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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[NoVEMBEB, 



yet the great principles contained in the pointed arch lay dormant, 

 — we find a mixture of the two principles; and to this we 

 may attrihute that unsuccessful and unsatisfactory effect which, 

 notwithstanding the good points we have been ahle to allude to, 

 generally marks the style: and it is well worth the trouhle of a 

 patient study, if we may demonstrate from these examples that 

 any conjunction of these two principles, so i)erfect in themselves 

 wlien kept apart, cannot succeed — that they will not assimilate. 



In these times, when, happily, there is a desire and purpose 

 abroad to escape from copyism, and attempts at positive re-pro- 

 duction, it is of the utmost importance to determine what may 

 and H hat may not he attempted with a fair chance of success; and 

 in the study of earlier styles to this end lies the great advantage — ■ 

 of consequence infinitely greater than the minute differences in 

 the contour of a set of mouldings or the style of foliage, decora- 

 tion, or indeed anything else subordinate to the great radical 

 principles which must lie at the bottom of the superstructure of 

 ideas, even though, perhaps in great part unsuspected by those 

 who set up the edifice of mind and taste. 



In all the earlier history of Architecture, in all countries and in 

 all ages, we find that it is the natural offspring of the social con- 

 dition, circumstances, and bias of each nation, and the strong 

 expression of those feelings and tendencies which had most weight 

 and were the most prominent features in the national character. 

 Nothing, indeed, could be more natural than that it should be so ; 

 for whether a nation would express the glowing fervour of reli- 

 gious enthusiasm, or the towering pride of warlike ambition ; 

 whether the voluptuous luxury of careless ease and inaction or the 

 chaste and pure breathings of a lofty philosophy and elevated 

 poetry — to what can it fly more suitable to express and show clearly 

 to the world such marks and features? to what, in the range of 

 art, so capable as Architecture to bear such impressions, and to 

 proclaim them intelligibly to all behcdders? Thus was it in Egypt 

 and Greece. Had the social state of the Greeks been less highly 

 polished and refined, their intellectual culture less, and their reli- 

 gious feeling more, should we have had their architecture? Had 

 the fervid and enthusiastic, yet seclusire and predestinating, reli- 

 gion of Mahomet found no followers, should we have had the 

 quaint but poetical .Moresque? Or, turning to the delightful and 

 refreshing picture of mediaival art, from whence should we derive 

 its peculiar and individual expression but from the pure and holy 

 standard of the Christian religion? the whole overflowing with a 

 loftiness and aspiration of idea which was never previously seen — 

 was never called into existence — simply, because then, for the 

 first time, had those particular stimulating necessities arisen; 

 the fountain of thought then bubbled up from another region, 

 flowed down from a different source, and nourished a different 

 landscape into beauty and loveliness. 



The characteristics of this age in our own country, in a secular 

 point of view, are the luiuriousness and magnificence produced by 

 the influx and accumulation of increasing wealth in individuals 

 and noble houses; a rapid spread of invention and scientific dis- 

 covery; great and increasing national power and resources; a 

 peaceful industry and love of peaceful arts, but an energetic 

 resistance of all aggression; a great pride of country and love of 

 home; and desire for national pre-eminence, to be gained rather by 

 solid institutions and sound government than by force of arms or 

 political intrigue and chicanery. If Architecture, then, had been 

 allowed to have the guidance of its own natural laws of progres- 

 sion, it might be perhaps supposed, with some show of reason, that 

 a national style would have grown into strength and beauty; which, 

 preserving the treatment peculiar to the niediseval styles, would 

 yet have been influenced by the refinement of the Greek, tinctured 

 to some extent with the ornamental profusion of the Roman: a 

 style bold and massive, resting for its effects upon solid proportions 

 rather than upon detail — most likely with a leaning towards the pier 

 and arch treatment rather than to the C(duninar; different from all 

 that had come before, and as English as our ships, our laws, or 

 ourselves. 



Yet, should such a thing ever come to pass by the lesson before 

 us, we see that it never could be done by any incongruous mixture 

 of old examples and styles. What we must look for to realise any 

 great change is some new principle — some great main idea; and 

 should such be discovered, then, withimt diflSculty or effort, we 

 should have a new and national style. Till then we may rest assured 

 that the great principles already known to us admit of many 

 applications different from those that have already appeared, and 

 which will doubtless reward a patient investigation. And we shall 

 do well to abstain, not merely from copyiug, but from gaining 

 originality by any clashing mixture of old styles: the result may 



very possibly be quaint, perhaps with some merit; hut could never 

 become a style, and never be beautiful, because always imperfect. 



I think we may also receive some instruction relative to that 

 which is an important consideration in modern church architec- 

 ture — namely, how to introduce galleries. 



It is very generally conceded that in our crowded cities, it is impos- 

 sible to keep galleries out of our churches; and, indeed. I kni>w 

 not why it should be thought desirable to do so, for in a Protestant 

 church, where hearing quite as much as seeing is the requisite, it is 

 a ready means of bringing a great additional number within the re- 

 quired distance. I believe, if treated as a mere piece of cumbrous 

 furniture, a mere stage put up without connection or any harmony 

 with the rest of the building, that it must always be wholly unsuc- 

 cessful and unarchitectural. If, however, treated as in some of 

 these churches (St. Agnes, for example), there isnosuch objection — 

 no such fault to find. In a Gothic church, put— as we usually see 

 it — where it ought not to be, it is obtrusive and unpleasant. In a 

 church of Classic design — as we usually see it — it has the appear- 

 ance of an inharmonious erection in a disproportioned room. But 

 only let it be above the arches between the aisles and nave; only 

 let the lines of the nave be continued up to the roof, the gallery 

 not interfering with it — and the whole is compact and proportion- 

 ate The beauty of the Basilica [plan, whether applied Gothically 

 or Classically, is the just proportion between the aisles and nave — 

 the unbroken height of the lengthened vistas, and the effect, is 

 wholly lost if all be thrown open together on the one hand, or 

 choked-up with carpenter-like contrivances on the other. 



I doubt not, with a little care, galleries might assist the general 

 effect, instead of the contrary, as at present; and still retain their 

 acknowledged qualities of usefulness and saving in expense. 



MR. STEPHENSON AT BERNE. 



The Swiss Federal Council have certainly pitched upon the best 

 expedient for settling the important question of their system of 

 railways, by calling Mr. Stephenson toasort of professional consulta- 

 tion. Mr. Stephenson, accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Swinburn, 

 had the whole mass of plans, sections, and estimates laid before 

 him, as well as statistical tables relating to population, the amount 

 of traffic, &c. The English engineers, accompanied by M. Coun- 

 cillor Naff, have also made a tour of inspection through the east 

 and middle of Switzerland, and are about to proceed to the new 

 projected lines of the west. As far as the opinions expressed by 

 Mr. Stephenson have become known, thev are as follow. He does 

 not think it advisable to cover the whole of Switzerland at once 

 with a network of rail, but to beg n raiher with a few central lines, 

 which would bisect the land from east to west, and north to south. 

 These are to be undertaken by the federal government, while the 

 branch lines, which have subsequently to connect those main arte- 

 ries, are to be executed by the single republics (cantons) 



Mr. Stephenson has been gratified by the geological fact, that in 

 the direction contemplated (that of the equator and the meridian), 

 the longitudinal stream valleys of the Alps are favourable to the 

 project, whose rise and fall do in no case exceed 1 in 100. 



In a financial point of view, it is .Mr. Stephenson's opinion, that 

 the less capital employed, the greater the dividends are likely to 

 be. He proposes, therefore, only single lines of rail; with the 

 avoiding of costly tunnels, viaducts, cuttings, Sec, and the' accom- 

 modation of the line to the most adapted teirain of valleys and 

 the slopes of hills. Further surveys have been made at Hauen- 

 stein, according to which inclined ])lanes and compensation engines 

 are to be put in operation at Laiifelfingen and Trimbach, and the 

 tunnel of 2500 yards in length, projected by M. Merian, is to be 

 finally executed. 



It has not, however, been Switzerland alone which has honoured, 

 on this occasion, the English engineer with particular confidence: 

 the King of Sardinia has also commissioned M. Negrelli to meet 

 Mr. Stephenson, for the purpose of consulting with him on the 

 projected new lines over the .■Vlburn, the Grimsel, and the Briining. 

 Mr. Stephenson seems, however, to be altogether averse to the idea 

 of the gigantic tunnel— -if anything can be called gigantic because 

 it is impossible. Even the Lukmanier tunnel of 17,000 feet, seems 

 to him an adventurous undertaking, and he prefers the passing of 

 the mountain at St. Maria by means of compensating engines and 

 covered galleries. It is, therefore, easy to foresee what Mr. Ste- 

 phenson will say to a project, by which the passage from Domo 

 d'Ossola into the Vahiis is to be effected by a tunnel of one-quarter 

 of a league ; that of the Grimsel by one of half-a-league; and the 

 Briining by one also of one-fourth league in length. L. 



