BUILDING. 



the contrary, and there is fcarce any Gothic cathedral that 

 I have feen at home or abroad, wherein I have not ob- 

 ferved the pillars to yield and bend inwards from the weight 

 of the vault of the aifle." 



Hence it appears that the method purfued in ereftinfr 

 thcfe buildings was to infert the fpringing Itones as the work 

 proceeded, but to leave the vaults to be turned after the 

 walls were carried up to their full height and the whole 

 roofed in. 



The pointed arch has fevcral advantages over arches 

 formed by one fegnient of a circle; particularly, as applii-d 

 to vaults, it will rife with little centering, requires lighter 

 vouffoirs, and lefs butment. The Gothic archltefts feeni 

 to have perpetually calevilat'd the minimum of necelTary 

 relillance and lolidity, and ihey difjjlayed confidcrable flcill 

 in aggravating the appearance of boldjiefs by the choice of 

 materials ; we have already {een the light compofition of 

 their vaults, and on the other hand they frequently ufed Pur- 

 bec marble, a very hard and llrong (lone for the flender (liafts 

 which had to fupport great weiglits. The roofs of Gothic 

 buildings are very high pitched, a form more of choice than 

 uecefTity, rather adopted in compliance with their pointed 

 and pyramidal llyle of architeftuie, than neceflitated by the 

 climate, as they are generally covered with lead. Thefe 

 roofs are therefore faulty in burdening the walls with an 

 unneceffary load of lead and timber, and they are alfo defi- 

 cient in conftruftion by the omiiTion of tye beams to coun- 

 teraft their tendency to fpread and tliruft out the walls. 



Modern architecture, though it has adopted its deco- 

 rations from the remains of Greek and Roman antiquity, 

 has ftill retained confiderable traces of the Gothic llyle. 

 Thefe may be obferved in the affectation of height, in the 

 oftentatious ornaments of domes and fteeples, and in the 

 fondnefs for complicated forms of plans and multiplicity of 

 parts ; and accordingly the conftruC^ion alfo is a medium 

 between Gothic temerity and Roman prudence ; the ba- 

 lancing of arches and vaults ftill exercifed the flcill of the ar- 

 chitefts ; the domes of St. Peter's, of the Vatican, and St. 

 Paul's of London, illuftrate the ingenuity and mathematical 

 fcience of their authors, but we no longer Hnd apparent fo- 

 lidity rejefted, or real folidity facrificed. We have feldom 

 the grand conllruftions in hewn flone of the Greeks, nor, 

 on the other hand, the economical building of Gothic ar- 

 chitetls, nor the cementitious walls of the Romans. 



Stone, brick, timber, and metal, are our materials. 

 Stone is ufed rough in ruilic buildings, either dry or in 

 mortar ; but the ftone employed in more finifhed edifices, 

 either as facing to brickwork, or, where the material is 

 plentiful, in the whole fubflance of the walling, is ufed in 

 blocks of moderate fize, fquared and laid in mortar, and 

 bonded with alternate courfes ; mod<^rn architefts, and par- 

 ticularly the French, have fliewn much ingenuity in the 

 mafonry of arches and coves and plat-bands. Iron is ufed 

 plentifully both for cramping Hones together and in hga- 

 tures to entire walls, thus all confidcrable domes are 

 llrengthened and fecured from fpreading by llrong chains 

 furro'jnding then~. ; and lead is continually employed in large 

 quantities on roofs. Timber is ufed in all edifices to form 

 roofs and floors, and to bind and ftrengthen the walls and 

 foundations, and many buildings are crefted entirely with 

 this material. Carpentry is the art in which modern work- 

 men chiefly excel. 



The buildings of this country may be comprehended 

 under the following claffes: rough ftone, like the common 

 houfcs of the rocky diftrifts, which arc either worked dry 

 or with mortar ; hewn ftone, as the buildings of Bath ; 

 brick and Hone mixed, in which, as they arc always remote 



from quarries of (lone, that material is the mod cxpcnfive. 

 and therefore employed in the ornamental parts, as cornices, 

 plat-bands, window fills, and all the members of archi- 

 tecture, and fometimes applied as a facing to the brick wall ; 

 in this maimer are all the buildings of London ; and, lallly, 

 timber, which was formerly the moft common of all, and is 

 ftill a very confidcrable clafs ; fnch are all the C(;ttages of 

 the poor out of the rocky dillrii5ls, and many farm honfts 

 and confidcrable dwellings. Thefe are formed of a frame of 

 timber-work, which in the better fort of houfes has its in- 

 terftices filled in with brick-work, and is called briek nog- 

 giug, or brick and ftud, and then lathed over and plaftered, or 

 lough-caft, or ftuccoe i, or fometimes boarded ; the poorer 

 fort, however, are covered with reeds and clay. Enghfh 

 buildings are roofed with reed and thatch, which was formerly 

 the moft general mode, and is ftill very prevalent in the coun- 

 try; alio with tiles, fiate, lead, and copper. Slates are ufed 

 conftantly in the ftone counties, and brought thence to other 

 parts, as a light, durable, and handfome covering. Tiles are 

 the manufafture of the brick diftrifls, and ufed there. Lead 

 and copper, as the moft expenfive materials, are feldom em- 

 ployed to cover entire roofs, but chiefly for gutters and 

 platforms. 



Our buildings may judly claim the merit of lightnefs in 

 conftruftion, economy of labour and materials, and conve- 

 nient diftribution. Their real and evident defcft is the 

 want of folidity ; this is in great meafure to be attributed 

 to the bad q.iality of the cements, which are compofed with 

 fuch difgraceful carelefliiefs and ignorant liafte by the work- 

 men. Our bricks too, which are made on the principle 

 which pervades all our manufafturcs of facrificing every 

 thing to quantity and cheapnefs, are neither tempered nor 

 burnt fufficiently. In the arts of carpentry and joinery our 

 workmen are peculiarly eminent, both in the bold and flcilful 

 conftruftion of roofs and bridges, and in neat and accurate 

 internal finiftiing. 



As the buildings of London are regulated by what is 

 commonly called the Bu'ihVm^ Ju, " an aft for the further 

 and better regulation of buildings and party walls, and for the 

 more effectual preventing mifchiefs by fire, within the cities- 

 of London and Well minfter and the liberties thereof, and 

 other the parifties, precincts, and pi. ces within the weekly 

 bills of mortality, the parifties of St. Mary-le-bone, Padding, 

 ton, St. Pancras, and St. Luke at Chelfea," which repeals 

 and amends feveral former atts for the fame purpofc, it may 

 be proper to give a brief abftraft of part of it. This adl, palfed 

 in the 42nd year of the reign of his prefent majclly, A. D. 

 1774, begins by dividing all buildings into feveu rates or 

 clalTes, for the purpofe of fubjefting tliem to various regu- 

 lations refpefling the thicknefs of their walls. Cap. 2. The 

 JirJI rate comprehends churches and all places of public wor- 

 fliip, all buildings for brewing, diftilliiig, foap making, 

 melting of tallow, dying, boihng of turpentine, cafting 

 brafs or iron, refining fngar, and glafs making, of whatever 

 dimenfions thefe buildings may be, and alfo every ware- 

 houfe, and other buildings whatfoever, not being a dwelling 

 houfe, which exceeds three clear (lories above ground, ex- 

 clufive of the rooms in the roof, or which is of the height 

 of ,31 feet above the pavement of the ftrect to the top of 

 the coping ; and every dwelling houfe, which with its olHces 

 connected otherwife than by a tence whII, or open paflfage, 

 exceeds when finiflied the value of 850I., or covers more 

 than nine fquares of building on the ground floor, (eack> 

 fqiiare containing 100 fuperficial feet). The regulations for. 

 thefe are, cap. 3 and 4, that all the external walls fliall be 

 built, at the foundation, of the thicknefs of two bricks and 

 a half, or i\\ inches, thence to dimiuilh gradually 2^ 



inche» 



