German monasteries, which show the deep science, the long forethought, and the complicated calculations, employed in their formation.

ELEVENTH WEEK-WEDNESDAY.

ARCHITECTURE.-ITS MODERN HISTORY AND PRACTICE

BRITAIN.

THE decline of the pointed style of architecture, at one time so universal throughout Europe, was owing to a change of taste in the influential quarter of Italy, where the antique style of the classic ages again suddenly came into fashion. It was then for the first time that the pointed style received the name of Gothic. This was a title of contempt given to it by the Italians, and adopted by other nations. In the fifteenth century, learning and the arts, which had been chiefly confined, as I have said, to ecclesiastics, began to revive, and the new impulse was accompanied with an excusable reverence for the school of the ancients, which quickly spread to their edifices.

From this time the architectural taste of Europe experienced a rapid change, commencing in the seat of the ecclesiastical government, and spreading by degrees to the utmost extent of the Roman Church. Early in the fifteenth century, Filippo Brunelleschi, a Florentine, born in 1377, whose ardent and liberal mind led him to form his taste by studying the remains of ancient buildings at Rome, undertook and completed the cathedral of Florence, with an octagonal cupola of great dimensions, which a convocation of the architects of that age had pronounced impracticable. The completion of this edifice, the example of the other excellent works in which he was employed, and the perusal of the writings of Vitruvius, created a general disposition to this style of architecture.

It was increased by a treatise of Alberti, a

learned canon of the metropolitan church of Florence, who, like many other monks of the preceding ages, also practised architecture. These circumstances were preparatory to the great undertaking which fixed the epoch of the revival of this art, and gave to the Christian world a temple, which, in magnitude and variety of parts, far surpassed every Grecian and Roman work of a similar description. In the pontificate of Julius II., Brumante, a native of the dutchy of Urbino, having been distinguished by various architectural works at Rome, was employed, first to design the great theatre between the Old Vatican and Belvidere, and afterwards the original plan for St Peter's Church; and the latter magnificent structure, altered, however, and in some respects deteriorated, was carried on under the direction of Raphael de Urbino, the friend of the designer. Various other eminent men flourished at the same time, who adopted similar views, and, by their labour, contributed to establish the taste which had thus been introduced. Among these was Michael Angelo, eminent alike in the three kindred arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, who, with mighty genius, was deficient in taste, and in the pursuit of novelty often lost sight of propriety, but who has notwithstanding left behind him a name which succeeding ages have not eclipsed.

It is no part of my design to enter into a minute description of modern buildings. In referring, however, to the progress of the art in Britain, it would be culpable neglect to omit the name of Inigo Jones, who flourished at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and who was the first English architect that, having cultivated the Grecian style, established it in this island. Of him it is remarked, that besides the classical elegance which he introduced into public buildings, we are indebted for much of the convenience and comfort, then for the first time, introduced into private buildings.

The only other British architect whom I shall name, as giving permanence to the modern style of architecture,

is Sir Christopher Wren. This eminent man came into notice about the middle of the same century. It is to him that we owe the plan and rebuilding of the present cathedral of St Paul's, after the former structure had been consumed in the great fire of 1666. It is proper to observe, however, that great as this effort of architectural art undoubtedly is, it does not equal, either in simplicity, elevation, or boldness, that which he originally conceived, and was desirous to execute. The commissioners interfered with and checked his magnificent views, and he was under the necessity of cramping his genius, from the want of liberality in his employers. In the church of St Stephens, Walbrook, there is an admirable specimen of his skill: It consists, internally, of a cupola, resting on Corinthian columns, the whole distributed and adjusted with the utmost elegance and correctness. Besides many other works which the devastation of the fire subjected to his genius, in the Monument erected to commemorate that calamity, he constructed a column, equal in design and execution, and superior in elevation, to any of antiquity. The height of this column is 202 feet; that of Antoninus, at Rome, was 175; and that of Trajan only 147.*

tures.

I need say little of the present state of architecture in this country, as relates either to public or private strucThe principles of the art seem to have been long fully developed; and the application is as various as the varied taste, rank, and resources of the individuals who require its aid, or of the architects, whose taste and skill are employed in furnishing plans for its execution. The increasing intelligence and refinement of the age, with which the prosperity of the country has kept pace, have given rise to edifices of all descriptions, magnificent or elegant, commodious or useful. The taste for beauty, convenience, and comfort, is obviously on the increase. In their private residences, the houses of our country gentlemen and merchants are fast advancing to a rival

* Edinburgh Encyclopedia-Article," Civil Architecture."

ship with the villas and castles of the nobility, and these again with the palaces of princes. Nor are the dwellings of persons in the less wealthy ranks in a stationary state. Every year brings additional accommodations to the farmer and his dependants, while the houses in the towns are becoming more commodious and elegant, the shops more rich and tasteful, the warehouses more numerous, extensive, and convenient. With regard to our manufacturing buildings, as they have rapidly increased in perfection and extent of machinery, they have made equal progress in accommodation and in magnificence. The establishments of this kind, in Lancashire and other counties, overwhelm the mind with astonishment, and open up views of wealth and facilities to industry, which, previous to experience, we might be inclined to think could only be found in the fancies of an Eastern tale.

Of all European countries, in Britain, especially, is strongly marked the happy changes consequent on the progress of society in arts and civilization; and none of these changes are more striking than what belongs to the practice of architecture. Other nations studiously display their means of warlike defence. Every town is fortified, the bridges are built with a view to military defence, the rocks and rising grounds bristle with towns and battlements. It is not so in Britain. Our insular situation, and command of the sea, secure us against foreign invasion. A contented population is our defence against internal commotion. Except a few ruined towers, the relics of a more barbarous age, and here and there a dismantled castle, every thing breathes peace and prosperity. Look down from some elevated situation on the surrounding country, and what do you behold ?—the noble mansion, rising in the midst of a wide-spread lawn and stately woods; the neat farm-house, with its quadrangle of commodious offices, its threshing mill, and its well filled stack-yard; the clean and healthy village, with its smoke rising from every chimney, to indicate

domestic comfort within, and its hedge-enclosed gardens, where flowers, mingling with useful vegetables, are equally unequivocal indications of the same prosperous condition; perhaps, in the distance, some tall chimney pours forth its volumes of dark smoke, speaking of manufacturing industry; but, above all, the churchspire, or belfry, blesses the scene, and directs the mind to higher and holier musings; while, all around, the green pasture-grounds meet the pleased eye, intersected with hedge-rows, and mingled with variously tinted fields, where agriculture has been busy with its plastic hand. Such a scene as this is peculiarly characteristic of our happy island, in its present state of peace and prosperity; and, when contrasted with the appearance of the country but a few centuries back, singularly displays the hand of a benignant Providence, urging forward and directing the labours of industrious man.

ELEVENTH WEEK-THURSDAY.

ARCHITECTURE. ITS MODERN HISTORY AND PRACTICE

BRIDGES.

THE invention of the arch, besides making a most essential difference in the art of house-building, gave peculiar facility to another important improvement, which the intercourse of society required,-the means of conveyance across rivers and deep ravines. The Romans,

to whom we have traced the first free use of the arch for the former of these purposes, seem to have been also among the first who applied it in the construction of the latter. Of these ancient works, one of the most remarkable, which still remains, and, indeed, of which we have any account, is the bridge of Alcantara, in Spain. It is constructed over the Tagus, and consists of six arches, of about a hundred and twelve Spanish feet each,

VOL. IV.

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