BUILDING. 



It maybe remarked, before we quit tJie {■.\h;sQ. of antique 

 coiinri.aions, that the Greeks and Ro™:is in their buildings 

 of wrought (lone appear alwavs to have worked only the beds 

 of t!ie llone» before placing them m the biiildwig, leaving 

 the faces to b.- worked after the eredtioii of the edilice ; an 

 excellent method, which faves from injury ths arrifes and 

 mouldings. On this account, uuKnilhed columns are fome- 

 timcs found in their remains ; as in the relics of the temple 

 of Aoollo Didymius, near Miletus, may be fecn two co- 

 lumns fiipporting their arehitravc, with the flutes entirely 

 \vorked ; alfo, one left ftandir.g in its iinfinifhea (late, the 

 channels under the capital, and at the bafc only, bemg 

 marked out, as a diredion to the workmen m completing 

 the flutings, after the llruchire was raifed. (Ionian Anti- 

 quities). Similar inllances are alfo found in the Ifland of 



Dclos. r o 



The durability and extreme folidity of the Roman cemen- 

 ti-.ious buildings, in which the mortar has very generally ac- 

 quired a haidiicfsfupeiior to that of the rubble (tones which 

 it conneds, compared with tlie fragility ai:d crumbling 

 nature of the mortar, uftd by modern builders, had led fome 

 to fuppofe, that the ancients pofTtlTtd proceflls and recipes 

 for the formation of cements, the knowledge of which had 

 periflied together with many other valuable fccrets in the 

 ages of barbarity, which fucceedtd the fall of the Roman 

 empire. But belter information, and the experiments of 

 ingenious men, have exploded this opinion, and there can 

 be no doubt, that proper attention to the choice of lime 

 ftone and fand, to the burning of lime, and, above all, care 

 and labour in the mixing and tempering thefe materials, 

 would enable our workmen to rival thofe of Rome in this 

 important part of conllruftion. In fome inllances, this 

 has been tried, and though the lapfe of ages may be 

 Beceflary to make the comparifon complete, yet prefent 

 appearances are fuflicient to banilh any reafonable fear 

 oftherefult. See the article Cements, calcareous. 



ArchiteAure, together with all the arts and fciences that 

 adorn and illullrate humanity, experienced the feeblenefs 

 and decradation which attended the decline and fall of the 

 Roman empire. Impudent compilers of the fpoils of the 

 edifices of happier times, the builders of thofe ages, have 

 only perpetuated their own ignominy. Conltantine was 

 the firft of thefe depredators ; he ruined the arch of Trajan 

 to adorn his own with its inappropriate ornaments, and the 

 Maufoleum of Adrian fupplicd coluniTis to fupport the aides 

 of his churches. 



In the general confufion occafioned by thefe praftices, it 

 is not to be wondered at that the principles of Grecian ar- 

 chitefturc, fomewhat corrupted in the bed times of Rome, 

 fhould be entirely loft : architraves were omitted and co- 

 lumns were made to fupport arches and vaults ; arcades were 

 every where fubftituted to colonnades, vaults to ceilings ; 

 thus the cxceffive ufe of arches and vaults is charadleriftic 

 of the method of conflrudion adopted in the middle ages. 



This corrupted Roman ilyle continued with various and 

 increafing deteriorations, and under different names, as in 

 our own country, of Saxon and Norman, to be the pre- 

 vailing architedure of Europe till towards the 12th cen- 

 tury, when what is generally called the Gothic ftyle pre- 

 vailed. This is an architedure of fuigular and original 

 merit, furprizing, and fantaftic, and magnificent, and awe- 

 ful ; but for the defcription of Gothic architedure the 

 reader is referred to that article ; our bufinefs at prefent is 

 with the modes of building obferved in thefe edifices. 



The Gothic mode of conRrudion is an ingenious compen- 

 dium of building well adapted to the peculiar ftyle of ar- 

 dhjfedure ; economical ia materials and labour. Rejeding 



heavy cornices, architraves, and lintels, of all krnds, the 

 builders had ftldom occafion to ufe ftones larger than a man 

 might carry on his back up a ladder from fcaffold to fcaf- 

 fold, though they had pnllies and fpoked wheels upon oc- 

 cafion. Tliusthey were leadily enabled to raife up their works 

 to an extraordinary height ; in which particular they appear 

 to have placed great pride and emulation. Hence the lofty 

 towers and fpircs, ambitious ornaments that tyrannife over 

 tlie body of the building, and claim attention at the expence 

 of thofe ufeful parts to which they ought, but difdaiu, to be 

 fubordinate. The churches were arched over with groined 

 vaulting, which threw the weight on the fpringing points in- 

 ilcadof diftributing the prelTure equally along the walls, as was 

 the cafe with the Roman plain vaults and ceilings ; th- points 

 of preffure from the vaults were oppofed by buttrefles, and 

 the intermediate fpaccs of the walls were thin, and occupied 

 \vith windows : in this refpcft again difiering from Roman con- 

 Urudionwhere the walls arc of uniformthicknefs intheirwhole 

 extent, without apparent bultreffes. The vaulting was inge- 

 nioufly compofcd of a flctleton of hewn ftone, and the interf- 

 ticcs filled in with lighter materials. Thus Mr. Price re- 

 marks, in his Obfervations on the Cathedral Church of 

 Salifbury, that " the groins and principal ribs are of Chil- 

 mark ftone, but the fliell or vaulting between them is of 

 hewn ftone and chalk mixed, on top of which is laid a coat 

 of mortar and rubble, of a confi Hence probably ground in 

 a kind of mill and poured on hot while the lime was bub- 

 bling, becanfe by this the whole is fo cemented together as 

 to become all of one entire fubftarce. This compofition is 

 very remarkable, fomewhat refembling the pumice ftone, 

 being porous and light, by which it contributes prodigioufly 

 to the ftrength of the whole, and at the fame time the 

 leaft in weight of any ccHitrivance that perhaps was ever 

 ufed." 



The machine of a Gothic edifice, confifting fo effentially 

 of vaults and arches, required great contrivance in balancing 

 and fuftaining their prefTures ; this was efFefted by means 

 bold, ingenious, but fometimes prefumptuoufly iniufScient, 

 The genius of thefe avchitcdls had a tindure of extrava- 

 gance which led them to facrifice always the apparent, and 

 too often the real folidity of their buildings to thofe pidu- 

 refque and marvellous effeds which captivate the imagina- 

 tion of every one, but offend the judgment of the connoif- 

 feur. Accordingly thefe edifices muft not exped to rival the 

 duration of the immortal conftrudions of Greece and 

 Rome. 



The pendants from the vaults are among the moft pleafing 

 and innocent of the plays of ingenious conftrudion in 

 the Gothic ftyle ; but the attempt to fubftitute weight to 

 butment, generally obferved in the middle aide pillars of 

 cathedrals, fupporting unaffifted the preffure of the fide 

 vaulting, is a ferious defed, which threatens the ruin of 

 thefe venerable piles. On this account Sir Chriftopher 

 Wren obferves, that " almoft aU the cathedrals of the 

 Gothic- form are weak and defcdive in the poife of the 

 allies. As for the vaults of the nave, they are on both 

 fides equally fupportcd and propped up from fpreading by 

 the bows or flying buttreffes which rife from the outward 

 walls of the aide. But for the vaults of the aides they are 

 indeed fupported on the outfide by the buttrefles, but in- 

 wardly they have no other ttay but the pillars themfelves, 

 which, as they are ufually proportioned, if they ftood alone 

 without the weight above could not red ft the fpreading of 

 the aide one minute : true indeed the great load above of the 

 walls and vaulting of the nave diould feem to confine the 

 pillars in their perpendicidar Ration, that tRere diould be 

 no need of butment inward; but experience hath fliewn 



the 



