wells should not be sunk, to water 

 the cattle where the land drainage is not wholesome. The roads 

 settle the number of draught horses to be kept; and a few yards 

 of quagmire filled up will perhaps get rid of half the horses. The 

 hedges, trees, buildings, machinery, dung-pits, must be looked to, 

 mapped out, and reckoning gone into as to what is to be done with 

 them. 



A great landowner can send for Mr. Parkes, or Mr. Smith of 

 Dennston to plan works, Mr. Bailey Denton to lay down a survey, 

 Prof. Phillips to examine his minerals, and Prof. Johnston to ana- 

 lyse the soils; but the small landowner wants this done by one man, 

 at a small rate. The farmer, or the schoolmaster who is a land- 

 surveyor, can plot out the ground — but there he ends. There are 

 many farmers and land-valuers who can give very good advice as 

 to draining or laying out the farm buildings; but still they cannot 

 do the whole work. A young man who has been fairly brought up 

 can do all that is wanted. He must be a surveyor, engineer, geo- 

 logist, and chemist: know how to plan and estimate buildings; but, 

 above all, he must be a good accountant — one of the first qualifica- 

 tions of a man of business. 



The engineer is becoming the counsellor of his employers in 

 many great undertakings, and his success will be much dependent 

 on his knowledge of business. Now, so far as we know, in the 

 engineering schools, book-keeping is not taught, and neither is 

 political economy. We ought perhaps to go further, and say that 

 logic and the training of the mental powers are not taught. The 

 technical knowledge of accounts is needful to every engineer who 

 would be more than a mechanic, for our's is a truly practical pro- 

 fession; and without knowing what the outlay will be, and what 

 the income, a man who lays down a plan is a mere bubble-blower, 

 and may as well lay down a bridge from Dover to Calais, fur which 

 the gold diggings of California would never pay, — or set up a 

 patent cabbage-cutting machine, such as that which saved one 

 cabbage in a hundred, but trampled down four. For want of a 

 knowledge of higher political science, engineers are unable to 

 grapple rightly with all the bearings of the plans which come 

 before them. In common arithmetic, two and two make four; 

 but in political arithmetic, they may make five, four, three, or 

 even two. 



An engineer who is called in to look over land is not called in to 

 spend money, but to save it. He must look to the means of his 

 employer. If the latter is short of money, then only those works 

 must be set about which are altogether needful: if, however, he 

 has money to sj)are, then it is worth while to lay it out in every 

 way which will bring a good return. Everything must be well 

 reckoned up. The whole mileage of carts and horses throughout 

 the year, must be worked out, — whether this can be shortened, 

 whether lighter caj-ts can be run, or other kinds of ploughs be 

 brought to bear. When buildings are to be set up, it does not 

 follow they are to be built off-hand of brick or stone; but it must 

 be worked in every kind of way, to make the most of the stone, 

 brick, timber, and lime at hand. To liken great things with small, 

 if railways had been so worked, they would now yield a much 

 better income. 



A farm is a factory for bread and meat, and is to be set up in the 

 same way as a cotton-mill. The engineer is the man to undertake 

 the task, for neither landowner nor farmer can do it without him. 

 One set pattern does for a windmill or a baker's oven, but no two 

 farms are alike. One is high, another low; one wet, another dry; 

 and so forth; and there must be a plan for each. 



This constitutes the protection of the engineer, for if a plan 

 could be stereotyped and lent about from landowner to landowner, 

 as a crotchet pattern by their wives, small would be the extent of 

 engineering employment. It is on the degree of skill displayed 

 in each design, in its peculiar and specific application to the cir- 

 cumstances, that the engineer must depend fur his reputation. If 

 he contents himself with copying from books, or with mixing up 

 stock plans, either in this or any other branches of engineering 

 employment, he is only undermining himself, for his employers 

 can do the same thing, or others can start against him. 



■We repeat, that protection is not to be sought in a code of con- 

 ventional etiquette, but by the upright discharge of professional 

 duties towards employers, looking not to selfish emolument, but to 

 mutual advantage where a mutual service is rendered, and where 



a mutual interest is at stake. Those who hire themselves out for 

 the day will be treated as hirelings: those who do unto others as 

 they would others should do unto them, will be treated as fi'iends, 

 and rewarded as such. 



ON THE LIFE AND GENIUS OF VIGNOLA. 



On the T'ife, the Genius; and the WorkK of Giacnmo Barozzi Da 

 Vignnla. By Samukl Angell, Esq., Architect. — (Paper read at the 

 Royal Institute of British Architects, Feb. 4th.) 



Of the great Italian architects of the sixteenth century, I doubt 

 whether there is one to whose works and instruction we are more 

 indebted than to him, who forms the subject of the present paper, 

 Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. We have all probably our diii'erent 

 favourites among these great masters — one preferring the grandeur 

 and solidity of the San Galli; another, the refined elegance of 

 Peruzzi; a third, the harmoiry and simplicity of Palladio; but fur 

 a happy combination of exquisite grace, with originality and purity 

 of design, I consider Vignola as deserving the palm. 



In France the merits of Vignola have always been justly appre- 

 ciated. Tlie architect is there taught from the commencement of 

 his studies to revere him as his law-giver, and his name has given 

 the title to several of the Frencii elementary works. They have 

 their 'Vignoles des Architects,' 'Le Vignole des Ouvriers,' and 'Le 

 Vignole des Proi)rietaires.' They have produced 'Le Vignole in 

 fol.' and 'Le Vignole de poche;' in fact, for pure Italian architec- 

 ture this great master is looked up to as their standard, and I 

 believe I am correct in attributing the great excellence of modern 

 French architects to the fortunate selection they have made of 

 Vignola as their chief guide and instructor. 



Of our own countrymen. Sir ^Villiam Chambers has, perhaps, 

 been the most forward in doing justice to the merits of Barozzi. 

 In Sir William's admirable treatise he constantly refers to the 

 writings and executed works of his great Italian prototype, and in 

 his Five Orders he has drawn moi-e largely from ^'ignola than from 

 either Scamozzi, Serlio, or Palladio. 



Our Honorary Foreign Secretary has also done justice to the 

 genius of Vignola in the following passage, from his instructive 

 work on Doorways: — "V\'e are not sufliciently acquainted in this 

 country with the powers of Vignola's mind, which is more to he 

 regretted, as all his works evince a profound knowledge of the 

 resources of his art, and a taste of the most cultivated and refined 

 nature. Grace is the predominating feature in all his buildings, 

 not one of which but is sufficient to establish the reputation of 

 any man. " 



Before I proceed to discuss the merits of Vignola as an architect, 

 I will first slightly glance at tlie history of his life, and describe 

 some of his principal works. Of the former I have little to add to 

 what is contained in his memoir by Vincenzio Danti, as well as in 

 Milizia's 'Memoire degli Architetti;' and also in the accounts 

 prefixed to the editions of his works, well known, no doubt, to 

 those present. And although I can offer no such amusing scenes, 

 nor stirring events as are to be found in the life of a Benvenuto 

 Cellini, still the career of Vignola was not without its shadows: 

 occasionally basking in the sunshine of royal favour and pontifical 

 patronage, there were times when he despaired of success, and 

 when he found it necessary to change the intent and nature of his 

 studies. 



Vignola was horn on the 1st of October, 1507; his father, 

 Clemeute Barozzi, was of a noble family, and a native of Milan; 

 his mother was a German lady. The civil wars of that period 

 obliged Clemente to leave Milan, and he took refuge in the small 

 town of Vignola, in the Modenese states, and Giacomo being born 

 there, was, according to the custom of those days, surnamed after 

 the place of his birth. 



Clemente Barozzi died during the infancy of Giacomo, who, as 

 he grew up, evinced some talent and inclination for drawing, and 

 was therefore advised to proceed to Bologna to study the art of 

 Painting and Design. He does not, however, appear to have made 

 the progress in his pursuits that he desired, he therefore took the 

 resolution of changing them for Perspective and Architecture; 

 and in these, his more congenial studies, he soon arrived at that 

 proficiency which his natural genius and constant application 

 enabled him to attain. Francesco Guicciardini, at that time 

 governor of Bologna, took him under his patronage, but the 

 youthful V' ignola, perceiving that a thorough knowledge of archi- 

 tecture not merely consisted in making designs, or studying 

 the works of Vitruvius, determined to proceed to Rome, and 



