494 Landscape- Gardening applied to Public Cemeteries. 



sible distance, is the best situation for an entrance ; and for the following 

 reason : that a person entering a church after the congregation has partly 

 assembled, or, as frequently happens, after service is commenced, may gain 

 his sitting as soon as possible, and avoid at least one half the disturbance 

 otherwise created, by having only half the length of an aisle to traverse." 

 With respect to the general form, this architect considers " that plan the best 

 which concentrates the greatest number of benches or pews within a given 

 distance of the preacher ; and hence he prefers a square to a parallelogram." 

 He adds : " Never let the inner entrance door of a church, open under a 

 gallery, or the effect of the interior of the church will be irrecoverably lost. 

 If you will have western entrances and western galleries, contrive to have 

 porches or cloisters, so as to take you to the gallery front before you enter the 

 body of the church." (Arch. Mag., iv. p. 568.) The ground plan in^g. 107. 

 is made in accordance with these principles : / / are the entrance porches ; 

 m m, staircases, from which the body of the church is entered through lobbies 

 at n. The inner lobbies are formed by two pairs of folding doors, with a 

 space between, equal to the thickness of the walls of the towers which con- 

 tain the stairs. The inner doors of the lobbies may be glazed with stained 

 or painted glass. If the body of the church be fitted up with benches, the 

 effect would harmonise better with this style of architecture ; and, in the 

 opinion of several clergymen with whom we are acquainted, this arrangement 

 would be more suitable to the spirit of Christianity, according to which all 

 are equal in the sight of God. It is worthy of remark, that in the Russian 

 churches there are no benches or seats of any kind whatever, and nothing to 

 prevent the meanest slave from standing by the side of the highest noble, 

 or even of the emperor himself. The portion of the sittings marked o o, to 

 the right and left of the pulpit, our architect considers should be free. The 

 communion table is to be placed at jo, the pulpit at q, and the reading-desk at 

 r. " The vestry and singers' seats (s) should be divided from the body of 

 the church by a pierced screen, finished upon the same level with the gallery 

 fronts ; and above this screen should be a niche and canopy to the pulpit, de- 

 signed as much as possible to improve the sound." (lb., p. 571.) Whoever 

 wishes to enter into farther detail on the subject of churches, and to see 

 plans and elevations on a large scale of the one shown in Jig. 106., may con- 

 sult the Architectural Magazirie, vol. ii. p. 393., vol. iv. p. 237. and p. 566., 

 and vol. v. p. 223. 



The Parsonage House and Grounds will, in general, be most conveniently 

 situated adjoining the church and churchyard ; and the church will always 

 form a most appropriate object in the principal view from the parsonage. The 

 churchyard, also, may sometimes be seen as a part of the view ; and at other 

 times it may be so united with the grounds of the parsonage as almost to 

 seem a continuation of them. In the greater number of situations, however, 

 we believe the clergyman will prefer having his residence at a short distance 

 from the churchyard ; not only from the idea that there may be mephitic ex- 

 halations from it (especially in churchyards where the graves are crowded 

 pell-mell together, and opened without any regular system), but also because 

 familiarity with the interments taking place in it may lessen the sentiment of 

 solemnity excited by them in his children and domestics, and may obtrude 

 that expression more powerfully than is desirable upon the minds of strangers 

 who may be his guests. Another and a decisive reason why the church and 

 churchyard should generally stand alone is, that the expression of solemnity 

 is heightened by this circumstance. Solitariness is unquestionably a powerful 

 ingredient in all feelings which are the opposite to those of gaiety ; and, on 

 this account, the church and churchyard should stand completely isolated, 

 and, as we have said before, they should, if possible, be so elevated as to be 

 seen from all the surrounding country. (See the subject of Parsonage Houses 

 treated of in the Suburban Gardener, p. 607. to p. 615. ; in which the ])lan of 

 Dunchurch Vicarage, laid out from our designs in 1837, is given as an example 

 of the pleasure-grounds of a parsonage united with the scenery of an ad- 

 joining churchyard.) 



