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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[October, 



melaiiHioIy ; one man s;iys lie had no imuginalivn, because lie painted 

 his bottles and pans from nature! — another, he had no genius, because 

 he took so much trouble and made so many drawings of one thing, 

 hand or foot I — a third, that he painted circumstance and not clia- 

 racter '. — what has imagination to do with a brass pan ? — what is wanted 

 in a brass pan or a bottle, is, the reality of a brass pan and a bottle ; 

 now, that painting tliose things from the realities, instead of trusting to 

 his memory, argues no imagination, is rather refined. Again, as to his 

 taking trouble, who took more trouble than Raphael? had he no 

 genius because he took trouble to be perfect in comprehending tlie 

 objects to convey his thoughts? "Draw the naked figure first," said a 

 connoiseur to a young artist, " as Raphael did." "Oh," said the young 

 man, " Ma/ wouid be losing tinif" no, my young friend, it would be 

 gaining lime and not losing, and when fresco begins you will find 

 it out. 



The Breakfast is another of his best works, and perhaps The Servant 

 Girl pouring out the Water, is more like a woman, than any other he 

 ever painted of that beautiful sex. 



Thus then for ever ends the exhibition of a collection of this extra- 

 ordinary man's works; his genius first startled the school from its 

 slavish imitation of Reynolds ; and though a great sra is commencing, 

 that oera I have always foretold and laboured hard to produce, I can 

 imagine no period of excellence that may hereafter arise, wherein the 

 works of David Wilkie may not be studied, with benefit and in- 

 struction, either for fresco or oil. 



Poor Sir David! — how many days we have passed in early life!— 

 after painting all day, we met at dinner, and hurried to the Academy 

 from li to 8 — then went home to each other's rooms to criticize and 

 advise on our mutual labours, animating each other with fresh hopes, 

 and parted for the night with ardent aspirations for fame and dis- 

 tinction. Lord Mulgrave was our employer and kind friend, at his 

 table we used to meet the first men of the time; Lord Mulgrave was 

 a noble cliaracler, and had great delight in the society of artists and 

 connoiseurs — after the fatigues of office, nothing pleased him so 

 roucli. What reminiscences I could write — what a guide book for 

 students would our mutual lives be, our mutual hopes, our mutual 

 anxieties, our mutual fears, our mutual victories, our mutual defeats. 

 A frequent guest was George Colman, whose wit and fun were per- 

 petual sources of sparkle; Lord Mulgrave's brother had attempted 

 to discover the North Pole ; a series of pictures relating to the at- 

 tempt hung round the dining parlour; before leaving the room, long 

 discussions used to take place on art, the whole party walking round ; 

 in Captain Phipp's hand was a boat-hook ; Sir George Beaumont once 

 said "What has he got in his hand?" "Why," said Colman in his 

 burly joking voice, "/ take it to be the North Pole.'" — At another 

 time, after dinner everybody at table seemed sullen and indigestible — 

 we had been painting ail day, and were exhausted — Lord Mulgrave was 

 exhausted and said nothing — and there was silence so long, that all of 

 a sudden the whole circle made a sort of spasmodic etlbrt to say 

 something; Sir George in a lazy sort of a way observed "Theodore 

 Hook is a delightful fellow." "Is he," said Lord Mulgrave, with a 

 look at us all, "/ n-ish to God he ivas here now ;" this 'pnt everybody 

 laughing, and the nhole evening was delightful. 



The going to the Academy every night, we always considered a 

 necessary winding up of a days' study, but the theatres Covent Gar- 

 den and Drury Lane were sources of dispute — when Mrs. Siddons 

 acted I used to appeal to Wilkie, and when it was Mother Goose he 

 used to dwell on the bill, and insist on it, \\e v/imted to study the ex- 

 pressions in the. pit .' — sometimes he saved me from temptation, and 

 sometimes I saved him! Once in going home through the Piazzas 

 there was a show, a man in a thundering voice was explaining its 

 wonders; as if by instinct we squeezed in, and getting up in a dark 

 corner, hoped not to be seen ; at last in dropped one after the other 

 16 students — long before they were all in recognition took place, so 

 that a hearty shout welcomed every new face to its utter dismay ; 

 many of them are now living, the most distinguislied artists of the 

 day; the show was the Baker and the Devil, and it is impossible for 

 people who are never worn out by 10 or 12 hours' painting, to com- 

 prehend the relish of students for such absurdities. 



To travel with Wilkie was entertaining; in 1814, we went to Paris, 

 and saw the town in its glory; we were joined by a Lincolnshire 

 gentleman, who added much to our pleasure, and the only time I ever 

 saw Sir David yield to a true " abandon," was coming out of Rouen ; 

 champaigne had got to his heart, and opened its natural sources ; we 

 we were in an open carriage, and 1 proposed we should sing " God 

 save the King," as we left the city. Wilkie joined most heartily, and 

 on passing into the road, an elegant Frenchman and two graceful 

 women stopped to look at ns with pleasure and astonishment! — as we 

 concluded the last line, he turned from us smiling, and said "./?/(.' 

 trois milords," 



But enough — when a dear old friend goes first in the maturity of 

 life, one is apt to dwell too long on days which are passed for ever. 



B. R. HAYDON. 



PROTECTING CHURCHES FROM THE EFFECTS OF 

 LIGHTNING. 



[The foUovking communication appeared in the Times, we believe it 

 to be from the pen of Mr. Hood, whose scientific attainments entitle 

 the paper to the especial notice of architects.] 



Many persons are of opinion that fatal effects from thunder 

 storms are more frequent now than they were formerly. I should my- 

 self be of that opinion if I trusted merely to the records of memory, 

 but I find that, for more than half a century, the same opinion has been 

 held; while at the same time observdtions made at different periods 

 certainly negative this conclusion. Although it would beattented with 

 much labour to collate all the accounts of accidents of this description, 

 we may gather from the tone of the writers of former days what was 

 the general impression on this subject. The Pluloaophical Transac- 

 tions of the Royal Society, as well as many of the scientific periodicals 

 published at the close of the last and the beginning of the present cen* 

 tury, contain numerous interesting accounts of the effects of lightning; 

 and a writer in the year 1811 states that he has made calculations of 

 the average amount of damage by lightning in England, which he finds 

 amounts to aboutiiJO,000 in money, and from 20 to 30 human lives, as 

 the annual sacrifice by this destructive agent. 



But it is extraordinary that, notwithstanding this acknowledged loss 

 and destruction, scarcely anything is done to mitigate its effects. 

 Science is certainly able to mitigate these destructive effects, if it 

 were put in requisition for tliis purpose. The vast number of churches 

 which have been damaged by lightning within the last three or four 

 years — of which the last instance is St. Martin's Church, the damage 

 "to which is estimated at £3,000 — suggests the necessity for adopting 

 some mode of protecting this description of buildings, for it is 

 certainly most extraordinary that buildings which from their height 

 and general form are more liable than any others to suffer from 

 lightning should so very seldom have any means of protection. With 

 the exception of St. Paul's Cathedral, I believe very few churches in 

 England, either in the metropolis or elsewhere, are furnished with 

 lightning conductors, wdiile many, or indeed most of them, are so con- 

 structed as almost to invite the electric fluid without the means of 

 afterwards allowing its escape, except by the destruction of some part 

 of the building. It is singular how nearly identical are the records of 

 all the accidents of this kind which have hitherto occurred. In 11)74 

 St. Bride's Church, Fleet-street, was struck witli lightning; the electric 

 fluid entered at the top of the spire by the gilded vane, from which it 

 descended as far as any metallic conductors extended, and then burst 

 through the resisting medium of the stonework, shattering the steeple 

 and throwing down several stones, one of whicli, weighing 701b., was 

 carried a distance of 50 yards, and fell through the roof of a neighbour- 

 ing house. With slight variations this would describe most of the 

 accidents to chnrches from lightning; the force of the discharge of 

 course depending upon circumstances. Nearly all writers on this sub- 

 ject are agreed, that if churches and other similar lofty buildings were 

 provided with proper conductors, not only would they be protected 

 from the lightning, but they would, in most cases, also defend the 

 neighbourhood from its effects, by silently and imperceptibly drawing 

 off the electricity from the clouds, and thus preventing the violence of 

 the Ihnnderstorm. In fact, this mode of preventing thunderstorms has 

 been often proposed for adoption on a large scale : and it is somewhere 

 narrated (though I cannot now recollect the precise authority^ that a 

 village in France, which from some local cause had been repeatedly 

 devastated during a series of years by storms of lightning and hail, was 

 afterwards completely protected by the erection of a number of ele- 

 vated conductors. It is true that it has never yet been clearly ascer- 

 tained the greatest extent of surface which a lightning conductor will 

 protect, and, therefore, the precise degree of protection to the neigh- 

 bourhood may be questioned, except within a certain limited distance 

 — the protecting power ol a conductor having been ascertained to be 

 at least sufficient for an area represented by a circle whose radius is 

 twice the lengtli of the conductor. 



The best practical instructions for the erection of lightning conduc- 

 tors is the report made to the French Government by M. Gay-Lussac, 

 on behalf of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, published in the .An- 

 nates de Chimie, and also in the 24th volume of the Annuls of Philoso- 

 phy for 1824 ; but, as these volumes are not often in the hands of prac- 

 tical men, it would be most desirable if the Royal Society would pub- 



