1850.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



315 



It is, in my h'lmble opinion, simple, efficacious, expeditious, and 

 of little cost, compared with other means that have been or may 

 be suggested — that is, if not too late. For if the pier or piers of 

 the Blackfriars Bridge be already very much degraded, there is no 

 remedy but to demolish and rebuild the arches, and the pier or piers; 

 but, if a few weeks ago (perhaps it is not yet too late), in place of 

 wasting time in frivolous manoeuvres, those charged with these mat- 

 ters had set to work in right earnest, with every means available, to 

 fill up with rubble stone or hard brick the deepest part of the chan- 

 nel under the bridge, to bring it up to the general level of the bed of 

 the river at that part, the same operation being continued through- 

 out the entire transverse section of the river, above and below the 

 bridge, for at least one hundred feet; then, I have no hesitation in 

 saying, the bridge would have been preserved from further acci- 

 dent. Having been so well forewarned of the probability of such 

 accidents occurring, it appears to me unaccountable that the state 

 of the bed of the river has not been carefully matched, more espe- 

 cially near the bridges, and that any deviati(m from the proper 

 levels should not have been at once corrected, by filling in with 

 stone or brick rubbish. 



And if it be desirable to secure the other bridges from similar 

 accidents, that which I have now suggested is the safest, the surest, 

 the cheapest, perhaps the only rational mode of attaining the end 

 desired — reason, and practice by the first masters, confirm what I 

 here advance. Smeaton employed this means to save the old 

 London Bridge, in an emergency like that now occurring at Black- 

 friars Bridge, but he was imperative as to time, and by his desire 

 the Corporation of London ordered a lot of houses to be pulled 

 down, expressly to be thrown into the river: the bridge was at that 

 time saved. 



The engineer, Deschamp, having built a fine bridge of three or 

 four arches over the Dordogne at Libourn in France. Before two 

 years after its completion, the current had so lowered the bed of 

 the river under the bridge, that the piles on which the piers are 

 built were to a great extent laid bare, and the whole pier vibrated 

 by the action of the current. To remedy the evil, he employed 

 the means I have quoted, and succeeded. This incident led him 

 to watch with particular attention another bridge of his construc- 

 tion, of nineteen arches, crossing a river 1600 feet wide (the Thames 

 at London is, I think, 1200 only). Both these bridges of M. 

 Deschamp's construction are built on a mud bottom, more than 

 60 feet deep. Notwithstanding this very precarious ground to 

 build upon, his bridges have, by due attention^ been preserved 

 from injury, by employment of the means I have here suggested 

 for the metroi>olitan bridges. 



The examples I have cited are, I think, quite sufficient, in 

 support of the explanation I have given in regard to the cause of 

 such accident, and the means of preventing them. The remarks 

 which have been made of late in several contemporary publica- 

 tions, on the state of the Blackfriars Bridge, have led me to the 

 preceding considerations, which, with more leisure, might have 

 been better arranged and more extended. The importance of 

 the subject, nevertheless, however imperfectly here considered, 

 will perhaps induce you, Mr. Editor, to receive, with your usual 

 courtesy, these and any authentic information or well-iutended 

 suggestions on the subject. 



London, Sept. ISth, 1850. William Stewart. 



GOETHE ON THE CATHEDRAL OF STRASBURG. 



[Translated by J. L.] 



"The more I viewed the front of this edifice, the more my first 

 impression was confirmed and developed, viz., tliat the sublime 

 and the pleasing have been here completely blended. But as it is 

 only possible to describe the impression made on us by that edifice, 

 if we think of the combination of these two incompatible qualities, 

 we become the more impressed with its great worth, and shall use 

 every efl^oit to express how such contradictory elements could ever 

 harmoniously combine and penetrate each other. 



M'ithout considering at first the steeples, we shall speak of the 

 front, which, in the shape of an erect oblong square, forcibly 

 strikes our eyes. If we approach it at tw iligiit, by moonshine, or 

 in a starry night, when the single parts have become gradually 

 indistinct and have at last disappeared, we perceive nothing but 

 a colossal wall, the proportions of whose breadth and height are 

 adequate and pleasing. If we view it by daylight, and abstract in 

 our mind from its details, we perceive the front of an edifice 

 which does not only close up its interior, l)Ut even hides many 

 adjacent parts. The apertures of this huge surface point to the 



interior, its wants and contingencies — and according to this we 

 may divide it into nine comiKirtments. The great central porch, 

 wliich is directed towards the nave of the edifice, first attracts our 

 attention. On both sides are two minor ones, belonging to the 

 aisles. Over the porch is the round window, which spreads over 

 the church and its vaults a mysterious light. On the side of this 

 appear two perpendicular large openings of an oblong square form, 

 which bear a great contrast to the middle one, and seem to indi- 

 cate that they belong to the base of the towering steeples. In 

 the third story, three openings succeed each other, which serve 

 for belfries and other ecclesiastical purposes. On the top the whole 

 ends horizontally with the balustrade of the gallery, which serves 

 in lieu of a cornice. The nine spaces just described are sup- 

 ported by four buttresses rising from the ground, which encompass 

 them, and divide the front of the edifice into three large perpendi- 

 cular sections. And as it cannot be denied, tliat the whole front 

 possesses a fine proportion of breadth and height, these pillars 

 also, as well as the gracile compartments between, add to the har- 

 monious elegance of the detail. 



But let us continue our abstractions, and fancy this %vhole wall 

 without ornament and with solid buttresses, in it the needful aper- 

 tures, but only so far as absolutely necessary ; let us think all that 

 in due proportion, then the whole would be still commanding and 

 serious, but withal appear cheerless and cimbersome, and be want- 

 ing in art and ornamentation. Because an object of art whose 

 whole is comprised within grand, simple, and harmonious paits 

 cannot fail to produce a noble and worthy impression; but that 

 very enjoyment which is produced by the pleasing, cannot arise 

 but from a concordance of all detail duly developed. And it is in 

 this way that the edifice satisfies us in the utmost possible degree, 

 because we perceive all and every ornament completely in accord- 

 ance with that part which it adorns ; they are co-ordinate to it, 

 and seem to come out from it. Such a variety affords always a 

 great satisfaction, as it is derived from a sense of appropriation 

 (aus (lent Gehorigen), and thence satisfies our propensities for unity; 

 and it is only in such cases that the execution of a work attains 

 the pinnacle of art — perfection. 



By such means it has been cfl'ected that a compact wall, a solid 

 surface, which we view also as the basis of two heaven-reaching 

 steeples, appears to the eye, albeit independent of itself, existing 

 for itself; still, as something light and gracile, something which 

 although a thousandfold broken through, bears the stamp of inde- 

 structible solidity. Such riddle is most happily solved. The 

 openings of the wall, the solid spaces, the buttresses, have each 

 its own character, arising from its individual destination ; this 

 goes down gradually to the minor compartments — thence every- 

 thing is ornamented in a chaste manner, the great and small is in 

 its right place, can be understood with ease, and thus the pleasing 

 is manifested even in the huge. I point merely at the doors, 

 which are sunk perspectively in the substance of the walls, orna- 

 mented ad iiifiiiHtim on their pilasters and pointed arches; to the 

 window and that artificial rose-form which arises from its circular 

 shape ; in fine, the profile of its bars, as well as at the slender reed- 

 columns of the perpendicular compartments. May one fancy to 

 himself the gradually receding pilasters, accompanied by slender, 

 pointed arches; little structures, as it were, which, being destined 

 for shrines of holy images, consist of equally uprising slender 

 columns, ending in a sort of canopy; and thus, in fine, every frieze, 

 moulding and finial is transformed into a cluster of flowers or 

 bunch of leaves, or some other form of nature turned into the 

 character of the rocky material. Every one may compare the 

 building itself, or some designs of either the whole or its details, 

 with wliat I have said, for the sake of judging and verifying my 

 opinion. It might appear exaggerated, because I myself, although 

 carried away at first by my admiration for this work, still required 

 some time, until I became thoroughly imbued with its worth. 



Brought up amongst cavillers at Gothic architecture, I che- 

 rished an aversion against those manifold, overloaded, confused, 

 ornaments which, by their arbitrariness, rendered the character of 

 a gloomy religion almost repulsive; and I became confirmed in this 

 ill-will, as it were, merely works most deficient in spirit, on which 

 neither a right proportion, nor any pure consequentiality was im- 

 pressed, which came under my observation. In the Strasburg 

 Cathedral, however, I thought to obtain a new revelation, as none 

 of the above defects, but rather the reverse, were presented to me. 



But the longer I continued to view and to consider, the merits 

 above alluded to seemed to increase. I had already found out the 

 right proportions of the major compartments, as senseful as rich an 

 ornamentation, up to the minutest detail: now I began to compre- 

 hend the relation of these numerous ornaments to each other — the 



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