83 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Feb. 



on compniing that description with the accompanying views by 

 Roberts, to which it was intended as explanatory ; for if they know 

 anything at all of the English cathedral, they must have wondered how 

 any one can trace anv sort of resemblance between the two edifices, or 

 between their respective Chapter-houses. Whether Roscoe had 

 \infortunately got hold of a print of York Cathedral at the time, 

 supposing it to be the representation of that of Burgos, I know not ; 

 but nothing short of some strange mistake of the kind can account for 

 lis blundering remarks. It is true, both Burgos and York have two 

 ■western towers, yet so also has St. Paul's ; and therefore, at least as far as 

 the facade is concerned, he might as well have compared it with that of 

 the last-mentioned structure. The exact similarity which Roscoe is 

 lucky enough to be able to perceive between Burgos and York, is 

 exaclly like that which exists between a dog and a cat, both of them 

 being animals with four legs and a tail ; and no doubt he would have 

 pointed out that remarkable coincidence, had he been writing a book 

 of natural history. The west front of Burgos has two very rich spires 

 of open-work tracery, and is otherwise of peculiar design, while York 

 has nothing whatever of the kind. The centre compartment of the 

 first shows no gable, but terminates in a horizontal deep parapet of 

 open arches, &c., with a canopied niche in its centre : the other, on 

 the contrary, has an embattled gable or pediment, covered with tracery. 

 At Burgos, this portion of the front is divided into two tiers of win- 

 dows, viz. a large rose window below, and two arched ones above it ; 

 whereas, at York it has a single large window, gabled and em- 

 battled, and remarkable for the pattern of its tracery. In fact, there is 

 no sort of resemblance between the two structures ; since whatever 

 they have in common constitutes also a decided difference. It may per- 

 haps be some little excuse for Roscoe, that his Spanish excursion was 

 merely an invention, and that he travelled no further than to the British 

 Museum ; whereas, if he really did visit Burgos and the other places 

 he mentions, he must have forgotten to take his eyes with him. 



III. A plague upon all description-mongers of the Roscoe, Ritcliie, 

 Gore, and Co. genus ' — people who only blunder and bungle most dread- 

 fully, when they attempt to speak of buildings, and who, to give them 

 their due, Mrk saying anything about them at all, if they can possibly 

 avoid it, and find any other filliug-up stuff, no matter what, so that it 

 does but eke out the quantum of pages, wliich is all many publishers 

 care for, or indeed, the "intelligent public" also. The letterpress to 

 Pugin's Paris is a precious specimen of this sort of description ; done, 

 it would seem, by one of the publisher's shopmen or porters. The 

 blunders and proofs of ignorance are innumerable; and no w^onder, 

 when the writer does not even know the difference between a portico 

 and a portal. Nevertheless he has shown some contrivance, in con- 

 triving to give dtscriplions of plates, without saying a word relative 

 to their subjects. Such is the case, for instance, in regard to the view 

 of the staircase of the Chambre de Paris, where not the slightest in- 

 formation of any kind is afforded — not even so much as a syllable. 



IV. Pedantry, I am happy to say, seems to be far less rife among 

 the juniors of the profession, the rising generation of architects, than 

 it has been among their predecessors. They seem to be imbued with 

 more artist-like feeling, and willing to shake off the trammels of rules 

 in themselves merely conventional, and little better than hindrances 

 and obstacles, when allowed to interfere with aesthetic principles. 

 Probably Professor Hosking has contributed in no small degree towards 

 this very desirable liberalism in architectural taste, by the remarks 

 contained in his " Treatise," and by the courage he showed in ven- 

 turing to impugn the authority of Vitruvius, whose writings may 

 certainly now be dispensed with, or retained only for their philological 

 value, since we have now become far better acquainted with ancient 

 architecture from actual examples of it, and carefully-drawn delinea- 

 tions of them, than it was possible to be at the time so much importance 

 ■was attached to the work of Vitruvius. The study of those examples has 

 further tended to show how imperfectly Vitruvius understood his own 

 art, and to what a plodding mechanical system he endeavoured to reduce 

 it. Though he indulges in a great deal of idle pompous verbosity and 

 twaddle, — pretty much as if he was an F.S.A., — on no occasion does 

 be make a single remark in the spirit of an artist, or say anything that 



in the slightest degree amounts to criticism. Of principles he seems 

 to have no idea ; on the contrary, he is deplorably dull himself, and 

 his dullness appears to have been hereditary, and to have ever since 

 infected the greater portion of writings upon architecture since his 

 time. It is perhaps — or for "perhaps" I should be inclined to say 

 it is " undoubtedly " — to be regretted that his writings were ever dis- 

 covered, since they have exerted a most unhappy influence on the art, 

 checking it in the very bud, when it would else have expanded itself, 

 if somewhat more slowly, with greater freedom and geniality. But 

 for that unlucky discovery, architecture would probably never have 

 fallen into the hands of order-mongers, but have been left to develop 

 its powers without artificial restraint, as was the case with the Gothic 

 stvle. 



ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NEW LOCOMOTIVE. 



With the progress of the locomotive engine, it has, like other 

 machines of extensive use, attained that period when its economy 

 becomes of the greatest importance. Influenced by such consider- 

 ations, Mr. Robert Stephenson has directed his attention to a less 

 consumption of fuel, and to effecting a more simple arrangement of 

 the machinery, both of which points have been well managed in his 

 new engine now running on the York and North Midland Railway. 



Economy in the consumption of fuel has been obtained, by adding 

 considerably to the length of the tubes, without increasing the distance 

 between the front and back axles of the engine ; consequently the 

 space occupied by the engine upon the bearing is precisely the 

 same, therefore no alterations are requisite in the turn-plates, or other 

 arrangements made for the accommodation of the ordinary locomotive. 

 The machinery is simplified by placing the axles of all the wheels 

 under the cylindrical portitn of the boiler, the axle of the front wheels 

 being placed close to the smoke box, and .the axles of the hind wheels 

 close to the foremost end of the fire box, instead of the back part. 

 This arrangement allows the axle of the driving wheels to be placed 

 in the centre of the other two axles, or at such intermediate distance 

 as may be found the most suitable for the moving parts. 



The alteration in the construction of the boiler and tubing gives a 

 heating surface of SOU superficial feet, whereas in the ordinary engine 

 it rarely exceeds 450 feet, being for the new plan a superiority of 

 fully 350 feet. Such is the effect produced by this addition, that the 

 temperature of the air escaping in the chimney scarcely exceeds the 

 temperature of the water in the boiler ; a circumstance which has a 

 farther beneficial eSsct beyond the economy of fuel, for it has been 

 found, by increasing the extent of heating surface, and employing 

 usefully the whole of the heat generated in the fire, that a less violent 

 draught of air is required ; the consequence is that very few hot 

 ashes are thrown out of the chimney; this peculiarity is quite 

 remarkable in the engine now running. A few days since, a journey 

 of 90 miles was performed by this engine, during which no ashes were 

 thrown out of the top of the chimney, and at the same time the accu- 

 mulation in the smoke box was very trifling, not exceeding a fourth of 

 the usual quantity. As the tendency to eject ashes from the chimney 

 is dependent upon the speed, it is necessary to state, that the speed 

 was never below 20 miles per hour, generally exceeded 30, and for 

 several miles a speed of 48 miles per hour was uniformly attained, 

 with five loaded coaches. 



The consumption of fuel during the above experiment was 19'2 lb. 

 per mile, with a load of S coaches over half the distance (45 miles), 

 and 5 coaches over the remaining half. This consumption includes 

 the whole of the fuel used in lighting the fire and raising the steam. 



We may truly say, that we have never witnessed an instance where 

 speed and economy were combined to the same extent ; indeed, under 

 no circumstances have we heard of the consumption of fuel being re- 

 duced to so low a figure. It must, however, be borne in mind, that this 



