I8-12.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



149 



construction have led to any tiling like the proportions that charac- 

 terise the early Doric order? Certainly not; it would have led to 

 quite a different system, both for the columns and the entire structure. 

 That of the intercohiinniation would have been just the reverse of 

 what it now is, for the columns would have been three or four times 

 as wide apart. If a timber construction was the type, the character of 

 that type would have been preserved — at least tolerably kept up — at 

 any rate not entirely obliterated. What analogy is there between a tim- 

 ber construction and the ponderous Doric entablature and the square- 

 Hfss which prevails in all its members? Oh! hut a timber construc- 

 tion, it will be urged, accounts so very "nicely" for the triglyphs. 

 So, then, in order to account for what is something altogether subor- 

 dinate, and perhaps almost entirely arbitrary, we are to give up what 

 accounts for and explains the style itself, considered as a whole. 

 After all, too, they are accounted for one way just as well as the other. 

 If intended to represent the horizontal beams laid on the architrave, 

 and forming the ceiling between that and the external roof, it does not 

 follow that those beams were of necessity timber ones at first, since 

 we meet with precisely the same arrangement and forms in the ceil- 

 ings of the most ancient stone constructions. Being ourselves in- 

 variably imitators, we seem to be also of opinion that men must have 

 had ab initio some express model or type, and that those who contrive 

 and invent must have some pattern to go by. 



V. "An engivcer 's the noblest work of God " ! — staggering as it is, 

 such is the doctrine Itterally put forth in a certain quarter, where it is 

 maintained to be the highest honour of our race to be engineering 

 animals. Sages, poets, artists — how do you relish it? — you who have so 

 long arrogated to yourselves the topmost pinnacles of human glory? 

 But the world has been mistaken all along, and henceforth mechanics 

 must take precedence of mind, and machinery of art. Having ad- 

 vanced so far in such ultra-utilitarian doctrine, should we not take 

 another step, and be convinced that man himself is but a mere machine 

 — a piece of clever engineering work. Let us hear no more cant 

 about Grecian or Gothic art— let us have no more extacies on the 

 subject of the Parthenon or York Minster — of the Cartoons or the 

 Elgin marbles — the triumphs of Christian or of Pagan art. Henceforth 

 the bridge-builder is to be looked upon as the Ponlifex maximns of 

 society; and Homers and Phidiases, Handels and Raphaels, &c., as a 

 verv useless race — quite valueless according to the new ultra-utili- 

 tarian principles. We need not, however, inveigh against those 

 principles, because there is no danger of their being at all contagious, 

 for their exquisite absurdity renders them perfectly harmless. 



PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES IN POITIERS AND 



ANGOULEME: WITH SOME REMARKS ON EARLY 



ARCHITECTURE. 



By George Godwin Jon., F.R.S., &c. 



( Continued from page 71.j 



Chapter 3. 



If a tea-cup be reversed in a saucer, it will convey a very clear 

 idea of the regularly formed mountain, on the truncated top of which 

 stands Angouleme, one of the most ancient of French cities. A low 

 wall encloses a public promenade (once the ramparts) around the 

 whole of the flat summit occupied by the houses, and affords some 

 beautiful views of the continuous valley, studded with cottages and 

 sparkling with streams, at the foot of it, as well as of the adjacent 

 |)icturesque rocks and hills. In consequence of this peculiar and 

 almost inaccessible position, Angouleme was ever regarded as a safe 

 refuge in troubled times ; thus, at that period when the Normans, or 

 North men, ravaged France, burning down churclies, and destroying 

 all before them, we find the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts 

 constantly flying to this city, and there defending themselves, although 



not always successfully. The approach to Angouleme from Poitiers, 

 from which town it is distant about 78 miles, is very pretty: the 

 peculiarity of its position, and the smoothly flowing Charente which 

 passes it, lending it additional attractions. In the city itself, the 

 chief object of regard is the Cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter, — a 

 structure so extraordinary in its character, that it should be visited by 

 all who view with interest the various shapes taken by architectural 

 skill in the middle ages, the various modifying circumstances which 

 led to this variety in different localities, or who are seeking to learn 

 the immediate source of the style of cisalpine edifices. 



Fig. 7. 



The above view ot the west front, although sketched on the spot,'' 

 and correct in the generalities, gives but a very feeble and inadequate 

 idea of this extraordinary facade. The boldness of tlie sculptures, 

 the size of the five main arches and columns into which it is divided, 

 and the universal decoration prevailing throughout, produce an effect 

 picturesque and striking in the extreme. 



In character it resembles Notre Dame de Poitiers (see Fig. -1), and 

 is of that transition period when the semi-circular arcb was about to 

 give place universally to the pointed. In width it is about GC feet. 

 The entrance doorway in the centre was spoiled by injudicious repairs 

 in the last century; formerly it seems there was a porch before it 

 composed of three arches.t In the arcade on either side of the door, 

 the heads of which take a slightly pointed form, as at Notre Dame 

 de Poitiers, and are elaborately sculptured, are the twelve apostles; 

 underneath one of the groups are sculptured knights tilting in chain 

 armour. Above the door is the only window in the fayade, now 

 closed, having around it sculptured figures in arcades. Over it, in 

 the centre, is a figure of the Almighty in a rcscica piscis, supported 

 on a very elegant honeysuckle scroll, and flanked by the symbols of 

 the four evangelists. The intrados of the arch above it, is sculptured 



* In October. 18-11. 



f This was ilcniulisbed bclvvcen 1808 ami 1810. 

 cloisters utlaclKil to llio ImiUling were destroyed. 



About the same time. 



