\ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/historyofarchiteOOtuth_0 m 4 HISTORY or ARCHITECTURE. HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE, Till! KAULIEST TIMES; ITS PRESENT CONDITION IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES; WITH 2, Diograpl)!! of (Eminent ;3lrcl)itcits, AND A GLOSSARY OF ARCHITECTUKAE TEKMS. BY MRS. L. C. TUTHILL. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. - IIi'liolil \U»'.4- Itrok' H nn iu *. llint <>ri>-l all uiijtlUMl. That (-rip|il)-i| hrn* of c><\ initm lilrnrliinK in tlx* piin. Thi« Nhaft mrirkrn iniilway. ami the fijriiir liiitir.-.* IJly ••tri-trliiiijj r.irtli in li ilil up tiin<-il i»> . " M. F. T. rr>R - Hnnir prctt'twl to jiiiU(<* of an inJiviiliinl by Inn lianiil I womI4 rather aay. show mo iiia tiouac.' "— lx>«ii)0!« .\n« iiitrcti ral M«fliBi?tK. IMII L A I) K I.PIII A: LINDSAY AND HE.\KISTON. 1848. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, By Lindsay and Blakiston, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. / c. SHERMAN, PRINTER, 19 St. James Street. TO THE LADIES or THE t NITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE ACKNOWLEDGED ARBITERS OF TASTE, I) i 3 111 0 r k I.s RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. \ PREFACE. The i>crccpii(jn of the beautiful, is among the noblest of God's gifts to man. When improved by culture, it diffuses over the poor wants of human nature a glory, like sunlight upon the dark and frozen earth. The peasant of the genial South, trains the jessamine over his rude porch, and beneath it, after the weary labour of the day, enjoys the " stilly eve." The Swiss mountaineer hangs his picturesque chalet amid the embowering tret's of his native Alps, and its bendicular Styles — English Cathedrals — French, Spanish, German, Portuguese Cathe- drals — The Gothic in Scotland — Melrose Abbey • - 1-19 C II A P T K R X I V. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. England — Saxon Timber Buildings — Saxon Castles — Norman Castles — Rochester and VV^indsor Castles — Eml)attlcd Man- sions — Iladdon House — Oxburgh Hall — Rage for Building in the Fillccnth Century 170 xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. REVIVAL OF GRECIAN AND ROMAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Revival of Classical Literature and Taste — Brunileschi — St. Peter's— St Paul's — Venetian and Florentine Villas - - 185 CHAPTER XVI. PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. England — France — Munich — The King of Bavaria — Germany — Russia — Spain, &c. - - - - • - - 196 CHAPTER XVII. PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. Fitness — Expression — Proportion — Ornament - - - 210 CHAPTER XVIII. QUALIFICATIONS FOR AN ARCHITECT. Ingenuity — Education — Early Choice — Travelling, &c. - - 219 CHAPTER XIX. HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. Colony of Jamestown — Plymouth Colony — New Haven — New Amsterdam — Philadelphia laid out like Babylon, by William Penn — Meeting-Houses of New England — Dwelling- Houses 228 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XX. CAUSES WHICH RETARDED THE PROGRESS OF THE ART IN THE UNITED STATES. Struggle for Existence — The French War — Policy of England towards the Colonics — The Revohition, 6:c. — Cultivation of the Fine Arts dependent upon tlic People • - I "> CHAPTER X X I. MATERIALS FOR BUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES. Rich in all Materials — Granite — »*^ienite — MnrhK — Frc<*stonr, &c. — Metals — Woods — Cement ..... \>r)U C H A P T E R XXII. PRESENT STATE OF THE ART IN AMERirA. Boston— New York — Philadelphia — Baltimore — Washington, &c., *Sic. - - -JOT C H A P T E R \ X I I I. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. .\daptation to Climate, Soil, Mode of Life — Nationality — The Villa — Cottage — Town-House • - • JT 1 C H A P T E R XXI V. USE OF THE GRECIAN ORDERS AND GOTHIC STYLE IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. Dangers of Imitation — Spires to Churches, 6:c. - . 289 XX CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. USE OF THE GRECIAN ORDERS, GOTHIC AND ELIZABETHAN STYLES, IN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. Rage for Grecian Porticoes — Rules for the Elizabethan Style, &c. 299 CHAPTER XXVI. A RANDOM CHAPTER ON WALLS, CHIMNEYS, WINDOWS, ETC 308 CHAPTER XXVII. ARRANGEMENTS OF A CITY, AND BEAUTIFYING OF TOWNS AND VILLAGES. Trees — Shrubbery — Public Squares — Fountains — School- Houses, &c. 314 CHAPTER XXVIII. CEMETERIES. Honouring the Dead — Monuments — Sepulchres — Mount Auburn — Laurel Hill, &c. 331 Chronological Table of the Principal Architects before AND SINCE the Christian Era 338 Glossary of AfvChitectural Terms - 881 HISTORY OF AKCHITECTURE. CHAPTER I ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF ARCHITECTURE. Architecture is both an essential, and an orna- mental art. While society is in its infancy, and strength and convenience alone are regarded, it ranks with other mechanic arts necessary to tlie com- fort of man ; i)iit, when it adds to these, beauty of design, or a regard for effect, it becomes an orna- mental or fine art, taking its place beside the sister arts, poetry, painting, and sculpture The art of building, in its widest signitication, in- cludes naval, military, and civil architecture. Civil architecture, comprehending all edifices con- structed for the use of man in civil life, forms the topic of the present work. In that advanced condition of society, to which moral and intellectual culture has given form and order, buildings are required for religion, education, legislation, public exercises, amusements, commerce, 2 18 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS manufactures, for perpetuating heroic deeds and histo- rical events, and for domestic life. Respecting the origin and early practice of this art, historical testimony affords no aid ; some shelter, how- ever, has been necessary for the comfort and protec- tion of man ever since his creation. In the bland and healthful air of Paradise, Milton imagined " a blissful bower," as the dwelling-place of our first parents. *' It was a place Chosen by the Sovran Planter, when he framed All things to man's delightful use ; the roof Of thickest covert and interwoven shade, Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew Of firm and fragrant leaf ; on either side Acanthus and each odorous bushy shrub Fenced up the verdant wall ; each beauteous flower, Iris all hues, roses and jessamine Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought Mosaic ; underfoot the violet, Crocus and hyacinth with rich inlay, Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone Of costliest emblem ; other creature here, Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none, Such was their awe of man." Alas ! how soon fallen Adam and Eve needed a more substantial shelter ! Expelled from lovely Eden, the first man probably laboured in the sweat of his brow," to build the first habitation. Every invention has its origin in the wants of man. OF ARCHITECTURE. 19 As the human mind increases in power, the whole material world is brought under its dominion and made to minister to physical comfort and pleasure. Man advances by slow degrees to this proud elevation. It matters not, in this connexion, indeed it is out of our province, to discuss the vexed question of man's progress. Art is progressive. Before man exercised the facuhy of invention as an architect, he may have crept into hollow trees, or in- habited caves, as tenant in common ^vith the beasts of the earth. Trees, with their wide-spreading branches, offered a natural shelter ; by twining them together at the top, where they grew at a convenient distance apart, and filling in the sides with branches, something like a house would be formed. The wigwams of our North American Indians are only one step in lulvance of this kind of shelter. They cut down the trees, place them in a circular form, fasten them together at the top, interweave branches to fence up the verdant wall," and fill the interstices with clay. These miserable huts do not equal in their mecha- nical construction, the nest of the oriole. The primi- tive huts of the Caffres, advance one step farther. They are regular domes, covered with mud, whicli hardens in the sun. The doors, or holes for entrance, are only two or three feet high, and tlie king himself is obliged to enter his regal residence " on all fours." The mud structures of the beaver are superior to them ; but, as Dr. Johnson says, the beaver of the present 20 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS day can build no better than conld the beaver, four thousand years ago." Tents were among the earliest habitations. They were made at first of the skins of animals, afterwards of felt and various kinds of cloth. The Patriarchs of the Old Testament dwelt in tents, " While on from plain to plain they led their flocks, In search of clearer spring and fresher field." On each green and chosen spot, these portable habita- tions could be spread in a moment, and as readily removed. The Israelites, during their wanderings in the wil- derness, dwelt in tents. Their Tabernacle for religious worship was a spacious and magnificent tent, divided into three parts. Coverings of skins, rendered it im- pervious to rain and dampness. The first or inner covering, was of "fine twined linen," wrought with needlework in various colours ; the second covering was of goat's hair; the third, of skins dyed red," and the fourth, of " skins dyed blue." Even at the present day, " The Arab band Across the sand, Still bear their dwellings light, And neath the skies Their tents arise, Like spirits of the night ; While near at hand The camels stand, And drink the waters bright." OF ARCHITECTURE. 21 It was a mighty step in the art of building when trees were smoothed into posts and placed in a rectangular form, with a covering or roof over them. Simple as this invention now appears, the inventor ought to have been " known to fame," for houses have continued nearly of the same form ever since. The most splendid Grecian temple is only an ornamented copy of the oblong house with its upright posts. LoGT cabins were used, thousands of years before they were built by American backwoodsmen. In the rude navigation of savages, the advance from paddles and oars to sails, was not greater than this stride from wigwams and mud huts, to a regular log house. The employment of stones for buildings, was ano- ther imporUmt onward step in the art. The want of stones in some places, and the difficulty of shaping 22 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS them into the forms desired, led to the manufacture of bricks, by reducing a mass of clay to a regular form, and hardening it in the sun, or burning it with fire. A convenient and enduring material was thus obtained, which has continued to be used ever since. From the only authentic record of this period — the Bible — we learn, that the city and tower of Babel were built of brick. The ambitious daring of some mighty leader projected this tower. ''Go to," said he, "let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." This presumptuous undertaking was arrested, after the walls had been raised to a great height, by one of the most striking miracles recorded in Holy Writ. " Among the builders, each to other calls, Not understood, till hoarse and all in rage ; Thus was the building left Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named." BABYLON. It is supposed that the City of Babylon and the Temple of Belus afterwards occupied the same site as the Tower of Babel upon the plains of Shinar, between OF ARCHITECTURE. 23 the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. It was founded B.C. 2000, by Nimrod, and was rebuilt by Semiramis, B.C. 1200. Strengthened and beautified by succeed- ing sovereigns, it became one of the wonders of the world. Walls, three hundred and sixty feet high, eighty-seven feet in thickness, and sixty miles in length, surrounded this city. We are apt to be some- what incredulous about these measurements, yet, when so many stupendous monuments remain, to demon- strate the power and skill of ancient nations, we know not where to fix the bounds of our belief Eastern writers, in tlieir usual hyperbohcal manner, describe the Temple of Belus, as twelve miles liigh, while St. Jerome more moderately asserts that it was only four miles in height! The geographer Strabo, who may perhaps be relied on, says it was six hundred and sixty feet high. The city was laid out in regular squares, the streets of fifteen miles in length crossing each other at right angles. Its hundred gates of brass opened at the end of these streets. The hanging gardens of the golden city" gave it the beauty of Paradise. But prophecy had spoken its doom, and Babylon the Great fell never to rise again. Travellers, as they wander over the desolate ruins, startle " the mole and the bat" from the prostrate temples of idolatry. The site of this .stupendous city has been identified, and confirmation thus added to the truth of prophecy. Sir Robert Ker Porter, who visited these ruins, gives the following 24 ORIGIN AND PROGRESS account of the present condition of the Temple of Belus: — "It is an immense pile of ruins; at its base it measures 3082 feet in circuit ; it presents two stages, the first about sixty feet high, cloven into a deep ravine by the ' rain, and intersected by the furrows of ages ; the second ascent is about two hundred feet; from thence to the top thirty-five feet. On the western side, the entire mass rises at once from the plain in one stupendous, though irregular pyramidal hill, broken in the slopes of its sweeping acclivities by time and violence. On the north side there are large piles of ruins of fine and solid brickwork, projecting from among immense masses of rubbish at the base. The remains of the masonry are furnace-burnt bricks, united by a calcareous cement. The base of the structure was not altered, but the piles of fine bricks thrown down were vitrified with the various colours. The consuming power appears to have acted from above, and the scattered ruins fell from a higher point than the summit of the present standing fragment. The heat of the fire which produced such amazing effects must have burned with the force of the strongest furnace. I should be inclined to attribute the catastrophe to lightning from heaven." NINEVEH. Nineveh, the splendid capital of the Assyrian Empire, was sixty miles in circuit, and surrounded by high walls. OF ARCHITECTURE. 25 Recent discoveries have been made on the site of this ancient city, which promise to open a new volume of historical facts. A traveller thus writes to his friend in America : "The principal mound (of these lately discovered ruins) is very large, being about sixteen hundred feet in length. My first excavation brought me on walls with inscriptions of the cuneiform character. I soon found that I had got into a palace that had been buried for many centuries. I have cleared out several rooms, the walls of which are covered with figures. They are religious and historical. The former, the lion with the head of a man and the wings of a bird ; the bull with similar head and the wings of the eagle. The historical subjects are chiefly interesting for the insight they afford into the manners and customs of the ancient Assyrians, their m(Kle of warfare, the state of the arts, &c. From an examination of them, there results a conviction that this people had risen to the greatest power; that they were highly civilized, and had attained a very remarkable proficiency in the fine art^." The traveller who has made these interesting and invaluable discoveries, inclines to the opinion that the Greeks received their first knowledge of the arts from the Assyrians, instead of the Egyptians. There is, he thinks, more similarity between these remains of Ninehvite art and the Grecian, than between the Grecian and the Egyptian. 26 ARCHITECTURE. " Tyre and Sidon, cities of Phoenicia, probably ex- celled in the arts and sciences which were known in the more distant parts of Assyria. We know that the Tyrians and Sidonians were esteemed among the ancients for their skill in astronomy, arithmetic, com- merce, and navigation, and that we are indebted to them for the invention of glass, linen, and even of letters. May we not conclude, then, that a people so enlightened had arrived at some excellence in the fine arts ; and that they spread a knowledge of them in all their colonies, thus laying the foundation of that per- fection which has been the glory of Grecian art?" Sacred history is thus constantly being verified by the discoveries of modern travellers, and Prophecy is confirmed. We rejoice that Sculpture and Archi- tecture were so skilfully practised in bygone ages, for we are thus put into communication with them, and enjoy a retrospective clairvoyance. As the dis- coveries of modern geology have brought to light ex- tinct races of gigantic animals, preserved in solid rock, to tell us what wonders have been in the natural world, so the remains of art reveal to us the power, knowledge, religion, and character of races of men, and remain ''solemn marks of the frailty of human greatness." CHAPTER II. E G Y I» T I A N A R C H I T E C T U R E. The accounts of the few travellers who long ago visited Asia and Africa, were ridiculed, and treated as extravagant fictions. During the last century, and more especially since the commencement of the pre- sent, the investigations of learned and scientific men have more than verified those seemingly incredible narratives. Stupendous edifices remain, to demon- strate the truth of those wonderful stories. Structures of surpassing magnificence astonish the tnuellers in Egypt, Ilindostan, and Persia. When, or by whom, these everliistmu: monuments of man's mijjht were erected, the present inhabitants of these countries can- not inform the amazed traveller. Their antiquity dates back to a period shrouded in dark uncertainty, upon whicli authentic history throws no light, of which they are themselves the only, the mysterious, the indestnictible records. It is impossible to determine with certainty which of the three countries, just mentioned, first brought Architecture to that degree of excellence which these remains exhibit. Sir William Jones and some other oriental antiquaries contend for the superior antiquity 28 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. of Hindostan, and assert that the East was not only the birthplace of art and science, but that they were there nurtured till they grew to manhood. This may be true, but there is also strong testimony on the side of Egypt. From that land, it is supposed by some learned antiquaries, that inventive genius in Archi- tecture arose, and thence was spread throughout the then civilized regions of the earth. Others trace it still farther down the Nile, and consider Ethiopia as the land from which light emanated.^ Egypt is a country of small extent, but its geogra- phical position, and geological formation, render it capable of supporting an immense population. The river Nile, enriching its soil, opens a passage through its whole extent. The traveller is struck with wonder and admiration, at the number, size, and magnificence of the structures still standing upon the banks of that mysterious river. " Rent palaces, crushed columns, rifled moles, Fanes rolled on fanes, and tombs on buried tombs." * Les Savans of France, Gau in his Nubia, and Callaud in his Journey to Meroe, describe the monuments of Upper Nubia as mas- sive, and many of them, magnificent. It is supposed that Egyptian Architecture was only an imitation or improvement upon the Ethio- pian. There is in Herodotus a passage to this effect : *' Meroe, the parent city of the Ethiopians, is a large city. The people worship only Zeus and Dionysius, (Ammon and Osiris,) and them they honour greatly ; and they make their expeditions whenever the deity by his oracular answers orders them." From this it is inferred that the Ethiopians settled colonies, and that Egypt was one of them. EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. Egypt contains ancient buildings of three distinct characters : pyramids, excavations, and temples or pa- laces with fiat roofs, supported by rows of columns. The famous pyramids of Egypt stand upon a plain which extends from Cairo about fifty miles along the Nile. Forty, or more, of different sizes, and of various materials, are irregularly scattered over this plain ; the three largest, the pyramids of Cheops, of Ce- phrenes, and of Mycerines, are in the neighbourhood of Djiza. Tlie great pyramid of Cheops, is the largest struc- ture in the world ; or in other words, it is the greatest mass of materials which men have ever placed to- gether, to form a single building ; and one of our dis- tinguished countrymen says, "the oldest pyramid is yet the most perfect work of art." It has stood through the moral and physical convulsions of more than thirty centuries, and may remain until " The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a rack behind." This pyramid is five hundred feet in height, and seven hundred and twenty feet on each side of the base; thus covering 518,400 square feet. It is ascended by steps to the summit, which is a platform of nine large stones, each of which would weigli a ton. 30 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. Some of the stones in other parts of the pyramid are still larger. They are of hewn granite and limestone on the outside, cemented together with fine mortar; in the interior the stones are so nicely smoothed and fitted together, as not to need cement of any kind. Machinery of immense power, of which all knowledge is lost, must have been employed to raise these stones to such an amazing height. The pyramid is ascended by steps.* * The following description of the manner of ascending the Pyramid, is from " Letters from the Old World, by a Lady of New York." " When about to ascend the great Pyramid of Cheops, we were very glad to avail ourselves of the services of another tribe of Bedouins, who reside in a village near at hand. I had four of them assigned to me as conductors, with a promise of a good backshee in case they took me safely to the top, and returned me again where they found me. The gentlemen had each two to attend them. The effect pro- duced upon the senses when standing beside a wall of stone eight hundred feet long by nearly five hundred feet high, unbroken by co- lumns to lighten the heavy aspect of the mass, is indeed very imposing ; but before I had time to reflect on the danger of ascending, the gentle- men hurried me onward, and I soon found myself lifted from shelf to shelf, without time to look behind me. After about half an hour's climbing, we came to a part of the edifice where it appears attempts have been made to penetrate the interior, and a large chamber, or rather notch, had been cut in one of the angles. Here a halt was called, and all gathered to this point. It is about two-thirds of the way to the top, and aflx)rds quite as fine a view as that from the summit. But when we looked down, and saw the precipice below us, some of our hearts, or rather nerves, failed. My husband persisted that 1 should proceed no further, and prevailed upon me to return. Early the EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 31 The second pyramid, that of Cephrenes, is about four hundred feet high, and six hundred and sixty-five next morning, however,^he ascended to the top in a very few minutes, and enjoyed the fine prospect exceedingly. The gentlemen cut their names on the summit, but I was obliged to content myself with doing it by proxy, as did Chateaubriand, who, when at Cairo, left Egypt without going at all to the Pyramids ! which in so sentimental a traveller seems unpardonable. He requested a gentleman on the first opportunity to inscribe his name on them, adding, ' in order to fulfil all the duties of a pious traveller!' " The north side of the largest pyramid is so steep as to be dangerous of approach. A short time since, a young Englishman was precipitated from the top to the bottom, and of course dashed to atoms. Near the bottom the layers of stone are about four feet thick, and the mode of my ascent was as follows: first, an Arab got down on his hands and knees, thus forming a sort of extra step, while two others mounted on the edge above, and giving me their hand, I was enabled, by making two good long Taglioni'isms^ to reach the place where they stood; a fourth Arab remained always behind and below me, to be ready in case I made a false step. This went on very well for a short time, while each shelf or step was of suflicient width to permit the placing of my four-footed stml, but frequently the steps were not more than six inches wide, while yet they were four feet high, thus rendering the fooling very insecure, and the position sufllciently alarming for weak nerves. In such cases another mode of proceeding became necessary: an Arab would kneel with one knee and present the other as a step, the one below holding him against the rock, that he might not topple over. At about half-way from the ground, the layers of stone are not over three feet thick, and from thence to the top they diminish gradually. Difllcult as the ascent is, it is as nothing when compared with the descent. In the first operation, the face being turned to the wall, neither the giddy height is observctl, nor the 32 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. feet on each side at the base. The enterprising tra- veller, Belzoni, discovered the entrance to this pyra- mid, in 1818. When he forced his way to the interior, he found inscriptions in Arabic, showing that the pyra- mid had been entered by a Saracen conqueror some centuries before. Nothing of great value has been dis- covered in them in modern times. We are told that under one of the Caliphs, an order went forth for the destruction of these edifices, and that the work was committed to one of the most skilful engineers of the age. He wrought at it for a long time, expending much labour and treasure, and finally gave it up. Of course, he had no gunpowder. The engineer began at the top ; but how he got there, up the smooth plane of five hundred feet, is beyond comprehension, unless by cutting a flight of steps from the bottom. Nothing can be farther from the truth than the idea that there was a regular series of steps for ascent in the original plan of either of these pyramids." The attempts to tapering point for which one is aiming ; the whole attention being taken up with the matter on hand, and the climber being hurried on without time to turn around, so that a fearful height is reached before he is aware of it. Curiosity satisfied, and the constant excitement over, the descent becomes a regular matter of business. On looking down, the first few tiers of steps are quite perceptible, and their lines are distinctly marked, but all lines soon become confused, and nothing but a smooth surface is visible from fifty feet in advance down to the very ground. At first the stoutest hearts recoil at this optical delu- sion, but gradually gaining assurance as they descend, they get through with it tolerably well." EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. destroy them, or to effect an entrance, have uncovered these steps. All the pyramids are finished in the interior with much labour. They contain many long and intricate passages, the walls of which are sculptured and painted, the colours remaining as fresh as if recently executed. For what purpose these stupendous edifices were erect- ed, remains an enigma which the most learned anti- quaries have in vain attempted to solve. Were they for tombs, or for temples for religious worship ? Probably they united both purposes. The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul existed as long as the body could be kept from dissolution, and they therefore preserved the bodies of the dead by embalming and placing them in situations where they would not be disturbed. From this fact it has been inferred that the Pyramids were the sepulchres of kings. ** And round a tyrant's tomb, who none doscrvetl, For one vile carcass, perished countless lives.'* They were thus consecrated as the burial-place of a hero or king whom they idolized ; and in them were [)robably celebrated the most sacred mysteries of their strange religion. From some fancied derivation of the word pyramid from a Greek word signifying com, some antiquary o(^njectured that the pyramids were the granaries which were built by Joseph to preserve the grain of Egypt! But M. De Lacy has proved 3 34 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. that the word pyramus belonged to the primitive lan- guage of Egypt. The Pyramids of Saccara, at some distance from the Great Pyramids, are in a ruinous state. Some of them are rounded at the top ; others are fiat, and ascended by steps. These are supposed to be of more recent origin than the larger pyramids. One, which has partly fallen down, was built of unburnt bricks, badly made with gravel, shells, and chopped straw. It has been sug- gested that these were the works upon which the Israelites toiled under their hard task-masters. The immense pyramid of unburnt bricks on our right was, no doubt, the w^ork of a portion of the oppressed Israel- ites, whose lives the task-masters of Pharaoh made ' bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick / and when they murmured against their hard fate, the command of the tyrant was followed out to the letter, ' ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore ; let them go and gather straw for them- selves,' ' and the tale of the bricks which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them ; ye shall not diminish aught thereof In this dry climate, unburn-' ed bricks are mostly used ; and in order to give the clay more tenacity, a large proportion of chopped straw is worked into it in the pit ; without which, or something for a substitute, as coarse dry grass or ' stubble,' the bricks would crumble to pieces in hand- ling, after being dried in the sun." EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 35 Caverns or grottos, excavated from the solid rock, were used as tombs by the Egyptians. These Hy- pogees, as they are termed by the French, were domestic tombs. At Thebes, they remain in great numbers, and afford habitations to the miserable Arabs of the present day. They are varied almost infinitely. The most magnificent have a vestibule carved into the face of the rock ; thence there is a descent of a few steps into a pa.ssage which leads to halls, which in some instances are more than six hundred feet in length. Doors open from them at irregular intervals into cham- bers where are placed the mummies. The architec- ture of these tombs has nothing in common with the temples and pyramids, excepting the sculptured and painted decorations. For this reason it is not necessary here to describe them minutely. The sculptures and pictures exhibit the modes of domestic life ; the em- ployments of the people ; the navigation of the Nile ; funerals, combats, domestic animals, ^c, &c. TEMPLES. These are so numerous and so interesting, that it is exceedingly ditlicult to know which to select for description. The splendid work* prepared by the savans who accompanied the expedition of Napoleon to Egypt, gives a perfect representation of these • ** Description de L'Kgyptc, ou, Recueil des observations et des recherchcs qui ont etc faites cn Kirypte pendant I'expcdition de rarmcr Fran^aisc ; public par les ordres de sa Majeste I'Enipcreur Napoleon le Grand." 36 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. wonderful remains of Egyptian architecture. They are scattered in rich profusion all the way, on both sides of the Nile, as far as the Cataracts. "The hundred-gated" Thebes, spreads its solemn ruins on both sides of the river. Here, the oldest specimens of true Egyptian art may be found. Luxor, El Kusr, " the ruins," one of the oldest edifices, stands on the eastern bank of the river. Pro- fessor Heeren attempts to prove that Luxor was a palace, or a building for some civil purpose, though the general plan resembles that of the temples. He gives, among other circumstantial evidence to this effect, the fact, that the occupations and scenes of daily life are depicted upon the walls of some of the apart- ments. It is mentioned first among these mighty ruins, before the more minute description of temples, on account of its beautiful obelisks or monoliths. An obelisk,* is a tall, quadrilateral structure, hewn out of a single block of granite or other stone, gradually diminishing from the base to the top, where the four sides meet at last, in a pyramidal form.. They were usually placed in pairs, at the entrance of temples. The question, as to their use and origin, is still de- batable ground. That they served for something more than ornament, is certain. They are doubtless * Sometimes termed a monolith, but this word is applicable to any structure formed from a single stone. Plate I. EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 37 books of religion, and the sculptured history of mighty monarchs. The entrance to Luxor (Plate 1.) is distinguished by two beautiful obelisks, more than eighty feet high, and ten feet square at the base. A modern traveller thus de- scribes them : " Before the grand entrance of this vsist edifice, two lofty obelisks stand, proudly pointing to the sky, fair as the daring sculptor left them. The sacred figures and hieroglyphic characters are beautifully cut into the hard granite, and have the sharp finish of yesterday. The very stone looks not discoloured. You see them as Cambyses saw them, when he stayed his chariot-wheels to gaze up to them, and the Persian war-cry ceased before these acknowledged symbols of the sacred element of fire. Very noble are all these remains, but my eyes were continually attracted towards the aspiring obelisks, and again and again you turn to them with increasing wonder and admira- tion." Alas ! for these beautiful obelisks ! They no longer stand like twin deities to guard the entrance to Luxor. A solitary one remains, " ready in anger to dart at the sun, for not having annihilated at a stroke, the barba- rous Gaul who so lately robbed it of its mate. The French, by permission of the Pacha, have taken one of these beautiful obelisks to Paris." This monolith has since been erected in La Place de la Concorde, where it has excited the wonder of the Parisians, and been gazed at with awe by travellers 38 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. from all lands. Fig. 2 Cornice. Frieze. Arcliitra-ye. Abacus. Capital. Much labour has been bestowed upon it by the learned, to decipher the hieroglyphics with which it is covered. It is supposed that the Egyptian obe- lisks were original- ly finished at the top with gilt bronze or copper. Champollion made out the names of Rameses II., and Rameses III., and asserts that Luxor was commenced by one and completed by the other. The latter is supposed to be the Sesostris mentioned by He- rodotus. One of the best Shaft. Pedestal. Note. — The wood-cut in the margin is introduced merely to show the several parts of a column, and the entablature which it supports. The proportions and the design are not those of any established order. A complete column is formed by the tee, shaft, and ca.pi- tal : the entablature by the architrave, frieze, and cornice. Plato II. PROPYL/tA OF THE TEMPLE OF EDFO'J. THE PRO N AOS OF THE TEMPLE OF DEN D ERA. t EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 39 descriptions of the arrangement of the parts" of an Egyptian Temple, is an ancient one, given by the Greek geographer, Strabo. " In a line with the en- trance into the sacred enclosure, is a paved road or avenue, about a hundred feet in breadth, or sometimes less, and in length from three to four hundred feet, or even more. This is called tlie dromos, as Callimachus has it. This is the sacred dromos of Anubis. Through the whole length of the dromos, and on each side of it, sphinxes are placed at the distance of tliirty feet from one another, or somewhat more, forming a double row, one on each side. After the sphinxes, you come to a large propylwi, (Plat4? II.) and as you advance you come to another, and to a third after that ; for no defi- nite number, either of propyla or sphinxes, is requireil in the plan. After the propyla, we come to the temple itself, which has always a large and handsome pronaos or portico, and a sekas or cella of only moderate dimen- sions, with no image in it, or, at least, not one of human shape, but some rei)resentation of a brute animal." The temples of the Egyptians, and all their edifices, were painted with ricli bright colours. The portico or pronaos was more elevated and larger than the sanctuary or temple ; it was sustained by columns, and closed laterally with walls. The great temple at Esne, the ancient Latopolis, had a splendid portico with twenty-four columns, six in a row, (Plate II.) The architrave is sculptured with I 40 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. figures of men and animals ; the frieze is wide and orna- mented with triglyphs; the cornice is narrow and filled with hieroglyphics. Over the door is the favourite ornament of the winged globe. The temple itself is entirely in ruins. It is conjectured that the people were only admitted into the pronaos or portico ; the priests alone entered the precincts of the mysterious cella, the inner sanctuary. The base of the columns is a small square block; the circumference of the shaft where it rests upon it is small, enlarges sud- denly, and then continues of nearly equal size to the capital. They are ornamented with sculpture in has- relief, near the base, and higher with reedings and fiUetings. This temple was dedicated to Jupiter Ammon. Alexander the Great, when Egypt submitted to his authority, marched with a part of his army to this temple, and there caused himself to be proclaimed the son of Jupiter Ammon. The obedient priests paid him divine honours, which he afterwards claimed as his due. The temple was twelve days' journey from Memphis, through inhospitable deserts. The soldiers, when they found themselves surrounded by these boundless seas of sand, where the eye for days could not rest upon a sign of vegetation, were greatly alarmed, and doubtless cursed in their hearts the mad ambition of their leader. The water which they had brought with them in goatskins upon camels, entirely failed; in this extremity they were relieved by the EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 41 timely falling of a shower, which was cunningly ascribed to the peculiar favour of Jupiter Ammon. At length, the splendid edifice burst upon their long- ing sight, filling them with delighted wonder. It stood upon a fertile plain, surrounded by groves of beautiful trees, above which its towering columns rose in majestic grandeur. One of the aitists who accompanied the expedition of Napoleon says of the remains of this temple : " Its architecture made upon each one of us the same impres- sion ; we were seized with a certain confused admiration, whicj^ve hardly dared to avow, and casting our eyes alternately upon the monument and upon our fellow- travellers, each one sought to assure himself whether he was deceived by his sight or by his mind ; if ho had lost suddenly the taste and the principles which he had gained by the study of Grecian monuments of art. This struggle between the real beauty of the architecture which we had before our eyes, and our prejudices in favour of Grecian forms and pro- portions, held us some time in sus- pense, but at length we were car- ried away by a unanimous move- ment of admiration." Some of the Egyptian vase- shaped capitals, are ornamented with leaves of the lotus, or lily of the Nile, others with the palm, date, and papyrus. These show a fine conception of the beautiful, and were, doubtless, 42 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. Fig. 4. Fi&. 5. afterwards imitated in Grecian architecture. No. 6 6. is a column from the temple of Isis, at Dendera. It is composed of four heads of the Goddess Isis, with drapery about them ; the pro- files may be seen on the sides. Observe the abacus above this capital; it is not a square, flat stone, like the others; it is of a cubical form and richly ornament- ed with hieroglyphics. The tem- ple from which it was taken, was one of the most perfectly executed of the numerous works upon the Nile. It was in one of the courts of this temple that the famous Zodiac was discovered, which has afforded so much speculation to the astronomers of Europe. In all these columns the abacus is smaller than the shaft, and sepa- rates the capital from the entabla- EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 43 • ture in a more distinct manner than was afterwards practised by the Greeks. Of all the remains of Egyptian architectural great- ness, the temple or palace of Karnac, or Carnak, is the most elaborate and extensive. It contains such an immense number of sphinxes, colossal statues, obelisks, propyla and porticoes, that the mind is bewil- dered, and lost amid the endless variety. All descrip- tions fail to convey a just idea of its size and magnifi- cence. We can form no conception of a hall so large that the Cathedral of Notre Dame, at Paris, could l)c placed in it entire ; or as a Frenchman remarked, "eight of our churclies might dance a cotillon in it." This is the great hypostyle hall, supported by one hundred and thirty -four colossal columns, some of which are twenty-six feet in circumference, and others thirty- four. Six men with their hands united might clasp one of the shafts of these columns, but not the capitals ; they are sixty-five feet in circumference, and ten feet high! Champollion says : The imagination, which in Europe rises far above our porticoes, sinks abashed at the foot of the one hundred and forty columns of the hypostyle hall of Carnak." Yet this prodigious hall forms but a small part of the whole temple. There are twelve principal ap- proaches to it, with their propyla, sphinxes, and colossjil statues. As the devotee to this shrine walked through the long avenue, " between the majestic and tranquil 44 EGYPTIANARCHITECTURE. sphinxes, and the mighty gates ^ grated harsh thunder,' or turned on 'golden hinges,' " his soul must have been filled with religious awe ; — travellers who now wander among the prostrate ruins, are overpowered by their sublimity. Alexandria, the splendid city built by Alexander, at the Delta of the Nile, was ornamented with obelisks, columns, and sphinxes, from the ruins of ancient Egypt. Thebes itself, was an immense quarry from which alone vast quantities of sculptured granite were transported to the new city. Cairo was built out of the ruins of Alexandria. Rome shared in the spoil. The superb obelisk still standing in the Piazza del Popolo, at Rome, was brought from Heliopolis by order of the Emperor Augustus. The solar obelisk of red granite in the square of Mount Citoria, at Rome, was also brought from Hieropolis by the same Emperor ; it is ninety feet high, and covered with hieroglyphics, executed in fine style. France, England, Germany, and other European countries, are rich in spoils, brought by travellers from that land of wonders. The character of Egyptian Architecture is grave and sublime. No people," says Champollion, either ancient or modern, ever conceived the arts of architec- ture and sculpture on so sublime a scale as the ancient Egyptians. Their conceptions were those of men a hundred feet high." The straight lines and angles, unbroken by a single curve, give to the outline of all EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 45 their structured a heavy, massive appearance. There is a general resemblance in the plan of the edifices, but the architecture offers numberless varieties in detail. The columns, for instance, have endless variety in their proportions and ornaments ; sometimes every column in the same edifice is different in its decora- tions. The richness and profusion of sculpture with which every part of the walls and columns are covered, is one of the most remarkable characteristics of Egyjv tian Architecture. These sculptures are in bas-relief, and often brilliantly coloured. The effect which this richness of decoration produces, is overpowering and bewildering ; language seems to fail the various travel- lers, who attempt to express their emotions on behold- ing these stupendous relics of ancient genius. The Egyptians must have been a very numerous people under a severe despotism. Whether the des- potism which could command such immense power was that of a cunning priesthood, or a long line of ambitious monarchs, is uncertain ; the probability is, that it was the former, as most of the remains are ^ temples dedicated to the worship of their deities, among whom the ibex and cat hold a conspicuous pre-eminence. It is supposed by some that these were symbolical, and that many of the other figures were astronomical signs. The wily priests exacted the hard earnings and ceaseless toil of millions to sup- port an absurd, a monstrous system of idolatry. To keep the people in awe and maintain their blind ado- 46 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. ration, the temples of their idols must «be magnificent and imposing. Thus, what was at first a useful art, arising from stern necessity, became among the Egyp- tians the most expensive, and considering the objects to which it was devoted, the most useless of all arts. Yet to the historian, the architect, and the antiquary, these grand remains are not useless. They contain the chiselled record of the manners, customs, arts, sciences, literature, and religion of a portion of the human race who would otherwise have been buried in oblivion. The dust of ages has been brushed away from these faithful records, and a gleam of light has been cast upon the Egyptian darkness that had shrouded this mysterious nation. We are indebted to Champollion, Dr. Young, and others, whose indefatigable labours have been devoted to this occult science.* * The many who have heard the very interesting lectures of Mr. Gliddon, can testify to the patient persevering labour of the men vs^ho have endeavoured to decipher and explain Egyptian hieroglyphics. CHAPTER III. INDIAN OR HINDOO A K C H I T E C T I' R K. Although nothing can be known with certainty as to the priority of the Egyptian or the Hindoo Archi- tecture, some very scientific men claim that there is internal evidence that Hindostan led the way. We will not discuss the question. The ancient edifices of Hindostan resemble those of Egypt in their form and general character, and yet are sufficiently marked to produce a peculiar style. All countries in adopting a neighbouring style seem to have worked it with some peculiarities of their own, so that a person conversant with examples can tell, upon inspecting a building, to what nation it belongs." The sacred edifices of the Hindoos were of five dif- ferent kinds — ^])yramids, excavations, square or ob- long temples, temples in the form of a cross, circular temples. The pyramids are far inferior to those of Egypt, and are so much surpassed by other more perfect re- mains of Hindoo Architecture, that they are not worthy of particular notice. 48 HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. EXCAVATIONS, OR TEMPLES CARVED FROM THE SOLID ROCK. The most celebrated are at Elephanta, Salsette and Ellora. The Island of Elephanta is near Bombay, and is so called from a colossal figure of an elephant carved upon the rocks on the southern shore of the island. A temple, one hundred and twenty feet square, is here cut out of the solid foundation of the earth. (Plate. III.) The large columns, of which there were four rows, stand upon high square pedestals ; the bases have a peculiar ornament ; the shafts are reeded, very short, and much smaller at the top than near the base. The capitals, though reeded like some of the Egyptian capitals, are larger, and flattened out as if the superincumbent weight had pressed them down. Along the sides of the cavern are about fifty statues, from twelve to fifteen feet high, having their heads or- namented with crowns, helmets, and other decorations. Like most of the Hindoo deities, they are each endow- ed with three or four pair of hands, and hideously un- natural countenances. The face of the great three- headed bust, is five feet long, and the breadth across the shoulders is twenty feet. This subterranean temple is constantly exposed to Plate IIL tLL PH ANT A HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. 49 the sea breeze, and is yielding to the ruthless spoiler, Time, " Whom stone and brass obey, Who gives to every flying hour To work some new decay." Canara, in the island of Salsette, is represented by travellers as very magnificent. There are four stories or galleries hewn out of a high perpendicular rock, into vt^hich open more than three hundred apartments. Before the entrance into this grand temple, stand two colossal statues, twenty-seven feet high. Thirty-five octagonal columns support the roof, which is not flat like Elephanta, but finely arched. The bases and capitals of these columns are formed of tigers, ele- phants, and other animals finely carved, and represented crouching down, as if to support the superincumbent weight. There are said to be not less than six hundred figures of idols within the excavations of Salsette. But wonderful as are the excavations at Salsette and Elephantii, they are far surpassed by those of EUora. A traveller says : " No monuments of anti- quity in the known world are comparable to the caves of Ellora, whether we consider their unknown origin, their stupendous size, the beauty of their architectural ornaments, or the vast number of statues and emblems, all hewn out of the solid rock."* It would require vo- lumes to give a description of these amazing works. It * Seely, - V^ibdcr^ of Ellora." 50 HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. seems aland of enchantment, the eye and imagination are bewildered with the variety of interesting objects, that present themselves on every side. The feelings are interested to a degree of awe, wonder and delight, that at first is painful, and it is a long time before they be- come sufficiently sobered and calm, to contemplate with any attention the surrounding wonders. Con- ceive the burst of surprise, at suddenly coming upon a stupendous temple, within a large, open court, with all its parts perfect and beautiful ; standing proudly alone upon its native bed, detached from the neighbour- ing mountain, by a spacious area all around, nearly two hundred and fifty feet deep, and one hundred and fifty feet broad ; the unrivalled fane in the midst, rear- ing its rocky head to a height of nearly one hundred feet, its length about one hundred feet, its breadth sixty-two ; having well-formed doorways, windows, and staircases ; containing fine large rooms of a smooth and polished surface, regularly divided by rows of pil- lars." — Thus stands "Keylas the Proud, wonderfully towering in hoary majesty, a mighty fabric of rock, surpassed by no relic of antiquity in the known world." Far inferior to this vast building in size, is the exquisitely beautiful temple of Indra Subba, (Plate III.) It is a copy on a small scale of the mighty Key- las. Like that, Indra Subba is an insulated temple at Ellora, with a wide area or open space around it, which is terminated by a spacious gallery supported by columns, carved into the perpendicular rock. The HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. little temple is left completely insulated as represented in the plate, the galleries being some hundred feet distant. It would seem to the observer, that these curious works must have been constructed downward; the workmen beginning at the top of the rock, chi- selled first the roof, scooping out at the same time the area around it ; thus working gradually down till the temple was finished to its base, where the foundations remain immovably fixed, a part of the primitive rock, which nothing can disturb, but the convulsions of the final catastrophe, when " Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away." The columns of the Temple of Indra have capitals consisting of two reeded cushions pressed down ; the shafts diminish suddenly near the capital ; the bases are moulded and rest upon a plinth. The single column, standing alone, reminds one of the two pillars of brass, Jachin and Boaz, which stood in Solomon's Temple. For what purpose this isolated column was designed, it is difficult to determine ; it has no base, but rests upon a pedestal, beautifully sculptured. The roof to this elegant little temple is finished with circular ornaments resembling cupolas, at each corner, and upon the top. The chiselling of the ornaments shows that the artists had arrived at a degree of skill, far surpassing that of the modern Hindoos. Visvacarma, also at EUora, is a vaulted temple, 5g HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. eighty feet in length, and forty-four feet in breadth. From the sides of the roof project rafters of rock, meeting in the centre of the vault, and resting upon sculptured figures which stand upon a heavy entablature. Square massive columns without base or capital support this entablature. The great altar at the end of the temple is twenty-four feet high ; in front of it is a canopy under which is the idol, Visvacarma. " The ancient pillars rear their rocky heads, To bear aloft its arched and ponderous roof, By its own weight made steadfast and immovable ; Looking tranquillity, it strikes an awe And terror to my aching sight." What and who were the men who designed and executed these mysterious temples ? They were not like the feeble and indolent Hindoos who now wander among them, incapable of appre- ciating the genius, which brought out these forms of beauty from their rocky beds. Conjecture is at fault ; history gives no clue to the mystery. " The first view of the desolate religious city of Ellora," remarks Mr. Erskine, is grand and striking, but melancholy. The number and magnificence of the subterraneous temples, the extent and loftiness of some, the endless diversity of sculpture in others, the variety of curious foliage, of minute tracery, highly wrought pillars, rich mythological designs, sacred shrines, and colossal statues, astonish but distract the mind. No trace re- HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. .53 mains to tell us the hand by which they were de- signed, or the populous and powerful nation by which they were completed. The empire whose pride they must have been, has passed away and left not a memo- rial behind it. The religion to which we owe one part of them indeed, continues to exist; but that which called into existence the other, (the Boodhist,) like the beings by whose toil it was wrought, has been swept from the land." The rock of which these sculptured caverns are formed, varies ; black and gray basalt, granite, " a hard vesicular rock, and a rock of gritty loose texture," are mentioned by travellers ; from which we infer, that there is in the geological formation occasional stratifica- tion, and that the reason why some of the caves are in a more ruinous condition than others, is the less endur- ing nature of parts of the material of which they are formed. It is impossible not to be forcibly struck with the resemblance between Hindoo and Egyptian Architecture. The massive columns, the varied and curious capitals, the solemn grandeur of the lout m- semhle, seem to [)oint out a common origin ; yet great diversities occur, and in some instances, (Visvacarma and several other vauUed temples for example,) of an entire departure from the straight lines and angles of the Egyptian style. Of Hindoo temples, which are of more modern origin, there are an endless variety. Many of those, composed of square or oblong courts, are of immense 54 HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. extent. One of the most magnificent is that of Sering- ham, near Tritchinopoly. This pagoda is composed of seven square enclosures, the outermost being four miles square ; the walls are twenty-five feet high, four feet thick, and three hundred and fifty feet from each other, leaving a space about a thousand feet square in the centre, upon which stands a high pagoda. To each of the enclosures are four gateways with lofty towers ; these gateways are in direct lines leading to the centre. Another kind of Indian Pagoda is in the form of a cross, with lofty cupolas at the centre and at the ex- tremities of the cross. There are many pagodas of a circular form. The horrid Temple of Juggernaut is compared to an im- mense butt or wine-cask set on end. The sacred do- mains of this pagoda afford pasturage for twenty thou- sand sacred cows. In Tanjore is a pyramidal pagoda, which Lord Valentia says is the finest specimen of the kind in India, and is a very beautiful piece of archi- tecture. As there is a strongly marked resemblance between Egyptian and Hindoo Architecture, there is also a striking similarity in their idolatry. From these facts it is inferred that the communications between these two mighty nations were frequent and intimate, or, that one was founded by a colony from the other, after the arts and sciences had been for a long time cultivated in the fatherland. CHAPTER IV. PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. The beautiful ruins of Persepolis afford a fine speci- men of ancient Persian Architecture. Nothing how- ever remains but a few splendid remnants of the palace which Alexander partially destroyed in one of his mad frolics. Persepolis is situated in the province of Faristan, latitude 30° 40' N., longitude 84° E. Le Brun spent three months in exploring and delineating these ruins, and after much discussion, conjectures that Darius and Xerxes built Persepolis. ^ These ruins were probably the summer palace of a Persian monarch. From the name Chibiieiiar^ which signifies forty columns, it has been inferred that only that number belonged to the edifice ; but Le Brun counted the traces of two hundred and five, although only nineteen were then standing entire. The doorways or entrances resemble those of Egyptian temples. The columns are much more slender in proportion to 56 PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. ^' their height, than either Egyptian or Hindoo columns, being seventy- two feet high, and only seventeen inches in diameter at the base. The capitals (Fig. 8) are very high, occupying nearly a fourth of the whole height of the column. The bases (Fig. 9) are a little more than four inches high, and twenty-five in circumference, very beautifully and delicately carved. It is supposed that these capitals were intended to represent bunches of feathers as they had formerly been tied around the tops of tall wooden pillars. No fragments of a roof have been discovered, and the columns are too slender to have borne any but a light one. These beautiful marble columns probably sus- tained temporary awnings of silk, which, as it was a summer palace, could be taken down at pleasure. In Shushan, the palace of Ahasuerus, there were " white, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and pur- ple, to silver rings, and pil- lars of marble ; the beds were of gold and silver upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black marble." Fig. 9. PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. 57 Like Shushan, the mouldering solitary ruin of Per- sepolis was once the chosen seat of merriment and splendour. It is silent now, silent as the desert, save when some tall column which long has tottered upon its base, startles the amazed traveller by falling at his feet with thundering sound. There stood the gor- geous throne, there bowed the abject throng ; soft, sweet music floated around these stately columns, fragrant incense filled the air. Desolation reigns sole monarch now ; the mournful sighing of the wind the only music ; damp vapours load the unwholesome air. The dust of the mighty is mingled with that of their meanest slaves, as it is scattered by every breeze over this mouldering monument of their brief glory. The Tombs of the Kings at Persepolis are sculptured and elaborately ornamented. They are excavations, and carved from the rock. The tomb of Darius, as it is called, is the most magnificent. The perpendicular front, which presents itself, is seventy feet high, seventy feet in breadth at the base, and forty feet above. The lower columns support a heavy entablature ; their capi- tals are composed of the heads of oxen. Above this first gallery are two rows of human figures supporting entablatures, and above them the sculptured figure of a king performing his devotions before an altar. It is thought by some authors that Persepolis was built by Egyptian architects, carried thither by Cam- byses, but that the Persians, abhorring the Egyptian mythology, obliged them to erect and to decorate their 58 PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. structures according to some rude models which had previously existed. The sculptures represent religious processions, and sacrifices to the sun and moon ; some of the persons in these processions carry umbrellas, an invention, which has been generally attributed to a much later period. It cannot be doubted that there was a communi- cation of architectural knowledge between the three countries, which possess the most magnificent speci- mens of ancient art. I CHAPTER V. JEWISH ARCHITECTURE. Seventy years after the birth of our Saviour, in fulfilment of prophecy, the destruction of Jerusalem was accomplished by the Romans under Titus. Very little can now be known of the architecture of that once beautiful city. Following the description with which we are fur- nished in the Old Testament, we cannot make out a very exact architectural delineation of Solomon's tem- ple. Previously to its erection, the Israelites had made very few of the higher efforts in the art. The cities of the Canaanites were surrounded with walls, and their dwellinjjs were such as to accommodate their conquerors ; when they built for themselves, their most stately houses were of the cedar of Lebanon, and other kinds of wood, and were rendered magnificent by carving, gilding, and embroidery. This gorgeous style of ornamenting is still practised in the East, where the want of beauty of design in the structure, and unskilfulness in the architect, must 60 JEWISH ARCHITECTURE. be concealed by everything costly and dazzling in decoration. •The Israelites might have received some know^ledge of Architecture from Egypt, yet when Solomon was about to build the Temple, the work- men of his own kingdom were not sufficient for the task. The Tyrians and Sidonians were more skilful, and Hiram, King of Tyre, received a large sum an- nually while the Temple was building, for the labour of his subjects who were employed upon it. He also supplied large quantities of materials for the structure. The Temple was built upon the summit of Mount Moriah. It was enclosed by a gallery or portico, which was divided into two courts, the great or ex- terior court, and the interior, or " court before the temple." These courts were separated from each other either by a wall, or a slight partition of lattice- work. There were various apartments around the main building, for the vases and other utensils used in the Jewish service, for the provisions for the priests, and for their accommodation while employed about the sacred duties of the temple. The great altar stood in the court of the temple, or the court of the priests, as it is sometimes called. The large brazen laver, "the molten sea," which stood in one of the courts, could contain three thousand baths. ^ It was supported upon the backs of twelve oxen, three facing to each point of the compass, and * Jahu's Biblical Archteology. JEWISH ARCHITECTURE. its brim was ornamented with lilies of brass, an appro- priate ornament for the water's edge. Beside this immense laver there were ten smaller ones, resting upon highly ornamented bases, and wheels, "like chariot wheels," that they might be moved about the court. The part of the Temple called the sanctuary, was sixty cubits (about ninety feet) long, twenty cubits broad, and thirty high, with the exception of the part called the Sanctissimnm, or Most Holy, the height of which was only twenty cubits, so that there remained over it a room of ten cubits in height. In front of the sanctuary was the porch or pronaos, (similar, perhaps, to the Egyptian,) one hundred and twenty cubits high, having a lofty entrance without any door. The en- trance to the sanctuary was closed by a folding door, ornamented with carved work covered with gold, and turning on golden hinges, and a similar door was at the entrance of the Holy of Holies ; both of them.were covered with veils of embroidered linen. Near the entrance of the porch were two columns of brass, Jachin and Boaz, which seem to have been merely for ornament, as they supported no part of the edifice. These columns were twelve cubits, (about eighteen feet,) in circumference ; the shafts were eighteen cubits high, the capitals five, and the bases, thirteen ; making the whole altitude, thirty-six cubits, (about fifty-four feet.) These proportions resemble those of the colunms at Eleplianta ; the capitals with their leaves, pomegranates, 62 JEWISH ARCHITECTURE. and lilies, remind ns of the profusely ornamented Egyptian capitals. The shafts and bases were hollow, the brass of which they were made being a hand's breadth in thickness. The sanctuary was built of large square stones, hewn and fitted at the quarry. This seems to have been the usual practice among the ancients ; " the splendour and magnificence of a building seem to have been estimated by the size of the square stones of which it was constructed in Solomon's Temple, however, they were covered within and without with boards of cedar profusely carved, and overlaid with gold. The sacred historians mention several other build- ings with which Solomon adorned Jerusalem, but so concisely, that we can form no accurate conceptions of them. The Temple, repaired and beautified by Herod, is the one so often mentioned in the New Testament, and was exceedingly magnificent. The gates and porches were lofty and richly ornamented with gold and Corinthian brass. The sanctuary was of white marble, and the roof of it was covered with sharp rods of iron covered with gold. It was in the porch of this Temple that Judas threw down the price of his treachery, the thirty pieces of silver. The porch on the south side was the highest part of the Temple, and was probably " the pinnacle," from whence our blessed Saviour was shown the JEWISH ARCHITECTURE. 68 glories of the kingdoms of this world, by the arch- deceiver. From another porch in the court of the Gentiles, Jesus drove out the money-changers, and those who sold doves," for the sacrifices of the temple worship. In studying Egyptian, Hindoo, and Persian Archi- tecture, we are aided by splendid remains : here we have no such certain guides ; our researches, tlierefore, cannot lead to anything very satisfactory. CHAPTER VL CHINESE ARCHITECTURE. The earliest attempts at buildings in China, were close imitations of tents, and to this day they have not departed from the original design. Although remark- ably ingenious, the Chinese are an imitative people, and it is impossible to say, hov^ many centuries their vrorks of all kinds may have continued precisely the same. The Great Wall was constructed by Thsing-chi- hoang-ti about two hundred and fourteen years before our era. A French writer calls it a monument le plus colossal, comme le plus insense, peut-etre, qu'ait jamais con^u la pensee humaine." But Thsing-chi-hoang-ti knew what he was about ; the Tartars might invade his dominions, but that was not his only or chief reason for this immense structure. Having brought under his sway a great number of petty kingdoms, into which the Celestial Empire had been previously divided, and widely extended his conquests over neighbouring countries, the illustrious CHINESE ARCHITECTURE. 65 Hoang-ti issued a decree worthy of the immortal Jack Cade ; namely, that all the books of morals and history in his wide dominions should be burned. Tyranny of course would be best secured by ignorance. But dis- content, revolt, and vengeance threatened him, and the people must be employed ; hence arose the great wall Wen-ti-tchang-tching, upon which millions of men were occupied for ten years. His neighbours, the Tartars, might invade his dominions, but his most dangerous foes were his own subjects. Wen-ti-tchang- tchinnr means the wall of a thousand leayrues. It is supposed to be about half that length, fifteen hundred miles. Its thickness is such, that six horsemen might ride abreast upon the top of it. It varies from twenty to forty feet in height. Throughout its prodigious length it is flanked with towers at the distance of two flights of an arrow apart. Thus it is carried over high mountains, and through deep valleys, and ravines, and rivers. The wall was built with much care and skill, with hewn stone on the exterior, filled in between with earth. The materials which have served for the construction of this wall,'' says M. Barron, " would be more than suflicient to build a wall twice round the globe, six feet high and two feet thick." Thsing-chi-hoang-ti embellished his capital with buildings of the greatest magnificence. He augmented the number of regal edifices by causing three hundred royal palaces to be erected within the walls of the city, and four hundred in the country. All these edifices, 5 66 CHINESE ARCHITECTURE. which he endeavoured to render as magnificent as possible, were to be placed, say the historians, so as to present upon the surface of the earth a coup d'osil, like that which the milky-way and the constellations near it present in the vault of the heavens. This was, in- deed, making a Celestial Empire ! Another Emperor confessed as a sin, that he had made his palaces too superb, and otherwise expended superfluously in buildings. The Chinese have built large structures of their favourite porcelain. The famous pagoda at Peking is of this material. Their pagodas all have nearly the same form. (Plate IV.) Chinese gates and garden-houses have lightness and grace, but there is comparatively little in their architecture worthy of imitation. Their dwelling- houses (Plate IV.) are lacquered, painted, and gilded, and it is doubtful whether the palaces mentioned by the ancient historians were anything more than wooden structures thus gaudily ornamented. Sir William Chambers says, that " some considera- tion is due to a race of men who, separated from the polished nations of the world, have, without any model to assist them, been able of themselves to mature the sciences and invent the arts. What is really Chinese has at least the merit of being original." Plate IV. CHINESE PAGOnA & D W E L LI N G HOU S E . CHAPTER VII. AMERICAN OR ABORIGINAL A R C H IT t: C T U R E. The discovery of architectural ruins in Central Ame- rica of immense extent, and of a style perfectly anoma- lous, excited throughout Europe and in our own coun- try the most extravagant expectations. The antiquary looked for revelations concerning a race older than Assyria and Babylon ; antediluvians, perhaps, who built with the skill and magnificence ot the giants of those days." The man of science was on tiptoe ; the poet was ready to place his ideal creations amid splendid edi- fices which would surpass all the wild imaginings of the Arabian Nights. The architect anticipated new designs, su])erior to those of classic Greece. These rash expectations were in a measure disap- pointed, when the thorough investigations of Stephens and Catherwood, restored those long-hidden remains. Restored, we may say, for the beautiful Views" of Catherwood, bring them, in all their fantastic and gro- tesque forms, before our eyes as realities. The inde- 68 ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. fatiofable and amusinor writer, to whom we are indebted for the most valnable information that has been given with regard to Central America, says, of the ancient American cities, " There are not sufficient grounds for behef in the great antiquity that has been ascribed to these ruins." We are not warranted in going back to any ancient nation of the Old World for the builders of these cities." " This opinion was not given lightly, nor without due consideration. It was adverse to my feelings, which would have fain thrown around the ruins the interest of mystery and hoary age." Although we acknowledge the force of the internal and circumstantial evidence, by which travellers have arrived at this conclusion, yet the antiquity of these remains is not settled. As it is impossible to assign American Aboriginal Architecture to the exact chrono- logical period to which it belongs, it has been introduced here, as the fitting place, although it breaks in upon the regular course. The colossal edifices of the Aborigines of Mexico, Central America,* and Yucatan, are mostly pyramidal in form (Plate V.); the pyramid rises by terraces, which gradually decrease in size ; upon the top is left * Central America lies between 8° and 18° N. latitude. It com- prehends that part of the long isthmus between North and South America which, lying between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, extends from New Grenada to Mexico. Yucatan is a peninsula projecting from its northern extremity into the Gulf of Mexico. Plate V. CASA DEL GOBERNADOR. A MEXICAN TEOCALLIS. ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. a level space of sufficient size for the building which crowns the summit. In front of the pyramid was a hideous idol, and the stone of sacrifice upon whicli human victims were offered. In Mexico these teocalli were very numerous. " They were solid masses of earth, brick, or stone. The bases of them were several hundred feet square, and they towered to a height of more than a hundred feet. There were said to be six hundred altars, or smaller buildings, within the great Temple of Mexico, which, with those on tlie sacred edifices, in other parts of the city, shed a brilliant illumination over its streets through the darkest night." The great teocallis of Mexico was divided into five stories or bodies, each one receding so as to be of smaller dimensions than that immediately below it. The ascent was by a flight of steps on the outside, which reached to the narrow terrace or platform at the base of the second story, pa.ssing quite round the building, where a second stairway conducted to a similar landing at the base of the third. The breadth of this walk was just so much space as was left by the retreating story next above it. From this construction the visiter was obliged to pass round the whole edifice four times in order to reach the top. This had a most imposing effect in the religious ceremonials, when the pompous procession of priests, with their wild min- strelsy, came sweeping round the huge sides of the 70 ABORIGINAL A R C HI T E C T U R i:.. pyramid, as they rose higher and higher, in the pre- sence of gazing mnltitudes, towards the summit. The dimensions of the temple caimot be given with any certainty. It was, probably, not much less than three hundred feet square at the base, and as the Spaniards counted a hundred and fourteen steps, was probably less than one hundred feet high. On reach- ing the summit, they found it a vast area, paved with broad flat stones. The first object that met their view was a large block of jasper, the peculiar shape of which showed that it was the stone on which the bodies of the unhappy victims were stretched for sacrifice.* Its con- * Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. " Human sacrifices were adopted by the Aztecs or Mexicans, two hundred years before the conquest. One of the most important festivals was that in honour of the god Tezcatlipoca, whose rank was inferior only to that of the Supreme Being. He was called ' the Soul of the World,' and supposed to have been its creator. He was depicted as a handsome man, endowed with perpetual youth. A year before the intended sacrifice, a cap- tive, distinguished for his personal beauty, and without a blemish on his body, was selected to represent this deity. Certain tutors took charge of him, and instructed him how to perform his new part with becoming grace and dignity. He was arrayed in a splendid dress, regaled with incense, and with a profusion of sweet-scented flowers. When he went abroad, he was attended by a train of the royal pages, and, as he halted in the streets to play some favourite melody, the crowd prostrated themselves before him, and did him homage as the representative of their good deity. In this way he led an easy, luxu- rious life till within a month of his sacrifice. " At length the fatal day arrived. The term of his short-lived glories was at an end. He was stripped of his gaudy apparel, and bade ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. 71 vex surface, by raising the breast, enabled the priest to perform his diabolical task more easily, of removing the heart. At the other end of the area were two towers or sanctuaries, consisting of three stories, the lower one of stone and stucco, the two upper of wood elaborately carved. In the lower division stood the images of their gods. Before each sanctuary stood an altar with that undying fire upon it, the extinction of which boded as much evil to the empire, as that of the Vestal flame would have done in ancient Rome. Here also wa^j the huge cylindrical drum made of ser- adieu to the companions of his revelries. One of the royal barges transported him across the lake to a temple which rose on its margin, about a league from the city. Hither the inhabitants of the capital flocked to witness the consummation of the ceremony. As the sad procession wound up the sides of the pyramid, the unhappy victim threw away his gay chaplcts of flowers, and broke in pieces the in- struments of music with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. On the summit ho was received by six priests, whose long and matted locks flowed disorderly over their sable robes, covered with hierogly- phic scrolls of mystic import. They led him to the sacrificial stone, a huge block of jasper, with its upper surface somewhat convex. On this the victim was stretched. F'ive priests secured his head and his limbs, while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, emblematic of his bloody oflicc, dexterously opened the breast of the wretched victim with a sharp razor of itzli, a volcanic substance hard as flint, and inserting his hand in the wound, tore out the palpitating heart. The minister of death, first holding this up towards the sun, cast it at the feet of the deity to whom the temple was devoted, and then expounded the tragedy as the type of human destiny, which, brilliant at its com- mencement, too often closes in sorrow and disaster." 72 ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. pents' skins, and struck only on extraordinary occa- sions, when it sent forth a melancholy sound that might be heard for miles. The temple rising high above all other edifices in the capital, aiforded the most elevated as well as central point of view. From this position could be distinctly traced the symmetrical plan of the city, with its principal avenues issuing from the four gates and connecting themselves with the causeways which formed the grand entrances to the capital. This regular and beautiful arrangement was imitated in many of the inferior towns, where the great roads converged towards the chief teocallis as to a common focus." The structures of Yucatan and Central America possess the same general characteristics as those of Mexico. The ruins of Uxmal, in Yucatan, are the most remarkable for their extent and variety of any which have been yet explored. " They impressed my mind," says Catherwood,* " at the first glance, with the same feelings of wonder and admiration, with which I first caught sight of the ruins of Thebes." The grand teocallis so nearly resemble the Mexican one already mentioned, that it is needless to give a particular description of it. It is called the " House of the Dwarf," and the House of the Diviner." Next in importance is the " Casa del Gobernador," * " Catherwood's Views, in Central America, Chiapas, and Yuca- tan." ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. 73 or House of the Governor. (Plate V.) This immense building is constructed entirely of hewn stone, and mea- sures three hundred and twenty feet in front, by forty feet in depth ; the height is about twenty -six feet. It has eleven doorways in front, and one at each end. The apartments are narrow, seldom exceeding twelve feet. The peculiar arch of the country has been em- ployed in every room. The Casa del Gobernador stands on three terraces ; the lowest is three feet high, fifteen feet wide, and five hundred and seventy-five feet long ; the second is twenty feet high; the third, nineteen feet high, and three hundred and sixty feet long ; it is in a remark- ably good state of preservation. As this building is one of the finest that has been explored, and gives a complete idea of the manner in which these edifices were ornamented, we would com- mend the reader to Mr. Stephens's full and accurate description.* It would seem as if this immense edifice had been first built and the stones afterwards carved ; for each stone by itself is an unmeaning fractional [)ortion, but by the side of others it forms part of a whole, without which it would be incomplete. All these ornaments may have a symbolical meaning, and each stone be a part of a history, allegory, or fable. Up to the cornice, which runs round the whole length and the four sides of the Casa," the fa(;'ade * Incidents of Travel in Vucntan." 74 ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. presents a smooth surface ; above, is one solid mass of rich, complicated, and elaborately sculptured orna- ments, forming a sort of arabesque. The finest ornament is over the centre doorway. It seems to have been a sitting figure with an enormous head-dress of bunches of feathers symmetrically ar- ranged. A peculiar ornament, called by Waldeck an ele- phant's trunk, appears all over the facade and at the Fig. 10. corners ; and throughout all the buildings it is met with oftener than any other design in Uxmal. How astonishing, that all these carvings should have been executed without the use of iron ! The rear elevation of the " Casa" is a solid wall, nine feet thick. Like the front, it was ornamented with sculpture, but less gorgeous and elaborate. The ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. 75 roof is flat, and had been covered with, cement, but is now overgrown with grass and bushes. The long narrow apartments within, more resemble corridors or galleries, than rooms, some of them being twenty-three feet high, and only eleven or thirteen wide; some of them have but one door of entrance, and none of them windows. The walls are constructed of square smooth blocks of stone. The floors are of cement. The prints of a red hand were found upon all this, and all the ruined buildings of the country. They had been painted upon the stone by the living hand, with the thumb and fingers extended, moistened with red paint. The seams and creases of the palm were clear and distinct in the impression. What Cham- pollion shall decipher the mysterious hieroglyphics which are everywhere sculptured upon these build- ings ? Other buildings, that were once attached to the Casa," still rear their solemn ruins in its vicinity. Although these buildings afford no useful designs for the modern architect, and the sculptured ornaments are fantastic and grotesque, yet as specimens of art among a semi-barbarous people, they are exceedingly interest- ing. They have a picturesque appearance in the beauti- fully coloured Views" of Catherwood, and the splendid engravings of the magnificent work of Lord Kings- borough. Some of the sculptures, as represented in 76 ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. the latter,^ had a smooth, delicate finish, that would not disgrace the chisel of a modern artist. Another feature in the Aboriginal Architecture, which must claim our attention, is the arch. " A true arch is formed of a series of wedgelike stones, or of bricks, supporting each other, and all bound to- gether by the pressure of the centre one upon them, which latter is therefore distinguished by the name of the keystone." No such arch has been found among these ruins. Wilkinson, Gliddon, and others, give representations of the Egyptian arch, but may they not have been formed like these Aboriginal arches ? In many in- stances they were constructed of two large stones laid together and meet- ing at the top. "The stones forming the side walls are made to overlap each other until the walls almost meet above, and then the narrow ceilings are covered with a layer of flat stones. In every case the stones were laid in horizontal layers, the principle of constructing arches, as understood by us, being unknown to the original builders. This accounts for the extreme narrowness of all their rooms. In a few cases the covering stone * " Antiquities of Mexico a work in seven folio volumes, which owes its publication to the truly noble munificence of Lord Kingsbo- rough. ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. 77 is wanting, and the two sides meet so as to form a sharp angle."* In Yucatan, the inner surfaces of the stones were smoothed, and therefore must have presented the ap- pearance of a regular arch, but not a semicircular one. What are the nations of the Old Continent whose style of architecture bears most resemblance to that of the remarkable monuments of Chiapa and Yucatan ? The points of resemblance will be found neither nu- merous nor decisive. There is indeed some analogy both to the Egyptian, and Asiatic style of architecture in the pyramidal terrace-formed bases, on w^iich the buildings repose. A similar care also, was observed in the people of both hemispheres, to adjust the position of their buildings to the cardinal points. The walls in both are covered with figures and hieroglyphics, w^hich on the American, as on the Egyptian, may be designed to record the laws and historical annals of the nation. These figures, as well as the buildings themselves, are found to have been stained with various dyes, princi- pally vermilion, a favourite colour with the Egyptians also, who painted their colossal statues, and temples of granite. Notwithstanding these points of similarity, the Aboriginal Architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian or the Oriental. It must be admitted to have a character of originality peculiar to itself "f * Stephens. t Prcscott's Conquest of Mexico. 78 ABORIGINAL ARCHITECTURE. Their sculpture and their hieroglyphics give us no light to guide us to the discovery of their antiquity, and the origin of these singular buildings. Who in- habited these edifices, upon which the large trees now twine their roots among the loosened stones ? Le Noir, gives them an antiquity of trois milk ans^' and says, " Ceci n'est point mon opinion seule ; c'est celle de tons les voyageurs qui ont vu les mines." Colonel Galindo, pronounces this country, " the true cradle of civilization." Mr. Waldeck, from the old trees and the stalactites in some of the ruins, computes the age of the buildings at two or three thousand years. Others have gone so far as to give them an antedilu- vian origin. The old Spanish writer, Bernal Diaz, believed the Jews to have been the builders, and this is the opinion which Lord Kingsborough has laboured to establish. One thing is certain, that the Aztecs and the builders of Uxmal were a superior race to any that were found inhabiting this country, when it was conquered by the Spaniards. CHAPTER VIII. CYCLOPEAN AND ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE. Ages before the Romans existed, the fair land of Italy was inhabited by nations who have left indestructible monuments as the only records of their history. Those wonderful cities of early Italy which have been termed Cyclopean, are thickly scattered throughout certain districts, and are often perched like eagles' nests, on the very crests of mountains, at such an elevation as to strike amazement into the traveller who now visits them, and to bewilder him with speculations as to the state of society which could have driven men to such scarcely accessible spots for habitation, and to entrench themselves therein with such stupendous fortifications. The choice of such sites seems to indicate a state of society little removed from barbarism, in which there was no security nor confidence between the several communities, and the only law was, " The good old rule — the simple plan, That he should take who has the power. And he should keep — who can.'* 80 i ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE. The walls of the Cyclopean cities are formed of huge blocks of limestone or other calcareous stone, roughly hewn, or, as in the walls of Tyrius, not shaped by the chisel, and in all cases laid together without cement. The Cyclopean gates are square; an enor- mous stone lying over two upright ones. There are, however, some rude attempts at an arch, the stones being arranged so as to meet at the top, in the same manner as they were formed, by the Aboriginal Archi- tects of Central America. The true arch is never found in this style. The cities of Etruria generally stood on low ground, although there are exceptions to this rule, and they were less ancient than the Cyclopean. The finest specimens of the Etruscan walls are built of large blocks of hewn stone laid in regular courses. It is in the gateways and vaults of Etruscan Archi- tecture, compared with those of the Cyclopean, that we find superior skill in the art. The perfect arch, formed of massive stones fitted together without ce- ment, is the most striking feature in these architec- tural remains. There are many specimens in Etruria which the researches of modern travellers have brought to light. Of Etruscan bridges with a single arch, several now stand as firmly as they did twenty or twenty- five centuries ago." It is impossible to determine how long they have been built. The Etruscans were the ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE. 81 people, doubtless, from whom the Romans in their early day derived the arts and sciences. Their roads were cut through rocks to lessen the distance, like the tunnelling of modern times. " In their sepulchres there is a great variety of character ; in none is there any resemblance to the Roman ; in most respects they differ from the Grecian, but they are very similar to the Egyptian ; some of them were ex- cavated in the face of the rock, and others were below the surface of the ground." The tombs of fJtruria appear to have been an imi- tation of the dwelling-house of the living. They have sloping roofs, and in the interior the ceilings are finished with rafters in relief ; the walls too, are panelled in relief ; and a modern traveller exclaims. Come, see, and believe, ye incredulous ! easy arm- chairs ivith footstools attached, all carved out of the living rock. Then the articles of furniture bear out this view — the vases, the amphorsB, jugs, goblets, drinking-horns, the wine-coolers, glass bottles, the plates, cups, saucers, spoons, &c., &c., in bronze and earthenware — the mirrors, rings, and necklaces, — the armour and weapons. What mean all these as sepul- chral furniture, if the belief were not entertained that departed spirits would in another state have similar necessities to what they had in this, and if the tomb were not intended to be, to a great extent, the counter- part of the abode of the living ?" 6 CHAPTER IX. GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. Greece — pride of the world ! " Though broken is each consecrated shrine, Though crushed and ruined all," yet, every age shall own thee as the alma mater of poetry, eloquence, sculpture, and architecture. Perfection, cannot be claimed for any of the works of man ; it belongs only to the Divine Architect of the universe ; His power and knowledge are but faintly reflected by human intellect. The sages and philosophers of Greece, travelled into Egypt, Persia, and India, gaining a knowledge of the arts and sciences, and on their return, imparted it to their fellow-countrymen. The Grecian colonists who settled the peninsula and the beautiful islands of the blue ^gean, came from countries already far advanced in civilization. Their architecture bears sufficient resemblance to the best specimens of the Egyptian, to prove that they had studied and improved upon it. It was not till a short time before the Peloponnesian war, about B. C. 450, that the arts arrived at their GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 83 highest excellenoe among the Greeks. The genius of this wonderful people was employed in the invention of mechanical and decorative architecture, until it was formed into three distinct orders, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Every order is marked by the form, proportions, and ornaments, of the column and entablature. These are the governing members, with which every other part of a building must harmonize. It is not alone the cost- liness, magnificence, and antiquity of a Grecian edifice that render it beautiful ; the beauty of proportion is independent of these. The eye, even of an unprac- tised observer, when viewing a magnificent building, is never satisfied, unless the weights appear to be duly supported ; and it receives a corresponding pleasure when that is the case." Hence, if the entablature, which is the only weight that a])pears, be heavy, the column which supports it must be large, to give it the appearance of strength; if tlie entablature be light, the column must also be light. The proportions of the Grecian orders, connected as they are with the idefus of utility and fitness, have stood the test of time and experience, and are still the classic models for mankind. " First unadorned And nobly plain, the ninnly Doric rose; The Ionic then, with drcent matron grace Her airy pillar heaved ; luxuriant last, The rich Corinthian spread her wanton wreath." 84 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. DORIC ORDER. The Doric, the most simple and ancient of these orders, was invented by the Dorians. Their country abounded with forests, and the first habitations of the colonists, were probably constructed of wood. Upright posts were the pillars, supporting a roof with projecting eaves. Temples were, in time, built in the same oblong form, with columns of marble supporting an entablature. In the course of time, these simple structures were decorated to conceal the mechanical construction. The column is without a base. (Plate VI.) The shaft is fluted, usually with twenty flat flutes or conca- vities. It has been suggested that the shaft was origi- nally plain, and that the flu tings were invented, to form a convenient place for the long spears of the soldiers who visited the temple. Although this ap- pears fanciful, it may be true ; many inventions have been designed for utility, and continued for ornament ; the Egyptian columns, however, were reeded, and the change from convex ornamenting, to concave, seems very slight. Among the many remains of the Doric order, the proportions vary. The most ancient columns are shorter in proportion to their diameter, than those of a later origin, being only five diameters in height. Taking the diameter of the Doric column, Plate VI., at the bottom of the shaft, the height of the whole Plate VI. PARTH ENON > GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 85 Fio. 12. shaft is six diameters. From a careful comparison of ancient Doric columns, the following proportions have been established. The shaft, six diameters; the capital, half a diameter; the abacus, quarter of a diame- ter. The shaft diminishes in thickness as it ascends ; where it joins the capitcd, it is nearly a quarter less in diameter than at the bottom, where it rests upon the platform. The abacus is considered the upper member of the capital : it is here a flat square plinth ; beneath it, is the large, finely formed ovoh ; below this are three annulets or rings, which complete the Doric capital. The entablature is heavy. The architrave is orna- mented with conical drops or guttce, as they are called. frieze is sculptured with triglyphs, an ornament peculiar to this order. The square places between these trigly phs are called metopes, and are often ornamented w^ith sculpture. The cornice, has a large projecting moulding, under which are placed square blocks, named mutides, ornamented with drops ; these mutules are jilaced directly over the trigly phs and metopes. The finest specimen of tlie Doric order is the temple of Minerva Parthen(m, at .\thens. (Plate VI.) Peri- 86 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. cles resolved that Athens should be the admiration of the world, and that her architecture should keep pace with her military and intellectual renown. When the temple of Minerva Parthenon was to be built, many grand designs were offered to the Athenians for their choice. Ictinus was the successful architect, whose design met with their approbation. Callicrates was also employed upon it. A small temple, raised by Cimon, in honour of Theseus, was the model of the Parthenon. It has been remarked that " the Doric column is in fact Egyptian, modified to a new position and worship, and that the nobler specimens are but reduced and petty imitations of those ancient and indestructible supporters to the temples of Thebes, of Memphis, and Tentyra." The sculptures which decorated this temple, were designed by Phidias, and executed by his scholars. Ictinus, the architect, wrote a work on the architecture of the Parthenon, which is quoted by Vitruvius. The Grecian temples are all oblong, and about twice as long as they are broad. The Parthenon was 225 feet in length, and 100 in breadth ; the height of the en- trance was thirty-six feet. There were eight columns at each front, and seven- teen on each side, counting those at the angle twice. Besides these, there was an inner row of columns at each end, which stood upon a platform two steps higher than the outer row. The diameter of the columns of the outer row, is six feet, two inches ; their height, in- GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 87 eluding the capitals, thirty-four feet. The Parthenon has an inclined roof, the ends of which are finished with a cornice, similar to the one upon the entablature. The triangular space formed by this cornice and the entablature is called ^a, pediment. On the eastern pedi- ment of the Parthenon was an elaborate sculpture, representing Jupiter and Minerva, with their atten- dants ; on the western pediment, Minerva and Neptune. These sculptures, and others from the entablature, were a part of the spoils now so famous as the Elgin marbles, of the British Museum. Byron's indig- nation was excited against Lord Elgin for these spoli- ations, and he has administered in several stanzas his caustic reproof But who of all the plunderers of yon fane On higli, where Pallas lingered, loth to flee The latest relic of her ancient reign ; The last, the worst dull spoiler, who was he ? Blush, Caledonia ! such thy son could be ! England ! I joy no child he was of ihine : Thy free-born nien should spare what once was free ; Yet they could violate each saddening shrine. And bear these altars o'er the long reluctant brine. But most the modern Picl's ignol)lo l)oast To rive what CkjIIi, and Turk, and time hath spared. Cold as the crags upon his native coast. His mind as barren and his heart as hard ; So he whose head conceived, whose hand prepared 88 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. Aught to displace Athena's poor remains, Her sons too weak the sacred shrine to guard."* Part of the beautiful Parthenon was destroyed by the explosion of a magazine which the Turks had placed within its walls, when Athens, in 1687, was besieged by the Venetians. Enough of it remained when Stuart visited Athens, about 1765, to enable him to give a perfect representation of it, and Plate VI. is from his view, as restored to its pristine glory. When the columns or other parts fell, the Turks some- times used them for their buildings, but it is said, that they rarely destroyed or defaced these beautiful ruins. The Parthenon stood upon the grand platform or area of the Acropolis. On this elevation were accumulated those edifices whose surpassing beauty will long re- main the world's wonder. In sight of these splendid structures, perhaps with his eyes fixed upon the sculp- tured Parthenon, St. Paul stood upon " Mars' Hill," the hill of Areopagus, and exclaimed, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too super- stitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devo- tions, I found an altar with this inscription, ' To the UNKNOWN God.' Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God, that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of * Lord Elgin has given his apology for these spoliations in a small work, entitled " Memorandum on the Subject of the Earl of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece," London, 1811. GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 89 heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Forasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." The statue of the Goddess Minerva, executed by Phidias, occupied one apartment of the Parthenon. This statue was thirty-nine feet high, of ivory, covered with gold, and for richness and exquisite beauty of workmanship, was unsurpassed by any statue of an- tiquity. Another apartment was used for the public treasury. There are splendid remains of temples of the Doric order in Italy and Sicily. The Greeks founded colonies in both these countries, and the monuments of their genius remain as a testimony to the power and opulence of those colonies. History contains no record of the architects who constructed these mighty temples ; even the time when their majestic columns arose, or when they were prostrated in the dust, has been whelmed in oblivion. There was a temple of Minerva at Syracuse; six temples at Selinus, one of which must have been so magnificent in size, as nearly to rival the massive monuments of Egypt. The porticoes of this temple were supported by Doric columns sixty feet high, and thirty in circumference ; the length of the temple was three hundred and thirty -one feet ; the immense piles of ruins attest the prodigious size of these temples. 90 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. At Agrigentum, are the remains of several temples, the largest of which was the Temple of Jupiter Olym- pus, one of the most imposing fabrics that was ever reared by man. The capitals of the Doric columns of this stupendous structure measure eight feet and two inches in height. The traveller wanders over these buried ruins with mournful solemnity, meditating upon the might and majesty of the genius of man, and the insufficiency of material structures to render his name immortal. In Southern Italy are the ruins of Psestum. Three temples may still be seen, two of which are very perfect. The columns are only a little more than four diameters in height ; the entablature very heavy. The whole appearance of the temples, in consequence of these proportions, is less pleasing than that of the Parthenon. No order can exceed the Doric in chaste simplicity and solemn grandeur. It is well adapted to public edifices, where strength and durability are sought, and where the expression intended is grave and majestic. The straight outlines and large square forms of Egyp- tian edifices are expressive of power, of strength, and durability, and fill the mind with wonder and awe ; the perfect proportions of the Doric temples, with their simple ornaments, excite a different emotion. There is a harmonious distribution of the members, producing perfect unity in the whole building, and the emotion GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 91 of beauty which fills the spectator, though less over- powering, is, perhaps, more pleasurable. The details too, excite unqualified admiration. Every capital is perfect in its symmetry. The grace- ful ovolo, swells out into its beautiful form, as polished and smooth as the most delicate shell from " the dark unfathomed caves of ocean." Every stone in the ma- jestic pile was so exquisitely prepared for its neighbour, that not the slightest crevice appears upon the ex- terior ; the whole vast column seems hewn from a single block ; the line is perfect to the lifted eye of the wondering artist, as again and again he follows the shaft from its firm rest upon the pavement, to the an- nulets of its capital. This chaste and elegant style was the favourite order throughout Greece and its European colonies, until after the Macedonian conquest. THE IONIC ORDER. The colonies which were planted by the Greeks in Asia Minor, were called Ionia. Populous and rich, the sciences and arts were cultivated by the lonians with great success. They have given their name to one of the three orders of Grecian Architecture, but whether they invented it, or only improved upon the Doric, is still a disputed point, not easy, and not im- portant to decide. \ 92 GRECIANARCHITECTURE. The Ionic order is more light and delicate than the Doric ; the height of its co- lumn is greater in propor- tion to its diameter. The capital is ornamented with volutes. The origin of this peculiar ornament is con- jectural. The curls in fe- male head-dress; the beau- tiful spiral forms of sea- shells, particularly the cornu ammonis ; the graceful unfolding fern ; the horns of rams offered in sacrifice, and originally suspended about the temples : these all have been suggested as guiding the artist in designing the volutes of the Ionic capital. Encircling this capital is the eschinus, formed of the egg and dart ; and the astragal having a beading formed of one large and two small beads, alternately. These are the mouldings usually found upon the Ionic capital. The shaft is cut into about twenty-four deep flutes, which are sometimes filled in w^ith reeding, for some distance from the base. The edges of the flutings do not meet like the Doric, but are separated by a flat surface or fillet. In some instances, Ionic shafts were plain, without fluting or reeding. The shafts were usually eight diameters in height. The Ionic column has a base, and the entablature is GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 93 differently ornamented from the Doric. The cornice has dentils or teeth, and the egg and dart moulding; the frieze is generally plain : in some remains of this order it is wanting, the entablature consisting only of cornice and architrave. The triglyphs and sculptured metopes destroyed the. unity of the Doric frieze ; in the Ionic entablature the horizontal line was unbroken. The Temple of Erectheus at Athens (Plate VI.) is a beautiful relic of the Ionic order. Its lijirht and (graceful })roportions, and its beautiful capitals. Fig. 15, have been studied with pleasure and advantage by modern archi- tects. The celebrated Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was of the Ionic order. It was four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, two hundred and twenty in breadth, and seventy feet in height. This splendid edifice, to which all the Grecian colonies contributed, was wan- tonly burnt, the same night on which Alexander the Great was born. The object of the villain, who per- petrated the deed, was to render himself famous throughout all time ; the Ephesians forbade by a law, with severe penalties, that his name should be uttered. Nevertheless, Erostratus is a name too infamous to be forgotten. It was rebuilt by the artist Dinocrates, and GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. had been standing for about four hundred years, when St. Paul preached to the Ephesians, and " filled the whole city with confusion." The pure gospel, which the Apostle declared unto them, would lead to the entire destruction of the worship of the great God- dess Diana;" instead, therefore, of answering St. Paul with arguments, ^' they all with one voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians !" A fanciful origin has been given to this order. A young Corinthian lady died and was sincerely mourn- ed by her faithful nurse ; as a tribute of affection, this humble friend placed upon the grave of her young mistress a basket, covered with a tile, containing her jewels. As if to beautify this act of love, a graceful our feelings to prove so sweet a record in the annals of art to be apocryphal, but the Egyptian capitals were so frequently formed CORINTHIAN ORDER. Fig. 16. acanthus spread its leaves around the basket, and thus was suggested to Callimachus, the sculptor, the Corinthian capital. It does not accord with GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 95 of rows of delicate leaves, that Callimachus cannot lay claim to the invention ; we may still believe that in this case genins may have seized upon an accidental circumstance, and reproduced, in a more perfect and beautiful form, what had long been invented. The body of the capital is a vase or basket ; upon it rests an abacus, not square, but four-cornered, with concave sides, mould- ed and ornamented in the ■ - middle of each side with a ^ ^^i^^^ ^ p ^ ^^^ ^^ honeysuckle or other flow- er. The lower part of the capital is decorated with two rows of leaves, eight in each row. A space between the abacus and leaves is occupied by stalks formed into delicate volutes; larsrer volutes meet the four corners of the abacus. The shaft of the Corinthian column originally had the same proportions as the Ionic, nine diameters in height ; the moderns have made it still more slender, sometimes more than ten diameters. Anciently it was frequently found plain, but the finest specimens were fluted and filleted as it is when used at the present day. The entablature and base were similar to the Ionic order, yet varied in different edifices, in the details. 96 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. One of the most perfect specimens of the Corinthian order (Plate VII.), is a beautiful little temple or monu- ment at Athens. Why, or wherefore this has been called the Lantern of Demosthenes, would be difficult to dis- cover. It is octagonal, with eight elegant columns. The most magnificent temple at Athens, dedicated to Jupiter Olympus, was of this order. (Plate VII.) It was built of the purest white marble, and Art, in the zenith of her glory, could present no prouder shrine. Vitruvius says, this " structure is not spoken of with common praise ; the excellence and sagacious contri- vance have been approved of in the assembly of the gods." The magnificent Corinthian columns of the exterior w^ere sixty feet in height and six feet six inches in diameter. The area of the temple w^as half a mile in circumference. It had two ranges of columns on each side, twenty-one in each row, and ten columns at each end. The Olympeium was founded by Pisistratus, five hundred and forty years before Christ, and completed more than two hundred years after, by the architect Cossutius, a Roman citizen employed by Antiochus Epiphanes. The ideal restoration given in Plate VII., may serve to convey a faint idea of its beauty. The Corinthian order was not much employed by the Greeks till after the conquest of Alexander. Subse- quently, it was very generally chosen for all edifices Plate VII. THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER I GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 97 where elegance, gaiety, and magnificence were re- quired." The stem and massive simplicity of the Doric ac- corded much better with the taste of Greece in her palmy days, when her poetry and eloquence possessed the same characteristics. Beside the three Grecian orders, human figures were sometimes employed by the Greeks as supports for entablatures. When these figures represented men, they were called Persians, from contempt, and a wish to degrade their enemies. When they were women, they were called Cariatides, from the people of Caria, who had been the allies of the Persians in some of their wars against Greece. (See Plate VI.) This was a great departure from correct taste. In the Grecian orders there is an union of strenqrth and lightness, of simplicity and ornament, of grandeur and beauty, which can never be surpassed. Mcxlern architects, in endeavouring to improve upon Grecian designs, have been completely foiled ; the closest in- vestigation leads to the conclusion that the principles of Grecian Architecture were fixed by men of consum- mate science and skill, and have their foundation in immutable truth. It is evident that the Greeks preferred the fine to the useful arts. Their temples were the only property which they possessed in common, and their munifi- cence in affording the means for their erection, attests 7 m GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. the pride that they felt in making these monuments the wonder of the world, when their private dwelUngs were still hnmble. The Greeks knew little of the comforts of domestic life. The temple, the theatre, the forum, the schools of the philosophers, were the places of resort for men ; wives were not intellectual companions, and the grace- ful embellishments of home, which depend upon them, were not appreciated by their lordly masters. " The houses of the Athenians in general, consist of two sets of apartments ; the upper story for the women, and the lower for the men. The roofs have terraces, with a large projection at each extremity. In the front is a small court, or rather a sort of portico, at the end of which is the house door, where we find sometimes a figure of Mercury, to drive away thieves, or a dog, who is a much more effectual guard."* Such were the dwellings of Aristides and Themis- tocles ; but the men of wealth, in the later luxurious days of Greece, erected more commodious mansions, which they embellished with sculpture and painting. The plan of a Grecian house, as given by the archi- tect Vitruvius, exhibits a great number of apartments, courts, and colonnades. In addition to the apartments for the men and the women of the household, there were suites of apartments for strangers, who came to attend the great festivals, separated by passages and entered * Anacharsis. GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 99 by gates apart from the main entrance. These apart- ments were furnished even with stores of edibles, that the guests might feel themselves quite at home. Well might the comedian Lysippus say : Whoever does not desire to see Athens, is stupid ; whoever sees it without being delighted, is still more stupid ; but the height of stupidity is, to see it, to admire it, and to leave it." CHAPTER X. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. From a state of extreme rudeness and barbarism, Rome gradually became the imperial mistress of the world. For a long time the gentle arts of peace could find no place among her rough warriors. Their dwell- ing-houses ungraced by the presence of woman, were at first, undoubtedly, less commodious than an Ameri- can log-cabin. Their first efforts of architectural skill were employ- ed upon walls for defence. With the Tarquins, was brought the knowledge of the art as practised in Etru- ria. To the Romans, the invention of the arch has been attributed ; but since arches have been discovered amid Etruscan ruins, older than Rome itself, it may rationally be inferred that they acquired the principles of its construction from Etruria. The unadorned works which they constructed during the early ages, were remarkable for solidity, being built of large blocks of stone, in the most substantial manner, proving the " early ambition which projected from its very in- fancy, 'the eternal city,' the capital of the world." ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 101 As Rome extended her conquests, wealth flowed in, and with it a taste for the luxuries of life. Greece and her beautiful colonies in Sicily and Italy, were among these conquests. The rude Romans must have gazed with savage wonder upon the chaste simplicity of the Parthenon, and the surpassing magnificence of the Temple of Jupiter Olympus at Athens; but their religion led them to reverence, and to spare the tem- ples of deities whom they worshipped in common with the Greeks. The genius of the Greeks for Architec- ture, was gradually and perfectly developed by the rivalry of aspiring states and their ambitious, gifted artists ; but as we now look through the vista of ages, it seems to have sprung up spontaneously, or rather to have come forth perfect in all its proportions and orna- ments, like their own Minerva from the head of Jupi- ter. At Rome it was transplanted. When Marcellus conquered Syracuse, a Grecian colony in Sicily, he carried the spoils, consisting of rich statuary, vases, and pictures, to Rome, to grace his triumph and astonish the Roman citizens. Plu- tarch tells us that on the occasion of the triumph decreed to Paulus Emilius, for his conquest of Mace- donia, a whole day was scarcely suflicient to exhibit the specimens of classic art brought forth for that occasion. Two hundred and fifty chariots were em- ployed to carry them in tlie triumphal procession. The acquisition of these models of art did not elicit genius ; for a long time after, they imported their artists 102 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. from Greece, or constructed their edifices from ancient ruins. When the spoils of all nations were laid at the feet of the mistress of the world, she made a luxurious, a lavish use of them. Augustus boasted hyperbolically, that he had found Rome wood and brick, and had made it marble." Instead of inventing any new orders, the Romans combined the arch and vault with the Grecian column and entablature. In time, the art gained^ in richness and luxuriancy of decoration, but lost the pure and lovely simplicity of its native land. The Boric, was very seldom employed by the Romans ; when it was imitated, the proportions and ornaments were different from the Grecian. Fig. 18. Fig. 19. The Tuscan (Fig. 18) is sometimes called an order, although it cannot be so considered. Neither does what has been termed the Composite (Fig. 19) deserve ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 103 to be distinguished as an oi'der ; it was only an inharmo- nious union between the Ionic and Corinthian. The Romans varied the Ionic, making it more ela- borate, without adding to its 20 beauty. (Fig. 20.) Of the " ~^ three orders, their favourite was the Corinthian. The decorative part of this order they varied, to suit the cha- ' ^im^ ' i^xK yhtih nhiMiit uk^ racter of the building in which it was employed, or the taste of the builder. Thus, in place of the acan- thus, they ornamented the capitals with laurel, olive, thistle, and other foliage, differently disposed ; in place of volutes^ eagles, cornu- copiae, griffins, and other emblems ; and upon the entablature they had an endless variety of mouldings; wreaths of flowers, heads of animals, &c. &c. Although so little can be granted to the Romans as inventors, the splendid remains of their edifices testify how successfully they could employ the principles which they had acc^uired. These remains are public roads, aqueducts, temples, theatres, tombs, triumphal arches, historical monuments, thermjB or batlis, basi- licae or courts of justice, and Forums or Forii. The public roads were constructed with immense labour and expense ; they extended to the utmost limits 104 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. of the vast empire. Sometimes they were paved with flint and covered with gravel; often they were of large basaltic stones, neatly smoothed. These roads were raised, so as to command a view of the adjacent country, and had sidewalks for foot-passengers. The aqueducts conveyed water to Rome, sometimes for a distance of fifty or sixty miles. They were carried through rocks, over hills, and through valleys on axches ; where the valleys were deep, one row of arches was placed over another, and still another, to the height of more than a hundred feet. These aque- ducts were constructed with as much regard to beauty as utility; they were ornamented with columns of finely sculptured stone and marble. The temples of the Romans were not like those of the Greeks, uniformly oblong; they were circular, hexagonal, octagonal, and even triangular, and com- bined of all these and many other forms. The most celebrated temple of a circular form is the Pantheon at Rome. (Plate VIII.) It is generally attri- buted to Agrippa; but careful researches have led to the conjecture that it was of earlier origin, and that Agrippa new-modelled and embellished the interior, and added the superb portico, upon which is an inscription which says is was built by Agrippa, 27 years before Christ. It was afterwards repaired and beautified by the Emperor Adrian. "The Catholics let the temple stand, and gloried in its conversion to Christianity." Plate Yin. fHF PANTHEON ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 105 It was consecrated A. D. 607, by Pope Boniface IV., to the Virgin Mary and All Saints. This immense temple has a wall nineteen feet in thickness, in which are six chapels, and between them eight small altars, which were niches for statues. The semicircle, in the same manner hollowed into the wall, now forms the choir of the great altar, and is opposite the main entrance. These walls surround an area of 132 feet in diameter ; their height from the pavement to the springing of the dome, is sixty feet, and the whole height of the interior 132 feet! Over this spacious area, hangs that marble firmament, that self-balanced dome, the glory of Roman Architecture. The light is admitted through a circle in the dome, open to the bright Italian sky, twenty-seven feet in diameter. The magnificent portico in front is sup- ported by sixteen Corinthian columns, the shafts of which are each formed from a single piece of Egyptian granite ; the bases and capitals are of white marble. The eight columns of red granite, in front of the portico, sustain an entablature of beautiful proportions, upon which is the inscrii)tion of Agrippa, son-in-law of Octa- vius Augustus, by whom it was dedicated to Mars and Jupiter Avenger, in memory of the victory obUiined over Mark Antony and Cleopatra, by Augustus. The temple was named Pantheon, from a Greek word, signifying an assemblage of all the gods, because it contained statues, in gold, bronze, silver and precious stones, of all the principal Roman divinities. 106 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. Opposite to the columns are six fluted pilasters,* (the columns are plain,) between which the walls of the portico are covered with beautifully sculptured marbles ; formerly the statues of Agrippa and Augustus were placed in the niches on the right and left of the grand entrance. The threshold is of African marble ; the splendid door is covered with bronze ; the door- posts and architrave are of white marble. In the interior of the Pantheon, the six chapels are decorated each with two Corinthian columns, and two pilasters, twenty-seven feet high, supporting an entabla- ture which runs around the whole interior of the tem- ple. These columns are eight of violet marble, mixed with yellow, and four of antique yellow marble ; the bases and capitals of white marble ; the frieze is of porphyry. Over this order is an attic, a kind of half order, that the Romans often added to their buildings. In this attic are fourteen small windows, which are now closed ; upon the entablature to this attic rests the great dome. A very nice critic has said of the Pantheon : " Per- haps the interior elevation is beautiful, when it should be grand ; its Corinthian, though exquisite, appears too low for the walls, and made the attic here a necessary evil. Had Adrian caught the full majesty of the naked dome, and embellished its walls with one grand order, * Pilasters are rectangular projections advancing from the wall, with capitals and bases of the same order as the columns to which they stand opposite. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 107 that rose to the origin of the vault, the whole temple would have been * more simply, more severely great.' " So thought not one who viewed it with a poet's, rather than " a critic's eye." " Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime ; Shrine of all saints, and temple of all gods. Glorious dome ! Shalt thou not last ? Time's scythe and tyrant's rod Shiver upon thee — sanctuary and home or art and piety, Pantheon ! pride of Rome ! *' Relic of nobler days and nobler arts ; Despoiled, yet perfect, with thy circle spreads A holiness appealing to all hearts ; To art a model, and to him who treads Rome for the sake of ages, glory sheds Her light through thy sole ajKjrture.'* The aforesaid critic pronounces the portico, more than faultless. It is positioely the most sublime result that ever was produced, by so little architecture. Every moulding here becomes a model for the art." The Pantheon has been thus particularly described, because, in many respects, it has served for ages as a model. The temples of Vesta, at Rome and at Tivoli, were circular, and of the Corinthian order. This order pre- vailed over every other fur centuries, throughout the Roman dominions. It was injured by a luxuriance 108 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. and superfluity of ornament, which, however, accorded well with " the high and palmy state of Rome." The largest temple at Rome, the Temple of Peace, was begun by Claudius, and completed by Vespasian. It was oblong ; the ceiling, or roof of the nave was an immense groined vault, which rested upon eight Corinthian columns. The aisles had also vaults lengthwise, which were intersected by others, that covered the recesses or chapels, which projected out- ward from their side walls." Here seems to have been the origin of the naves and aisles of churches. There were recesses, in which were arched windows. Excepting the entrance, which had an ornamented portico, the exterior of this temple was quite plain. The splendid ruins at Palmyra and Balbec are of extraordinary extent, and furnish many examples of the highly ornamented Corinthian. The Temple of the Sun, at Palmyra, with its magnificent porticos and long colonnades, has excited the admiration and wonder of travellers, who describe it as superior to any other Roman temple. The theatre, amphitheatre, and circus, were among the most stupendous works of Rome. Of these, there are gigantic remains ; but as they were all constructed on a similar plan, a full description of one will suffice. The only difference between a theatre and amphi- theatre was, that the former was a semicircular, the latter a circular edifice. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 109 The Flavian Amphitheatre, called the Coliseum, was erected by the Emperor Flavius Vespasian, after his return from the Jewish war, a.d. 72. Many thou- sand Jews, who were made captives in this war, were employed upon the Coliseum. Titus completely finished it, and dedicated it to his father, Vespasian. On the day of its dedication, five thousand animals of different species were cruelly made to destroy each other for the amusement of the populace ! But not animals alone were slaughtered in this amphitheatre. Here sat the conquerors of the world, coolly to enjoy the tortures and death of men who had never offended them. Two aqueducts were scarcely sufficient to wash off the human blood which a few hours' sport shed in these imperial shambles. Twice in one day came the senators and matrons of Rome to the butchery ; a virgin always gave the signal for slaughter, and, when glutted with bloodshed, those ladies sat down in the wet and streaming arena to a luxurious supper. Such reflections check our regret for its ruin. As it now stands, the Coliseum is a striking image of Rome itself ; decayed, vacant, serious, yet grand : — half gray and half green — erect on one side and fallen on the other, with consecrated ground in its bosom. " A ruin — yet whnt ruin ! from its mass Walls, palaces, half cities have been reared ; Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass, And marvel where the spoil could have appeared." 110 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, The shape necessary to an amphitheatre, has pre- served it from destruction. Such was its stabiUty that it resisted earthquakes and sieges. Barbarian hands commenced the work of dilapidation, and Popes, in their turn, used it as a quarry for modern churches. This colossal structure was oval in form, its length being five hundred and eighty feet, and its breadth four hundred and seventy. It was externally sur- rounded by three rows of arches, raised one above an- other to the height of one hundred and fifty-seven feet ; each row was composed of eighty arches, with as many columns. The order of the lower part of the Coli- seum is Doric ; the next order is Ionic ; the next, Co- rinthian ; above this is a row of Composite pilasters, and the whole is crowned with a heavy attic. The first row of arches is marked with Roman numbers ; these arches were so many entrances which, by means of twenty staircases, led to the upper piazzas and to the seats ; so that even a child could find his way directly to his seat, and the numerous spectators could quit the amphitheatre in a very short time, with- out confusion. The arena, where the games were celebrated, is two hundred and eighty-five feet long, and one hundred and eighty-two wide ; it was surrounded by a wall of moderate height, to prevent the animals from escaping. The seats for spectators were arranged around the arena. Those destined for the emperor, his family, and the magnates of Rome, were the nearest to the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. Ill arena; above these, were the seats for the people, gradually ascending, so that every spectator could have an uninterrupted view of the whole amphitheatre. Thus, eighty thousand spectators could be accommo- dated; and twenty thousand more could sit in the piazzas above. There was no roof to this stupendous structure. The spectators were protected from the sun and rain by an awning, which was drawn over as occasion re- quired. During the reigns of Nero, Trajan, and other per- secuting emperors, numbers of Christian martyrs bore testimony to the truth, by yielding up their lives in this amphitheatre : " Butchered to make a Roman holiday." Remains of amphitheatres, theatres, and circuses, are found wherever there were large Roman cities. Triumphal arches are numerous at Rome. These were solid structures erected to commemorate victories, and were lofty enough for the passage of giants. The Arch of Titus (Plate VIII.) was erected after the destruction of Jerusalem by the army under his com- mand ; it is ornamented with sculptures in bas-relief representing the triumphal procession on the return of the conqueror. The Jews are bearing the consecrated vessels and emblems of their worship — the ark, the table of shew-bread, the seven-branched candlestick, &c., &c. 112 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. A scientific author says of the Arch of Titus, It is so rich that I can hardly think it elegant. The entabla- ture, the imposts, the keystones, are all crowned with sculpture, yet meagre in profile ; but it is hard to judge the general effect of a mutilated thing." In the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Composite starts so often and so furiously out, and the entablature meets you in so many points, as to leave no repose to the eye. Constantino's Arch is larger, nobler, and even more correct in its architecture, the only object now in re- view; but is that architecture its own? We know that its columns, statues, and relievos are not ; and we may fairly suspect that its whole composition was stolen, as Constantino's reign was notorious for archi- tectural robbery. The Arch of Gallienus is a mere gateway, and that of Drusus seems part of an aque- duct ; yet, coarse as they are, each has its Corinthian columns and pediments stuck upon a fraction of the fronts. " What business or what meaning have columns on any arch? The statues of captive kings are but a poor apology for so idle a support. The platform above the arch was well adapted to the curule statue. Here the triumphal car formed an historical record ; on a modern arch it is only a metaphor." The historical columns, are true to no order of Archi- tecture.* Trajan's column has a Doric shaft, a Tuscan Forsyth. ROMAN ARCfllTECTURE. 113 base and capital, and a pedestal with Corinthian mouldings. The shaft is eleven feet two inches in diameter at the base, and ten feet at the capital ; the whole height of the column including the statue, is one hundred and thirtj-two feet. Upon the summit formerly stood the statue of Trajan, in bronze; but Six- tus V. displaced the Emperor and elevated St. Peter, in bronze, notwithstanding the ashes of Trajan were buried beneatii the pedestal, and the whole column is covered with sculptures in bas-relief, representing his victories. This splendid column is of marble, fastened together with bronze. A si)iral cordon is re- presented as entwining it from the top to the bottom, in twenty-three windings, thus separating the figures that ornament it, and giving continuity to the subject or story. An interior winding staircase, chiselled out of the marble, conducts to the top, which commands a fine view of Rome. Tlie pedestal is beautifully adorned with eagles, garlands, and trophies. Tlie column of Marcus Aurelius is similar to that of Trajan. It was erected by the Roman Senate, iu honour of that Emperor, but he afterwards dedicated it to his father-in-law, Antoninus Pius. The pedestals to these columns are mentioned as uni(pie in ancient Roman Architecture, though often employed in more modern days. The same critic,* who has been before quoted, remarks, that The insulated pedestal, which in architecture acts as a stilt to the shaft, is beautiful, ♦ Forsyth. 8 114 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. because necessary only under insulated columns like these." The column of M. Aurelius having been injured by lightning-, Sixtus V. repaired it, and placed upon the top a gilt-bronze statue of St. Paul. The magnificent Corinthian column standing on a large pedestal in the square of St. Mary Maggiore at Rome, was the only entire column remaining of the Temple of Peace. It was not, therefore, an historical column, but as it now stands, in an insulated position, with a statue of the Madonna at the top, it has the appearance of such a monument. The Romans were as magnificent in their tombs as in all their other architectural works. The finest ancient sepulchral monument, and one of the best preserved at Rome, is that of Cecelia Metella. It is of a circular form, about ninety feet in diameter, the walls being twenty -four feet in thickness ! The immense blocks of travertine of which it is con- structed have sustained the attacks both of elemental strife and Roman war. A Corinthian entablature sur- rounds the edifice, ornamented with festoons and heads of oxen. This decoration has given it the name of Capo di Bove : (Ox's-head.) " There is a stern round tower of other days, Firm as a fortress, with its fence of stone, Such as an army's baffled strength delays, Standing with half its battlements alone, And with two thousand years of ivy grown, ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 115 The garland of eternity, where wave The green leaves over all by time o'erthrown. What was this tower of strength I Within its cave What treasure lay so locked, so hid ? — A woman's grave. — " Thus much alone we know — Metella died, The wealthiest Roman's wife ; toehold his love or pride." " At what period the tomb of Metella was converted into the citadel of a fort, can be guessed only by the period at which the monuments in the city were occu- pied by the nobles. Certain it is, that the tomb wa^< put at once to this purpose without any previous spolia- tion, and that the garrison unconcernedly dwelt over, not only the mausoleum, but the very ashes of Metella ; for the coffin remained in the interior of the sepulchre until the time of Paul III., who removed it to the court of the Farnese Palace. The Savelli family were in possession of the fortress in 1312, and the German army of Henry VII., marched from Rome, attacked, took, and burnt it, but were unable to make themselves by force, masters of the citadel, that is, of the tomb, which must give us a high notion of its strength or their weakness."* The tomb of Caius Cestius, stands near the ancient gate, now called St. Paul's Gate. This magnificent monument is a pyramid one hundred and thirteen feet high, and eighty-nine feet on each side at the base. Hobhousc. 116 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. It is covered with large slabs of marble on the exterior, and in the interior the sepulchral chamber is eighteen feet long, twelve wide, and thirteen high. The ceiling and walls are covered with stucco, ornamented with paintings. It must seem singular that so little should be known of the two persons whose tombs were to sur- vive those of so many illustrious names. Cestius is as little famous as Metella, and his pyramid is no less conspicuous than her tower." The tomb of the Plautius family is in the form of a round tower, with an entablature similar to that of Cecelia Metella's monument. Like that, it was used as a fortress during the civil wars of the dark ages." The tomb of the Scipios was only discovered in 1780, after having been closed up perhaps, for more than eighteen centuries. The upper story is entirely gone ; the lower is of a square form hollowed into the ground. The relics found in this tomb of " the most worthy family of the Roman republic," have been placed in the Vatican Museum. These ancient monuments have been used as quar- ries, from whence more modern buildings have been erected. Other magnificent edifices have shared the same fate, their beautiful columns and finely wrought stones, serving to ornament buildings otherwise mean and inelegant. The mausoleum of Augustus, was used in the middle ages as a fortress; then it was hollowed out for a vineyard, and having at last become a circus, now serves for a place of amusement. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 117 The magnificent baths of Rome shared largely in these spoliations. These baths were called Thermae, or hot places. They were designed for bathing, gym- nastic exercises, various kinds of amusements, and even had temples connected with them. The Baths of Dioclesian covered several acres of ground. The general plan was a square, with a cir- cular edifice at each angle. Two of these circular buildings remain ; one is used for a granary, and the other for the church of St. Bernardo. The interior of the square, was filled with gardens, groves, porticoes, and an amphitheatre. One very magnificent apart- ment, called Pinacotheca, has been converted into the Church of St. Mary of the Angels. Pope Pius IV., wishing to consecrate this edifice, employed Michael Ancrelo to restore and ornament it for a Ciiristian church. The entrance to tliis church is by a round vestibule, formerly one of the rooms belonging to the baths, of the same size as St. Bernardo's Church. Passing from this vestibule, you enter the nave of the church, which was the ancient Pinacotheca. This is a beautiful classical remnant of Roman Architecture. Eight granite columns, each of a single piece, support the roof They are sixteen feet in circumference, and forty-three high. The Baths of Caracalla are smaller than tiiose of Dioclesian, yet they could accommodate three thou- sand people. The architecture and the ornaments were botli beautiful. The Hall called the Cella 118 ROxMAN ARCHITECTURE. Solearis, one hundred and eighty-eight feet long and one hundred and thirty-fonr wide, has been much admired for its fine proportions and rich ornaments, and may give some idea of the general magnificence of these baths. The halls were filled with statues, the pavements were of the finest mosaic, and the porticoes were supported by columns of the richest marbles. " The Baths of Titus were the first gallery of ancient painting that was restored to the world." These sub- terranean saloons, which were the lower story of the baths, are very numerous. They were opened in the time of Raphael d'Urbino, who studied the arabesque paintings upon the walls and imitated them in the Vatican. " Some of the ruins above ground rise up to the vaulting of their alcoves ; but none show their specific relation to a bath, except the Sette Salle, the construction of which proves that it was a reservoir, and proves too, how well the ancients understood hydrostatics. The stucco with which it is covered is hard enough for the turning of iron, which could only arise from the tartareous penetration of water." "To combine the scattered remains of those baths, to distribute their interior, to give light to every apart- ment, and find out offices for them all, would puzzle any regular surveyor ; but what can daunt antiqua- ries ?" Their assiduous labours have brought to light what had remained for ages in obscurity, and proved R 0 M A N A R C H 1 T E C T U R E. 119 beyond a doubt the extent, variety, and magnificence of the buildincjs which constituted the Roman Thermfe. The old Roman Basilica seems at first to have been a part of a palace, but afterwards included those build- ino^s devoted to law^ and trade. Accordinjr to Vitru- vius, a basilica had double porticoes, open on the four sides, an upper gallery, and an immense hall with vaulted ceiling. After the Christian religion was established, the basilica3 were converted into churches, and gave their form and name to those which were afterwards erected, as will be more specially mentioned hereafter. The assemblies of the Roman people were held in the Forum, and public business was there transacted. Of these, the most celebrated was the Forum Ro- inanum, which has served in modern days as a coiv- market, and from that circumstance is called Campo Vaccino. It was an oblong s([uare, the e.xact dimen- sions of which cannot be ascertained. It is supposed to have extended from the Arch of Septimius Severus to the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and from thence in length to the Temple of Romulus. The Capitol, which stood upon the Capitoline Hill, was raised above this Forum, and at its foot are sup- posed to have stood the Temples of Jupiter Tonans and of Concord ; the latter is sui)posed formerly to have been called the Temple of Cicero. Nothing now remains but its portico, consisting of eight magnificent 120 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. columns of oriental granite, of the Ionic order, twelve feet in circnmference and forty in height. " The barbarians, the fires, and the modern Romans have left but little of the temple where Cicero assem- bled the Senate, supposing these to be the ruins of that temple ; but it is something to hope that we tread the site, and may touch a fragment of the porch which was guarded by the equestrian patriots, who escorted the consul, and menaced Caesar and the friends of the conspirators with swords." Of the Trajan Forum, of which the celebrated Apollodorus was the architect, nothing now remains entire but the superb pillar which has been described. " The Forum of Trajan served, among other purposes, to perpetuate the memory of the good and great. Young men of great promise, who had died in the flower of their age, were honoured with a statue. The same place was devoted to the labours and the rewards of literary heroes ; here the poets and others recited their compositions, and here their images were allowed a place amongst conquerors and monarchs.". The Forum of Trajan is mentioned by ancient his- torians as the wonder and glory of Roman Architec- ture ; a perfect " miracle" in its gigantic splendour. Late excavations in this Forum, enable us at last to tread the floor of ancient Rome. The replacing the fragments of the columns on their bases, and the judi- cious arrangements of the other marbles, has created an effect little inferior to the wonders of Pompeii. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.- 121 The admiring traveller is amazed at the dimensions of the fragments, when compared with the space in which so many buildings were raised. Here we have a Forum with its porticoes, and statues, and tribunals ; a basilica, with a double internal portico on every side; a quadrangular court, or atrium, also adorned with enormous columns ; two libraries ; a triumphal arch ; the great column and the portion of a temple, crowded into a space not so considera- ble as one of the smallest London squares. What- ever the earth covered of these magnificent structures is now exposed to view, and the remnants are suffi- cient to show what must have been the subterranean riches of Rome. The flooring and some of the many fragments are so perfect as to make the sudden bwial of these parts of the city more probable than the gra- dual decay." Pompeii has revealed to us the dtvelling-houses of the Romans. A traveller says, that there *' You forget yourself, and the age you live in. Where am I ? It is Pompeii — the old city which has been dug out of its grave — and the inhabitants ! I stand, I move, among the men of old times." " The mode in which the largest dwellings are built, was, on many accounts, the best fitted for the climate and situation. All, except a very few, are of one story, probably to guard against the effects of earthcjuakes ; and the rooms are very small. According to their size, houses and villas contain one or more square 122 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. courts (Plate IX.), open above, and surrounded with piazzas, which partially protect from the weather the entrances to the sleeping rooms, usually ranged around them by fours. Other apartments of the house are situ- ated according to the taste of the builder." — " The roof is gone, nothing is seen above but the sky ; this house has been untenanted for ages ; its last inhabitant was a Roman citizen, and he lived under the reign of Titus; a man who heard of the desolation of Judah from captives taken fighting on the walls of Jerusalem; and the first glad news of Christianity, perchance, from the mouth of Paul himself Departed Pompeii ! Here time has left his glass unturned, for seventeen hundred years." The palaces of modern princes would suffer by a comparison with the villas of Roman citizens. Pliny, the consul, has left a minute description of his winter residence at Laurentium, fourteen miles from Rome. It is probably a fair specimen of the villas of Roman noblemen, but by no means equal in magnificence to many of them. ^' My villa," says Pliny, " is large enough to aflford all desirable accommodation, without being extensive. The porch before it is plain, but not mean, through which you enter a portico in the form of the letter D, which includes a small, but agreeable area. This affords a very commodious retreat in bad weather, not only as it is enclosed with windows, but particularly as it is sheltered by an extraordinary projection of roof. t Plate IX. PORTICO AT LORSCH ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 123 From the middle of this portico you pass into an in- ward court, extremely pleasant, and from thence into a handsome hafil, which runs out towards the sea, so that when there is a southwest wind, it is gently washed with the waves, which spend themselves at the foot of it. On every side of this hall, there are either folding doors, or windows equally large, by which means you have a view of the front and two sides, as it were, of tliree different seas : from the back part you see the middle of the court, the portico, and the area, and by another view you look through the portico, from whence the prospect is terminated by woods and mountains, which are seen at a dis- tance. On the left hand side of this hall, some- what farther from the sea, lies a larjre drawins:- ' DO room, and beyond that, a second of smaller size, which has one window to the rising, and another to the setting sun. The angle which the projection forms with this drawing-room, retains and increases the warmth of the sun ; and hithef my family retreat in winter to perform their exerci.ses. It is sheltered from all winds, except those which are generally at- tended with clouds, so that nothing can render this place useless, but what at the same time destroys fair weather. Contiguous to this, is a room, forming the segment of a circle, the windows of which are so placed as to receive the sun the whole day ; in the walls are a set of cases, which contain a collec- tion of authors, whose works can never be read too often. From thence, you pass into a bed-chamber. 124 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. The remainder of this side of the house is appropriated to my slaves and freedmen ; but most of the apartments, however, are neat enough to receive any of my friends. In the opposite wing is a room ornamented in a very elegant taste ; next to which lies another room, which though large for a parlour, makes but a moderate dining- room. Beyond is a bed-chamber, together with its antechamber. To this apartment another of the same sort is joined by a common wall. From thence you enter into the grand and spacious cooling-room be- longing to the bath ; from the opposite walls of which two large basins project, large enough to swim in. Contiguous to this is the perfuming-room, then the sweating-room, and next to that the furnace, which conveys the heat to the baths. Adjoining, are the two little bathing- rooms, fitted up in an elegant rather than a costly manner. Annexed to this is a warm bath of extraordinary workmanship, wherein one may swim and have a prospect at the same time of the sea, together with the beautiful villas that stand inter- spersed upon the coast. At the other end is a second turret, in which is a room that receives the rising and setting sun. Behind this is a large repository, near to which is a gallery of curiosities, and underneath is a spacious dining-room. In the garden is a banquet- ing-room ; two apartments run round the back part of it, the windows whereof look upon the entrance of the villa. From hence an inclosed portico extends, which, by its great length, you might suppose erected for the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 125 use of the public. Before this portico lies a terrace, perfumed with violets, and warmed by the reflection of the sun from the portico. On the upper end of the terrace and portico stands a detached building in the garden, which I call my favourite ; and indeed it is particularly so, having erected it myself It contains a very warm winter room, one side of which looks upon the terrace, the other has a view of the sea. Through the folding-doors you see the opposite cham- ber, and from the windows is a prospect of the enclosed portico. On that side next the sea, and opposite to the middle wall, stands a little elegant recess, wliich, by means of the glass doors and a curtain, is either laid open to the adjoining room, or separated from it. Adjoining to this is a bed-chamber, which neither the voice of the servants, the murmuring of the sea, nor even the roaring of a tempest can reach. This profound tran([uiUity is occasioned by a passage which separates the wall of the chamber from that of the gar- den ; and thus, by that intervening space, every noise is precluded. Annexed to this is a small stove-room, which, by opening a little window, warms the bed- chamber to the degree of heat required. Beyond this lies a chamber and antechamber. When I retire to this apartment, I fancy myself a hundred miles from my own house ; when my villa resounds with the mirth of my domestics, here I neither interrupt their diversions, nor they my studies." If such was the villa of a subject, what might we 126 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. not imagine the magnificence of an imperial villa The villa of the Emperor Adrian is said by some authors to have covered a space ten miles in circum- ference, by others seven miles. After having travelled through the Roman Empire, and seen the architectural wonders of Egypt, Greece, and Asia, Adrian wished to concentrate in his own villa everything that was most splendid in the fine arts. He was himself an architect, and it is said, that he was so conceited and vain, that the great Apollodorus fell a victim to his vengeance, the latter having criticised with some severity the Emperor's plan of the Temple of Rome and Virtue. In his own villa, Adrian showed a want of correct taste, by introducing every order and style then known. After the spoliations of the Goths, and the more slow but sure ravages of time, Adrian's villa has furnished to the museum and galleries of modern Rome an extraordinary number of statues and other relics, which fully attest its surpassing magnificence. " This superb villa contained three theatres, one of which is better preserved than any other ancient theatre, for there are still seen some vestiges of the seats, of the scenery, the orchestra, and the actors' rooms ; a riding-school ; the Temple of the Stoics with seven niches for statues ; a maritime theatre, (or naumachia,) surrounded by piazzas ; a library, of which some rooms with paintings on the ceilings are still seen ; the Temple of Diana and Venus ; the imperial palace, two stories high ; the Temple of Apollo, where are the ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 127 niches for the nine Muses ; the quarters of the Preto- rian Guards ; the baths for the men and for the women, of which four saloons are remaining; the temple made to imitate that of Serapis in Egypt ; the Elysian Fields ; and several other edifices, of which scarcely any other traces remain." It was not alone in the imperial city and its vicinity that an architectural mania prevailed, it extended throughout the whole empire. The wall in Britain from Carlisle to Newcastle was only one among the many monuments that the Romans left in that island. Palmyra and Balbec spread their sublime ruins over deserted plains, solemn mementos of the wreck of the mightiest of earth's kingdoms. They are in the most elaborate Romanized Corinthian order. Roman Architecture, which was never so classically pure as the Grecian, in time degenerated into barba- rous magnificence, overloaded with ornaments. The extent and splendour of Nero's Golden House, seem rather to belong to one of the palaces raised by Alad- din's Lamp than to anything real. After the people became vitiated by luxury, and lost their Roman dignity, and their emperors were the most monstrous examples of vice, every work that they undertook showed a want of taste and order, a departure from all simplicity and true l)eauty. Splendid and gigantic, but wanting in the beautiful and true proportions of the Grecian Temples, those works can never be safe models for imitation. CHAPTER XL ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. ARABIAN ARCHITECTURE, KNOWN UNDER THE NAMES OF SARACENIC, MOORISH, AND BYZANTINE. Whatever knowledge of the arts the Arabians ac- quired in the ages subsequent to Mahomet, they owed to the people whom they subdued, from the Indus to the Nile, and to their commercial relations with sur- rounding nations. The first Mosque, which is known to have been erected out of the precincts of Arabia, was founded by Omar, immediately after the surrender of Jerusalem, on the site of the ancient Temple. This mosque was enlarged and embellished by succeeding caliphs until it was reckoned by the Arabians second only to the magnificent Mezquito of Cordova. The ancient Arabians were a simple, frugal people, but as their conquests over more luxurious nations extended, their princes assumed the magnificence of Asiatic monarch s. As they acquired a greater relish for the arts, sumptuous edifices adorned their cities. Plate X ARABIAN ARCHITECTURE. 129 The great mosque founded by Alwalid I., at Damas- cus, is particularly celebrated ; on this edifice first appeared the lofty minaret. This appendage was an innovation in the style, of which it has since become characteristic. Nothing can be more light and grace- ful than the general effect of minarets (Plate X.) ; the 'pointed arches with which these towers are decorated give great importance to this edifice in the eyes of architects, as they so nearly resemble those afterward employed in the Gothic, or pointed architecture of Europe. When the seat of empire was removed from Damas- cus to Bagdad, neither labour nor expense was spared that the new capital might eclipse the splendour of the former. The gorgeous magnificence of Bagdad would seem only one of the inventions of the author of the Arabian Night's Entertainment, were it not authenticated by contemporary and ocular testimony. Cairo arose to rival Bagdad, and its moscjue is sur- passingly rich and beautiful. In arts and sciences the Arabs of the West were not inferior to those of the East; the buildings erected by the Ommiad caliphs of Spain, are some of them equal to anything remaining of the most splendid cities of antiquity. Among these, the mosque at Cordova and the Alhambra or Alhamra in Spain are the most celebrated. The Alhambra is a fortress and palace built by the Moorish Kings of Granada. The following description 9 130 ARABIAN ARCHITECTURE. is extracted from " The Alhambra," by Washington Irving. ''Ascending a steep and shady avenue, we arrived at the foot of a huge, square, Moorish tower, forming a kind of barbacan, through which passed the main en- trance to the fortress. This portal is called the Gate of Justice ; the vestibule or porch is formed by an im- mense Arabian arch of the horseshoe form, which springs to half the height of the tower. On the key- stone of this arch is engraven a gigantic hand, (a sym- bol of the omnipotent hand of God.) Within the vestibule on the keystone of the portal is engraven in like manner, a gigantic key, (a favourite symbol of the followers of Mahomet.) After passing through the barbacan, we ascended a narrow lane, winding between walls, and came on an open esplanade within the fortress. In front of this esplanade is the splendid pile commenced by Charles V., intended, it is said, to eclipse the residence of the Moslem kings. With all its grandeur and architectural merit, it appeared to us like an arrogant intrusion, and passing by it we entered a simple unostentatious portal, opening into the interior of the Moorish palace. '' The transition was almost magical ; it seemed as if we were at once transported into other times and an- other realm, and were treading the scenes of Arabian story. We found ourselves in a great court paved with white marble, and decorated at each end with light Moorish peristyles. In the centre was an immense ARABIAN ARCHITECTURE. 131 basin a hundred and thirty feet in length and thirty in breadth stocked with gold-fish, and bordered by hedges of roses. At the upper end of this court rose the great Tower of Comares. From the lower end we passed through a Moorish archway into the renowned Court of Lions. There is no part of the edifice that gives us a more complete idea of its original beauty and magnificence than this ; for none have suffered so little from the ravages of time. In the centre stands the fountain famous in song and story. The alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops, and the twelve lions that support them, cast forth their streams as in the days of Boabdil. The court is laid out in flower- beds, and surrounded by light Arabian arcades of open fihgree-work, supported by slender pillars of white marble. The architecture, like that of all the other parts of the palace, is characterized by elegance, rather than grandeur, bespeaking a delicate and grace- ful taste. When we look upon the fairy tracery of the peristyles, and the apparently fragile fretwork of the walls, it is difficult to believe that so much has sur- vived the wear and tear of centuries, the shocks of earthquakes, the violence of war, and the (juiet, though no less baneful, pilferings of the tasteful traveller. On one side of the court a portal, richly adorned, opens into a lofty hall paved with wliite marble, and called the Hall of the Two Sisters. The latticed balconies still remain, from whence the dark-eyed beauties of the harem might gaze unseen upon the entertainments of 132 ARABIAN ARCHITECTURE. the hall below. It is impossible to contemplate this once favourite abode of Oriental manners, without feeling the early associations of Arabian romance, and almost expecting to see the white arm of some myste- rious princess beckoning from the balcony, or some dark eye sparkling from the lattice. A Moorish archway admitted us into a vast and lofty hall, which occupies the interior of the Tower of Comares, and was the grand audience-chamber of the Moslem monarchs, thence called the Hall of the Am- bassadors. It still bears the traces of past magnificence. The walls are richly stuccoed and decorated with ara- besques, the vaulted ceiling of cedar wood, almost lost in obscurity from its height, still gleams with rich gilding and the brilliant tints of the Arabian pencil. An abundant supply of water, brought from the mountains by old Moorish aqueducts, circulates throughout the palace, supplying its baths and fish- pools, sparkling in jets within its walls, or murmuring in channels along the marble pavement. When it has paid its tribute to the royal pile, and visited its gar- dens and pastures, it flows down the long avenue lead- ing to the city, tinkling in rills, gushing in fountains, and maintaining a perpetual verdure in those groves that embower and beautify the whole hill of the Al- hambra." M. Laborde in his ''Voyage Pittoresque de L'Es- pagne," assigns three distinct periods to the rise, pro- gress, and decay of Moorish Architecture: the first ARABIAN ARCHITECTURE. 133 includes the space from the commencement of Islamism to the ninth century ; the second, from the ninth to the thirteenth century ; and the third, from that time, to the annihilation of the Mahometan dominion in Spain. The Alhambra belongs to the second period, and presents the most perfect model of pure Spanish Arabian Architecture. CHAPTER XII. THE ROMANESQUE, OR CORRUPTED ROMAN. The great characteristic of the Architecture of the Romans, was the combination of the arch and vault, with the Grecian column. A prevalent form of their later buildings was the high vaulted hall, long and comparatively narrow, on each side of which were cells or chambers, communicating with the great hall and with each other, by arched openings or doorways. Upon this general plan are arranged the great halls of the Baths of Caracalla, and Dioclesian, and the Basilicse or Halls of Justice. When Christianity was established by Constantine throughout the Roman Empire, these spacious halls were used as places of worship; many ancient buildings were repaired and adapted to this purpose, and subsequently, when new churches were built, the same general plan was fol- lowed. The principal entrance was at the west end, and the east end was of a circular form ; the breadth was divided into three or four aisles, and upon the co- • THE ROMANESQUE. 135 lumns, arches were erected, to re- 21 ceive an upper wall, which sup- 1 ports a roof. An addition was | subsequently made of the tran- | ' ' 1 sept, which completed the ground- Transept plan of a Christian church, in the form of the Latin cross. The great church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, was erected under the Emperor Justinian, about A. D. 637. Here was a mixture of the Grecian and Roman Architecture, with new inventions, to which the unskilfulness of the architects gave rise. The dome fell twice in a few months after it was built, and when it was rebuilt, huge buttresses were con- structed to sustain the weight. Many columns which had ornamented ancient edifices, were placed in the new church of St. Sophia, and an immense number of arches were raised in rows, one above another, to sup- port various parts of the ill-constructed building. As Christianity spread to the remotest regions of the Em- pire, ecclesiastical edifices were everywhere erected ; the rage for building churches in a short time became general and excessive. Rome being at the head of the Church of the West, very naturally prescribed the mode of building, as well as the form of worship. All countries, in adopting a neighbouring style of building, have been obliged to accommodate it to some peculiarities of their local situation, such as climate, 136 THE ROMANESQUE soil, and building materials. Thus, while adopting the Roman style, the architecture of every European country was distinguished by peculiar and character- istic features of its own. To the style which was formed in this way, and was an intermediate or transi- tion state between the old Roman and pointed or Gothic style, the name " Romanesque" in English, and " Romane" in French, has been given by some writers of authority, though it may not yet have been gene- rally adopted. The foregoing remarks will sufficiently show the propriety of the term, but the style is also known as the Lombard or Lombardic. One of its most characteristic features, is the com- pound semicircular arch. THE ROMANESQUE IN ENGLAND, COMMONLY CALLED THE SAXON AND THE NORMAN. The Christian religion was early introduced into England; it has indeed been claimed, on strong circum- stantial evidence, that the foundation of the Church was there laid by St. Paul himself. Be that as it may, when Christianity was first introduced into that island, she came in the train of Roman art, and Roman power, and when, her first footsteps being nearly effaced, she once more appeared, it was again from Rome that she came. The Saxons landed on the island of Great Britain in a state of barbarism. Having subdued the ancient in- Plate XII. ANCIENT CHURCH OF REOULVER. IN ENGLAND. 137 habitants, a general devastation took place ; the Roman structures which had been left, when some time before the Romans evacuated the island, were now wholly destroyed, and scarcely a vestige of their improve- ments was suffered to remain. In the course of one hundred years from the de- parture of the Romans, when King Ethelbert was converted to Christianity by St. Augustine, the zea) for erecting ecclesiastical edifices commenced. Vari- ous passages from old English writers might be ad- duced, to show that the Saxons had only two kinds of church buildings : the Roman style, and the unadorned manner in which they were built with timber" by home-bred artisans. The ecclesiastics were the prin- cipal architects. The venerable Bede has left us on record his admi- ration of the Coliseum. He mentions various buildings of stone in England, among which are two churches at Canterbury, in one of which Queen Bertha performed her devotions, and St. Augustine preached. Ina, King of the West Saxons, founded an English school in Rome, and Alfred the Great was presented at the early age of five years before the papal throne. From these facts we learn the predominating influence that Rome must have then exercised over the external forms, as well as the internal character of the Church of Encj- land. One of the oldest churches in England is at Recul- ver on the Thames (Plate XII.); its spires were once 138 THE ROMANESQUE held in such reverence that ships, entering the Thames, were wont to lower their topsails as they passed. This old church now hangs upon the cliif, which century after century the waves have been washing away, " and as successive portions have fallen, the bare sides have presented human bones, and coins, and fragments of pottery, and tessellated pavements, which told that man had been here, with his comforts and luxuries around him, long before Ethelbert was laid beneath the floor of the Saxon church, upon whose ruins the sister spires of the Norman rose, themselves to be a ruin, now preserved only as a sea-mark." The Saxon style was doubtless but a barbarous imi- tation of the architecture of Rome. Although many parts of Saxon buildings still exist in churches which were afterwards repaired and remodelled by the Normans, it is doubtful whether a single church remains entire. Door- ways (Fig. 22) and columns are occasionally found in cas- tles and other buildings, which show decisive marks of Saxon origin. Towers were erected over the west front of Saxon churches and over the cross. In the interior, the sides were occupied by the arcade, the gallery, and the windows, forming three stories. The pillars were short, massive, and round. In arcades, doors, and windows, the arches were all semicircular, Fig. 22. IN ENGLAND. 139 and frequently compound. The principal door-cases were decorated with pillars and sculptured capitals. Round the arches were Fig. 23. mouldings of great va- riety ; and bas-relief or- naments of skulls, cross- bones, and other hideous designs, were rudely carved in confused groups about the build- injTs. Amonnr the Sax- on mouldings the chev- ron or zigzag, and the 5t embattled frette are . conspicuous. The capi- tals of pillars were of strange and uncouth patterns. The west door of the church of Cliff, near Dover, is undoubtedly Saxon. The triangular pediment is ornamented with the double-billet moulding. The keystone of the outer arch is a rude representation of the Deity in the act of benediction, and on each side is an angel. Tlie head moulding and the crossed- circle moulding adorn this outer semicircle. Within is a narrow border of interlacing arches, upon which are the bead, corbel table, embattled frette, and flower mouldings. The small square door was probably added at a later period. 140 THE ROMANESQUE NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. When the Normans conquered England, in 1066, they were far more cultivated than the Saxons. Many fine cathedrals had before that period been erected in Normandy. The Norman monks, it is said, were so partial to Architecture, that they studied both the theory and the practice ; in their own structures they worked as artificers, while the abbots and superiors were the architects. Their connexion with Rome was still closer than that of the Saxons. After their esta- blishment in England, pilgrimage was with them a practice in which the national fervour systematically vented itself Italy was visited as well on account of its own scenes of legendary holiness, as because it was the way to the still more sacred regions of the East. The Normans were much disposed to pomp and magnificence in their apparel and in their public and private buildings. They secured their conquests in England by building an immense number of fortresses and castles, and signalized their zeal in religion, by the number and splendour of their ecclesiastical edi- fices. Their style, although similar to that of the Saxons, demonstrating its Roman origin, shows pro- gressive improvement in the art; the vaultings are more lofty and the pillars of greater diameter. Piers are frequently introduced. The mouldings are the zigzag, and other Saxon mouldings. The capitals are Plate XIII. PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL, IN ENGLAND. 141 elaborate, and often all different in the same building ; the sculptures numerous, and exceedingly grotesque. The doorways and windows were deep, on account of the excessive thickness of the walls, and were always surmounted with a semicircular compound arch. The roofs were generally vaulted with stone ; the groining, strong and plain, without tracery, but sometimes laced on one or both sides with a moulding. The two finest structures of William the Conqueror's reign, are the Cathedrals of Canterbury and Battle Abbey. In the space of about one hundred years, a number of cathedrals were completed in England which still remain for the wonder and admiration of the present age. In those days, among the Normans, the highest dignitaries of the church were frequently architects. Gundolph, Bishop of Rochester, was the architect of Canterbury, Peterborough (Plate XIII.), and Rochester Cathedrals. The latter was completed by Ernulf, Bishop of Salisbury. Five other bishops during this period are known to have been skilful archi- tects. The richness and splendour of these edifices can be accounted for in no other way, than by the sup- position, that aid was furnished by the Roman Pontiffs, who were then in the plenitude of their power. They are so large and magnificent, that their execution would have required the whole revenue of the nation, poor as it then was, and even tliat would perhaps have been insufficient for the purpose. 142 THE ROMANESQUE THE ROMANESQUE IN IRELAND. Christianity was introduced in Ireland very little later than in England. St. Jerome incontestably proves that there was a Christian church in Ireland as early as the fourth or beginning of the fifth century. The Hibernian legendary lore is so extravagantly mar- vellous, that it is difficult to gather a "grain of wheat from the bushels of chaff. Many of the Irish ruins are in the Romanesque style. The Culdean Abbey at Monaincha has an arched portal, w^hich the author of " The Antiquities of Ireland," (published in Dublin, 1790,) thus describes : " The arch is semicircular. Sculpture seems here to have exhausted her treasures. A nebule moulding adorns the outward semicircle of the portal, a double nebule with beads the second, a chevron the third, interspersed with triangular frette, roses, and other ornaments. It is also decorated with chalices artfully made at every stone so as to conceal the joint." Cormac's Chapel is described as " one of the most curious fabrics in these kingdoms ; it is a regular church, divided into nave and choir, the latter narrow- ing in breadth, and separated from the former by a wide arch." The remains of the cathedral or stone church at Glendaloch, in the Barony of Ballynacor, is a fine specimen of the Romanesque. A semicircular arch IN IRELAND. 143 forms the chancel," says the Irish author, ''the eastern window is a round arch, ornamented with a chevron moulding." The sculptures of the inmost mouldings are legendary. One part is a dog devouring a serpent. Tradition tells us that a great serpent inhabited the lake, and being destructive of men and cattle was killed by St. Kevin. In another part the saint appears embracing his favourite willow,* and among the foliage may be discovered the medicinal apple. * An Icelandic MS. gives the following account of this wondi rful Hibernian Saint : " There was in Ireland one, among the body of Saints, named Kevinus, a kind of hermit inhabiting the tower of Glumelhagem, (Glendaloch) who, when that hap|K?ned which we are about to relate, had in his house a young man, his relation, greatly beloved by him. This young man Ixring attacked by a disease which seemed mortal, at that time of the year when diseases are most dan- gerous, namely in the month of March, and taking it into his head that an apple would prove a remedy for his disorder, earnestly be- sought his relation Kevinus to give him one. At that time no apples were to be had, the trees having then just begun to put forth their leaves. But Kevinus, grieving much at his relation's sickness, be- sought the Lord to grant him some relief for his kinsman. After his prayer he went out of the house and saw a large tree, a salix or willow, whose branches he examined, and as if for the ex|>ected remedy, when he observed the tree to be full of a kind of apples, just ripe. Three of these he gathered and carried to the young man. When the youth had eaten part of these opples, he felt his disorder gradually abate, and was at length restored to his former health. The tree bears every year a fruit like an apple, which from that time have been called St. Kevin's apples, and it is notorious that they are the most wholesome medicine against all disorders to ichich * 144 THE ROMANESQUE The round towers of Ireland (Plate XIV.) are among the hobbies of antiquaries. They are scattered all over Ireland. Peter Walsh in 1684 observes : " That it is most certain those high^ rounds narrow towers, built cylinderwise, were never known or built in Ire- land before the year of Christ 838, when the heathen Danes, possessing a great part of the country, built them in several places to serve themselves as watch- towers against the natives. Though ere long the Danes being expulsed, the Christian Irish turned them to another and much better use, that is, to steeple-houses or belfries." This is the most probable conjecture, yet another old writer asserts that they were the residences of anchorites, where " an incar- nate angel upon earth led a celestial life." A Mr. Smith who wrote upon the subject a learned dissertation, says of a tower at Ardmore, " That there were three pieces of oak still remaining on which the bell was hung ; there were also two channels cut in the tile of the door where the rope came out, the ringer standing below on the outside." Upon which the mankind are liable.'''^ The patience of St. Kevin was wonderful. On a certain time, putting his hand out of the window, and lifting it up to heaven, according to custom, a blackbird perched upon it, and using it for a nest, dropped her eggs therein. The Saint pitied the bird, and neither closed his hand, nor drew it in, but indefatigably kept it stretched out until she brought forth her young. In memory of this, all the images of St. Kevin have the hand extended and a ^ bird sitting on it. IN IRELAND. 145 author of the Antiquities" remarks, " How quickly does the finest spun hypothesis disappear before this decisive evidence : this writer was not refined enough in antiquarian speculations to be whimsical." How- ever, this same Mr. Smith changed his opinion, for in a subsequent work he says, an Irish MS. informed him, they were penitential towers, the penitent de- scending from one floor to another, as his penance became lighter, until he came to the door, which al- ways faced the east, where he received absolution." These towers, of which nearly a hundred have been found in Ireland, are of various heights, from 50 to 140 feet. The walls are three or four feet in thickness. There are platforms dividing them into four, five, and even seven stories. Some of them are fifty feet in circumference at the base ; in general, they are not more than nine feet in diameter at the base, and four feet at the summit. The doorways are at some dis- tance from the ground, often as high as twenty, or twenty-four feet, without any steps on the exterior to ascend to them. These doorways are Romanesque ; the arches are semicircular and compound, ornamented with the zigzag moulding. These peculiarities point out their architectural date and orijxin ; their use must still remain an anti([uarian enigma. 10 146 THE ROMANESQUE THE ROMANESQUE IN SCOTLAND. Round towers have been found in Scotland, and their use and antiquity have puzzled the Scotch anti- quaries, and occasioned as many conjectures, as those in Ireland. The footsteps of Rome may be traced in the architecture, less distinctly than in England and Ireland ; yet there were churches, rude indeed, be- fore the eighth century, which doubtless had a Roman origin. THE ROMANESQUE IN GERMANY. The style of architecture in Germany, termed by some writers Byzantine and Romanesque, corresponds with the style in England which we term Norman, though in some respects they vary considerably. Thus we never find in German churches, the pon- derous cylindrical piers which occur in English buildings."* At Lorsch, near the Rhine, a building still exists, which was part of a church consecrated in 774 in the presence of Charlemagne. In it are found, on the lower floor, regular Corinthian semi-columns (Plate IX.), and on the upper, Ionic pilasters ; the zigzag mouldings and other ornaments show the commencement of the * Stuart. I Plate XV. 6 LOMBARDIE CHURCH AT COLOGNE - IN ITALY. 147 Romanesque. The three colossal cathedrals of the Upper Rhine, Worms, Mentz, and Spires, are Roman- esque on a scale unrivalled in England. There was no unity in this style, as in the Gothic that succeeded it : the Ionic volute, and Corinthian acanthus, are frequently traceable above the perpen- dicular Romanesque shaft (the same diameter at the top as at the base). While this transition was going on, from the classic orders to a new and more perfect style, architecture was of course mixed, and in some respects barbarous ; yet there were many striking and beautiful inventions, which gave a distinctive character to the details (espe- cially to the ornaments) of that period. The Church at Cologne (Plate XV.) is a good example of the Lom- bard ic style. THE ROMANESQUE IN ITALY. In Italy may be found every variety in this style. The departures from classic models were not so strik- ing as those of Northern Europe, yet there are splendid specimens of the mixed or transition style. The west door of the Church of St. Giacomo, at Venice, has a canopy that shows one of these singular combinations. Here the shafts of the columns rest upon lions. Four retreating arches rest upon columns, with mixed capi- tals. Above rises the acute Romanesque pediment, surmounted by the cross. 148 THE ROMANESQUE. THE ROMANESQUE IN FRANCE. Of all the Romanesque varieties, that of the south of France appears to possess the most simplicity and plainness of decoration, and yet the greatest complica- tion of plan. Pilasters are used in the interior of churches of so classical an appearance, that if they were not almost universal, one would be tempted to believe them interpolations from more ancient struc- tures. The celebrated Abbey of Clugny was built about 910, by Bermo, Abbot of Balme. Many other splendid edifices in the Romanesque style adorned other parts of France, and remain lasting monuments of the architecture of that period. The Church of St. Etienne (Plate XII.), at Caen, was founded by Wil- liam the Conqueror, and " there the dead body of the sovereign before whom all men had trembled, was hur- ried to the grave." There is not only great beauty, but there are many other excellencies, worthy of imitation in the Roman- esque or Lombard style ; the best specimens evince great architectural skill, and consummate knowledge # in the freemasons who are supposed to have been the builders. " Some historians fancy they find symptons of freemasonry as early as the seventh century, and that a peculiar masonic language may be traced as far back as the reigns of Charlemagne and Alfred." CHAPTER XITI GOTHIC OR POINTED ARCHITECTURE. During the twelfth century, symptoms of a great architectural revolution bej^an to show themselves in northwestern Europe. After the lapse of ages, an originative period in the constructive art once more approached. Various changes were in trod uc-ed during the period of the Romanesque, which, though at I lie time may have seemed mere matters of detail, now that we can look back upon them, in one connected view, are clearly seen to have been the various partial developments of one grand and self-consistent whole. An internal principle of harmony was apparent in the newer works, clear and single, like that which had pervaded the buildings of anticjuity. It does not seem surprising that a new style of architecture should arise, adapted to a new and pure religion. The mighty, massive structures of the Egyptians excited awe bordering on terror ; they were intended to conceal the mysteries which priestcraft imposed upon ignorance. The purer Grecian style was the embodying of a love of the beautiful, for 150 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. which the Greeks were remarkable ; they deified nature, amid her most beautiful scenes, and made their splendid temples to harmonize with the sunny sky of clearest cerulean, her waving groves and spark- ling streams, fanned by the bland breezes of the blue JEge^n. This light and graceful beauty was united with the lofty character, stamped upon all the works of ancient Greece by the stern dignity of republican simplicity. The Romans, in their religion and architecture, were imitators of the Greeks. When, as mistress of the world, Rome reared her gorgeous fabrics and hung her lofty vaults in air, they were symbols of her aspiring ambition. Rich in decoration, and gigantic in size, her finest structures were wanting in grace and elegant simplicity. The characteristic forms of Classic Architecture, were " horizontal, reposing, definite of the Christian Architecture, " vertical, aspiring, indefinite." " It would hardly be too fanciful," says a reverend author, " to consider the newer religious architecture as bear- ing the impress of its Christian birth, and exhibiting in the leading lines of its members, and the aspiring summits of its edifices, forms whose ' silent finger points to Heaven.' "^ * " The principle of the Gothic Architecture is Infinity made imaginable. It is no doubt a sublimer effort of genius than the Greek style." — Coleridge. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 151 The term Gothic, " La maniera Gotica," was first given in contempt by the ItaUan writers to the pointed architecture of the middle ages. Sir Christopher Wren was the first English writer who applied it to English Architecture ; he objected to the term, and proposed Saracenic instead, believing that to have been its origin. Britton has suggested the propriety of calling it the Christian Architecture ; to this many objections might be urged. Though the Goths have no more claim to the invention of the style, than the Hindoos or the Mexicans, the name Gothic has so long been employed, and is so generally understood to designate the pointed architecture, that it would be unwise to attempt a change, even could a better be substituted. As the pointed arch is the most striking and familiar feature of the Gothic style, it has been supposed the turning point of the revolution, which we have seen was progressively accomplished. Flying buttresses, tracery, clustered cobumis, and lofty spires are also distinctive features. The Gothic style is said to have been suggested in various ways. From the lofty groves of heathen worship. The perfect form of the Gothic arch ap- pears in avenues of trees, particularly the elm ;* from huts made with the entwined twigs of trees ; from the * In Temple Street, New Haven, the high branches of weeping elms form a succession of beautiful arches, like the nave of a cathedral, ornamented with light and graceful tracery by the pendant branches. 152 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Structure of frame- work in wooden buildings ; from the Pyramids of Egypt ; from the form of the keel of an ancient boat re- versed ; from the intersection of se- micircular arches. (Fig. 24.) These suppositions are, all but the last, fanciful and unsatis- factory. All countries in adopting a neighbouring style, have been obliged to accommodate it to some peculiarities in their own condition, so that a person familiar with ex- amples from all countries and ages, can tell upon in- specting a building, or even an important member of a building, to what age and country it belonged. The liability to heavy falls of snow, which would encumber and endanger flat roofs, could hardly fail to teach northern architects the necessity of raising and render- ing acute the angle of the roof The gable, wherever it appeared, would become proper tionably acute, giv- ing a new tone to the facade with which it was con- nected, and requiring, for the sake of uniformity, the adoption of pointed lines parallel to its own, in the portals, windows, and other parts of the building. For it may be here remarked, that the members and GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 153 ornaments of a building must be governed by the form and character of the building itself " The parts of Gothic buildings are adapted to each other, as well as to the general design. The arched doors and mullioned windows are essential parts ; and the spires, pinnacles, and buttresses serve by their weight to bind together the whole edifice. The his- tory of the style accounts for its propriety, its chiefest merit. The Gothic Architecture, whatever its primi- tive elements may have been, was created in the northern parts of Europe; it was there adapted to tlie wants of a more inclement sky." But if the hypotheses on the origin of the Gothic style are various, no less so are the opinions as to the nation to which the invention belonfjs. It has l^een ascribed to the Hindoos, Egyptians, Hebrews, Romans, Greeks, Saracens, French, English, Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Goths, Lombards, and Scotch.* In the beginning of the twelfth century, the Crusades had drawn the flower of European chivalry to the East; vast numbers of ecclesiastics accompanied them, and as they were the repositories of art and science during that age, it is more than probable that they brought home to Europe many novel inventions in Architecture. There was also about this period a * Authorities consulted ; Dr. Stukcly, Lord Aberdeen, Dr. Led- wich, Gnnn, Whilaker, Knight, Barry, Lascelks, Wren, Warburton, Strutt, VVotton, Sniirke, Wliittington, Milncr, Hall, Turner, Wilson, 154 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. corporation of builders or freemasons, consisting of Greeks, Italians, French, Germans, and Flemish, who kept secret the principles of their art. Protected by papal bulls, they travelled from place to place for the purpose of building ecclesiastical edifices. They had undoubtedly seen the finest specimens of art in the East, and would introduce from Saracenic Architec- ture whatever was suitable for northern buildings, especially in parts that were ornamental. It must be confessed that the origin of pointed or Gothic Architecture is hid in the obscurity of " the dark ages;" the principles have been discovered only after long and careful examination of the buildings themselves. Three modes in Gothic Architecture are mentioned under difierent names, by different architects. In England, these modes have been characterized by the terms Early English," " Decorated," and " Perpen- dicular,"* the first being in fact the incipient, the second the perfect, and the third the degenerating Gothic of England. The most prominent features of the Early Eng- lish" are exhibited in Salisbury Cathedral. These features are the high pointed roof and gable ; the single or the triple lancet windows (Fig. 25) ; the * Mr. Rickman was the originator of these terms, to which Britton and some others object ; but as they designate more accurately the several modes, than any other terms hitherto employed, we adopt them, not as established, but quoted from the author. Plate XVI, INTERIOR OF YORK MINSTER. \ GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 155 simple, bold doorway, fre- quently divided by a central column, or cluster columns, and headed by the same pointed arches as the win- dows ; the massive buttress, with its deep water-tables, between each stage. The Early English, ac- cording to Rickman, pre- vailed from 1189 to about 1307. Its architecture had throughout the lancet arch ; the piers of the interior arches maintained the cir- cular character common to the Romanesque style, but were set around with four or more slender shafts, attached like reeds around a greater cylinder, and in some instances bound to- gether by mouldings at intervals. The Rose or Catharine window, is frequently found worked with great care. The general character of the Early EngUsh, was that of severe and simple majesty ; the ornaments were bold and striking. In this style the best entire spe- cimen in England is Salisbury Cathedral. Parts of Westminster Abbey Church, the nave and aisles of Peterborough, and parts of Ely, Worcester, and Fig. 25. 156 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. York Cathedrals, furnish other examples of the Early English Gothic. This period includes the reigns of Richard L, John, Henry III., and Edward I. The Decorated English* prevailed from about 1307 to 1377, or as some say, till 1460; or from the decease of Edward the First, till that of Richard 11. , thus in- cluding the long reign of Edward III. Fig. 27. Fig. 28. During this period, the Gothic in England was dis- tinguished for grace and elegance of proportion, for richness of decoration without exuberance, and for scientific skilfulness of execution. The windows of this period differ from those of the preceding, by being * This second style in England, has also been called " the pure Gothic." An eminent architect has suggested that this division should be called " the Triangular -arched order ;" as the form of the arch which was then principally in vogue admitted of an equilateral triangle being precisely inscribed between the crowning point of the arch, and its points of springing at the impost. Plate XVII. YORK MINSTER. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 157 larger and divided by slender upright 7nuIUons. Some were still adorned with geometrical tracery (Fig. 27) ; others were enriched with flowing tracery (Fig. 28), called in France, Flamboyant, from its resemblance to flames. This kind of tracery is beautifully described by Sir Walter Scott. " The moon on the vast oriel shone, Through slender shafts of shapely stone, By foliagcd tracery combined. Thou wouldst have thought some fairy's hand, 'Twixt poplars straight, the ozier wand In many a freakish knot had twined ; Then framed a spell, when the work was done. And changed the willow-wreaths to stone." The arch is generally the equila- Fio. 29. teral triangle, or more obtuse. But- tresses are richer and usually linished by pinnacles (Plate XVII.), orna- mented with crockets. A common form of finish for doors was the pyra- midal label (Plate XVII.), which was enriched with crockets at the top and sides like the pinnacles. In small works, the ogee arch is frequently found in the same manner decorated with crockets. In the interior, the clustered shafts are incorporated into quadrangular piers (Fig. 29), the roofs are elaborately groined (Plate XVI.), and the mouldings rich and 158 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Fi&. 30. varied. Tapering spires now pointed "heavenward," breaking np the monotony of horizontal lines, and giv- ing a pleasing, impressive effect to distant scenery. Among some of the most beautiful examples of this style, from 1307 to 1377, are York Minster, the Chapter House of York Cathedral, and several parts of Exeter Cathedral. Under Edward III., parts of Ely, Carlisle, and Gloucester Cathedrals. Under Richard II., Henry IV., and V., parts of Winchester and Can- terbury Cathedrals. The Perpendicular''^'^ style is marked by its win- dows (Fig. 30), the mullions of which are carried perpendicularly to the head, instead of finishing in flowing lines. Arches are generally quite obtuse ; arches still more depressed than Fig. 30 were frequently employed. This style is distinguished by its su- perfluity of decoration and mi- nuteness in the details. If we include under this third period, (according to Rickman,) from 1377 to the decline of the Gothic style in the 15th cen- * Several other appellations have been bestowed upon this third variety of the Gothic, viz. : " Florid Gothic " The Tudor Style " The Obtuse-arched Style." Britton says, " Probably there is not any single phrase in the range of our vocabulary, by which it could be successfully and distinctively denominated." Plate XVIII. INTbRIOR OF KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 159 tury, then King's College Chapel (Plate XVIII.) may be mentioned as its finest example. It is universally acknowledged to be one of the most magnificent triumphs of architectural science in the kingdom." It was commenced by Henry VI., about 1443. The great interest of this building, architecturally consi- dered, is in the stability and beauty of the stone vault- ing, which, for the elegance of the fanlike tracery with which it is overspread in rich profusion, is per- haps unparalleled. St. George's at Windsor was in progress during several reigns, and was not completed till after the tenth year of Henry VIII. The letters-patent of Richard II., are still extant (1390,) appointing the cele- brated Geoffrey Chaucer, Clerk of the Works to this Chapel. Chaucer was empowered to "impress car- penters, and other workmen, for the necessary opera- tions of the said chapel, and allowed two shillings per day, with the privilege of having a deputy." This chapel was repaired, at a great expense, by George the Third. One of the finest specimens of the Perpendicular or Florid style, is the Chapel of Henry VII., at Westminster. This has been called by an English divine, the miracle of the world." It would seem, indeed, as though the architect had 'intended to give to the stone the character of embroidery, and enclose his walls in meshes of lace- work." The geometrical skill exhibited in the design, and the 4 160 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. aspiring lightness, have justly called forth universal admiration. From the vault hang those stone pen- dants that are so rich and beautiful. Henry VII., it is said, was impelled to erect this chapel by the " com- punctious visitings" of a guilty conscience ; in order to make his peace with Heaven, he judged it necessary to expend a portion of his ill-gotten treasures in works of charity and devotion. The weal of his soul was to be secured by chaunting of psalms and requiems, and other superstitious ceremonies, as well as by costly sacrifices. Was there none to say to the alarmed monarch, The sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite spirit, which are in His sight of great price ?" Under the tyrannic and capricious sway of Henry VIII., spoliation and devastation superseded invention and design. The Chapel of Henry VII. is therefore left as the last gorgeous specimen of the Perpendicular or Florid Gothic in England. " Doomed to hide her banished head Forever, Gothic Architecture fled ; Forewarned, she left in one most beauteous place, (That much might of her ancient fame be said,) Her pendant roof, her windows' branchy grace. Pillars of clustered reeds and tracery of lace^ These succeeding epochs of the Gothic in England are not distinctly divided from each other ; they may be said to overlap, so that buildings erected during the latter part of what is termed the ''Early English," GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 161 contain many examples of the " Decorated" style ; and the same maybe said of the " Decorated" and *'the Perpendicular." In other countries beside England, the Gothic appears to have had three principal stages, the earlij^ the perfect, and the degeneratijuj. Starting from the same mode, the Romanesque, the various nations of Northwestern Europe seem to have proceeded, each in its own way, to the discovery of the principles of the pointed style, and the fact is striking, that in the second stage they all reached nearly the same goal. Tlie per- fect or Decorated Gothic is to l)e seen, varied only in unimportant points of detail, at York and Exeter, in England, at Cologne and Oppenheim, in Germany, in the beautiful church of St. Ouen, at Rouen, in France, and in Fair Melrose," in Scotland. This point of union had not long been reached in each country before the style began to decline, each adoi)t- ing various specimens of an after style peculiar to themselves until the trrcat changes of the sixteenth century. The Gothic cathedrals of Germany far surpass in size and magnificence any that England can boast. Strasburg, on the Rhine, which formerly belonged to Germany, has a splendid cathedral, built in the thirteenth century. The fa(;ade of Strasburg measures about one hundred and eighty feet in breadth, and in height about two hundred and thirty feet, (far above the towers of York,) then rises the tower and the lofty 11 162 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. spire two hundred and twenty-eight feet, making the whole height nearly four hundred and sixty feet. Exclusively of the noble spire, the majestic west front of Strasburg exceeds the whole height of the loftiest fronts in England,, including the towers. The extreme height of Westminster is two hundred and twenty-five feet to the top of the spire ; it would there- fore look like a dwarf, if placed before this gigantic structure of Strasburg. This immense cathedral is embellished with a richness of decoration almost un- paralleled. " The building," says Mr. Whewell, looks as if it were placed behind a rich open screen, or in a cage of wwen stone." The Cologne Cathedral is admired by many, as the finest specimen of the Gothic style in Europe ; the richness of its decoration can scarcely be imagined. The Germans unquestionably preceded the English in perfecting the Gothic. The spire of England is generally a vast obelisk placed upon a tower, to which it seems to have been appended by an after thought, while the spire of Germany seems an integral part of the building itself, rising with the gracefulness and airy lightness of frostwork. France has contested with England the honour of having first brought the Gothic style to perfection. She ^ertainly can exhibit splendid testimony to sup- port this claim. The cathedrals of Rheims, Amiens, Chartres, Beauvais, and St. Ouen, what can rival them in England ? GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 163 Rheims boasts the most celebrated cathedral in France, on account of its historical associations,* its immense size, and its antiquity. It was originally founded more than a thousand years ago, but was de- stroyed by fire in 1210 ; in the same year the new edifice was begun, and it was finished, excepting some of its ornaments, in thirty years. This cathedral has no mix- ture of designs; it is rich and light, massive below, but being in the pyramidal form, springs airy and graceful as it ascends. The western portal is mag- nificent, and the minute beauties are singularly fine. Amiens Cathedral has, however, been considered by some learned critics, as the perfection of Gothic Architecture. It was begun in the same year with Salisbury, and is built on a similar plan ; they have often been compared, but it is dilficult to decide be- tween their respective merits. It has been said, that Salisbury has the advantage of lightness, but Amiens surpasses it in loftiness and richness of decoration. The west front of the latter is crowded witli armies of prophets, martyrs, and angels, which line the door- ways, crowed the w^alls, and absolutely swarm around the pinnacles. Spain, though some of its cathedrals, are surpassingly rich, seems to have been indebted for its principal honours to northern architects. Its general style of * The kings of France were fornierly crowned at Rheims. h was there that the unfortunate heroine, Joan of Arc, placeti the crown upon the head of the ungrateful Charles. 164 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Gothic Architecture is strong and massive, with orna- ments of great delicacy, borrowed from the Moors. There is no genuine Gothic building in Italy. Her artists never entirely lost sight of the classical structures around them, and mingled in their designs Gothic features with the classical ; yet there are many splendid cathedrals which have called forth admiration. Milan Cathedral is a mountain of sculpture. Batalha, the glory of Portugal, was founded by John 1. in 1385. It bears incontestable proof that the gene- ral architecture is the offspring of a northern clime, incongruously modified by its southern situation. Its flat stone roof is adapted to the sunny skies of Portu- gal, yet its splendid west window is acute, as is also Fig. 31. thc portal, and the pinnacles are taper- ing. Notwithstanding these incongru- ities, it is one of the most highly finished specimens of the Gothic style in Europe, adorned with a profusion of ornaments, executed in a masterly manner, some of which are hieroglyphical and inexplica- ble to the learned. It was built by an Irish architect of the name of Hacket. In Scotland, the ancient ecclesiastical edifices, al- though inferior in size to those in England, are generally in the best style of Gothic Architecture. During the reign of David I., many fine structures were built. History and poetry have united to throw^ a charm around Scotia's time-worn monuments, by Plate XIX. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 165 giving them interesting, though melancholy, associa- tions. Melrose Abbey, although founded many years be- fore, was increased and beautified in the reign of David I. It was in the *' Decorated Gothic ;" a part of the choir remains, in which is an immense window, with the mullions entire, and tracery broken. " If thou wouldst view fair Melrose ariglit, Go visit it by the pale moonlight ; For the gay beams of lightsome day Gild, but to flout the ruins gray : When the broken arches are black in night, And each shafted oriel glimmers white; When the cold light's uncertain shower, Streams on the ruined central tower ; When buttress and buttress, alternately, Seem framed of ebon and ivory ; When silver edges the imagery. And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die ; When distant Tweed is heard to rave. And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave. Then go, but go alone the while, Then view St. David's ruined pile ; And home returning soothly swear, Was never scene so sad and fair." " The darkened roof rose high alof)f On piUxirs, lofiy, and light, and small ; The keystonCy that l(x;ked each ribbed aisle^ Was a fleur-de-lysy or a quatre feuille ;* ♦The French word, which was doubtless the original of quatrefoUy (Fig. 31.) 166 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. The corhells*- were carved grotesque and grim, And the pillars, with clustered shafts so trim, With base and capital flourished around, Seemed bundles of lances which garlands had bound." How perfect is this description by Sir Walter Scott ! Washington Irving, in his visit to Abbotsford, mentions the deUght with which Sir Walter spoke of old Mel- rose. " The Abbey was evidently a pile that called up all Scott's poetic and romantic feeling. He spoke of it, I may say, with affection. The heart of Robert Bruce, the hero of Scotland, had teen buried in it. He dwelt on the beautiful story of Bruce' s pious and chi- valrous request in his dying hour, that his heart might be carried to the Holy Land and placed in the Holy Sepulchre, in fulfilment of a vow of pilgrimage ; and of the loyal expedition of Sir James Douglas, to convey thither the glorious relic. Before dismissing the theme of the relics from the Abbey," says Irving, " I will mention another, illustrative of Scott's varied humours. This was a human skull, which had probably belonged of yore to one of those jovial friars, so honourably mentioned in the old border ballad : * O the monks of Melrose made gude kale, On Fridays when they fasted ; They wanted neither beef nor ale, As long as their neighbours' lasted.' * "Corbells, the projections from which the arches spring, usually cut in a fantastic face or mark." — Scott. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 167 " It was a matter of great wonder and speculation, among the superstitious housemaids, that the laird should have such * an awsome fancy for an auld girn- ing skull.' " With the sixteenth century, that convulsive period which shattered the whole fabric and new moulded the wjiole moral constitution of society, the last vestiges of Gothic originative art disappeared. We have confined our remarks on the architecture of the middle ages, to ecclesiastical edifices. We shall have occasion again to refer to the Gothic style under Domestic Architecture. Although citizens of the United States feel compa- ratively little interest in the noble cathedrals of Eng- land, yet it would be strange if they had no sympathy with their ancestors of the father-land, of the same speech and blood, and faith, who worshipped with re- verence beneath those venerable piles. These edifices have stood during the whole period most familiar to our historic recollections. We admire their magical hghtness, their majestic loftiness, their grave solemnity, but even as we do so, a sentiment of wonder arises in our minds, and we ask involuntarily, Why all this magnificence ?" Was it, that the churchmen of old. wished to display their power, to increase their hold over the imagination of the people, or to give employ- ment to a population of serfs ? Was it because the people universally thought that they could buy Heaven with the positive merits of their good works 1 168 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Let US believe better things of them, although we know, that thick darkness covered the people." One thing is certain, that as the Romish church became more and more corrupt, cathedral building declined, and no subsequent edifices eclipsed those of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. By the mechanism of our moral constitution, reve- rence, when rightly directed, increases happiness. This emotion is called forth in the highest degree by the worship of the Creator. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, mind, and strength." " Honour thy father and mother, is the first command- ment with promise." The sentiment of reverence, it is to be feared, is too little cultivated in our own country. Perhaps our civil institutions are detri- mental, nay, almost destructive to high and honourable reverential feelings towards our parents, guides, and superiors. Can we not obviate this tendency by a careful cul- ture of religious reverence ? Should we not be anxious to honour our Maker, with the best gifts of the hands, the highest efforts of genius, and the strongest affec- tions of the heart ? Even should we reverence the church edifice which is consecrated to the worship of God, it does not follow that we must of necessity be ignorant and supersti- tious. Who shall say how often the traveller may have been taught to direct his thoughts heavenward by the GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 169 sight of the distant tower or tapering spire ; how often the inhabitants of a busy town may have been elevated in soul above its din and traffic, by the solemn witness borne by the massive repose of its noble church, to the solemn realities of a world unseen ? While we avoid the errors and superstitions of a dark age, let us not be blinded by the false glare of the present, to our highest interests. Authorities for Gothic Architecture: Britton's Architectural An- tiquities, Pugin's Specimens of Gothic Architecture, Denkmaler der Deutschen Bankhunst, Dr. Georg Mol^er, Willis on the Architec- ture of the Middle Ages, Loudon's Architectural Encyclopedia, Rick- man's Gothic Architecture, Rev. W. W he well's Architectural Notes on German Churches, Plans, Elevations, 6lc.j oC the Church of Batalha, by James Murphy, Rich's Engraved and Coloured Calhe- drals, Edinburgh Encycloj^edia, British Critic, &c., &c. CHAPTER XIV. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. The feudal system, which for ages prevailed in Europe, had an influence upon the domestic architec- ture of that period. The barons dwelt in castles, often strongly fortified, their immediate retainers living within the castle walls, protected by their lord, and defending him in case of attack. The serfs erected their miserable habitations around or near the baronial mansion. Nearly every town was originally thus formed, around the castle of the king, or of the powerful barons. In Knight's Progress of Civil Society," towns such as these, are thus de- scribed : " Hence by degrees the embryo town began, As wants or habits formed its artless plan ; The increasing numbers part the chosen spot, And each with rival toil adorns his lot, Extends his little hut, and clears around, The obtruding thorns and brambles from the ground ; DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 171 • Brings from the shattered tree the ponderous beam, With thatch of reeds, and rushes from the stream ; Constructs with rude design the simple shed, From rains and tempest to protect his head ; The walls with bark and pliant wattle weaves, And spreads his easy couch of withered leaves." Such temporary huts were the only shelter for the poor degraded serfs, who cultivated the soil for their liege lord, reaping for themselves only the bare neces- saries that prolong a wretched existence. The formidable strongholds of the chieftains, who in the feudal days were engaged in almost perpetual war- fare, served the treble purpose of dwelling-liouse, fort, and prison. Every reader of history or of romance, will be reminded of the donjons (dungeons) dark, of these moated castles. In the erection of these edifices, strength was the first object of consideration. A rocky eminence was usually chosen for the site ; if possible, surrounded by the sea on all sides but one, sometimes entirely insulated. There, perched proudly like a falcon's nest on the summit of an inaccessible rock, the frowning towers and battlements of stone bade defiance to the attacks of foes, and the storms of cen- tu ries. When such a strong natural position could not be obtained, a deep ditch was formed around the whole outer wall, which was called the moat, and was gene- rally filled with water ; over this was thrown a draw- bridge. A large area w*as sometimes thus walled in, « 172 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE • and entered only at one opening, which was a great gateway with a portcullis, between two lofty towers. In this area, stood the castle itself, varying in size and form to suit the wealth and convenience of its lord. Such was the general style of building throughout Europe during the prevalence of the feudal system. THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLAND. FROM THE FIFTH CENTUKY TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. When the Saxons first landed in Britain, they must have found many Roman edifices, which they partially or entirely destroyed. An ancient author, who wrote as early as a. d. 560, says, " The walls of all the colo- nies were beat down to the ground with battering- rams, and their inhabitants slain with the point of the sword. Nothing was to be seen in the streets, 0, horrible to relate! but fragments of ruined towers, temples, and walls, fallen from their lofty seats, be- sprinkled with blood, and mixed with mangled car- casses." It was thus that the Anglo-Saxons, coming professedly as friends, at length became the deadly enemies of the Ancient Britons, and finally subjugated them. For a long period after their establishment in Eng- land, their houses were rude structures of timber and mortar, without chimneys, and with windows called OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 173 in Saxon ehthyrl, literally an eye-hole, destitute of glass, and covered with pitched cloth. As the intercourse of the Anglo-Saxons with Rome increased, Christian bishops brought home artificers, and endeavoured to improve the condition of the people. Under the wise government of the great and good Alfred, the people began to emerge from a state of semi-barbarism, and gradually became more intelli- gent, ingenious, and civilized. A Roman origin has been ascribed to some ancient ruins of castles, which more probably were Saxon, as they possess the leading features of the ecclesiastical remains of that period ; namely, the semicircular, com- poimd arch over the doors and windows, with the zig- zag and fret mouldings. Among these ancient castles was that of Peveril of the Peak, which has been made familiar to every English reader by the genius of Sir Walter Scott. This castle, at Castleton, in Derbyshire, though held by Edmund de Peveril in the time of William the Conqueror, and from him descended to the hero of Scott's romance, is supposed to be of Saxon origin. " This feudal Baron," says the novelist, chose his nest upon the principle the eagle selects his eyry, and built it in such a fasliion as if he had intended it for the sole purpose of puzzling pos- terity." There were but few strong castles in England, how- ever, before the Norman conquest. William, and his chieftains, built strongly fortified castles in various 174 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE parts of the kingdom. The ecclesiastics too, lived in great state, and were themselves the principal archi- tects of the age. Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, and Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, lived in their , strong castles of Old Sarum and Newark, with large retinues of vassals and tenants, exciting the envy and fear of the monarch. Within the space of one hundred years after the con- quest, it is stated on the authority of Camden, that there were 1115 castles in England. The buildings of Eng- land at this time were of five classes, namely : the castles of the monarchs ; baronial castles ; monas- teries, including churches, chapels, hospitals, and the dwelling-houses of all orders of ecclesiastics, monks and nuns ; the town-houses of merchants, and their warehouses ; the mean hovels of artisans ; the houses or huts of the peasantry. Among the most distinguished architects of this period, was Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester. He was employed by William the Conqueror, to direct the building of the Tower of London, about the year 1078. His mode of building was greatly admired, and he was immediately employed in planning other castles. Of the several castles built by Gundulph, that at Rochester, (Plate XIV.) erected about 1088, is one of the finest remains of antiquity in England. A full description of this castle will be sufficient to give the reader a correct idea of a kind of building, which holds so conspicuous a place in poetry and romance. OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 175 Rochester Castle is built near the brow of a hill, on the banks of the River Med way, and its principal tower, which is 75 feet by 72, is so situated as to com- mand both the river and the adjacent country. It was fortified by strong outworks and deep ditches, and had an area around it, enclosed for the use of the garrison. In the construction of the castle, the circumstances most manifestly endeavoured to be provided for by the architect, were, 1. The security of the entrance, and the rendering it magnificent. 2. The protection of the whole garrison in case of a siege. 3. Contrivances to mislead besieorers with rcG^ard to the strength of the castle. 4. The security of stores, and of prisoners. 6. Easy conveyances for engines of war, into the various apartments and to the top of the tower. 6. The means of giving a quick alarm to all the garrison. 7. The supplying the garrison with water. 8. The carrying away the smoke from the apart- ments. 9. The providing a habitation for the lord of the castle, both stately and airy, and free from the annoy- ance of the enemy's instruments of war. Many of these objects belong more properly to mili- tary than to civil architecture ; but as the residence of most of the nobility, both of England and the continent, 176 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE were, during the days of chivalry, thus constr acted, we cannot with propriety omit that part which belongs to fortification. First, as to the entrance. Nothing can be conceived more completely adapted to answer the double purpose of stateliness and security. In Rochester Castle, the entrance was by means of a grand staircase, which went partly around two of the fronts of the castle on the outside, and terminated in a grand portal, at a con- siderable height from the ground. Before this portal could be entered, there was a drawbridge to be passed, the pulling up of which cut off all communication with the flight of steps ; and there was also a strong gate about the middle of the staircase, between the foot of it and the drawbridge. Nor was this the only security ; for even the grand portal, beyond the bridge, was not the real entrance of the fortress, but merely the entrance of a small adjoining tower, the whole of which might be demolished without any material in- jury to the body of the castle. Within this little tower was a sort of vestibule, and from thence was a second entrance, (the real entrance of the great tower itself,) through a second portal, placed in the thickness of the wall, which was here about twelve feet thick ; and the second entrance, as well as the first portal, was defend- ed by a portcullis or herse, and also by a strong pair of gates ; so that there were three strong gates to be forced, and trvo portcullises to be destroyed, before this entrance could be gained ; and one pair of gates was to be broken OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 177 down, and the drawbridge at a great height is to be retraced, before even the first portcullis could be ap- proached. The herse or portcullis, was a strong grating of tim- ber, fenced with iron, made to sUde up and down in a groove of solid stone-work, within the arch of the portal, just as a sash-window does in its frame, and its bottom was furnished with sharp iron spikes, designed both to strike into the ground or floor, for the sake of greater firmness or solidity, and to break and destroy whatever should be under it at the time of its being let fall. Its groove was contrived so deep in the stone- work, that it could not be injured or removed without pulling down the whole wall. For state, there were in the thickness of the wall, at the second entrance, two stone seats in large niches, for the warders, or for those who by military tenure kept castle guard. Beside this grand entrance there was no other of any consequence, and indeed there was no possibility of getting in or out of the castle otherwise than by it, except by a small sally-port, or narrow doorway, situated directly under the drawbridge, and therefore in a place where any assailants might be easily annoyed. This little sally-port was at such a height from the ground that it could only be approached by a scaling-ladder, as it had neither stone nor other fixed steps ; for further security, there was no communication with the grand apartments above, except by a winding staircase, so 12 178 DOMESTIC ARCHITE CTURE narrow that it could easily be defended by a single sentinel ; it was also well secured by strong doors. On the ground floor there were no windows, and but few loop-holes, and even these were exceedingly small, not being much above six inches square, their struc- ture and situation being such that no weapon could possibly enter far enough to fall into the apartments ; nor were there any but loop-holes above, where the grand portals are situated. The third story of Rochester Castle, contained the rooms of state; and although there were in these rooms magnificent windows, they were placed so high in the apartments, (which were on that account more than thirty feet high,) that it was almost impossible for any weapon to be shot into the rooms, to do any mischief. As to the fourth or uppermost story, the rooms of which were about sixteen feet high, there was no need of precaution in the structure of the windows ; it had therefore, very large ones, not far from the floor. Curious devices of false arches and solid round towers, apparently weak, were constructed in various parts of the castle, to draw the attacks of an enemy upon the strongest places. The dungeon for the re- ception of prisoners was invariably attached to the old English castle; in Rochester Castle it was beneath the small square tower adjoining the keep itself It was entered by a narrow and steep flight of steps in OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 179 the wall. Air was admitted only by an aperture in the roof, which was secured by a trap-door. Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, the principal seat and occasional residence of her present Majesty, Queen Victoria, belongs to the crown, and has generally been occupied by the English monarchs from the time the first building belonging to it was erected. It has been increased by successive monarchs, until it now occu- pies a space of about a mile in circumference. An irregular but connected series of buildings, completely encompass two large courts, having a grand keep- tower on a lofty mount between them. Around the upper court are numerous buildings appropriated to the royal family and their retinue. The lower court, is occupied by St. George's Chapel, the deanery and canons' buildings, poor knights' houses, seven towers of different sizes and shapes, with otlier subordinate buildings. On the northwest side of the upper court, are some apartments which were built by Henry VII. In them we recognise the same Florid Gothic with its fantastic decorations, that prevails in the ecclesiastical edifices of that age. There are other apartments, built in the time of Elizabeth. A chimney-piece, in Queen EHzabeth's Gallery (£ts it is called), has an inscription which proves the time of its erection to have been A. D. 1583. The ceiling of this room is nearly covered with ornamental tracery, very different from the Gothic, with the em- blematic figures of the harp, rose, crown, &c. Affec- 180 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE tation of elegance, and an ostentatious display of orna- ment, characterized the style of the domestic architec- ture, as welJ as the style of dress, of the haughty and vain Queen. As the peculiar manners and taste of a popular monarch always produce a powerful effect in regulating those of the higher classes of society, we shall find that novelties in domestic architecture have commonly their origin at court, and are thence pro- gressivel}^ disseminated through the country ; hence, we shall find that a profusion of puerile ornaments will be found in nearly all the mansion-houses of the Eliza- bethan age.* The shell-arched niche, grotesque pilasters, caryatides, columns having the lower parts covered with carved foliage, and upper parts fluted ; with a jumbled mixture of cherubim, birds, and lions' heads, armorial bearings and mythological hierogly- phics, composed the heterogeneous designs for chim- ney-pieces, fronts of houses, tombs, &c., during the long reign of Elizabeth. To return from this digression, suggested by Wind- sor Castle. After the accession of Henry II., it was deemed expedient to destroy many of the baronial castles, and to prohibit the erection of others, as their owners, if disaffected towards the monarch, could shut themselves within their impregnable fortresses, and set at nought his royal authority. * These remarks on the age of Elizabeth are somewhat anticipa- tory, as they refer to the period when the Greek and Roman Archi- tecture had been revived in England. OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 181 To the castle succeeded the spacious hospitable mansion, embattled only for ornament, containing vast combinations of ill-matched rooms, put together without any discoverable principle. Though these mansions were insufficient to sustain a violent attack from an enemy, they were built with moat and drawbridge, tower and battlement, thick stone walls and numerous small windows. Of these embattled mansions, one of the most perfect and most curious now remaining, is Haddon House, in Derbyshire, belonging to his grace the Duke of Rut- land, a description of which will serve to give a correct idea of the style of that class of buildings. " The high turrets of this mansion stood proudly towerinof on a rock, in the midst of thick woods and in a beautiful situation, looking down on the river Wye, which winds along the valley at a great depth beneath. It has undergone," says Mr. King, " fewer alterations, and retains more curious vestiges of the residence of an old English baron, and exhibits more manifest indica- tions of the ancient mode of life, than any other build- ing I ever saw." Haddon House consisted of a continuous range of buildings, surrounding two open courts. Both of these have embattled walls, turrets, projecting windows, &c. The princii)al court was encompassed by various do- mestic offices, or small apartments on two sides, the chapel at a corner, the ladies' apartments on another side, and the great hall on the fourth. On the left 182 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE side of the hall were four large doorways, with high Gothic arches. The first of these still retains its ancient door of strong oak, with a little wicket in the middle, just big enough to put a trencher in or out ; and was clearly the butler's station ; for the room within still retains a vast old chest of oak, with divi- sions for bread ; a large old cupboard for cheese, and a number of shelves for butter. A passage down steps leads from this room to a large apartment, which is arched with stone, and supported by pillars, similar to the crypt of a church ; this was the heer-cellar. The second doorway is an entrance of a long narrow pas- sage, leading with a continued descent to the great hitchen, where are two vast fire-places, with irons for a prodigious number of spits, stoves, great double ranges of dressers, large chopping-blocks, and a massy wooden table, hollowed out into a sort of basins, by way of kneading-troughs for pastry. The third doorway opened to a very small vaulted room, which was clearly the wine-cellar, for when wine was considered merely as a cordial, the stock was not very large. The fourth great arch conducted, by a great steep staircase, to a prodigious variety of small apartments, which, from their number and situation, seem to have been design- ed for the reception of guests and numerous retainers ; there being others of still inferior sort in the rest of the house, for servants. Facing these arches, was a large carved wooden screen with two doorways which open- ed to the great hall or dining-room. This occupied OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 183 the whole height of the building ; at the upper end was a raised floor or platform, where the table for the lord and his principal guests was placed. Over one side of the hall, and also above the screen at the lower end, is a gallery supported by pillars. : From the reign of King Edward the First to that of Henry the Seventh, the houses among the middling class of people, were built of wood. They generally had large porches before their principal entrances. The framework was constructed of timber, of such enormous size, that the materials of one house would make several of equal size, according to the present mode of building. The common method of^giaking walls was to nail laths to the timber frame, and strike them over with a rough plaster, which was afterwards whitened and ornamented with fine mortar, Hiid ^liis last was often beautified with figures of men and ani- mals, and other curious devices. The houses in cities and towns were built, each story jutting forth over the former story, so that when the streets were not very wide, the people at the top, from opposite houses, might not only talk with each other, but even shake hands together. The liouses were covered with tiles, shingles, slates, or lead, ex- cepting in the city of London, where shingles were forbidden. Oxburgh Hall was erected by Sir Edmond Beding- feld, A. D. 1482, and has ever since belonged to his descendants, being now the property of Sir Richard 184 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. Bedingfeld, Bart. In a turret projecting from the east tower is a curious hiding-place in the wall. A door is formed of a wooden frame filled with bricks, (the whole building is constructed of brick,) thus looking exactly like the face of the wall. This door turns on an iron axle fixed across the middle and inserted firmly into the wall ; by a forcible pressure on the lower end, it turns, and discloses a solitary den, or cell, in the turret. It would never be discovered without previous exact knowledge of its situation. Another hiding- place of equal ingenuity has been discovered beneath a fire-place, at Oxburgh Hall. " I apprehend," says Lady Bedingfeld, ^Hhis hiding-place to have been formed during the persecution of Catholic priests, as many such places are to be found in old Catholic man- sions."* The rage for building in England, during the fifteenth century, led to immense extravagance. To defray the expense of their splendid and capacious mansions, noblemen sold or mortgaged large estates. During this whole period, farm-houses and cottages were mostly wretched hovels, hardly sufficient to pro- tect the poor depressed serfs from the inclemencies of cold, wet, and snow, to which the English climate is subject. * Britton's Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain. CHAPTER XV. REVIVAL OF GRECIAN AND ROMAN ARCHITEC- TURE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Early in the fifteenth century, the genius of clas- sic literature awoke from the long slumber of "the dark ages." Classic Art was once more seated upon her ancient throne, and northern taste was soon re- duced into complete subjection to her imperial sceptre. While the Florid Gothic was still carried to luxuriant extravagance in England, the ancient Roman Archi- tecture began to be studied by men of genius in Italy. Fellippo Brunileschi, a Florentine, of an ardent temperament and much original genius, is said to have been delighted w4th the remains of ancient buikl- ings at Rome. From careful study of them, he was led to imitation, and in the Cathedral of Florence, evinced his power of adapting the principles he had learned from ancient art. The examples of his works and the perusal of the wTitings of Vitruvius, created a general taste for Clas- sic Architecture. These circumstances were prepa- ratory to the undertaking which fixed the epoch of this 186 CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. revival, and gave to the v^orld a temple, v^hich, in mag- nitude and variety of parts, far surpasses every Gre- cian and Roman temple — the celebrated St. Peter's at Rome. (Plate XX. ) It v^^ould require a large volume for a full description of this modern wonder of the world. St. Peter's is situated on the ancient site of the circus and gardens of Nero, where that tyrant massacred numbers of Christian martyrs. Tradition says, that the bodies of these martyrs were buried by their faith- ful friends, in a grotto near the circus, and that among those who were thus buried here, was the crucified Apostle, St. Peter. In 306, Constantine founded a church over the reputed grave of the holy Apostle. This edifice remained for eleven centuries, when Pope Nicholas V., in 1450, demolished it, and laid the foun- dation for the present St. Peter's. At the death of this Pope, the structure had been elevated only four or five feet above the pavement. The work was suspended, or made but little progress, till the time of Julius 11. , who, in 1503, employed the celebrated Bramante to carry on this great undertaking. This architect formed the original plan of the cupola, and caused four stupendous pillars, or piers, two hundred and nine feet in circumference, to be raised to support it. The patron and the architect both died and left it in this state. Leo X. employed architects to carry on the work, among whom was the celebrated painter, Raphael d'Urbino, who strengthened the basis of the pillars, CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. 187 which he deemed too weak to support the stupendous cupola. Various other architects were employed by :he pontiffs who succeeded Leo, until at last, Paul III. committed the edifice to the incomparable genius of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, who designed the dome and cupola as they now stand. He wished to make the front like the Pantheon, but death removed him from his labours, and the sublime idea was abandoned. Michael Angelo, " left it an unfinished monument of his proud, towering, gigantic powers ; and his awful genius," seemed to watch over his successors for a long time. Many other artists were employed upon this stupendous edifice, until it was finished, under Paul v., by Carlo Maderno. Three centuries and a half this church was being built; and in 1694, the cost was estimated to have been 11,000,000 pounds sterling, or about 49,728,000 dollars ! This edifice contains the best specimens of design of the ablest architects who flourished during a period in which the revived Classic style was carried to the highest perfection which it reached in Italy. The extreme length of St. Peter's is seven hundred and twenty feet ; breadth, five hundred and ten feet ; height, from the pavement to the top of the cross upon the cupola, five hundred feet. The magnificent front is entirely of travertmo. Beautiful colonnades of white marble, fifty feet high, encircle a paved court in front, in the centre of which stands an Egyptian obelisk, and on each side a foun- 188 CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. tain. These colonnades are finely proportioned to the church, and form a grand enclosure, which serves as a screen to exclude all ignoble objects. There rises the lofty fagade, composed of eight Corinthian pillars and four corresponding pilasters ; five doors, seven balco- nies, six niches, an entablature w^ith its frontispiece, and an attic, terminated by a balustrade, over v^hich are thirteen colossal statues, representing Jesus Christ and the twelve Apostles. The columns appear small at a distance, but on a near approach are found to be nine feet in diameter, and including pedestal, base, and capital, one hundred feet high. The great cUpola, and two smaller ones, (large enough for the single cupolas of elegant churches,) at the sides, accord well with the front. The five grand doors, with marble columns and entablatures, open into an immense porch decorated with marble pilasters. The central door is of bronze, adorned with bas-relief, representing the martyrdom of St. Paul and St. Peter. One of the doors is opened only on the day of the Grand Jubilee ; that is, once in twenty-five years, and is hence called Porta Santa, or Holy Door. The columns of this door are of rare antique marble, and those of the others are of violet and other beautiful marbles. Nothing can be more striking, than the perfect harmony and just pro- portions which prevail throughout this complicated edifice. When we consider how many pontiffs or- dered, and how many architects planned, it is wonder- ful that the structure should have kept its proportions CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. 189 inviolate, even to the meanest ornament. Forsyth, a severe critic, has remarked upon the attic, the front, and the Latin cross, as contrary to what he calls " the sacred unity of the master-idea;" but less acute, or less fault-finding critics, are willing to pass over the trifling defects which probably exist in some of the sul)ordinate parts. We now come to the interior. This is in the form of a Latin cross, but has three naves. Corinthian pilasters of white marl)le, seventy- seven feet high, support an entablature around the whole interior. Arches, niches, statues, pictures, gilt- stucco, bronze, marbles of all colours, porphyry, alabas- ter, mosaics, in short, all that wealth can furnish, or art employ, have been used in decorating this splendid temple. " The nave is infinitely grand and sublime, without the aid of obscurity ; but tlie eye, having only four pillars to rest on, runs along it too rapidly to com- prehend its full extent." Upon these stupendous pillars reposes the incompara- ble dome. This is the concave of the wonderful cupola, planned by Michael Angelo, one of the boldest attempts of arcliitectural skill. Its base is two hundred feet above the surface of the earth, and then it rises, with its lantern and cross, about three hundred feet higlier. The diameter of this dome is only two feet less than that of the Pantheon ; the walls are double, (twenty- two feet thick,) and between the two walls are stairs leading to the hall on the top, which seems from the ground the size of an orange, but is in reality nine 190 CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. feet in diameter, and can hold sixteen persons, at the same time. This staircase is lighted by small dormer windows, pierced through the outer wall of the dome. The cupola is decorated with thirty-two Corinthian columns, in pairs, between which are sixteen windows. There are beautiful chapels attached to this mighty building, and grottoes and tombs under its pavement. St. Peter's nowhere so strikingly unfolds its dimen- sions, as on the roof Here are houses, one might almost say streets, occupied by various persons em- ployed about the building, and in keeping it in repair. Here rise four cupolas, besides the great cupola, which, seen from the roof, seems itself an immense circular temple, ornamented with rich sculpture, seen usually by no eye but that of the passing bird. No architecture ever surpassed, in effect, the interior of this pile, when illuminated at Easter, by a single cross of lamps, suspended from the centre of the dome. All travellers dwell with enthusiasm upon the glory of this scene. Forsyth exclaims : " What fancy was ever so dull, or so disciplined, or so worn, as to resist the enthusiasm of such a scene ! I freely abandoned mine to its illusions !" " But lo ! the dome — ^the vast and wondrous dome, To which Diana's marvel* was a cell — Christ's mighty shrine above his martyr's tomb ! I have beheld the Ephesian's miracle, — * The Temple of Diana at Ephesus. Plate XXI. CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. 191 Its columns strew the wilderness, and dwell The hysena and jackall in their shade ; I have beheld Sophia's* bright roofs swell Their glittering mass i' the sun ; and have surveyed Its sanctuary the while the usurping Moslem prayed. But thou, of temples old, or altars new, Standest alone — with nothing like to thee — Enter ; its grandeur overwhelms thee not. And why ? it is not lessened ; but thy mind, Expanded by the genius of the spot, Has grown colossal. — Thou movest, but increasing with the advance, Like climbing some great Alp, which still doth rise. Deceived by its gigantic elegance — Vastness which grows — but grows to harmonize — All musical in its immensities : Rich marbles — richer painting — shrines where flame The lamps of gold — and haughty domf which vies In air with earth's structures, though their frame Sits on the firm-set ground, and this the clouds must claim. St. Paul's Cathedral, in London, (Plate XXI.) though inferior in size and richness to St. Peter's, is a magnificent edifice. The first stone," says the archi- tect, Sir Christopher Wren, was laid in 1675, and the works carried on with such care and industry, that by the year 1685, the walls of the choir and the side aisles were finished, with the north and south • The mosque, formerly the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople. 192 CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. porticoes, and the great pillars of the dome brought to the same height; and it pleased God, in his mercy, to bless the surveyor (architect) with health and length of days, and to enable him to complete the whole structure in the year 1710, to the glory of his holy name, and promotion of his divine worship, the prin- cipal ornament of the imperial seat of this realm^ " Thus was this mighty fabric, the second church for grandeur in Europe, in the space of thirty-five years, begun and finished by one architect, and under one Bishop of London, Dr. Henry Compton." St. Paul's is five hundred feet in length, two hundred and fifty in breadth, and its height, from the pavement to the top of the cross, is three hundred and sixty-six feet. Height of the central nave to the top of the arch, eighty-five feet. Height from the pavement to the top of the interior dome, two hundred and eighteen feet. The Grecian orders of architecture are mingled in St. Paul's. The principal columns on the exterior are Corinthian ; then there are composite columns and pilasters. St. Paul's is decidedly an imitation of St. Peter's, and it is considered a successful one, producing upon the beholder the emotion of beauty and sublimity. Brunileschi and Bramante, fully imbued with enthu- siasm inspired by the arts of the ancients, of which they had so many examples before them that are lost to us, established a style, as perfectly pure and consistent in all its parts, as it was distinct from either the Gothic or all that we know of the Roman. This CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. 193 was the style called the cinquecento. With all the great models of antiquity before them, these great architects only took such features as were in accordance with the buildings they erected ; they were not seduced by the splendour of those noble columns, with their glorious acanthus crown, to insert them where they were not required ; they did not imitate the portico, nor were they led away by the grandeur of the noble pediment. Full of the poetic feelings of the great artist, their models only served them to form new and original combinations. The entrance and the windows were made the prin- cipal vehicles for ornament; and 32 since palaces were no longer re- \ / graceful windows of Bramanti', is from the Palazzo Giraud, Rome. (Fig. 32.) Their works might serve, with some alterations, as models for our own times. Raphael and Giulio Ro- mano, painters as well as architects, although they adopted the cinquecento style, reduced it to greater severity. quired to be fortresses, the window assumed its proper dimensions, and admitted that light freely into the apartments of a dwelling, which the fierce character of ear- lier times had lont? oblifred them for safety, to exclude. The ex- ample in the margin, of one of the 13 194 CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. Michael Angelo introduced the first confusion into this style, by employing Corinthian or Ionic columns with their entablatures, for supports of a cornice and pediment abova a window. One improvement he made upon the cinquecento, by the introduction of a rich cornice as a final crown to a building, — a feature which Gothic architects never understood; and this feature forms one of the leading ornaments in street architecture at the present day. In France, a change was effected from the Gothic by the introduction of classical features, which pro- duced a mode known as "la gout de la renaissance." This style approximated to the Roman in all its features, and was much admired afterwards both in England and on the continent. La Renaissance,^^ as it is called, is again a favourite among architects, although considered unequal in purity to the cinque- cento. About the same period, the first innovation was made upon the Gothic in England, which gra- dually produced the Elizabethan, which will be more particularly described hereafter. Sir Christopher Wren subsequently introduced into England some works of a domestic character, which possessed claims to originality. In France too, Le Brun, the painter, designed some buildings in what has been termed the Louis Quatorze style. It is capable of great richness of decoration, though its ornamental details possess little claim to CLASSIC ARCHITECTURE. 195 good taste or distinct meaning. The architecture of the reign of William and Mary,* and that of the reign of Anne, contained a strong admixture of the taste of the Louis Quatorze.^ * Architectural Magazine, Vol. V. t CHAPTER XVI. PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. We shall not enter into a minute investigation of the present state of the art in Europe ; a few remarks on this part of our subject must suffice. " It is pretty generally admitted, among those who can boast of freedom from prejudice, that Paris outstrips London in the taste and magnificence of its public buildings. The Arc de Triomphe, the Hotel des Ministres, the Madeleine Churchy and the Bourse (in Paris), are fear- ful odds against that strange pile of waste and folly, Buckingham Palace, and the National Gallery in Charing Cross (in London). There are few French- men who do not feel strong emotions of pride and enthusiasm, as he views these monuments, which, in addition to their individual interest, contribute to his national glory. Can an Englishman feel similar ex- ultation as he surveys the public edifices of his capital? Undoubtedly he can, if he go back to the days of Wren ; but his food for self-congratulation will be small in- deed, if he confine himself to the structures that have risen up in his own day. The truth is, the genius to ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 197 conceive, the patience to execute, and the mental cul- ture to value grand architectural designs, seem dead in England. "The few buildings raised of late years are not only deficient in the grand, but they are for the most part built in a style remarkable for its violation of esta- blished rule, and correct taste. Many of the new churches that adorn the streets of the British metro- polis vie with each other in curious absurdity. " One of the most important principles in architect- ure, is, that a building should be adapted in its form and internal economy to its uses, and harmonize in its orna- ments with the spirit of its destination. Yet how utterly has it been lost sight of, in the construction of those modern churches ! If an extravagantly grotesque and ludicrous exterior be adapted to the solemnity of such duties as are performed within their walls, their architects have succeeded marvellously well ; if the internal arrangement of our churches should be such that a large portion of those assembled within them, to listen to the word of God, hear no more of it than they would in a Turkish mosque, then the designers are admirable artists. " But we are told, these are imitations from the an- tique ; they are copied from structures that have borne the brunt of critical severity for ages. True, they are imitations, but in this is * the very head and front of their offending.' Can it rationally be supposed, that the light, airy style of architecture which suited the 198 PRESENT STATE OF cloudless sky, and burning sun of Greece, should be fitted for the eternal rain, and the harsh clouds of a northern land ? This want of keeping between the character of the architecture, and the physical condi- tion of the country is, perhaps, its gravest fault. We shall not stop to inquire into the cause of the architectural degeneracy in England, (we believe its existence a fact that cannot have escaped the notice of the most dull-witted philanderer of the streets of Lon- don,) nor to refute the ingenious, but sophistical reason- ing of a London periodical, which attributes it to the vitiating influence of the aristocracy. But without ascribing undue weight to the masses, we may venture to predict, that so long as popular indifference on the subject exists, the architecture of the metropolis will pursue its downward course to insignificance. It is by an appeal to the people, that the removal of the evil is to be hoped for."* Great efforts are, however, being made at present in England, to effect improvement in the art. A writer in the Westminster Review, Vol. XL., in an able article, entitled " Practical Considerations for the Pro- motion of British Architecture," remarks as follows : " We rejoice to notice the disposition evinced in the higher classes to extend the cultivation of the Pine Arts among all classes of people, by means of national education. This is beginning at the right end. In * Edinburgh Magazine. ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 199 the useful arts we have not our equals; but set a country carpenter to sketch a plan for a rustic lodge, and the result would scarcely be a production which a native of New Zealand could not excel. " Great opposition has been made in the majority of our free schools to the introduction of drawing classes for teaching the elementary principles of design. Ig- norant persons suppose they are required only as accomplishments unsuitable for the poor ; but who can calculate the influence upon the progress of a national architecture, from conferring upon every poor lad the ability to sketch a picturesque cottage, such as he might one day be able to build for himself, as an im- provement upon his father's cabin ? And, after ^11, how small, comparatively, is the effect produced upon the general aspect of a country by a few elegant villas or mansions, although erected in the most correct taste ! For any one of these, we see, perhaps, fifty small houses springing up almost in a night for work- ing men and humble tradesmen, possessing no one architectural feature upon which the eye can rest with pleasure. We must change the character of these structures, before we can boast of a national archi- tecture." The Church Extension Society has done much towards improving ecclesiastical edifices. All over England, churches, most of them in the Gothic style, have been recently erected. The new church at Rei- gate, Surrey, is a fair specimen of these modern Gothic 200 PRESENT STATE OF structures. The octagonal tower and spire are remark- able for simplicity and lightness. The church is in all respects most substantially built. Throughout the building, the architect has adopted, for the most part, the forms which began to prevail early in the fifteenth century. (Plate XXII.) The people of England are manifesting at present great interest in public schools, — parish schools espe- cially. They are improving their school-houses in convenience and beauty. The writer last quoted says the rage for the Elizabethan style is such, that if a school-house were not erected in this style, it would with many persons go far to prove that the Bible was not taught there." He gives as one of the most pleasing structures of these fashionable Elizabethan school-houses, one of the Brompton schools. Judging from the exterior, the interior arrangement might be rendered very convenient. " The architecture of the period of Elizabeth has strictly no style of its own. But by Elizabethan forms are generally understood those which began to prevail in the century preceding the Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry YIII.," belonging to what correctly should be called the early Tudor style, or Perpendicular Pointed Gothic. In Germany architecture has become a regal amuse- ment, at least we infer the fact, from the following description of the Palace of the King of Bavaria, at Munich. ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 201 " The exterior of the building is plain, but has an air of grandeur even from its simplicity and uniformity. It reminds me of Sir Philip Sidney's beautiful descrip- tion. ' A house built of fair and strong stone ; not affecting so much any extraordinary kind of fineness as an honourable representing of a firm statdiness ; all more lasting than beautiful, but that the consideration of the exceeding lastingness, made the eye believe it was exceeding beautiful.' " When a selfish despot designs a palace, it is for himself he builds. He thinks first of his own personal tastes and peculiar habits, and the arrangements are contrived to suit his exclusive propensities. Thus, for Nero's overwhelming pride, no height, no space, could suffice, so he built his " Golden House" upon a scale which obliged its next possessor to pull it to pieces, as only fit to lodge a Colossus. George the Fourth had a predilection for low ceilings, so all the future inhabitants of Pimlico Palace must endure suffocation. The commands which the King of Ba- varia gave De Klenze, (the architect,) were in a dif- ferent spirit. " Build me a palace, in which nothing within or without shall be of transient fashion or interest ; a palace for my posterity and my people, as well as myself; of which the decorations shall be durable as well as splendid, and shall appear one or two centuries hence as pleasing to the eye and taste as they do now." "Upon this principle," said De 202 PRESENT STATE OF Klenze, looking round, " I designed what you now see." On the first floor are the apartments of the king and queen, all facing the south ; a parallel range of apart- ments behind, contains accommodations for the ladies of honour, chamberlains, &c. ; a grand staircase on the east leads to the apartments of the king, another on the west to those of the queen, the two suites of apartments uniting in the centre. All the chambers allotted to the king's use are painted with subjects from the Greek poets, and those of the queen from the German poets. We began with the king's apartments. The stair- case is beautiful, but simple, consisting of a flight of wide, broad steps of the native marble ; there is no gild- ing; the ornaments on the ceiling represent the dif- ferent arts and manufactures carried on in Bavaria. Over the door which opens into the apartments, is the king's motto, "Just and Firm." Two caryatides support the entrance ; these figures are colossal. 1. The first antechamber^ is decorated with great simplicty. 2. The second antechamber, is less simple in its de- coration. The frieze around the top of this chamber is about three feet wide, and represents the Theogony, the wars of the Titans, &c., from Hesiod. The figures are in outline and tinted, but without relief, in the manner of some of the ancient Greek paintings on vases. ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 203 3. A saloon or reception-room, for those who are to be presented to the king. On this room, which is in a manner public, the utmost luxury of decoration is to be expended, but it is yet unfinished. 4. The throne-room. The decorations of this room combine in an extraordinary degree, the utmost splen- dour with the utmost elegance. The whole is adorned with bas-reliefs in white stucco, raised upon a ground of dead gold. The gilding of this room alone, cost 72,000 florins. 5. A saloon or antechamber. The ceiling and walls admirably painted, from the tragedies of ^schylus. 6. The king's study ; painted with subjects from Sophocles. In the arch at one end of this room are seven compartments, in which are inscribed, in gold letters, the sayings of the seven Greek sages. 7. The king's dressing-room. Painted with subjects from Aristophanes. 8. The king's bed-room. No description could give an adequate idea of the endless variety and graceful and luxuriant ornament, harmonizing with various subjects and the purpose of each room, and lavished on the walls and ceilings even to infinitude. The (peen's apartments are equally numerous, rich, and beautiful. The dining-room is exceedingly elegant. Now it must be remembered that these seventeen rooms form the domestic apartments of the royal family ; and mag- 204 PRESENT STATE OF nificent as they are, a certain elegance, cheerfulness, and propriety has been more consulted than parade and grandeur ; but on the ground floor, there is a suite of state apartments, prepared for the reception of strangers on great and festive occasions, and these ex- cited my admiration wme than all the rest together. This suite of apartments is ornamented with a series of splendid paintings in fresco, the subjects of which are taken from a German epic poem called the Nibe- lungen Lied. The walls of the apartments are im- mensely high, and upon the sides and ceilings ample space is left for these splendid paintings. The unfinished chapel adjoining the new palace re- minded me, in the general effect, of the interior of St. Mark's, at Venice ; but of course the details are exe- cuted in a grander feeling and in a much higher style of art. The pillars are of the native marble, and the walls will be covered with a kind of Mosaic of various marbles, intermixed with ornaments in rehef, in gild- ing and in colours — all combined and harmonizing together. The ceiling is formed of two large domes, or cupolas. I learn that the king's passion for building, and the forced encouragement given to the enlargement and decoration of his capital, have been carried to an excess, and, like all extremes, has proved mischievous, at least for the time. He has rendered it too much a fashion among his subjects, rvho are suffering from rash specu- lations of this kind. A suite of beautiful unfurnished ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 205 apartments, and even a pretty house in the finest part of Munich, may be hired for a trifle. Some of these new houses are enormous. Madame M told me that she has her whole establishment cui one floor, but then she has twenty-three rooms. This is indeed the extravagance of architecture ; and it appears, after all, from the foregoing description, that the splendour of the interior of German buildings is mostly produced by painting and gilding. The immense size and the comparative simplicity of the buildings prove, how- ever, the great superiority of the art in Germany to its present state in England. It is, perhaps, the golden age" of art in Germany, to which England has not yet arrived. No order has yet been added to Architecture by modern Europe. The three Grecian orders, and the variations from them, called the Roman orders, — the Tuscan and Composite, remain the sole established orders. Almost all buildings of any pretension are built accordinjj to these orders, or follow the Gothic style. In Russia, the beautiful Gothic style has never been prevalent. But few traces of it are to be seen in Moscow, of a later date than twenty years ; and there is not a single fine building in this style in St. Peters- burg. For many years past, both Moscow and St. Peters- burg have been well supplied with the most able Italian architects. The numerous models they have 206 PRESENT STATE OF given of elegant taste and style, have drawn forth the eulogies of travellers, especially in these capitals of Russia, two of the noblest cities on the globe. The GrcBCO-lfalian style must at first have been modified by the climate of Russia. But the architects, having acquired the art of counteracting severe cold by extremely thick walls, and excellent stoves, were left to the free exercise of taste, as in the more genial clime of Italy. In these days, the interior of the man- sions of the nobles is so arranged that the visiter might conceive himself at Rome. For ecclesiastical architecture, the Grecian style, mo- dified and ornamented afterwards by the Italians, has ever prevailed, and still prevails in Russia. A few exceptions, of edifices which are not reducible to any known style, cannot affect this general conclusion. One ornament of the Russian churches, which is al- most universal, has excited the attention and curiosity of all travellers. We allude to their bulbous domes, or domes of the shape of an onion. Dr. Lyall thinks these domes came from the East, where they are very common ornaments at present, and is of opinion that their pagan derivation is extremely plausible. The learned doctor's conjecture with regard to their origin seems more amusing than satisfactory. He says, " The Egyptians worshipped onions , and perhaps the same practice may have been common among others of the oriental nations; and as it is natural to elevate any object to which reverence or adoration is paid, it is ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 207 probable that onions, and these onion-shaped bodies, may have been placed upon pillars to receive homage, and afterwards were continued merely as ornaments, in consequence of their agreeable figure, and their adaptation as the summits of towers ; and from thence became the embellishment of sacred temples." A popular traveller from our own country writes of the famous Kremlin at Moscow, as follows : I had thought of it as the rude and barbarous palace of the Czars : but I found it one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and magnificent objects I ever beheld. Its high and venerable walls ; its numerous battlements and towers, and steeples ; its magnificent and gorgeous palaces : its cathedrals, churches, monasteries, and belfries, with their gilded, coppered, and tin-plated domes ; its mix- ture of barbarism and decay, magnificence and ruins ; its strong contrast of architecture, including the Tar- tarian, Hindoo, Chinese, and Gothic; all together ex- hibited a beauty, grandeur, and magnificence, strange and indescribable. The Kremlin is two miles in ex- tent, and is in itself a city. I shall not attempt to describe the palaces of the Czars. They are a combi- nation of every variety of taste and every order of architecture, Grecian, Italian, &c., &c. ; rude, fanciful, grotesque, gorgeous, magnificent, and beautiful." The same traveller says : I do not believe that Rome, when Adrian reared the mighty Coliseum, and the Palace of the Csesars covered the Capitoline Hill, exhibited such a range of noble structures as the Admiralty 208 PRESENT STATE OF Quarter, (St. Petersburg.) The Adniiralty itself is the central point, and has a facade of marble, with ranges of columns, a quarter of a mile in length. A beautiful golden (gilded) spire shoots up from the centre, towering over every other object, and seen from every other part of the city, glittering in the sun ; and three principal streets, each two miles in length, radiate from this point. In front is a range of boulevards, ornamented with trees, and an open square, at one ex- tremity of which stands the great church of St. Isaac, of marble, jasper, and porphyry, upon a foundation of granite. On the right of the fa9ade stands the well- known equestrian statue of Peter the Great. The huge block of granite forming the pedestal is fifteen hundred tons in weight." The great Alexandrine column, on the other side of this splendid square, is described as rivalling those magnificent monuments in the Old World, whose ruins now startle the wandering traveller, and towering to the heavens as if to proclaim that the days of architectural greatness are not gone by for ever. It is a single shaft of red granite, exclusive of pedestal and capital, eighty- four feet high. The pedestal contains the simple inscription, To Alexander I. Grateful Russia." Surrounding this, is a crescent of lofty buildings, having before it a majestic colonnade, of the Corinthian order. In the middle is a triumphal arch, which with its frieze reaches nearly to the upper part of the lofty edifice, having a span of seventy feet. Next, on a ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 209 line with the Admiralty, stands the first of a long range of imperial palaces, extending in the form of a crescent for more than a mile along the Neva. The Winter Palace is a gigantic and princely structure, built of marble, with a facade of seven hundred and forty feet. Next, are the two palaces of the Hermitage, connected with it, and with each other, by covered galleries on bold arches. Next, the stately Grecian Theatre of the Hermitage. Beyond this are the bar- racks of the guards; then, the palace of the French Ambassador ; then the marble palace built by Cathe- rine n., for her favourite, Prince Orloff. This mag- nificent range, presenting an uninterrupted front of marble palaces upwards of a mile in length, is un- equalled in any city of the world.'* Thus much, for the present state of architecture in Russia. In Italy, Spain, and Portugal, no recently built edifices can compare in beauty and magnificence with those of former ages. 14 CHAPTER XVIL PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. The leading principle in Architecture is fitness for the end designed. Utility, convenience, and propriety are included in the term fitness. In order to carry out this principle in the erection of any edifice, several things must be taken into con- sideration; namely — To what purpose the building is to be devoted. How it may be constructed at the least expense. How^ it may be rendered strong and enduring. How it may be made beautiful. Every edifice should have a distinctive character, derived from the use to which it is to be applied. For example, in a building for large public assemblies, the main objects to be gained are the following : To contain within a given space the greatest number of individuals, conveniently placed for seeing and hearing. That ingress and egress be effected without difiiculty. That a free circulation of air be enjoyed. That it be sufficiently lighted. PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. 211 That it be constructed strongly and of durable ma- terials, that no danger ensue from weight and pressure. If any one of these conditions be neglected, the building is faulty. In every dwelling-house, the main objects are as follows : That a given number of persons be accommodated with convenient apartments for eating, sleeping, bath- ing, &c. That these apartments be rendered warm in winter, and cool in summer. That they be well lighted and ventilated. That access to these apartments be easy and con- venient. From the cottage to the palace, these are essential requisites in every building designed as a habitation for man. In order that fitness be complete, all the subordinate parts of a building, — doors, windows, fire- places, staircases, chimneys, &c., must be well dis- tributed and arranged. When a building is thus constructed, the effect of the whole will be, that it is fit for the end in view. But, in addition to this kind of fitness. Architecture goes farther, and produces what is termed expression of fitness ; that is, it gives a definite character to every building, so that it appears to be what it really is. A dwelling-house should not be so constructed that its expression should be that of a bank or a state-house ; — a stable should not resemble a dwelling-house for man ; 212 PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. — a church should not look like a barn — neither should a barn be ornamented with Gothic windows, battle- ments, and turrets. A jail should not have the light and airy expression of a place of amusement, but a heavy, sombre, gloomy expression. "The beauty of truth is so essential to every other kind of beauty, that it can neither be dispensed with in art nor in morals." Architecture has become an ornamental art when ex- pression is thus given by it to every kind of building. A church should be characterized by noble and sublime simplicity, inspiring awe and devotion. We have no royal residences in the United States, but the President's house, belonging, as it does, to the nation, should have an expression of magnificence, in- spiring admiration and respect. A monument, designed to transmit to posterity me- morable events in history, or the high deeds of heroic men, ought to indicate, independent of its sculptures and inscriptions, the purpose for which it is designed. A dwelling-house should have its peculiar character expressed; the city mansion — the villa — the orna- mented cottage — the farm-house, should each befit the station of its occupant, and convey the idea of pro- priety, neatness, and home-enjoyment. When fitness for the end in view, and the expression of appropriateness are effected, a building may be con- sidered complete. In order to accomplish this result, and, moreover, to render it perfectly pleasing to the eye, it must have proportion and a due degree of orna- PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. 213 ment. W\\h.0M\ proportion^ (which, if analyzed, migiit be found to result from fitness^) the richest and most elaborately ornamented building can never be pleasing to the eye ; and a building entirely unornamented may be so perfectly symmetrical in its proportions as to ex- cite the emotion of beauty. Proportion," says Vitruvius, is a due adjustment of the size of the different parts to each other, and to the whole: on this proper adjustment symmetry de- pends. This is as necessary to a building as to a well- formed human figure." Walls should be proportioned in thickness and height to the weight they have to support ; windows to the size of the building ; columns to the entablature ; colonnades to the edifice ; porticoes to the doorway ; height should be in proportion to the breadth. If a building is one among a row of other buildings, it will bear to be narrow^ in comparison with its height, be- cause its width does not appear, and because it seems supported by the adjoining buildings. These, and many other things, go to make up proportion, and pro- duce the impression of symmetrical beauty. Ornament must be suited to the general character of a building, or it destroys the proper expression. It has been questioned whether ornament can be beautiful, unless it convey the idea of utility. The only utility that we can discover in many things, is the pleasure given to the senses. Ornament in architecture, is not always associated with utility, yet who can doubt that 214 PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. it is pleasing to the eye of taste? But, the ornamental parts of a building must be perfectly symmetrical, or they do not add to its beauty. The different orders of architecture, have different characters, requiring each its peculiar ornaments. " The Tuscan is distinguished by its severity ; the Doric by its simplicity ; the Ionic by its elegance ; the Corinthian and Composite by their lightness and gaiety. To these characters their ornaments are suited with consummate taste. Change these ornaments ; give to the Tuscan the Corinthian capital, or to the Corinthian the Tuscan, and every person would feel, not only a disappointment from this unexpected composition, but a sentiment also of impropriety, from the appropriation of a grave or sober ornament, to a subject of severity."* Several very important considerations render the rectangular form most suitable for buildings in general. Contrasted with the straight lines and right angles of an edifice, the flowing and curved lines of ornaments have a pleasing effect. Such are volutes, foliage, and mouldings. In the earliest specimens of Grecian Architecture, the exterior of buildings was but little ornamented ; the Doric order was only relieved from the entire sameness of straight lines and right angles, by the bold ovolo that forms the capital. Sculptured figures of men and animals, oxen's heads, and vessels used in sacrifice, appear upon the metopes and pedi- * Alison on Taste. PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. 215 ments of Doric edifices of a later period. The Ionic is varied with numerous flowing and curved lines; and an exuberance of foliage and flowers ornaments the Corinthian. These exquisite forms complete the beauty of a building. A magnificent and appropriate edifice," says the learned Britton, " is the noblest, the most important, and the most transcendent work of man : when nearest to a state of perfection, it exhibits his genius, science, and talents, in a proud and dignified point of view; for such a building is the master-piece of human invention and elaborate operation." The economy and strength of buildings depend mostly upon the materials of which they are composed : these should be chosen with judgment, used with care, and put together with skill. An architect should understand perfectly before he commences a building, what sum of money is to be devoted to it; then he must employ it in the best possible manner. For this purpose he must know the quality and force of all building materials ; these are stones of all kinds, (natural and artificial,*) woods, metals, and cements. If the means aflbrded him will allow him to build of granite, without sacrificing size or convenience, he would be, not only unwise, but dishonest, to build of wood. Granite, however, might not be as suitable for * Brick and tiles, may be called artificial stones. 216 PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. the required purpose, as marble or freestone. The diversity of circumstances, for which an architect's skill is put in requisition, will enable him in time to judge of the resources of his own country, and apply them to the best possible advantage. The architects of this country, or rather their em- ployers, have shown a great want of true economy, in employing perishable materials for large buildings. An architect might better refuse to build at all, than to sacrifice his reputation, by constructing a plaster model for a building, instead of a building, properly so called. His duty to himself, as well as to his country, demands that the public edifices that he plans and builds should not, in the course of ten or twenty years, be in a ruinous condition, and the laughing-stock of the community. A fault into which architects in this country are in danger of falling, is affectation. An ostentatious display of simplicity in style, often produces affectation. But a more common kind of affectation arises from a close and literal imitation of a grand style for ordi- nary buildings. This has been amusingly described by an old writer as follow^s : ''One builder, smitten forsooth with the beauty of the old Roman manner, raises himself a house, having the outward semblance of a temple of some pagan god ; and to accomplish this whimsy, he shows a door only in its best front, and it is well if a pair of windows is to be seen in any of the others ; and these, mayhap, so placed, as if he PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. 217 were ashamed to show to the passers by that he must have the sweet light of heaven to enliven some pendicle of his dwelling. Another, humbler withal, but equally touched with the leprosy of affectation, aping his betters, must needs garnish his thatched grange with battlements. A third, will so beplaster his mud walls with griffins and lions, and stick crockets on pinnacles, and pinnacles on juttings, that it were a hard matter to find a space ample enough to write fool upon, in letters no bigger than those of the good Bishop Lati- mer's Bible. And a fourth, who, like the mole, seems to live in the world without eyes, is contented to bur- row in a house so bare of becoming and seemly orna- ment, that when we behold it, we cannot stay feeling ' that, in truth, the affectedness of plain building is as noisome as any of the others.' "There are some buildings which are calculated only for a distant view ; for though, when beheld afar off, they may please, yet no sooner do we come up to them, than we discover them to be greatly inferior to what they first promised to be. The spell is broken, nor is it to be renewed ; because, when we again look at them from a favourable distance, we are aware of the illusion. There is no further any room for imagi. ning beauties in store for us on nearer examination, which we already know do not exist. " The power of architecture, as a fine art, manifests itself only in sesthetic effect. Effect is its alpha and omega. The first requisite in the art, is effect; the 218 PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE. second, is effect ; the third, is effect. It is necessary, therefore, that an architect should understand the sesthetic department of his art thoroughly, be master of its picturesque power, and be able to combine and invent ; and also, that he should be well versed in all that comes under the head of decoration. " Like the bee, an architect should be able to extract his nutriment, that is, the hyle or material of his art, from the most varied sources, afterwards concocting it into something altogether his own. He should study not only what is acknowledged to be beautiful, but the contrary also, and that for a double purpose; first, that, by understanding deformity, he may know how to avoid it, and so profit by the bad taste of others ; and secondly, that he may search whether there be any latent germ of beauty concealed beneath ugliness. Even as the ' toad wears a precious jewel in his head,' so will many a barbarous design be found to contain some- thing valuable ; valuable at least to him who knows how to turn it to account, and to purify and exalt the base ore into sterling metal. Plagiarisms of this kind are not only excusable, but glorious ; they constitute the triumphs of art. In such a process lies its genuine alchemy."* * Architectural Magazine, 1838. CHAPTER XVIII. QUALIFICATIONS FOR AN ARCHITECT. In order to rise to eminence in art, genius is indis- pensable. Bj study and practice, a man of ordinary talents may become a good builder ; he may under- stand bis art, so far as it relates to the necessaries and conveniences of life ; but something more is requisite to raise him to the rank of an artist, — on the same level with the poet, painter, sculptor, and musician. In ancient times, men of royal birth and of noble parentage became architects. This only proves the estimation in which the art was held ; they who were neither royal nor noble by birth, were raised by genius to equal dignity and honour with those who possessed this adventitious superiority. Genius is true nobility. In our country we profess reverence for no superiority, but that which every man may acquire, by his virtues and his talents. It is ridiculous pretension for a man who has had just education and ''calculation" enough to scrape together, '' by hook or by crook," some thou- sands or millions of dollars, to look dow^n upon the 220 QUALIFICATIONS FOR man of genius and education, who plans his spacious mansion/ adorns its walls with glowing landscapes, or lays upon his drawing-room tables " Thoughts that breathe and words that burn." Such pretension could only be tolerated among a people but half-refined, where Mammon is the idol. A man who intends to be an architect, should possess ingenuity and mathematical talent, and should receive an education with direct reference to the practice of his art. He should be ingenious. Without this qualification, he might study the works of the most eminent artists, and become thoroughly imbued with a correct taste, but he would never be able to apply his knowledge and exercise his taste according to the varying wants of his own age and country. A man may have a cer- tain dexterity of hand, which will enable him to per- form skilfully some work of art, which another has planned for him, or given him an exact model to copy ; but he is then only performing manual labour, and ex- ercising the one faculty of imitation ; if he can go no farther, he never will become a complete artist ; he will never produce any work which will acquire for him a reputation, for his is not the master-mind. Architec- ture, through all its progress from infancy to perfection, is an inventive art. An architect must be practical He cannot live in a world of fancy, like the poet; he cannot copy AN ARCHITECT. 221 nature in her loveliest aspects, like the painter; nor perfect nature in forms of surpassing beauty and grace, like the sculptor. He must render tasteful and beautiful that which is essential. In doing this, he must not speculate and theorize till he has lost sight of the main object in all his works, utility. Practical knowledge must make him acquainted with all that is best adapted to insure convenience, strength, and durability; and a constant regard to the end in view prevent him from sacrificing the substance to the shadow — fitness to factitious ornament. He must be practical, too, in order to gain respect and confidence. A theorist may be expert in drawing plans, and fill his studio with an endless variety, when only one good plan is needed ; his own mind will wander amid this variety, without being able to make a choice. If this choice is at length made by another, the theorizing man has so many alterations and additions to make in carrying on the work, that he puzzles and vexes the men whom he employs, and loses their confidence, by seeming to have no plan at all in his own mind. He will not be an economical artist. In following out a favourite theory, little regard will be paid to expense, and probably, he will not be able to make an exact estimate, as he never knows when his plan is fixed ; and besides, he has not the patience to examine into minute details. A complete architect should be thoroughly educated, with special reference to his art. He should gain a good knowledge of arithmetic, mensuration, geometry, 222 QUALIFICATIONS FOR trigonometry, and algebra. He should be well ac- quainted with the history of mankind and the history of the arts. Drawing, he should learn with almost as much eagerness as if he were to be a painter. The most eminent architects have often been the best painters and sculptors of the age in which they lived. Perspective and projection he should carefully study, that he may know how a building will appear from every point of view. A knowledge of mechanical philosophy is indispensable — chemistry and mineralogy very desirable acquisitions, that he may know the re- lative strength and durability of all building materials. Beside these acquirements, an architect should have his taste improved and refined by poetry and classic literature. " Proficiency in the French and Italian languages," says Sir William Chambers, " is also requisite to him ; not only that he may be able to travel with advantage, and converse without difficulty, in countries where the chief part of his knowledge is to be collected, but also to understand the many books treating upon his profession, the greater part of which have never been translated." With a due deference to the genius of the ancients, and a suitable admiration of their works, an American architect must possess the power to adopt what is suitable to our soil, climate, manners, civil institutions, and religion, without servile imitation. An architect, who would produce beautiful works, AN ARCHITECT. 228 must be himself a severe critic upon his own designs ; he must admit nothing definitely, without having sub- mitted it to the most vigorous examination. His in- genuity and skill must not be entirely employed upon the exterior for self-glorification, while the interior is left inconvenient and ill-proportioned. In short, an architect should be governed by the strictest principles of integrity and rectitude. From these few hints on the qualifications for an architect, it will be inferred, that his education should be commenced in boyhood, with special reference to the noble art which he is to practice. A lasting bene- fit would be conferred upon the country, if some of our young men, as soon as they evince talents for artists, were regularly and thoroughly educated for that pur- pose. Many young men, who now make the tour of Europe without any definite object in view, and with little advantage to themselves, thus prepared by pre- vious education, might study the chef-d^ (Euvres of art in the cities and galleries of Europe, and return home with correct taste and skill in the Fine Arts, and moreover, with enthusiasm, which would render them admirable artists. A report from the Select Committee on Arts, of the (British) House of Commons, thus terminates : " It will give your committee the sincerest gratification if the result of their inquiry, (in which they have been liberally assisted by the artists of this country,) tend in any degree to raise the character of a profession, 224 QU ALIFIC A.TI O N S FOR which is said to stand much higher among foreign nations than our own ; to infuse, even remotely, into an industrious and enterprising people, a love of Art, and to teach them to respect and venerate the name of artist." On the continent of Europe, there are Schools of Art," where young men are educated with special reference to some particular branch of art. They have nothing of the kind in England, neither have we at present in this country. The sagacious statesman Burke, long since regretted this deficiency in Eng- land. "If there be any one," says a writer in the Edinburgh Review, who, for the most effectual pro- secution of his profession, requires the highest mental cultivation, it is the artist. This would give rank and honour to the profession. The known learning of some of the professors has already, we think, been beneficial." In Bavaria there are no less than thirty-three schools of Art. In France there are about eighty schools of Art. " The School of Art at Lyons, originated in a decree of Bonaparte, dated from Warsaw. Its object was to give elementary instruction in Art, with a view to the improvement of the silk manufactures of France. But its field of usefulness has widened from time to time, and it is now divided into six principal departments ; 1. Painting. 2. Architecture. 3. Ornament, and mise en carte, (which is arranging patterns upon paper AN ARCHITECT. 225 for all kinds of fabrics.) 4. A Botanical Department. 5. Sculpture. 6. Engraving." These schools in France are assisted by the state. At Paris, 60,000 francs are yearly given to the Royal School of Design. The course of study lasts for three years, and the students pay five francs, (one dollar !) for the first year, and ten francs, (two dollars!) for each of the second and third. The schools of art in Switzerland are regulated in a similar manner. At Geneva the students pay the same as in Paris. Dr. Bowring mentions that he found a Chinese at Geneva, who had studied there three years in one of the schools of art. Why should not such schools be established in the United States ? If not supported, they might be aided by the States where they were instituted. Like other schools, they might in time sustain themselves ; but at the outset the expenses would be such, that a grant of money firom the Legislature would be needed, or aid from patriotic men of wealth. Something of this kind has been attempted in the Academy of the Arts of Design, in New York, but on a very different plan from the schools of art in Europe. In our higher schools and academies, some elemen- tary instruction in art might be introduced with great advantage to pupils generally. In an enlightened and refined nation, every man and woman should know enough of the principles of architecture to en- 15 226 QUALIFICATIONS FOR able them to order their houses to be built with due reference to comfort and good taste. ^' The prize, as well as the race, is set before us," says an able Ame- rican writer, " and we have everything that can give us hope. Whatever labour it may impose upon our architects, to all other persons the means of success are the easiest possible. We need scarcely more than wish for it (good taste), and it will come. I will point out the way. The artist who loads our edifices with ornament, or multiplies the parts more than is neces- sary, is either ignorant of his art, or means to slight his work and throw dust in our eyes, so as to blind us to its defects. Let us begin, then, with requiring sim- plicity in our buildings. We shall soon have it ; and its immediate effect will be a powerful and favourable action on our taste. Let us look for a moment at the effect our demand for it will have on the architects themselves. Finding it impossible to dazzle or be- wilder the mind by factitious helps, they will from necessity attempt beauty and power of design ; their taste will thus begin a course of discipline, and will again act on ours. Mind will continue to operate on mind ; and then will arise among us men of pure and lofty conceptions, who will scorn all tricks of art, and whose taste will be content only when it makes each object it touches an image of itself" The same able writer says that an architect must possess "a taste so well disciplined as to be able to judge with instinctive certainty as regards beauty of AN ARCHITECT. 227 form ; and this taste must be exercised with unceasing industry in combining such forms and in trying their combinations. The Greeks were like other men, and came to perfection in architecture as men have come to perfection in other matters. We err most egregiously if we suppose them architects by nature, or that they gained their mighty power by folding their hands and waiting for hints in a happy dream, or even by profuse but idle admiration of the efforts of men from other countries. They took the powers which nature gave them, and hy unceasing culture brought them to the very highest perfection; these they applied, and they suc- ceeded; others will succeed when they do all this, and not till then:' CHAPTER XIX. ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY. In tracing the progress of the art in the United States, we are upon almost untrodden ground, where only a few faint footsteps can be discovered. Although the first adventurers from England brought with them the knowledge of the arts of civi- lized and refined society, their situation for years was such as to preclude the exercise of these arts. When the first colonists of Jamestown set sail for a harbour in Virginia, a. d. 1607, of the one hundred and five on the list of emigrants, there were but twelve labourers, and very few mechanics. " They were going to a wilderness, in which as yet not a house was standing, and there were forty-eight gentlemen to four carpenters." Their first employment was to fell tim- ber for the erection of places of shelter, houses they could scarcely be termed. They might have received some hints for their rude architecture from the im- perial residence of Powhatan.* Captain Newport, * This native chieftain has been styled the " Emperor of the Country." AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 229 Captain John Smith, and twenty other colonists, soon after their landing at Jamestown, visited the principal residence of this renowned chieftain, near the site of the present city of Richmond ; it consisted of twelve wigwams. As might have been expected from the predominance of gentlemen over working-men, the colony was soon in a miserable condition. At first they were all com- pelled to labour ; as Captain John Smith says, " Now falleth every man to worke ; the Councell contrive the fort, the rest cut down trees to make place to pitch their tents ; some provide clapboard to relode the ships, some make gardens, some nets, &c. ;" but soon they became exceedingly idle. Various calamities beset the colonists. Not long after they were established, an accidental fire destroyed nearly the whole of Jamestown. Smith says, The towne, which being but thatched with reeds, the fire was so fierce as it burnt their pallisados, (though eight or ten yards distant,) with their armes, bedding, apparell, and much private provision. Good Master Hunt, our preacher, lost all his liberary, and all he had but the cloathes on his backe ; yet none never heard him repine at his losse. This happened in the winter, in that extreme frost, 1607." Famine followed, and continued dread of their savage foes. Their scanty provisions had become spoiled on the long voyage. " Our drink," say they, " was unwhole- some water ; our lodgings, castles in the air." Despair 230 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. of mind ensued ; so that, in less than a fortnight after the departure of the homeward-bound fleet, hardly ten of them were able to stand ; the labour of completing some simple fortifications was exhausting; and no regular crops could be planted. During the summer, there were not on any occasion five able men to guard the bulwarks. The fort was filled in every corner with the groans of the sick, whose outcries night and day for six weeks, rent the hearts of those who could minister no relief* Disunion and strife among the colonists, completed the scene of misery. Nothing but the favour of God, through the instrumentality of the brave and enterpris- ing Smith, saved the colony from entire destruction.! It was a long time before sad experience taught the mother country the necessity of sending colonists who were hardy men, skilled in mechanical arts, and accustomed to labour. " When you send againe," wrote the indefatigable Smith, rather send but thirty carpenters, husband- men, gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers-up of trees-roots, well provided, than a thousand such as we have ; for except wee be able both to lodge them, and feed them, the most will consume with want of necessaries, before they can be made good for anything." * Bancroft. t His friend, the youthful Pocahontas, who saved his life, is called by one of the early historians, the Numparell (nonpareil) of Virginia. AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 231 Thus, struggling with ten thousand difficulties, the indomitable spirit of Smith at length succeeded in placing the colony upon a firm, enduring foundation. The gentlemen, compelled by stern necessity, could wield the axe like accomplished wood-cutters ; for after two years of disasters, it was enacted as a law, " That if any man would not work, neither should he eat." But like most public benefactors. Smith was sorely beset by enemies ; notwithstanding his entreaties for efficient colonists, they continued to send broken-down tradesmen, dissolute gallants, &c., men more fitted to corrupt, than to found a commonwealth. These gave him infinite trouble, yet he resolutely maintained authority over them. At last an accidental explosion of gunpowder disabled him, by inflicting wounds, which the surgical skill of Virginia could not relieve. Delegating his authority to Percy, he embarked for England. Extreme suffering from his wounds, and the ingratitude of his employers, were the fruits of his services. He received for his sacrifices and his perilous exertions, not one foot of land, not the house he himself had built, not the field his own hands had planted, nor any reward but the applause of his conscience, and the world.* Smith at his departure left more than four hundred and ninety persons in the colony; in six months, indolence, vice, and famine, reduced the num- ber to sixty. The arrival of Lord Delaware, in June, 1610, saved * Bancroft. 232 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. the colony from entire destruction. "It was," says the elegant historian of the United States, " it was on the tenth day of June, that the restoration of the colony was solemnly begun by supplications to God. After the solemn exercises of religion. Lord Delaware caused his commission to be read ; a consultation was imme- diately held on the good of the colony, and its govern- ment was organized with mildness but decision. The evils of faction were healed by the unity of the adminis- tration, and the colonists, excited by mutual emulation, performed their tasks with alacrity. At the beginning of each day they assembled in the little church, which was kept neatly trimmed with the wild flowers of the country ; next they returned to their houses to receive their allowance of food. The settled hours of labour, were from six in the morning till ten, and from two in the afternoon till four. The houses were warm and secure, covered above with strong boards, and matted on the inside, after the fashion of the Indian wigwams." Blessed little church in the wilderness ! Would that we could minutely describe that rude structure, de- corated with wild flowers, the first edifice erected to the worship of God in the United States! There, prayer and praise daily ascended to the Almighty, and thus was a permanent foundation laid, for the noble State of Virginia. When afterwards Sir Thomas Gates, a. d. 1611, assumed the government of the colony, and employed AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 233 religion as the foundation of order and of laws, " Good," said the colonists, are the beginnings where God thus leads." Gates built a new town, and called it Henrico. He environed it with a palisado; then he built at each corner of the town, a high commanding watch-house ; then a church and store-houses ; which, being finished, he began to thin^ upon convenient houses for himself and men, which, with all possible speed he could, he eifected, to the great content of his company and all the colony." Here then, was the first regularly built town in the United States. "It hath," says the quaint old his- torian, three streets of well-framed houses, a hand- some church, and the foundation of a better laid, to bee built of bricke, besides store-houses, watch-houses, and the like." Jamestown, at this time, is described as having " two rows of houses of framed timber, and some of them two stories and a garret higher, and three large store- houses joined together in length." This was in 1611. Thus we see, from what humble beginnings, the most useful and the most superb of all arts takes its rise. From an old work on Virginia, published in London in 1722, ''by a native and inhabitant of the place," we extract the following chapter, which shows the pro- gress of the art in the colony. 234 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. "OF THE BUILDINGS OF VIRGINIA. " There are three fine buildings in this country, (Virginia,) which are said to be the most magnificent of any in the English America. One of which is the College, another the Capitol, or State House ; not far from this is also built the public prison for criminals, which is a large and convenient structure, with parti- tions for the different sexes, and distinct rooms for petty offenders ; besides a large yard for the prisoners, and a separate prison for debtors. " The house for the Governor, though not the largest, is by far the most beautiful of all. It was granted by the Assembly, begun in President Jennings his time, but received its beauty and conveniency for the many alterations and decorations of the present Governor, Colonel Spots wood, who, to the lasting honour and happiness of the country, arrived there while the house was carrying up. In his time was also built a new brick church, and brick magazine for arms and ammunition, and the streets of the towne altered from the fanciful forms of Ws and M's, to much more con- veniences. These are all built of brick, and covered with shingle, except the debtors' prison, which has a fiat roof covered with slate. " The private buildings are also very much im- proved, several of them there having built themselves AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 235 large brick houses of many rooms on a floor, but they don't covet to make them lofty, having extent of ground enough to build upon; and now and then they are visited by high winds, which would incommode a towering fabric. They love to have large rooms, that they may be cool in summer. Of late, they have made their stores much higher than formerly, and their windows larger and sasht with crystal glass. Their common covering for dwellings is shingles, which is an oblong square of cypress or pine wood. Clapboards are used to cover the tobacco-houses." Thus we see, that improvements were slowly made for the space of one hundred years. THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. On the memorable 11th of December, 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers stepped upon the Plymouth Rock, and on the 22d, their families were landed, and the May Flower was safely moored in the harbour. It was an inclement season ; the colonists were grievously afllicted with consumption and lung fever ; nevertheless, it was agreed that each man should build his own house. " The sounding aisles of the dim woods rang," at one time with the voice of prayer and praise, and at another with the colonists' axe and the crash of the trees of the forest. 236 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. Sorely were they hindered by sickness, storms, and frost ; the miserable shelters they erected were insuffi- cient to protect them from the bitter cold and driving snow of that inclement wdnter. The living were scarcely able to bury the dead ; the well, not sufficient to take care of the sick. At the season of the greatest distress, there were but seven, able to render assistance. Ten years after the settlement of Plymouth, the colony of Boston was in a situation somewhat similar. " Every hardship was encountered. The emigrants lodged at best in tents of cloth, and in miserable hovels'' For religious worship they assembled under the shade of a spreading tree. Hitherto, the colonists of New England had built their houses in a very rude manner, without having their towns laid out according to a regular plan. NEW HAVEN COLON 7. In 1638, a colony was founded at New Haven, Con- necticut, by Theophilus Eaton, John Davenport, and other men of education and wealth. They laid out the beautiful city of New Haven in nine equal squares, with the streets crossing each other at right angles. The centre square was the public " Green." Upon it their first meeting-house was commenced in 1639. '^The cost of the building was to be £500. The house was fifty feet square. It had a tower surmounted with a tur- AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 237 ret. On the floor of the house there were neither pews nor sUps, but plain seats. That humble edifice, — hum- ble in comparison with the spacious and beautiful struc- tures that now adorn the same ' Green/ — was built and maintained in repair with an honourable zeal for public worship. There, assembled men and women who had been accustomed to the luxuries of wealth in a metropolis, and to the refinements of a court. There, were ministers who had disputed in the universities, and preached under Gothic arches in London."* The dw^elling-houses of the principal colonists were large and convenient structures. They are even said to have been "fair and stately." Governor Eaton " maintained a port," says an old writer, in some measure answerable to liis state." His plate was worth £700 ; and his house must have been large, to accom- modate the immense quantity of furniture mentioned in an inventory of his estate. There was " the green chamber," with its "tapestry, Turkey-work and needle- work cushions, down bed, green curtains, fringed and laced," &c. &c. &c. Beside "the green chamber," there was " the blue chamber," with nothing of " blue laws" in the furniture ; — " the hall," a stately apart- ment, with "drawing table" and "round table," "green cushions," "great chair with needle-work," "high chairs" and "high stools," "low chairs" and "low stools," "Turkey carpet," "high wine stools," "great brass andirons," &c. &c. Then there was "the par- ^ * Bacon's Historical Discourses. 238 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. lour," less considerable than the hall, Mrs. Eaton's chamber, with abundant furnishing/' and numerous other apartments, proving that the Governor's house must have been, for those days, a very stately dwell- ing, suitable for a man of his wealth and station. NEW YORK. In 1623, a block-house was built by the Dutch on the island of Manhattan, and a few rude cabins were clustered around it. This was the foundation of New Amsterdam — now New York. In a short time a more substantial fort was built, and Governor Klieft had the charge of the colony. Within the walls of the fort, adjoining the Governor's house, a church was built. It was a Dutch edifice, with som^e kind of cupola or spire ; and it had a bell brought from Holland, which was not alone a "church- going bell," as it was rung on all occasions of alarm, or of assembling the people for secular business. Be- neath this venerable first church of New York, the Dutch and English Governors were for many years interred. When New Amsterdam passed into the possession of the English, the old Dutch church was honoured with the new name of "King's Chapel." In 1691 it was repaired and remodelled, and thus remained until 1741, when it was accidentally destroyed by fire. A AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 239 view of the second church built in New Amsterdam, called the Garden Street Church, has been preserved. Many of the emigrants who flocked from the Nether- lands to New Amsterdam, brought their houses with them; i. e. they brought tile, and brick, timber and wainscoting, glass and putty ; and soon their houses, with high sloping roofs, and gable end to the street, were irregularly scattered about the island of Man- hattan. The government of New Netherlands had formed just ideas of the fit materials for building not only houses, but a commonwealth. They desired farmers and labourers, foreigners and exiles, men inured to toil and labour. New Amsterdam in a few years could boast of stately buildings, and almost vied with Boston." PHILADELPHIA. " In August, 1683, Philadelphia consisted of three or four little cottages, (or log cabins;) the deer fear- lessly bounded past blazed trees, unconscious of fore- boded streets; the stranger who wandered from the river bank was lost in the thickets of the interminable forest ; and two years afterwards the place contained about six hundred houses, and the schoolmaster and the printing-press had begun their work." Philadel- phia was regularly planned and laid out by its founder, William Penn. A distinguished English author,* * Dr. Prideaux. 240 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. who wrote in 1715, has the following note in the margin of the page where he describes the ancient city of Babylon : "Much according to this model, (Babylon,) hath William Penn, the Quaker, laid out the ground for his city of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania ; and were it all built according to that design, it would be the fairest and best city in all America, and not much behind any in the whole world. For it lieth between two naviga- ble rivers, at the distance of two miles from their con- fluence, and consists of thirty streets, ten of which, being drawn from river to river, are two miles long, and the twenty others, being* drawn across the said ten, and cutting them at right angles, are a mile long. In the midst of the whole, is left a square of ten acres, and in the middle of the four quarters of the town, into which it is equally divided, is a square of five acres ; which said places are designed for the building churches, schools, and other public buildings, and also to serve for the inhabitants to walk, and other ways to divert themselves in them, in the same man- ner as Moorsfields do in London. Above two thousand 'houses are in this place already built, and when it shall be wholly built according to the plan above men- tioned, it will be the glory of all that part of the world ; and if the country round it comes to be thoroughly inhabited, the great conveniency of its situation for trade, by reason of the two navigable rivers on which it stands, and the great river Delaware, into which Plate XXIII. AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 241 both fall, will soon draw people enough thither not only to finish the scheme, which hath been laid of its first founder, but also to enlarge it by such additions on each side, as to make its breadth answer its length, and then, barring the walls and greatness of Babylon, it will imitate it in all things else, and in the conveni- ency of its situation, far exceed it. But this is to be understood as a comparing of a small thing with a great; for though Philadelphia were built and inha- bited to the utmost I have mentioned, that is, to the full extent of two miles in breadth, as well as in length, yet fifty-six of such cities might stand within those walls that encompassed Babylon." The neat and beautiful City of Brotherly Love," has more than realized this prospective plan, and Dr. Prideaux's prophecy, that " it will be the glory of all that part of the world," is fully accomplished. The Swedes Church at Wilmington, Delaware (Plate XXIII.), is one of the oldest ecclesiastical edi- fices remaining in the United States. STYLE OF BUILDING. The meeting-houses of New England, excepting in cities, were, (down to the present century, and even in some places at a later period,) built of wood. They were huge structures, filled with plain, oblong win- 16 242 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. Ftg. 33. dows, and looking like immense lanterns. When they had arched windows, they were Episcopal churches ; that was in fact for a long time the external distinction between an Episcopal church, and the churches of other denominations. The meeting-houses (Fig. 33) had slender spires, or dumpy cupolas, stuck upon four, six, or eight posts, which stood upon a square tower, that was placed in front of the meeting-house, which it joined to the top of the roof They often stood upon an elevated situation, and though truly grateful and even beautiful from association, to the AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. 243 eye of piety, they were outrageous deformities to the eye of taste. Court-houses and academies were built in the same uncouth style. Happily, they were all of such perish- able materials, that they will not much longer remain to annoy travellers, in " search of the picturesque," through the beautiful villages of New England. Dwelling-houses, in the English colonies of this country, were built after the style then prevailing in England, as nearly as circumstances would permit. Gradually, home-bred artisans were employed, and all resemblance to English mansions of the better sort, entirely disappeared. The best houses in New Eng- land were built of wood, with two stories in front, and a high roof, which sloped down almost to the ground behind; or at least so low, that the eaves were just over the back door. In some instances they were only one story, with large dormer or dormant windows upon the roof, and a piazza in front, with slender octagonal or square posts. Red was a favourite colour for these wooden enormities, although some very tasteful per- sons preferred a bright yellow, with red doors and roof Often they were left without paint, and became a dingy brown, deepening every year. School-houses in the country were usually built in an unenclosed place, where two or more roads met. No trees shaded them from the mid-day sun, no shrub- bery adorned the play-ground. The buildings them- selves were erected at the least possible expense ; dark, 244 AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. cold, tind dreary in winter, and hot and uncomfortable in summer. " The young idea," however, was under these disadvantages, " taught to shoot," among the hardy sons of New England. The schoolmaster was reverenced, though the school-house was considered of little consequence. Are there not some of these mise- rable school-houses, even at the present day, used for common schools? Modern improvement has not so entirely demolished them, that the present generation cannot find specimens enough of the rude architecture of the infant Colonies. Surely, it is not veneration for antiquity that has preserved these mean temples of science. CHAPTER XX. CAUSES WHICH RETARDED THE PROGRESS OF ART IN THE UNITED STATES. Engaged for a long time in a struggle for very life, the colonists were in no condition to cultivate anything but the soil upon which they trod. Scarcely had they a breathing-time, after their Indian foes were subdued, or driven from their immediate neighbour- hood, before the French war again exhausted the strength of the infant nation. Once more at peace, had they been dependent upon their own resources, manufactures and arts must have been encouraged and cultivated. But it was the policy of England to keep her colonies dependent upon her for all articles of manufacture that could be imported. Although boundless forests spread around them, they often imported the wood-work of their houses and * A building that was thus brought over before the Revolution, still remains at New Haven, Conn. It has been repaired by the pre- sent owner, and is now a fine spacious English cottage. The wain- scoting of the wide hall, the balusters and staircase, and even some of the floors, are of polished cherry, and black walnut. 246 CAUSES THAT RETARDED although clay for bricks was abundant, they too were often brought over from England. Skill was not acquired in the mechanical arts ; genius was not elicited. Yet the latter could not always be repressed. Benjamin West, with no model but his sleeping sister, and no instrument but an old pen, was a painter ; still, at home he could not be patronised, and soon England claimed him as her own. The manacles which England had thus imposed upon the Colonies began to be galling. The latent, but gigantic energies of the nation were aroused ; these energies were at first employed in throwing off the manacles and fetters. Why should hands strong to labour, guided by ingenious minds, not be free to work their will ? In the struggle for freedom, (civil, religious, com- mercial, manual, mental,) political and military genius were developed of the highest order. The contest was won ; yet minds the most powerful must for a long time exert their loftiest energies in set- tling a new form of government. Subordinate minds must be employed in the accumulation of wealth. And for this object, no one doubts the industry and inge- nuity of the people ! No sooner w^as genius free to act, than its power was applied to the immediate wants of the community. Mechanical inventions, equal (it would not be pre- sumptuous to say superior) to any in the world, have been thus elicited ; and bridges, aqueducts, canals. THE ARCHITECTURAL ART. 247 railroads, viaducts, steamboats, telegraphs, together with thousaads of patent labour-saving machines, bear vritness to the acuteness, ingenuity, and skill, of the free Yankee. Look at the contrast between the condition of this wide continent at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and its present state in this nineteenth. Then, " Man, the occupant of the soil, wild as the savage scene, was in harmony with the rude nature around him ; his knowledge in architecture surpassed, both in strength and durability, by the skill of the beaver ; bended saplings the beams of his house ; the branches and rind of trees its roof ; drifts of forest leaves his couch ; mats of bulrushes, his protection against the winter's cold." Now, man, civilized, intellectual, refined, through the mysterious guidance of Providence, occupies the same soil. For him, the rivers that flow to remotest climes, mingle their waters ; for him, the lakes gain new outlets to the ocean ; for him, the arch spans the flood, and science spreads iron pathways to the recent wilderness; for him, the hills yield up the shining marble and the enduring granite ; for him, the forests of the interior come down in immense rafts ; for him, the masts of the city gather the produce of every clime, and libraries collect the works of genius of every age." Wealth has poured its golden showers. Emigra- tion has rolled a tide of population upon the shores of this country, that threatens its destruction. How are this wealth and these many hands to be 248 CAUSES THAT RETARDED employed ? Is luxury to enervate and demoralize the nation ? Are poverty, idleness, and crime to render the people desperate, and lead to anarchy and ruin ? Let us hope better things. " It has been well ascertained that there are few things so productive of civilization and refinement, or so conducive to the tranquil happiness of communities^ as the cultivation of the fine and liberal arts." Should not the attention of the statesman and the political economist be directed to this matter? The useful arts alone cannot employ the genius and industry of this whole people. It has been the wise policy of all refined nations to stimulate and reward genius for the fine arts, and to employ multitudes of the people in accomplishing enduring works of art. Such should be the policy of an enlightened republic, where the people are ever in danger of becoming rest- less and discontented. We have seen the unrivalled excellence to which Greece exalted the fine arts during her republican might. No nation has yet surpassed her ; but it is not impossible that this may yet be done by the United States ; for since the decline of Greece, no people have ever been more favourably situated for the accomplishment of great designs. In order that the fine arts may be successfully culti- vated, taste must be universally diffused among the higher classes of the community. It has been judi- ciously remarked by a late writer, that the fine arts have ever been the consequences of the teaching of the THE ARCHITECTURAL ART. 249 intellect — never its teachers. Necessity is the mother of invention ; and the fine arts, whenever they have truly attained excellence, have, to use a familiar ex- pression, followed the lead of society^ rather than acted as a promoting cause/' The number of persons who go abroad to visit the beautiful creations of foreign genius may be expected to bring home a desire for those embellishments which they have enjoyed in the old world. Among the arts of design, Architecture must precede Painting and Sculpture : they are but the handmaidens who decorate her palaces, her capitols, her churches. CHAPTER XXL MATERIALS FOR ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. Never was a country more bonntifally furnished with the materials for architecture than the United States. Majestic mountains of granite lift their heads above the clouds ; marble of the purest white, and of every beautiful hue, veins the earth. Sandstone, slate, limestone, trap-rock, offer imperishable materials, that may be used to prove to distant generations that the present age consulted not alone selfish and temporary interests. The trees of the yet interminable forests yield every variety of wood to beautify interior architecture. Metals hide themselves beneath the surface of this wide terri- tory, awaiting the call of science and industry. Useless were all these treasures, without the creative power of art. Already have they been summoned from cave and from mountain-top, from forest and valley, and far down in the deep mines, to do the bidding of a genius more potent than he of Aladdin's lamp, whose creations are not the baseless fabric of a vision," but real, beautiful, permanent. MATERIALS FOR ARCHITECTURE. 251 Granite, a primary rock, may be called the founda- tion-stone of the earth. Its constituent parts are quartz, feldspar, and mica. It is a hard and brittle stone, but with much labour may be worked into capitals and other ornamental parts of a building. It abounds in the New England States, especially in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. A beautiful white granite is there quarried, and employed in building at home, and sent to distant parts of the Union. The United States Bank is of this white granite ; the market-house at Boston, some fine dwelling-houses in New York, and many other edifices there and elsewhere. Sienite is often called granite, from its resemblance to it ; feldspar and hornblende predominate in its com- position. It is even more difficult than granite to chisel into ornamental work. The fine quarry of this stone at Quincy, near Boston, has given it the name of Quincy stone, by which it is extensively known. The Astor House in New York is built entirelv of sienite, and in Boston, there are many structures which have now been standing for some years ; show- ing that it bears exposure to the air, without injury to its appearance. The Bunker Hill Monument is of this stone. Marble is one of the most durable of stones. The beautiful Pentelic marble of the Parthenon, has stood the storms of more than two thousand years, without injury. Happily for us, this fine material abounds in almost every part of the country. The black, gray, and white marble of Vermont are exten- 252 MATERIALS FOR ARCHITECTURE sively known. Massachusetts furnishes specimens of various kinds. The splendid columns of the Girard College, were brought from Sheffield, in Berkshire county, in that State. New Hampshire has several quarries. In Connecticut, near New Haven, green marble abounds, resembling the verde antique. Many specimens of this marble have been sent to Europe, and been much admired in the cabinets of the curious and scientific. Near the same place another quarry is found, in which yellow predominates. White marble abounds in Pennsylvania. In short, marble is so abundantly supplied, that taste and durability may be combined by the use of this material in elegant edifices. The United States Mint, Custom-House, and Penn- sylvania Bank in. Philadelphia, are all of Pennsyl- vania marble; the Washington Monument, Baltimore, is also of white marble. Sandstone, usually called freestone, is found of va- rious colours, from gray to red, and dark brown. It is easily wrought and much used in building. Ex- tensive quarries of red freestone are worked at Chat- ham, in Connecticut. The Potomac freestone is ex- tensively used ; the President's House, the Capitol at Washington, and St. Paul's Church, Boston, are built of it. Sometimes it is employed without smoothing, and is thus a durable and economical material for cot- tages, stables, &c. It is in general use for the base- ment, window-sills, and caps, of brick buildings. Gneiss, a stone containing a large proportion of IN THE UNITED STATES. 253 mica, splits with ease, and affords a beautiful paving- stone. Slate is found in great abundance in this country ; it is used for covering roofs, and should be universally- substituted in cities for shingles or other combustible materials. Sand for glass is found on the banks of the Delaware, and some other localities. Sand for mortar abounds in almost every state in the Union. Clay for bricks is also abundant. It is generally impregnated with oxide of iron, and this causes it to turn red in burning. Metals of all kinds are found in the United States. Gold mines have been opened in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia ; those of North Carolina, have hitherto been the most productive. Silver has been found, but not frequently, nor to any great amount, in this country. Copper has been found, but till recently no mines of sufficient value to repay the labour of working them. Iron is found in all the Northern and Northwest- ern States, in great abundance. The Connecticut and Virginia iron is extensively known as of a superior quality, and New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jer- sey afford iron equal in quality to any in the world. Lead abounds in Missouri and Illinois. In the lat- ter State the mines are very extensive and pure, fur- nishing vast quantities for manufactures. This metal 254 MATERIALS FOR ARCHITECTURE is also exceedingly abundant throughout the North- western Territory. No country in the world is more abundantly sup- plied with wood of every variety than the United States. The white oak grows to a great height in the Middle States and in Virginia. It is strong and durable, and although sometimes employed in domestic architecture, is more generally used for ship-building. The black oak rises to a still greater height, but is not so large in circumference. Several other kinds of oak abound, all of them durable, and some of them excellent for timber. The black walnut is a beautiful wood for the interior, being susceptible of a fine polish, and not liable to warp, nor to split. In Ohio and Kentucky, this wood is used for the shingling of houses, and occasionally for timbers. It is admirably adapted for doors and window-frames. Maple, of several varieties, is also susceptible of a fine polish. The curled and bird's-eye maple, are very handsome for interior finishing. Maples grow in almost every part of the Union ; they are numerous and luxuriant in the Western States. Pine is a soft wood, easily worked, and has for this reason been hitherto quite too much used for building. It is, however, a valuable wood, and will long continue to be used for the interior, after more durable materials are substituted for the exterior of buildings. From IN THE UNITED STATES. 255 Maine to Florida, pines of various kinds abound, and are exported in large quantities to Europe and the West Indies. The white ash is a strong and durable wood, which sometimes grows to the height of eighty feet. It splits straight, and is not apt to warp or shrink. It abounds most in the Northern States. Birch is not much used in building, although it abounds in New England and the Middle States. The hlack hirch furnishes a hard, dark-coloured wood, that receives a fine polish, and is very hand- some for interior finishing. The cypress grows to a great size in the Southern States, and is frequently used for building. The rvhite cedar grows abundantly in the Middle and Southern States, and being a soft light wood is used for shingles and interior finishing. The red cedar is a durable wood, used for posts and fences. Chestnut is a coarse-grained wood, not suitable for buildings. It is liable to warp, and if used for timber, often stains the outer covering to buildings. It is durable when exposed to the air, and therefore much used for common fencing, in New England and New York, where it is abundant. The elm is a beautiful ornamental shade-tree, which grows to a great size in many parts of the United States ; it is seldom used in building. The natural facilities for transportation, (by rivers, lakes, and oceans,) render the rich materials for build- 256 MATERIALS FOR ARCHITECTURE. ings with which our country abounds, accessible to almost every part of it; these, together with the rail- roads and canals which intersect it, bring to every in- habited spot, the productions of its remotest territories and a tribute from foreign climes. In New Eng- land, almost every farm is furnished with stone for fences and buildings. Instead of cutting down and wasting the trees, comfortable and durable farm-houses might be constructed of the stones that now encumber the soil. A little more labour than what is now em- ployed to pile them in heaps, might lay them up in walls. There has hitherto been a great want of economy in this respect, and it is therefore the more earnestly urged upon the attention of the community. As the present wooden edifices decay and gradually disappear, it is hoped that everywhere more enduring ones may take their place. CHAPTER XXI 1. PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. A NEW era in art has commenced in our country. American painters and sculptors are already favour- ably known abroad and admired at home. A few scientific architects have arrived at eminence in their profession. It is impossible to mention the names and works of all architects who have thus distinguished themselves. If they were to give descriptions of the buildings upon which they are employed, with plans and elevations, they would essentially benefit the com- munity. A beautiful volume of this kind was pub- lished at Boston, in 1830, entitled "A Description of Tremont House, with Architectural Illustrations, by J. Rogers, Architect." The limits of the present work will allow us merely to mention a few of the principal public edifices in the United States. It is not presumptuous to believe that the time is not distant when our native architects will rival those of Europe. 17 258 PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE BOSTON. The State House, 173 feet long, 61 wide. It has a fine dome, 52 feet in diameter, upon which is a cir- cular cupola, or lantern. Under this dome stands a statue of Washington, by the English sculptor, Chan- trey. King's Chapel, built of rough stone, finished in 1754. It has a Corinthian colonnade in front; and although faulty in style, is superior to most of the edifices that were built in New England during the 1 8th century. Trinity Church, in Summer Street, a Gothic edi- fice, of granite, was built in 1829. The Tremont House is a large and beautiful build- ing, of granite, with a fine Doric portico in front. J. Rogers, architect. The Market House, of granite. The Masonic Temple. The Massachusetts General Hospital The United States Bank. The Boston Athenceum. Two beautiful Gothic churches, of freestone, were built in 1847. Billings, architect. A modern traveller,* who was not over fond of praising anything American, says : There is in Bos- * Hamilton's "Men and Manners in America." IN THE UNITED STATES. 259 ton less of that rawness of outline, and inconsistency of architecture, which had struck me in New York. The truth is, that the latter has increased so rapidly, that nine-tenths of the city have been built within the last thirty years, and probably one-half of it within a third of the period. In Boston, both the wealth and population have advanced at a slower pace. A com- paratively small portion of the city is new, and the hand of time has somewhat mellowed even its deform- ities, (unfortunately there are many such,) contributing to render that reverend which was originally rude. A considerable number of buildings are of granite, or, more properly speaking, of sienite ; but brick is the prevailing material, and houses of framework are now rarely to be met with in the streets inhabited by the better orders. There is an air of gravity and solidity about Boston, and nothing gay or flashy in the appear- ance of her streets, or the crowds who frequent them. New York is a young giantess, weighing twenty stone ; — Boston the matron of staid and demure air, a little past her prime, (a great mistake !) yet showing no symptoms of decay."* The Library Edifice of Harvard University, at Cam- bridge, is a Gothic building, of granite, recently erected. The Bunker Hill Monument, at Charlestown, is a beautiful granite obelisk, two hundred and twenty feet high. * " Among the monuments at Mount Auburn, near Boston, are many of great beauty ; we were struck with a plain black marble obelisk, of exquisite polish, ornamented by a single cross in relief; 260 PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE NEW YORK. There are in New York more than two hundred churches, or places of worship, belonging to different denominations. Some of these are spacious and well built; others are incongruous, unsymmetrical build- ings, exhibiting great want of taste and skill. St. PauVs, near the Park, is considered one of the finest of the older churches. The Church in Washington Square^ belonging to a several granite obelisks, of plain and almost severe simplicity, which are admirably suited to the place and the purpose; several fine monuments of white marble, among which are an unfinished column and a cenotaph, erected by the mechanics of Boston to the memory of a young man who died at a distance from his home. This ceme- tery stands in complete and honourable contrast with most resting- places of the dead. We cannot but hope that this example will be followed. The community at large have yet to learn the right feeling of respect for the dead. That respect is not shown only by the care which guards the sepulchre from violation, nor by setting up ghostly monuments, covered with tales of idle vanity or unmeaning affection. The true respect for the dead will be shown by making their resting- place such that the stranger shall not retreat from it in disgust and scorn, by employing the decorations of nature, which are always at hand, and by appointing persons of taste to superintend the laying out and ornamenting of these solemn habitations of the dead. Every village in New England might and ought to do this, that instead of the dreary desolation that now renders them tenfold more gloomy, they may present a melancholy but pleasing appearance. Plate XXIV. r R i N I T Y 0 I i ! i j; (; [ I IN THE UNITED STATES. 261 congregation of the Dutch Reformed denomination, is said to be one of the most perfect Gothic structures in the United States. Le Fevre, architect. Trinity Church (Plate XXIV.) was commenced in 1841, on the site of the old church in Broadway, and completed in 1846. It is built of a beautiful fine-grained freestone, in the Perpendicular Gothic style. It is one hundred and ninety-two feet long, and eighty-four wide. Its graceful, symmetrical spire is two hundred and sixty-four feet high. It is by many considered the finest specimen of ecclesiastical architecture in this country. Mr. Upjohn, architect. Grace Church, on Broadway, is built in the form of a cross, in the Gothic style, and is of white marble. The windows are of stained glass, and the edifice cost $145,000. It was completed in 1845. Mr. Renwick, architect. The University Buildings. The Hall of Justice, in Franklin Street, in the Egyptian style. The Merchants' Exchange is built of marble, and is eighty-five feet long, fifty-five in width, and forty-five in height to the dome, from which it is lighted. The Masonic Hall, in Broadway, has a Gothic front, of gray granite. The Custom House, in Wall Street, is a beautiful Doric building, one hundred and seventy-seven feet long, and fifty-nine wide. The architects were Ithiel Town and Alexander J. Davis. 262 PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE The Astor House is built of sienite, (commonly called Quincy granite.) It is a massive building which has been much admired. Many other public buildings might be mentioned, that are worthy of high praise. There are also some beautiful dwelling-houses, built in a chaste and simple style, of enduring materials, and others that are truly magnificent. New York may well be proud of her splendid Broadway, which, though possessing too much uniformity, is allowed to be one of the finest streets in the world. Much regard has been paid to architec- tural style of late in New York, and a saccessful effort is being made to redeem the character of the commercial emporium from the imputation of sameness and bad taste. They may, in attempting too much style, become extravagant and affected for a time ; but these errors will be corrected, and beautiful buildings will be the final result of the present mania for the art. "The recent evidences of improving taste and public spirit of the citizens, offer the most certain promise that at some future day New York will equal in splendour the proudest cities of the old world."* * Architectural Magazine, London. IN THE UNITED STATES. 263 PHILADELPHIA. Of this neat and pleasant city an English traveller remarks, 'Hhat it possesses an interior almost unrivalled in the world," although its exterior, v^hen seen from a distance, is not imposing. The streets are broad, and many of them Viave rows of trees, forming a delightful shade, and taking away the glare of the brick build- ings. The stranger is struck "with the air of sim- plicity, yet strength and durability which all the public edifices possess, while the private dwellings, with their neat white marble steps and window-sills, bespeak wealth and respectability. The churches which adorn this beautiful city, are not many of them fine edifices." The United States Bank, now the United States Custom House for the port of Philadelphia, is one of the most beautiful buildings in this country. It is closely copied from a perfect model, the Parthenon. Its length is one hundred and sixty-one feet; its breadth eighty-seven feet. The fine massive Doric columns of the portico stand upon a platform of white marble, the ascent to which is by a high flight of marble steps. Thus lifted up away from the street, it has a very imposing appearance. The banking-room is eighty- one feet long and forty-eight feet wide. The new Bank of Pennsylvania is copied from the Ionic Temple of the Muses, upon the Ilissus ; it is built of marble, and is a large and handsome edifice. •264 r R r: S E N T STATE OF ARCHITECTURE The Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb is an extensive, commodious building, without much claim to archi- tectural beauty. The Pennsylvania Hospital occupies a large extent of ground, and is exceedingly well arranged for the purpose for which it was designed. The United States Mint is of the Ionic order, and copied after a fine Grecian model. The Eastern Penitentiary at Cherry Hill, near the city of Philadelphia, is an imposing structure : the walls, of granite, are thirty-five feet high, with towers and battlements. A space of ten acres is enclosed for the use of this institution, which is designed to carry into effect the plan of solitary confinement. The Girard College (Plate XXV., Frontispiece) is situated about one mile and a half northwest of the centre of the city of Philadelphia, on a tract of land containing forty-five acres; the whole of which was appropriated by Mr. Girard, exclusively to the pur- poses of the institution. The main building, which is the subject of this description, is composed in the Corinthian order of Grecian Architecture : it covers a space of one hun- dred and eighty-one feet by two hundred and thirty- nine and one-half feet, and consists of an octastyle peripteral superstructure, resting upon a basement of eight feet in height, composed entirely of steps extend- ing around the w^hole edifice ; by which a pyramidal appearance is given to the substruction, and a means of approach afforded to the porticoes from every side. IN THE UNITED STATES. 265 The dimensions of the stylobate (or platform on which the columns stand), are one hundred and fifty-nine feet on the fronts, by two hundred and seventeen feet on the flanks ; and the cell, or body of the building, measures one hundred and eleven feet, by one hun- dred and sixty-nine feet. The whole height, from the ground to the apex of the roof, is one hundred feet. " The columns are thirty-four in number ; the dia- meter of the shaft at the top of the base is six feet, and at the bottom of the capital, five feet ; the height of the capitals, including the abacus, is nine feet, and the width, from the extreme corners of the abacus, ten feet ; the whole height of the column, including capi- tal and base, is fifty-five feet. The entablature is six- teen feet three inches high, and the greatest projection of the cornice, from the face of the frieze, is four feet nine inches ; the elevation of the pediment is twenty feet five inches, being one-ninth of the span. The capitals of the columns are proportioned from those of the monument of Lysicrates at Athens : they are of American marble, and were wrought upon the grounds of the college. "The corners of the building are finished with massive antse, having bases and capitals composed on the principles of Grecian Architecture. " The doors of entrance are in the centre of the north and south fronts ; they are each sixteen feet wide in the clear, by thirty-two feet high. " The building is three stories in height, each of which is twenty-five feet firom floor to floor : there are 266 PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE four rooms of fifty feet square in each story. Those of the first and second story are vaulted with groin arches, and those of the third story with domes sup- ported on pendentives, which spring from the corners of the rooms at the floor, and assume the form of a circle on the horizontal section, at the height of nine- teen feet. These rooms are lighted by means of sky- lights of sixteen feet in diameter. All the domes are terminated below the plane of the roof; and the sky- lights project but one foot above it, so as not to interfere with the character of the architecture. The roof is covered with marble tiles, so nicely overlapping each other as to defy the most beating storms. Beside the main edifice, there are four other build- ings belonging to the institution, each fifty-two feet wide, one hundred and twenty-five feet long, and four stories high." Thomas U. Walter, architect. The Athenaeum (Plate XX VI.) has a front of free- stone, with a fine balustrade of stone. The windows are richly ornamented. This building is a beautiful specimen of street architecture. Where the space for an edifice in the city is necessarily very limited, the best possible way of rendering it ornamental, is to decorate the doors and windows, the cornice and balus- trade. John Notman, architect. IN THE UNITED STATES. 267 WASHINGTON. The Presidenfs House, is of Potomac freestone. It has two fronts with porticoes, and is one hundred and eighty feet in length by eighty-five in width. The Patent Office is still unfinished ; it is designed when completed, to surround the square on which it stands. It is of the dark freestone of the Potomac. The building already completed has a superb portico of the Doric order. The General Post Office, of white marble, is a mag- nificent building, ornamented with pilasters, and an entablature of the Corinthian order. The edifice al- ready occupies the front and part of two other sides of a square. It is unfinished, but when completed will be one of the most splendid buildings in the United States. The Treasury Department edifice is of the Potomac freestone. Its long Ionic colonnade is much admired. The buildings for the other Departments are large and commodious. The Capitol is finely situated, commanding a view of the city, with the surrounding country, and the River Potomac. It is three hundred and fifty-two feet long in front, and its greatest height one hundred and forty -five feet. The Hall of the Representatives is of a half-circular form. The dome rises above an entabla- 268 PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE ture, supported by twenty-four Corinthian columns of variegated marble, (sometimes called pudding stone,) from the banks of the Potomac. This is said to be one of the finest representative halls in the world. Archi- tectural critics have detected some things which they consider faults, but it is generally allowed to be very beautiful. BALTIMORE. The Roman Catholic Cathedral was planned by Latrobe. It is of the Ionic order ; one hundred and ninety feet in length, one hundred and seventy-seven feet wide, one hundred and twenty-seven feet high, to the top of the dome. The Washington Monument is a column of white marble resting upon a high quadrangular pedestal. The shaft of the column is about one hundred and twenty feet high ; the whole height of the monument one hundred and sixty-three feet. On the summit is a colossal statue of Washington. This is considered the finest commemorative structure in the Union. Battle Monument is not so large, nor so fine as the Washington Monument. It is of white marble, fifty- five feet high, and was erected in memory of the de- fenders of the city, who fell on the 12th and 13th of September, 1814. The Merchants' Exchange is a spacious, fine struc- ture. IN THE UNITED STATES. 269 INDIANAPOLIS. The Capitol of Indiana is a large Doric building, and does great honour to the taste and liberality of the State. It is one hundred and eighty feet long and eighty wide. Ithiel Town and A. J. Davis, architects. HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. The AthencBum (Plate XXVII.) is a Gothic edifice, of rough freestone. It is a symmetrical and effective building. The interior arrangements are remarkably convenient, and admirably adapted for the accommoda- tion of the library and other departments of the institu- tion. Henry Austin, architect. Christ Church. A Gothic church, of sandstone. This is a fine symmetrical building, planned by Ithiel Town and the Rev. Nathaniel Wheaton. The orna- ments, both on the exterior and within, are well exe- cuted, and perfectly in keeping with the " Perpendi- cular Gothic" style. Few churches in the United States offer so good a model for a church of the same size. 270 PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.* Yale College Library is built of rough freestone, and is a symmetrical, effective building, in the Gothic * As early as 1815, President D wight describes New Haven as fol- lows: " The area occupied by New Haven is probably as large as that which usually contains a city of six times the number of inhabitants, in Europe. A considerable proportion of the houses have court-yards in front, and gardens in the rear. The former are ornamented with trees and shrubs, the latter are luxuriantly filled with fruit-trees, flowers, and culinary vegetables. The beauty and healthfulness of this arrangement needs no explanation. The houses in this city are generally decent, and many of the modern ones handsome. The style of building is neat and tidy. Fences and out-houses are also in the same style, and being almost universally painted white, make a delightful appearance to the eye ; an appearance not a little enhanced by the great multitude of shade-trees ; a species of ornament in which this town is unrivalled. Most of the buildings are of wood, and may be considered as destined to become the fuel of a future conflagration. Building with brick and stone is, however, becoming more frequent. (The erection of wooden buildings has been forbidden by law in the populous parts of the city, since January, 1817.) The mode of build- ing with stone, which seems not unlikely to become general, is to raise walls of whin-stone, broken into fragments of every irregular form, laid in strong mortar ; and then to overcast them with a pecu- liar species of cement. The corners, frames of the doors, arches and sills of the windows, cornices, and other ornamental parts, are of a sprightly-coloured freestone. The cement is sometimes divided by lines at right angles, in such a manner as to make the whole resemble a building of marble, and being smooth and white, is very handsome. Plate XXVIII. IN THE UNITED STATES. 271 style (Plate XXVIII.) The main building is devoted to the hall for the library of the college ; the wings to rooms for the society libraries. The interior of the hall is beautifully arrano^ed : the windows of the clere- story and the large windows at the end let in the light from above, upon the clustered columns and well-filled alcoves. This beautiful edifice was completed in 1847. Henry Austin, architect. A foreign traveller remarks as follows : ''In the United States there are many splendid temples for Several valuable houses have been lately built in this manner ; and the cement, contrary to the general expectation, has hitherto perfectly sustained the severity of our seasons. This mode of building is very little more expensive than building with wood ; and will, I suspect, ultimately take the place of every other. I know of no other equally handsome, where marble itself is not the material. Both these kinds of stone are found inexhaustibly at a moderate distance. All the congregations in New Haven voted, in 1812, that they would take down their churches, and build new ones. Accordingly, two of them commenced the work in 1813, the others in 1814. The first was finished in 1814, the others soon after. They are all placed on the western side of Temple Street, in a situation singularly beautiful, having an elegant square in front, and stand on a street one hundred feet wide. The Presbyterian churches are of Grecian architecture. The Episcopal church is a Gothic building, the only correct specimen it is believed in the United States. Few structures, (many have since that time been erected in every part of the country,) devoted to the same purpose, on this side of the Atlantic, are equally handsome, and in no place can the same number of churches be found, within the same distance, so beautiful, and standing in so advantageous a posi- tion." — Dwighfs Travels in New England and New York. 272 PRESENT STATE OF ARCHITECTURE religious worship, not on a scale of magnificence to equal the St. Peter's of Rome, or the St. Paul's of London, nor the ancient Abbeys or Minsters of this country, yet, generally speaking, on a par with many or most of the modern religious edifices throughout the United Kingdom. There are numerous superior specimens of architecture in the United States, which, although neither antique nor original, are highly creditable to the genius and generosity of the Ameri- can people. Many instances might be enumerated in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash- ington, and other cities, of different public buildings. " The United States Banking-House at Philadelphia, built on the model of the ancient Parthenon, excels in elegance, and equals in utility, the edifice not only of the Bank of England, but that of any banking-house in the world. "The Exchange Hotel of New Orleans, in St. Charles Street, is probably the largest of its kind in the world ; the cost of the ground and building has amounted to upwards of $600,000. The hotel is two hundred and twenty-eight feet in front by one hundred and ninety- six feet throughout or square. The front view is elevated on a plain basement, fourteen feet high, in the centre of which is a portico containing six columns, projecting from the main building, with four also on either side, receding inward, all in the Corinthian order, and forming an elegant colonnade along two- thirds of the front, the other third being solid and IN THE UNITED STATES. 273 ornamented with pilasters. It is six stories high. From the basement to the top of the cornice the height is seventy-one feet, but there is an octagon in the centre of the building, seventy feet in diameter, vi^hich is raised fifty-three feet above the roof, and surmounted by a dome ; above this is an observatory ; the v^hole height from the ground being one hundred and thirteen feet. The theatre of New Orleans is on a similar scale of magnificence and magnitude." We are far from having named all the public build- ings worthy of note in the United States. This list is necessarily very limited. 18 CH APTE R XXIII DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. Domestic architecture in this country must be adapted to the circumstances and condition of the people. As it is an art originating from necessity, the progress of society must change the architecture of every country, from age to age. . As wealth and refine- ment increase, taste and elegance must be consulted, without destroying convenience and appropriateness. We can no more adopt the style of architecture than the dress of a foreign people. We acknowledge the flowing robes of the Persian to be graceful and becoming; they suit the habits and climate of the country. The fur-clad Russian of the north has conformed his dress to his climate, and made it rich and elegant ; yet, as he approaches his neighbours of Turkey, his dress becomes somewhat assimilated to theirs. France is said to give the law of fashion in dress to the civilized world ; and the absurdities that DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 275 have resulted from following her dictates, have pro- duced ridiculous anomalies in other countries. In adopting the domestic architecture of foreign countries, we may be equally ridiculous. England, our fatherland, from some resemblance in habits and institutions, might furnish more suitable models for imitation than any other country ; yet they would not be perfectly in accordance with our wants. Our archi- tecture must, therefore, be partly indigenous. Fig. 34. Our associations of convenience, home-comfort, and respectability are connected with a certain style of building, which has been evolved by the wants, man- ners, and customs of the people. Any great deviations from a style that has been thus fixed, cannot be per- fectly agreeable. We must improve upon this style, so that domestic architecture may in time be perfectly American. Fig. 34 is decidedly English. " Nationality is founded in a great degree on feelings and prejudices inculcated and aroused in youth, which 276 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE Fia. 35. grow inveterate as long as its views are confined to the place of its birth. The love of country will remain with undiminished strength in the cultivated mind; but the national modes of thinking will vanish from the disciplined intellect. Now as it is only by these mannerisms of thought that architecture is affected, we shall find that the more polished the mind of its designer, the less natural will be the building ; for its architect will be led away by a search after a model of ideal beauty, and will not be involuntarily guided by deep-rooted feelings, governing irresistibly his heart and hand. He will therefore be in perpetual danger of forgetting the necessary unison of scene and climate, and, following up the chase of the ideal, will neglect the beauty of the natural. We must not, therefore, be surprised if buildings, bearing the impress of the exer- cise of fine thoughts and high talent in their design, IN THE UNITED STATES. 277 should yet offend by perpetual discords with scene and climate." Fig. 35 is an English cottage. Again, man in his hours of relaxation, when he is engaged in the pursuit of mere pleasure, is less national than he is under the influence of any of the more vio- lent feelings that agitate e very-day life."^ Hence it is that in our country there is danger that our villas will be anything rather than national. The retired professional man, the wealthy merchant and mechanic, wish to build in the country. Instead of consulting home-comfort and pleasurable association, they select some Italian villa, Elizabethan house, or Swiss cottage, as their model. Ten chances to one the Italian villa, designed for the border of a lake, will be placed near a dusty high-road ; the Elizabethan house, instead of being surrounded by venerable trees, will raise its high gables on the top of a bare hill ; and the Swiss cottage, instead of hanging upon the mountain- side, will be placed upon a level plain, surrounded with a flower-garden, divided into all manner of fantastic parterres, with box edgings. We trust the following caricature, taken from the London Architectural Magazine, is not particularly applicable to our country : " The architect is requested by a man of great wealth, nay, of established taste in some points, to make a de- sign for a villa in a lovely situation. The future pro- prietor carries him up stairs to his study, to give him * Architectural Magazine, London. 278 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE what he calls his 'ideas and materials,' and, in all pro- bability, begins somewhat thus : ' This, sir, is a slight note: I made it on the spot: approach to Villa Reale, near Pozzuoli. Dancing nymphs, you perceive ; cy- presses, shell-fountain. I think I should like some- thing like this for the approach ; classical, you perceive, sir ; elegant, graceful. Then, sir, this is a sketch made by an American friend of mine ; Whee-whaw-Kanta- maraw's wigwam; — King of the — Cannibal Islands, I think he said, sir. Log, you observe ; scalps and boa-constrictor skins : curious. Something like this, sir, would look neat, I think, for the front door ; don't you ? Then the lower windows I've not quite decided upon ; but what would you say to Egyptian, sir ? I think I should like my windows Egyptian, with hiero- glyphics, sir ; storks and coffins and appropriate mould- ings above : I brought some from Fountain Abbey the other day. Look here, sir ; angels' heads putting their tongues out, rolled up in cabbage leaves, with a dragon on each side, riding on a broomstick. Odd, I think — interesting. Then the corners may be turned by octagonal towers like the centre one in Kenilworth Castle, with Gothic doors, portcullis and all, quite per- fect; with crop-slits for arrows, battlements for mus- ketry, machicolations for boiling lead, and a room at the top for drying plums ; and a conservatory at the bottom, sir, with Virginian creepers up the towers; door supported by sphinxes, holding scrapers in their forepaws, &c. &c.' " IN THE UNITED STATES. 279 The English writer says, " This is no exaggeration ; we have contemplated the actual illustrious existence of several such buildings, with sufficient beauty in the Fig. 36. management of some of their features, to show that an architect had superintended them, and sufficient taste in their interior economy, to prove that a refined in- tellect had superintended them ; and had projected a Vandalism, only because fancy had been followed, rather than judgment." Our country, containing as it does, in its wide ex- tent, hills and mountains, sheltered dells and far- spreading valleys, lake-sides and river-sides; affi)rds every possible situation for picturesque villas ; and great care should be taken that appropriate sites be chosen for appropriate and comfortable buildings ; com- fortable, we say, for after the novelty of the exterior has pleased the eye of the owner for a few weeks, if his house wants that half-homely, but wholly indis- 280 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE Fig. 37. pensable attribute, comfort, he had better leave it to ornament his grounds, Uke an artificial ruin, and build himself another to live in. Cottages are at present quite " the rage" in many parts of the United States. Some outre enormities are styled Swiss cottages, (Fig. 37,) quite unlike the cottage described as folio v^s : Well do I remember the thrilling and exquisite moment when first I encountered, in a calm and shadowy dingle, darkened with the thick spreading of tall pines, and voiceful with the singing of a rock- encumbered stream, and passing up towards the flank of a smooth green mountain, whose swarded summit shone in the summer snow, like an emerald set in silver ; when, I say, I first encountered in this calm defile of the Jura, the unobtrusive but beautiful front of the IN THE UNITED STATES. .281 Swiss cottage, I thought it the loveliest piece of architecture I had ever had the felicity of contempla- ting ; yet it was nothing in itself, — nothing but a few mossy fir trunks, loosely nailed together, with one or tv^o gray stones on the roof; but its power was the power of association ; its beauty, that of fitness and humility." In fact, the cottage of the Swiss peasant is a genuine log-hut, — the picturesque chalet. The larger and better kind of Swiss cottages are built with roofs projecting from five to seven feet over the sides ; these projections are strengthened by strong wooden supports, that the heavy snow which falls upon the roofs need not crush them. Utility and beauty are thus combined ; but there is no beauty in such a cottage in a sunny vale, where the snow falls seldom or lightly. On the Green Mountains, or among the White Hills, it might stand as gracefully as it does among its native Alps. Walnut and chestnut trees are always beautiful accompaniments to the Swiss cottage. The same care should be taken to render the cottage comfortable, as the villa ; and in this point, unfortu- nately, there is often a complete failure. There is no absolute need that this should be the case. A cottage or a farm-house may be picturesque without sacrificing one tittle of its convenience. The great and leading object should be utility, and where that is absolutely sacrificed in architecture, whatever may be substituted in its place, it cannot be considered beautiful. The sameness of town-houses destroys the picturesque ap- 282 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE Fro. 38. pearance of the streets; this might be remedied in part ; but in general it arises so much from the necessity of the case, that glaring departures from regularity are oppressive to the eye. Much, however, might be done to improve street architecture, as is demonstrated by some of the beautiful dwelling-houses lately erected in the city of New York. The few examples here given, of the cottage, villa, and town-house, merely alford a hint of the kind of dwelling-houses now being erected in various parts of the United States. Fig. 38, a Grecian cottage. New Haven, Connecticut. It has five rooms and a hall or entry on the first floor, very conveniently arranged. The whole expense of the building was not more than two thousand five hundred dollars. H. Austin, architect. IN THE UNITED STATES. 283 FiQ. 30, Fig. 39. A cottage in the modernized Gothic style. H. Austin, architect. The centre of the building is occupied by two large parlours ; on the sides are three other convenient rooms, beside bathing-room, pantries, and entries. In the upper story are five bed-rooms, two dressing-rooms, and four closets. It is suitable for a rural city, a village, or for the country. If of wood, the colour should be light brown, — the colour of oak ; — if of brick or stone, cemented, it should be of a yellowish hue, like the English Portland stone. It was, however, a favourite opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds, that the colour of houses should be the same as the colour of the materials for buildings, fur- nished by the locality where they are erected. He says they would then be always in harmony with the landscape. 284 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE Fig. 40. Fig. 40. An Elizabethan villa, the countrj-seat of Gerard Halleck, Esq. It stands by the water-side, near the shore of New Haven harbour. The observa- tory commands an extensive and beautiful prospect. The interior of the villa is arranged with reference to comfort and convenience, as well as elegance. The large conservatory on the southern side, with its range of Gothic windows, adds much to the beauty of the exterior. Sydney M. Stone, architect. Plate XXIX. Bute Cottage, at Roxbury, near Boston, is a beautiful specimen of rural architecture, designed by William B. Lang, Esq. Plate XXIX. IN THE UNITED STATES. 285 Fig. 41. Fig. 41. A truly New England house, the resi- dence of Roger Sherman Baldwin, Esq. It has four large rooms upon the first floor, and a wide hall through the centre. Neatness, simplicity, and ele- gance, are happily combined in this edifice. It is in perfect keeping with the elms and evergreens of the city of New Haven, and the design is well suited for the neighbourhood of larger cities, where space could be allow^ed for ornamented grounds. Sydney M. Stone, architect. 286 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE Glenn Cottage, (Plate XXX.,) Roxbury Highlands, is another of the beautiful designs of Mr. Lang. It is small, but exceedingly well arranged for convenience and for effect. The large bay-window in front opens into the main parlour, which is a fine, spacious apart- ment; back of this is a dining-room, separated from the parlour by an entry and stair-case. The small addition to the main building is for a library ; the larger one is the kitchen, &c. The vicinity of Boston is remarkable for its romantic and beautiful scenery ; and no locality in that neighbourhood is more strikingly picturesque than the Roxbury Highlands. All the needful buildings about a country-house may be rendered picturesque, without great expense. Figs. 42, 43, 44, and 45 are designs, by Mr. Lang, for the smaller buildings on the grounds about one of the Highland cottages. Fig. 42, a play-house for children. Fig. 42. Plate XXX. IN THE UNITED STATES. 287 Fig. 43. A small Garden House. Fig. 43. f Fig. 44. A Rustic Arbour. Fig. 44. 288 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. Fig. 45. A Pump House. Fig. 45. The specimens of domestic architecture already given, have been mostly of a rural character. Plate XXXI. is a perspective view of the mansion of James Dundas, Esq., in Philadelphia. It is seldom that a city-house can be embellished with grounds so ex- tensive, and thus command " ample room and verge enough^' for every convenience and elegance of life. The plainness of the front is relieved by a beautiful Ionic portico, of white marble ; the colour of the edifice is yellow, so delicate that the ornamental parts, though of a pure white, are not in glaring contrast. It is, moreover, a symmetrical building, very pleasing to the eye. Thomas U. Walter, architect. Plate XXXI CHAPTER XXIV. USE OF THE GRECIAN ORDERS AND GOTHIC STYLE IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. The appropriate use of the Grecian orders, in the architecture of the United States, is a subject demand- ing nice investigation. This topic has been ably dis- cussed in an article in the Journal of Science for 1830-31, and from it a few extracts will be made, although in some things, we take the liberty to differ from the very able writer. The Roman Doric is frequently employed in our country. It differs from the Grecian in having a base ; in the height of its shaft, which is eight diameters instead of six ; in the capital, which is richer than the Grecian; in the disposition of the triglyphs; in the admission of a variety of decorations ; in the metopes, and in a more richly-moulded frieze. Its characteristic is a cheerful dignity, which is often very agreeable, and for which we could perhaps find no substitute in 19 290 GRECIAN AND GOTHIC the other orders. I should be far from desiring its ex- clusion ; but wish to have its proper character, and the danger to which we are exposed in using it, clearly understood. The latter arises from the inherent rich- ness of the order, seen in the numerous mouldings, and in the variety of ornament which it admits. A flower, an ox-head,* a fillet, or something of this kind, is almost universally employed upon the metopes, and seems, indeed, to be requisite that the frieze may be in keeping with the architrave and cornice as well as the column. By this minute attention to ornament, the expression as a whole may be sacrificed. Here is the most difficult part of an architect's labours, and the most important, the part, indeed, in which his genius is chiefly shown. "If I can convey my idea," says Sir Joshua Rey- nolds, " I wish to distinguish excellence of this kind by calling it, the genius of mechanical 'performance. This genius consists, I conceive, in the power of ex- pressing, (in painting or architecture,) the object as a rvhole ; so that the general effect and power of the whole may take possession of the mind ; and for a while suspend the consideration of the subordinate and particular beauties or defects. I do not mean to * This most inappropriate ornament for a Christian edifice, may be seen upon the metopes of a Congregational church at I^ew Haven, in the Grecian Doric or Tuscan style ; otherwise a fine building. IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 291 prescribe what degree of attention ought to be paid to the mimite parts ; this is hard to settle. We are sure that it is expressing the general effect of the whole, which alone can give to objects their true and touching character, and wherever this is observed, whatever else may be neglected, we acknowledge the hand of a master." Beside the danger into which the Roman Doric is apt to lead, of neglecting this expression as a whole, in attention to minute parts, there are many purposes to which its powers are unequal. In most large edifices we wish to express grandeur, or solemnity, or both united. We shall find these in the true Doric. The Bank of the United States, at Philadelphia, is an example of this : and I know of no instance in which it has been employed, in which its pure, chaste, and noble cha- racter has not been at once appreciated. There is in it so much of true grandeur, united with great sim- plicity ; such boldness, joined with delicacy in the outlines; such apparent recklessness of effect; such disregard to everything extraneous, and seeming con- fidence in its own inherent merits ; in short, such con- sonance in all its parts with the principles of beauty with which we have been familiar in nature, that every one feels immediately a charm to which he has not been accustomed in architectural objects. In large banks, custom-houses, houses for legislation, or for the administration of laws, and for all edifices where grave 292 GRECIAN AND GOTHIC and simple majesty is requisite in the expression, the Doric should be employed. It is an order, however, that will admit of no dallying ; and he who uses it must be careful not to vary from the perfect proportions given it by Grecian skill, in the best days of Grecian art. The Ionic has hitherto been much employed in our country, in the facades of churches and dwelling- houses. The ancient Ionic, uncorrupted by Roman invention, is light and graceful. The Roman Ionic, which is often substituted, has not the same fine ex- pression, as a whole, (the point which an architect must ever keep in mind.) The Ionic is suitable for a high-school, or academy of art, and for the interior of legislative halls, and other large halls for public assemblies. It is peculiarly appropriate to suburban villas and fine country mansions. The Composite, which is a union of the Ionic and Corinthian, is not in good taste, and should seldom be employed. The Corinthian was passionately admired, as we have seen, by the Romans, and has been much used in modern Europe. It is a favourite already in our own country. Its rich and elaborate ornaments are apt to delight the popular fancy. Here is its greatest danger ; and if it should become the favourite order, it is predicted that we shall never rise to any eminence in architecture. ^' It can never be used for churches with any propriety." It certainly does not possess the IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 293 requisite solemnity, or gravity of expression. It is well suited for light and tasteful edifices of a gay cha- racter. To recapitulate : The Doric. The highest effort of the art, charac- terized by grandeur and majesty. To be employed in all buildings where such an expression is desired. Roman Doric, or Tuscan. Its character, a cheerful and pleasing dignity. To be used where this ex- pression may be desired, but to be used with caution. Grecian Ionic. Gracefulness its characteristic. Suited to the smaller kind of banks, to edifices for the exhibition of the arts, sometimes for collegiate and academic edifices, and for the larger kind of private dwellings. Roman and Modern Ionic. To be used in subser- vience to the preceding, in order to keep it from being made common, and for the sake of variety. Corinthian. Gay and showy. To be used where such is the expression desired. The Gothic style has been considered too expensive for general adoption, even for churches. But where is our liberality, where our devotion ? Should we not set a noble example for those who are to come after us ? Should we not strive to erect lasting monuments of the religion we profess ? We complain of the want of time-hallowed structures, consecrated by historic and holy associations. Let us leave behind us some sacred edifices, which the hearts of distant generations 294 GRECIAN AND GOTHIC will love and venerate, and farther, such as they will admire, that both the religion and the taste of the nine- teenth century may command their respect. It has been objected too, that the form of Gothic cathedrals (a cross) is unsuited to Protestant worship. Very true ; but that does not preclude the employment of the Gothic style. A rectangular church, divided into aisles, is perfectly suitable, or rather, well adapted to the clustered pillars, and numerous arches of the vault. An edifice with Gothic windows on a smooth wall, both at the sides and above, is a burlesque upon the style. It is better not to adopt it at all, unless it can be carried out in all the subordinate parts. But this has been done successfully in our country. Christ Church, at Hartford, is an example of this. The style has been preserved even to the minutest details. The buttresses break up the smoothness of the exterior; and the interior is happily relieved from stern and naked simplicity by the galleries. These have been considered an evil. They doubtless would disfigure a cathedral. But, says the author to whom we have so often referred, the case is different with us. The form of our churches must be simple, a quality entirely at variance with this style, and with- out something to conceal and draw attention from this plainness, their interior will appear meagre and bare. Galleries assist in doing this ; but the edifice should be accommodated to them, and they to it, more than is IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 295 now usually done. The windows should be so con- structed, that we may feel that the gallery is not con- cealing their beauty from our view ; and on the other hand, the gallery should not be carried in a straight horizontal line from pillar to pillar, in the manner of a Grecian entablature, but should be supported by low arches, and thus made to preserve their Gothic cha- racter throughout. The great variety of arches and of ornaments admitted by the style, will easily allow the architect to do this. The cathedral form is repre- sented by fresco painting upon the wall of the new church in Washington Square, and the effect is con- sidered by many as very fine ; the deception complete. Whether it is well to attempt such deception, is ques- tionable. The windows of a Gothic church should be of stained, or ground glass ; the former is in all cases to be desired where it is not too expensive. Variety in the designs, is in unison with this style. Uniformity and variety seem paradoxical, yet they are ^most hap- pily united in the true Gothic. The spire had its origin with the Gothic style, but towers are generally used with it in this country. Some architectural critics object strenuously to the mode with us in common use, of placing the tower and spire in the front of the church. They contend, that the unity and beauty of the facade are destroyed by this mode. Yet, to those whose taste has not been formed by familiarity with 296 GRECIAN AND GOTHIC European churches, this objection does not suggest itself. " But where shall it be put ? The question is a perplexing one." Surely it is, and in most churches it would be a defect, rather than a beauty, to have the tower placed upon the other end of the church, and not in front. In Gothic churches, a tower at each angle of the front is preferred. In this situation they will be powerful helpers to the facade ; they give it breadth and richness, and it acquires the importance it deserves." Where we employ the spire, I think we generally err in giving it too little height in proportion to the tower. The highest spire in England is one hundred and fourteen feet in height, the diameter of its base being nineteen ; the tower on which it rests is seventy feet high, and twenty-two feet square. One word more; — let us banish all fishes, arrows, and everything of the kind, everything resembling a vane, fron^ the top of our spires. They are no orna- ment ; a stranger would think us wonderfully anxious about the wind. If we must have them, let them be put in some other place. Public edifices in almost every part of our country are now being built of durable materials; and they will stand as monuments of the taste and skill of the present age. We wish those who come after us to re- spect our memory; and, what is of far more conse- IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 297 quence, to respect our laws and institutions. Let us then endeavour to have the objects associated with these laws and institutions, — (state-houses, colleges, academies, churches, &c.,) — such as to heighten reve- rence. The architect's work stands out in the broad light of day, where all see, where all judge, where all may applaud, and where all may sneer. They should then form their plans with careful deliberation. Where expensive and lasting edifices cannot be built, it is still important to have churches in good taste. Fig. 46. The little church, Fig. 46, is a neat edifice for a small country parish, designed by Mr. Arthur Gil- man, of Boston. This church is heavily framed, and covered with unplaned plank. The proportions are allowed by good judges to be beautiful. But the most striking feature of this church is the interior. It has an open timber roof. One of the advantages of 2^8 GRECIAN AND GOTHIC, ETC. this form of construction is, that a lofty interior can be had in a building with posts not over eighteen or twenty feet in length. The whole cost of this church, completely furnished, was less than $3000. CHAPTER XXV. THEGRECIAN ORDERS IN DOMESTIC ARCHITEC TURE; THE GOTHIC, ELIZABETHAN, ETC. It has already been remarked, that it would be a great improvement to our cities, if more variety could be introduced into the houses that line the long streets. There is a sameness that is tiresome, in the uniform rows of doors and windows in an unbroken range of buildings. Although some general resemblance, in size and form, will, of necessity, prevail, the details may be endlessly varied. The grave and majestic Doric will rarely be employ- ed for dwelling-houses ; they should have the expres- sion of cheerfulness, to be pleasing ; yet, if it be true, as has been asserted, " that the character of a family, will generally be found to have some resemblance to the house in which they live," some grave and sober citizens will, here and there, rear a majestic front of granite, with Doric columns at the entrance, and an entablature, with its appropriate triglyphs and metopes. The graceful and cheerful Ionic of the Greeks, is adapted to dwelling-houses, where white marble can be used for the building material. 300 THE GRECIAN ORDERS, ETC., Plate XXXII. The mansion of Matthew Newkirk, Esq., in Philadelphia. The front is of white marble. The beautiful portico is copied from the Erectheum ; the Ionic columns and richly-ornamented capitals of that celebrated temple have been universally admired as perfect models in classic architecture. Thomas U. Walter, architect. Where this order is employed upon the building as a whole, some of the smaller parts, especially in the interior, may be of the Roman Ionic. In small porticoes and fire-places, the modern Ionic is also extremely appropriate. The Corinthian, gay and beautiful as it is, can be seldom used to advan- tage, yet it should by no means be entirely excluded from the domestic architecture of large cities. A row of buildings in one of our cities has a Corinthian colonnade, with the columns so near to each other, that the weight they support appears quite too small, or rather the columns seem of little utility, and the houses behind them, appear only placed there that something may be attached to this elaborate colonnade. The Roman Doric, or Tuscan, may occasionally be introduced with good effect, and the general expression is not unsuitable to large city mansions. There has been for many years in our country a perfect mania for the Grecian orders. Every building, from the shop of the tradesman to the church and the capitol, must be Grecian. In some instances houses appeared to be built merely IN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 301 to accommodate a portico ; or rather the Grecian por- ticoes stood elevating their bold fronts, with a mean house sneaking behind them. An English writer severely criticises one of our public buildings as follows, namely : " Imagine an Ionic hexastyle, with fluted columns, stuck up against a two-storied house, and you have the image of it at once. Really, such a thing is enough to make one wish Grecian architecture buried ten thousand fathoms deep, beyond the possibility of resuscitation, and the very name of it obliterated for ever. It is the very dog- gerel of architecture. Why, if such things are allowed to pass for Grecian, there is no reason why apothe- caries' Latin should not pass for Ciceronian. Taking this building as a sample of its architecture, I should say that America must be the paradise of builders and the purgatory of architectural connoisseurs." Happily a better taste is now prevailing. The Grecian mania has passed by, and some caution is necessary that the people become not as rabid with the Gothic and Elizabethan mania, that has now seized them. In the country, where a selection of the site of a house can be made, it is always best to choose one where fine trees are already grown.* * " The first thing done in the new parts of our country, when a spot is determined on for a liouse, is to cut down all the trees within many rods of it ; and then, year by year, the work of destruction goes 302 THE GRECIAN ORDERS, ETC., The Gothic style for dwelling-houses, although often censured, may be used with a happy effect. It can be made light and cheerful, and (admitting of much irre- gularity) extremely convenient. Pugin, one of the best architectural writers on the on, as if the very sight of a forest tree were odious. The house stands alone in the clearing, its inmates, and particularly the chil- dren, roasted and browned under the hot summer's sun ; but by and by the nakedness and dreariness of the situation are felt, and then are planted some Lombardy poplars^ reminding us of Pope's couplet : ' A little house, with trees a row, And, like its master, very low.' Now, the trees which we cut down with such an unsparing hand are the very kind which English gardeners cultivate with the most persevering diligence, and are planted here, just as they labour most to plant. And we too shall cultivate them before long, and shall then think with the most bitter regret of the sad destruction which we and our ancestors have made, but in vain ; for all the art of man will not be able to restore, in any length of time, such glades, and thickets, and lawns as we now possess. When about to build in a new country, we should save, near our house, an acre or two of the forest, and should guard it with the most watchful care. Morning, noon, and evening, it would be an agreeable retreat ; its shade would be refresh- ing in our scorching heats ; it would connect us in some measure with ages long since gone, and would bring before us the wild but high- souled Indian, his council-fire, his battle-song, the war, the chase, the feast, and the dance. A noble grove would gratify our taste ; it would raise our thoughts to Him who is ' a shadow from the heat, a strength to the needy in distress.' I say again, let us spare our noble forest trees." IN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 303 Gothic style, says : "In designing or adapting Gothic edifices, it is of primary importance to calculate on the size, proportion, object, and situation of an intended building, and to select a style applicable to these points. The next requisite is to preserve harmony or consistency of style throughout all the members and details of the work. Disregarding this, or ignorant of its principles, many builders^ miscalled architects, have committed egregious blunders, and have jumbled together in one design, not only the style of different ages, but mixtures of castellated, domestic, and ecclesi- astical architecture. Indeed, it is to the tastelessness of persons who occasionally compose, or rather build such edifices, without well-planned and well-digested designs, that modern Gothic has been treated with sneers and contempt, and has been sarcastically termed ' Egyptianized, Castleized, Abbeyized,' &c. Whether a design is for a mansion, a cottage, or a church, does not appear to have entered into the calculations of many builders. They blunder on, with some confused notions of pointed arches, slender columns and em- battled parapets ; and at length produce a nondescript building, which cannot degrade them, because they have no reputation to lose, but unfortunately excites a prejudice against, and erroneous opinions of, a class of architecture which is susceptible of great beauties and impressive combinations." It is lamentably true with regard to the Gothic style in our country, that awkward buildings, having no pre- 304 THE GRECIAN ORDERS, ETC., tensions to rank under any known style, have disgusted the pubUc. Better success will attend those who em- ploy men skilled in their art, and the capabilities and beauties of it will be made to appear. As the mania for the Elizabethan style is actually raging, some remarks on the principles to be observed in the erection of Elizabethan villas will not be inap- propriate. This style is said to be peculiarly appro- priate to a " woody or green country." First. The building must be either quite chaste or excessively rich in decoration. Every inch of orna- ment short of a certain quantity will render the whole effect poor and ridiculous ; while the pure perpendicular lines of this architecture will always look well if left entirely alone. The architect, therefore, when limited as to expense, should content himself with making his oriels project boldly, channelling their mullions richly, and, in general, rendering his vertical lines delicate and beautiful in their workmanship ; but if his estimate be unlimited, he should lay on his ornament richly, taking care never to confuse the eye. Those parts to which, of necessity, observation is especially directed, must be finished so as to bear a close scrutiny, that the eye may rest upon them with satisfaction ; but their finish must not be of a character which would have attracted the eye by itself without being placed in a conspicuous situation ; for, if it were, the united attrac- tion of form and detail would confine the contempla- tion altogether to the parts so distinguished, and render IN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 305 it impossible for the mind to receive any impression of general effect. Consequently, the parts that project, and are to bear a strong light, must be chiselled with infinite delicacy ; but those parts which are to be flat, and in shade, should be marked with great sharpness and boldness, that the impression may be equalized. When, for instance, we have anything to do with oriels, to which attention is immediately attracted by their projection, we may run wreaths of the finest flowered- work up the mullions, charge the terminations with shields, and quarter them richly, but we must join the windows to the wall, where its shadow falls, by means of more deep and decided decoration. Secondly. In the choice and design of his orna- ments, the architect should endeavour to be grotesque, rather than graceful, (though little bits of soft flower- work here and there, will relieve the eye ;) but he must not imagine he can be grotesque by carving faces with holes for eyes, and knobs for noses ; on the contrary, whenever he mimics grotesque life, there should be wit and humour in every feature, fun and frolic in every attitude ; every distortion should be anatomical, and every monster a studied combination. Thirdly. The gables must, on no account, be jagged into a succession of right angles, as if people were to be perpetually engaged in trotting up one side and down the other. This custom, though sanctioned by authority, has very little apology to offer for itself, based on any principles of composition. 20 306 * THEGRECIAN ORDERS, ETC., In street effect, indeed, it is occasionally useful, and where the verticals below are unbroken by ornament, may be used in the detached Elizabethan, but not when decoration has been permitted below. They should then be carried up in curved lines, alternating with two angles, or three at the most, without pinna- cles or hip-knobs. A hollow parapet is far better than a battlement in the intermediate spaces ; the latter, in- deed, is never allowable, except when the building has some appearance of having been intended for defence, and therefore is generally barbarous in the villa, while the parapet admits of great variety of effect. Lastly. The garden of the Elizabethan villa should be laid out with a few simple terraces near the house, so as to unite it well with the ground. Fig. 47 is a beautiful English villa, in the Eliza- bethan style. It has not the awkward, outre charac- ter of many of those buildings styled Elizabethan, which are blotting the fair face of our country, — those dark-brown deformities, with as many high, pointed gables as can be contrived by the skill of the ignorant artisan, in lieu of anything else to distinguish them as Elizabethan. This villa may serve as a model for a spacious country-house in the Northern, Middle, and Western States. CHAPTER XXV 1. A RANDOM CHAPTER, ON WALLS, CHIMNEYS, WINDOWS, ETC. To build a house upon the sand," is considered the extreme of folly ; every wise man builds upon a firm foundation. If it is not upon a rock, it must be made firm by artificial means, such as driving timber into the loose soil or mud. Thus the Hollanders have built their cities, robbing old ocean of his rightful domain. Various kinds of walls have been used in ancient and modern times. The immense oblong stones employed by the Etruscans and Romans, were made perfectly smooth, and laid up without mortar, the courses overlaying each other so as to " break joint," as it is technically termed. A double wall was in some instances constructed, and the space between, filled in with broken bricks, rubbish, and mortar. The walls of the Pantheon were of this kind, and time has so consolidated the whole mass, that unless de- stroyed by an earthquake or volcano, they may stand as long as the great globe itself." In some of the cities of the United States, walls for large buildings are only a brick and a half in thickness. Fearful con- A RANDOM CHAPTER. 309 sequences may result; — they have already resulted from this mistaken economy. Lives have been lost by their falling in. Wooden walls of timber and boards do well for a new country, where forests are abundant, and men must build in haste ; bu t as soon as they have more leisure and more wealth, they should build of less perishable materials. In warm climates, flat roofs afford a pleasant retreat, where families gather with their books, work, &c., as in cold climates they do by the ingle-side ; but where the snow must have an easy slide, or else encumber the roofs, they are high and steep. The brightly polished floors of wood, and the beauti- ful cool marble, are for warm climates ; in colder regions we are glad to be made comfortable by cover- ing them with carpets. Windows and doors may be made highly orna- mental. They form the most im- portant features in the architecture of the houses of a city. That the ancients had windows to their dwellings is quite certain, yet they must have been small and unorna- mented. Houses of one story were lighted from the roof In the Lom bardic period, windows began to be a conspicuous ornament, and in the Gothic style, they are the 310 A RANDOM CHAPTER, ornament excellence. The bay-windows (Fig. 48), or as they are often erroneously called, bow-windows, give beauty both to the interior and exterior of Gothic buildings. The windows of a city may be varied ad infinitum. Fig. 49, a rich style from the Palazzo Medici, Rome. The question arises, cannot our architects furnish us with a truly American style ? Will not some- thing original* in time be pro- duced ? Or rather, will not modi- fications grow out of former styles, suited to our climate, customs, and mode of life ? Doors in ancient edifices were of brass, bronze, and other rich materials ; plat Basilica, Baltimore, Batalha Cathedral, Baths of Dioclesian, Caracalla, ♦ Titus, Battery, New York, Battle Monument, Beauty, Belus, Temple of, Belzoni, Bemal Diaz, Boston, - Colony, Common, - Bramante, Bricks, - Brunaleschi, Felippo, Bulbous Domes, - Bute Cottage, 127, 343 263 263, 272 410 119 268 164 117 117 118 318 268 328 24 32 78 258 236 318 193 22 185 206 284 C. Caffre Huts, Cairo, - Cailliaud, Cambyses, Canara, - Campo Vaccino, 19 44 28 37 49 119 414 INDEX. Capital and Entablature, - - - - 95 Capitol, Washington, .... - 267 Indiana, ...... 269 Capitoline Hill, - - - - - - 119 Castles, English, ----- 174 •Caryatides, 97 Carnak, 43 Casa del Gobernador, - - - - - 73 Catherwood's " Views," ..... 67 Cathedral of Chartres, ..... 356 Strasburgh, ..... 359 Florence, ...... 362 Cologne, - - - - - - 162 St. Peter's, - - - - - - 186 St. Paul's, - - - - - - 191 Caverns, Egyptian, ..... 35 Hindoo, 48 Cecelia Metella, - - - - - - 114 Celestial Empire, - - - - - 64 Cemeteries, - - - - - - 331 Cephrenes, Pyramid of, - - - - - 31 ChampoUion, ..... 38, 43, 44 Chambers, Sir William, - . - . - 66 Chapel of Henry VII. - . - - .159 Monument, 334 King's College, - - - - - 159 Chateaubriand, - - - - . "* , 31 Chaucer, Geoffrey, - - - - 159 Chinese Architecture, ..... 64 Pagoda, .... - 66 Church Extension Society, - . - - 199 Christ's Church, Hartford, .... 269 Cinquecento Style, - . - - - 193 INDEX. 415 Civil Architecture, - - - - - 17 Classic, 185 Coliseum, - - - - - - 109 Cologne Cathedral, - - - . . 162 Colony of Jamestown, - 229 Plymouth, ...... 235 New York, ..... 238 Philadelphia, - . . . - . 239 Column of Trajan, - - - - - 112 Marcus Aurelius, - - - - - 113 Composite Order, - - - - .102 Constantinople, ..... 352, 354 Corinthian Order, ..... 94 Cyclopean Architecture, ..... 79 D. Darius, Tomb of, . .... 57 Decorated Gothic, • . - - - 156 Delaware, Lord, - - . . - 231 De Lacy, ...... 33 Diana, Temple of, - - . • . 93 Doric Order, ...... 84 Column, . . - . . . . 84 Entablature, ..... 85 DuomoofPisa, ...... 355 E. Eaton, Governor, - - - - - 237 Early English, the, ..... 154 416 INDEX. Ecclesiastical Architecture, • - 154, 198, 206, 293, 321 Effect, Architectural, - - - - . 217 Egyptian Architecture, ----- 27 Elephanta, ...... 48 Elgin Marbles, 86 Elgin's, Lord, Apology, ----- 88 Ellora, ....... 49 Elizabethan Style, - - - 180, 200, 304, 313 Elizabethan Villa, .... 284, 304, 306 Erostratus, the incendiary, - - - - 93 Erskine, 52 Etruscan Architecture, .... - 80 Arch, ...... 80 Exchange Hotel, ----- 272 Expression in Architecture, - - - - 211 F. Feudal System, ----- . 170 Fitness, - - - - - - - 211 Flavian Amphitheatre, - - - - - 109 Florid Gothic, - - - . . - 158 Forum Romanum, - - - - - 119 of Trajan, ------ 120 France, Schools of Art in, - - . - 225 Free-Masonry, - - - - - - 148 G. Galindo, Colonel, ... - - 79 Girard College, 264 Glenn Cottage, 286 INDEX. 417 Gliddon, Gneiss, - Golden House of Nero, - Gothic Style, In Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, Origin, Early English, Decorated, - Perpendicular, Cottage, ^ - Country Church, in Domestic Architecture, Church, Brooklyn, - Hartford, - Monument Chapel, - Reigate, England, - Trinity, New York, Granite, Grecian Architecture, Orders, Houses, . in Public buildings, - in Domestic buildings. Green, New Haven, Greenwood Cemeterv, 27 418 INDEX. Haddon House, - Hartford, Hindoo Architecture, Hindoos, Character of, - Indiana, Capitol of, - - « . . 269 Indra Subba, ... > - . 50 Ionic Order, - - - - - 91, 292, 299 Roman, ...... 163 Israelites, - - - - - - 34 J, Jachin and Boaz, - - - - - 61 Jewish Architecture, ..... 59 John Smith, Captain, ..... 229 Jones, Sir William, ..... 27 Juggernaut, Temple of, - - - - - 54 Jupiter Ammon, Temple of, - - - - 40 Olympus, 96 K. Karnes, Lord, ...... 325 Keylas the Proud, ..... 59 181 269 47 52 INDEX. 419 Kingsborough, Lord, 75 King's College Chapel, ... - - 159 King's Chapel, Boston, .... - 258 Kosciusko, Monument of, ... - 337 Kremlin, 207 L. La Renaissance, - - - - - 194 Latopolis, ...... 39 Laurel Hill, 337 Le Brun, 55 Leaning Tower of Pisa, - 357 Le Noir, ...... 78 LeoX., - - • - . . - 186 Log Cabins, ------ 21 Lombardic Church, - - - - - 147 Louis Quatorze Style, - - - - - 194 Luxor, 36 Lyons, School of Art, ----- 224 M. Marble, ------- 251 Meeting Houses, .... - 241 Melrose Abbey, - - - - - - 165 Meroe, ------- 28 Metals, 253 Mexico, 68 Michael Angelo, - - - - - 187 Minarets, • - - - - - 129 420 INDEX. Mint, United States, ..... 252 Minerva Parthenon, - - - - - 86 Monument of Cecelia Melella, - - - - 114 Caius Cestius, - - - - - 115 Plautius Family, - - - - -116 to the Swiss, ..... 336 Bunker's Hill, 259 Washington, ----- 268 Battle, 268 Kosciusko, - 337 Lysicrates, - - - - - 96,265 Alexandrine, - - - - '128 Moorish Architecture, .... - 128 Arch, . - - - - - 130 Mosque of Omar, - 128 N. Naumachia, ...... 347 New Amsterdam, ..... 238 New Haven, 270 Colony, 236 Green, 319 New Orleans, 272 New York, .... 238, 260, 284, 285, 317 Nero's Golden House, - - - - - 127, 349 Nineveh, 24 Nile, 29 Norman Architecture, - - - - - 140 INDEX. 421 O. Obelisks, 36 Olympeium, ------ 96 Ornament in Architecture, - - - - 213 Oxburgh Hall, - - - - - - 183 P. Psestum, Tennples of, ----- 90 Pagoda Indian, ------ 54 Chinese, ------ 66 Palace of the King of Bavaria, - - - - 200 Pimlico, ------ 201 Palmyra, - 108, 127, 343 Pantheon at Rome, - - - - - 104 Paradise, - - - - - - 18 Paris, Schools of Art, ----- 225 Paulus Emilius, - - - - - - 101 Penn, William, ------ 239 Peterborough Cathedral, ----- 141 Perpendicular Gothic, - - - - - 158 Persian Architecture, ----- 55 Persepolis, ------ 55 Persians, • - - - - - 97 Peveril of the Peak, ----- 178 Philadelphia, ----- 239, 263, 288 Pilgrim Fathers, ------ 235 Pinacotheca, - - - - - - 117 Pliny's Villa, ------ 56 422 INDEX. Plutarch, - - - - - - 101 Plymouth Colony, ..... 235 Pointed Arch, - - - - - - 151 Pon>peii, - - - - - - 121 Portcullis, - - - - - - 177 Porter, Sir Robert Ker, - - - - - 23 Post Office, General, ..... 267 Potomac Freestone, - 252 Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, - - - - 70 President's House, - - - - - 267 Principles of Architecture, .... 210 Proportion in, - - - - - - 213 Pyramids, Egyptian, ----- 29 Q. Qualifications for an Architect, - - - - 219 R. Raphael D'Urbino, - - - - - 118 Rheims Cathedral, - - - - - 163 Rochester Castle, - - - - - 174 Roman Architecture, - - - - - 100 Orders, - - - - - - 102 Roads, - - - - - - 104 Temples, - - - - - - 104 Tombs, - - - - - - 114 Forii, 119 Amphitheatres, - - - - - - 119 Rome, under Augustus, - 397 INDEX. 423 Romanesque Style, - I34 in England, - - - - -136 Ireland, 142 Scotland, - - - - - - 146 Germany, 146 Italy, - - . . . - 147 France, ...... 149 Rouen Cathedral, • - - . . iqi Round Towers of I releind, .... 144 Scotland, - - - - - - 146 Roxbury Highlands, - 2S6 Russian Edifices, - 205 S. Saccara, Pyramids of, - - - - . 34 Saint Paul on Mars Hill, - - . - qq at Ephesus, ..... 94 St. Etienne, Church of, - - - - - 149 St. Paul's, London, ..... igi St. Peter's, Rome, - - - . - 186 Saxon Architecture, - - - - - 137 School of Art, - 224 Selinus, Temples at, - - ... 39 Sicily, Ancient Temples in, - - - . S9 Sidon, ....... 26 Sienite, 251 Simplicity in Style, - - - - . 2I6 Sir Christopher Wren, - - - . - 191 Sir Joshua Reynolds, ..... 290 Sir Philip Sidney, ..... 2OI Slate, ------- 253 424 INDEX. Solomon's Temple, - - - - . 60 State House, Boston, ..... 258 Strasburgh Cathedral, - - . . - 161 Syracuse, Temple at, - - - - - 89 T. Tabernacley - - - - - - 20 Tanjore, ...... 54 Temples, Egyptian, ----- 35 Hindoo, . . - - - . 48 Subterranean, - - - - -49, 53 Jewish, ------ 60 Grecian, - . - . . 86, 93, 96 Roman, .... - 104, 108 Tents, ------- 20 Teocalli, Mexican, - - - - - 69 Thebes, - - - - - - - 35, 44 Thsing-chi-hoang-ti, - - ... 64 Titus, Arch of, - - - - - - 111 Tombs of Etruria, 81 of the King's, ----- 56 of the Scipios, - - - - - 116 Towns, 170 Trajan's Column, - - - - - 112 Treasury Department, - - - - - 267 Trees, 301 Trinity Church, N. Y., - - - - - 261 Trichinopoly, - - - - - - 54 Tuscan Order, - - - - - - 102 Tyre, - - - - - - - 26 INDEX. 425 U. United States, Architecture in, - - - - 257 Bank, - - - - - - 263 Use of the Grecian Orders, - - - - 289 Gothic Style, ----- 293 Elizabethan, ----- 302,304 Utility, 210 of the Fine Arts, ----- 329 Uxmal, ------- 72 V. Valentia, Lord, - - - - - - 54 Vesta, Temple of, - - - - - 1 07 Villa of Pliny, - - - - - - 122 of the Emperor Adrian, - - - - 126 Elizabethan, - - - 284, 304, 306, 307 Virginia, Buildings of, • - - - - 234 Visvacarma, ------ 52 Vitruvius, - - - - - - 96, 185 W. Waldeck, ----- , 79 Walter Scott, - - . . , - 166 Washington, - - - - . - 267 Monument, 268 Wen-ti-chang-tching, • • - - - 65 426 INDEX. Wigwams, - - - - - . 19 William the Conqueror, - - - - - 174 Windsor Castle, - - - - . . 179 Windows, 308 Wood, ....... 254,255 Wren, Sir Christopher, - - - - - 191 X. Xerxes, - - - . ... 55 Y. Yale College Library, - - - . - * 270 Yucatan, 72 Z. Zodiac at Dendera, • - - - - 42 THE END. GETTY ^^^^"^^^llll^^^ ^ 3 3125 01451 5833