140 Onan improved Method of Building groined Arches. 
very which prevailed in his time, the 
buidness of his style, the freedom of bis 
sentiments, are alimost inconceivable. 
The man, ae utsier the reign of Nero 
could HELE and inscribe such lines as 
these, 
Proxima quid soFoles, aut quid meruere nepotes 
Jn regnum nase? Pavidi um gessimus 
arma? 
Teximus an jugulos?, Alieni pena timoris 
In nostra cervice sedet, 
might expect to be soon sacrificed to the 
jealous rage of the tyrant. 
Thus furnished with a subject so splen- 
did, ape so interesting how happens it 
that f.ucan is less read than any other of 
the classics? that, while Vired is perused, 
ay ‘reperu used with inereasing delight, 
the most laborious Latinists are seldom 
able to read a cantu cf the Pharsalia 
withont fatigue and distaste? Why, 
wiih alltbe merit that incontesiably be- 
longs to him, does he enjoy a less de- 
EPEC of pepularity than some other au 
thors in many respects inferior to him? 
‘It may probably be, that his mnagination, 
aiways delhig shting 10 scenes of grandeur, 
often mistook vembast for sub linicy, ili= 
flation tor strength. He had net that 
flexsbuity of genius which can adopt every 
vailation of style, which gives to every 
object its pecthiar and appropriate co- 
leurmg. He did not possess that sound- 
ness of judgment which describes with- 
out exagveration, and giows without 
tumour; his delective taste, or rather his 
total want of it, perpetually betrays him. 
into a length and superfliity of detail, 
seldom compensated by beauty of ex- 
pression, or pen ated description. For 
mstance, that sublime and simple saying 
of Cesar to the trembling pilot, when 
overtaken by a storm in their passage 
from Epirus to Italy, “ Quid times? 
Cesarem velhis!” is destroyed by Lucan 
in the amplification of a cold and tedious 
narrative. Every line being cast exactly 
jn the same mould, he is as wearisome to 
the mind as he is monotonous to the ear. 
Thus most of his undoubied beauties are 
Jost in the perpetual recurrence of faults, 
aud the impatient reader, who must ae 
for excellence through so many defects, 
is disposed to throw down the book in. 
disgust.—That Lucan, however, pos- 
sesses merit peculiarly his own, that he 
is often original, and sometimes great, 
will be seen in a more detailed account 
of the Pharsalia, which will form the sub- 
ject of our next. 
[Sept. 1, 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
REMARKS on a new and improved METHOD: 
of BUILDING GROINED ARCHES: in Te- 
_ ference to a MoDEL made for practi- 
cal DEMONSTRATION, By GEORGE 
TAPPEN, ARCHITECT. 
T has long been experienced, and ani- 
versally acknowledved, that the pre- 
sent established method ‘of erecting 
groined arches is avery weak and im- 
perfect mode of construction, and conse- 
guently extremely dangerous, and impro- 
per to be introduced into warehouses or 
such other buildings as requie a much 
greater degree of strength and solidity 
than is usual, in order to support with 
more safety the immense weights and 
burthens which are constantly placed 
therein. 
But notwithstanding this denen opi- 
nion, I have never heard that any protes- 
sional man, or other-qualified person, 
has hitherto given himself the least trou+ 
ble or concern in attempting to apply a 
remedy to the evil, by devising some more 
secure and judicious manner of construct- 
ing them; although it is unanimously 
contessed that such an improvement 
would he attended with considerable 
commercial adv antage. 
Indeed, upon the slightest investigae 
tion of the subject, the objections raised 
ayainst this kind of arches, appear to be 
too well founded to require the. smallest 
comment; as it must be manifest to 
every observer, the moment he examines 
them, that a very material part of the 
substance of the bricks, forming the groin- 
ed angle is paired and cut away; first 
with an intent of producing additional 
length to the curve of that angle, by which 
the joints of all the brickwork are pre- 
served on an exact level line; and se- 
condly, from the unavoidable necessity 
of uniting and bonding the same into the 
face of the arch with which it is imme- 
diately connected. But what renders it 
still more objectionable, is, that when the 
crowns of these arches are loaded with 
stores or merchandise, the greatest pres- 
sure or momentum of the superincum- 
bent weight has, by repeated experiments, 
been found to operate chiefly m the die 
rection of the groins which are indispu- 
tably allowed to be the weakest parts of 
the arch. 
_ Again, were the curvilinear angles of 
the groins viewed in a sectional represen- 
tation, they would discover, thus applied, 
the poorest and most feeble of all forms; 
namely, that of a wedge placed vertically 
en 
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