and in its Neighbourhood. 



355 



The Architecture of Brighton is in general of a very inferior 

 description, not so much from want of expense, as of taste. The 

 greater part of the town bears evident marks of having been got 

 up in a hurry ; and the elevations are apparently for the most part 

 the work of carpenters or bricklayers. No where are so many 

 pilasters and columns degraded, or so little attention paid to doors 

 or chimney tops. One characteristic of most of the houses, 

 except those which come under the class of third-rate, is a 

 semicircular or segmental bow projected from the front next 

 the street, from the foundation to the summit of the elevation in 

 which the windows are placed. The object is to present an ob- 

 lique surface to the wind, which, being very violent, is in danger 

 of blowing in the glass. These projections also serve as but- 

 tresses to the front ; and, were they carried up occasionally one 

 story higher than the rest of the house, they would break the tame 

 uniformity and vulgarity of the sky outline. The walls are very 

 thin, and frequently framed in wood, filled in with a single brick 

 in thickness, and covered externally with what is called brick 

 weather tiling (Enc. of Cott. Arch., p. 228, 229.), which so ex- 

 actly resembles brickwork, that no stranger could ever detect 

 the difference. Ornamental weather tiling [Ibid.) is quite a 

 different style of covering walls, and easily detected. There are 

 symptoms of improvement in the shops ; and the terminus of 

 the railway, St. Peter's Church, and Mr. Attree's villa, are ex- 

 amples of good taste, which it is hoped will not be without their 

 effect. The houses at the eastern and western extremities of 

 Brighton are, in many cases, much superior to those in the in- 

 terior and middle part of the town ; and the upper and lower 

 marine terraces at Kemptown, and the esplanades at the west 

 end of the town, are grand and characteristic features. The 

 town is also remarkably clean, and the roads in its neighbour- 

 hood, being Macadamised with broken flints from the sea beach, 

 are kept in excellent order ; though we cannot help noticing 

 that men were breaking stones by the old mode; that is, by 

 kneeling on a wisp of straw, and breaking the stones as they 

 lie in the heap. The loco- 

 motive machine described 

 in our volume for 1829, 

 and which we shall here 

 repeat, is an improvement 

 so obvious that it requires 

 only to be known to be 

 introduced. We first saw 

 this machine {Jig. 34.) in 

 Nottinghamshire in 1825. 

 The diameter of the stones 

 to be broken is reduced 

 in the quarry, or on the 



A A 2 



Fig. 3*. Slonebreaker's Table. 



