Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/503

ENGLISH.] ARCHITECTURE 445 architects who had the direction of our principal works during the earlier part of this century had the disadvantage of being pupils of those who were themselves, as we have shown, incompetent to appreciate the Greek style ; and at a time, too, when the state of Europe prevented all access to the remains of Greece and Rome, so that no great improve ment could perhaps be expected from them. Personal study of the monuments they wish to rival ia the absolute duty of all architects, and it is possible that study even of the older examples may in all cases teach them some useful lesson. The structures of Egypt may show us how to arrange large masses harmoniously and effectively, those of Greece and Rome how to impart grace and dignity. The struc tures of Italy show us how far the materials of ancient archi tecture may be moulded to modern uses, while at the same time they give practical warning of what may result from the abuse of the most obvious principles of the art, and from the neglect of our national style or the requirements of our own country and climate, with which it is almost unnecessary to say it is quite impossible to harmonise the works of so entirely different a climate as that of Greece. The difference between the representations of the Athe nian antiquities by Stuart and his colleague, and the misrepresentations of them by Le Roy, appears to have opened the eyes of the world to those of ancient Rome, to see if they too had not been dealt with unjustly ; for much more correct delineations of them had appeared than those of Palladio and Desgodets, delineations of them as they exist, exhibiting the spirit of the ori ginals, and not warped to the Vitruvian precepts, and thereby stripped of their best quality, truth. The ex cavation of the ancient cities of Herculaneum and Pom peii has opened to us much interesting and instructive matter, and their ruins have now been correctly de lineated. It is an argument in proof of the classical beauty of the Pointed style, that when the eyes of men were opened to the perfections of Greek architecture, they began to discover its merits also. Pointed architecture, under the opprobrious name Gothic, had long bsen a subject of discussion among antiquaries, that is, essays were written by them to prove how the pointed arch originated, but none appreciated its beauties. Our Pointed cathedrals and churches were, after the example of Inigo Jones, ruthlessly barbarised in course of repairing and fitting them up. If an architect- were employed to do anything about one of them, he appears to have thought it incumbent on him to convert it to the doctrines of his own faith to Italianise it. Deans and chapters for the most part entrusted their commissions to country masons and plasterers, who also operated according to the laws of the " five orders." About the middle of the 18th century one Batty Langley endeavoured to draw the attention of the world to Pointed architecture, by reducing it to rules, and dividing it into orders. Fortunately he was only laughed at, and both he and the book he published on the subject were soon forgotten. One of the first men in rank and influence of his time, in matters of taste par ticularly, Horace Walpole, patronised Pointed architecture, but ineffectually. He had himself neither taste nor feeling to appreciate its beauties, as his Strawberry Hill clearly shows. Delineations were indeed put forth from time to time, but generally so rude and imperfect, that they did more harm than good. The Society of Antiquaries, how- over, at length took up the subject, engaged Mr John Carter, an ardent and judicious admirer of our national architecture, and commenced the publication of a series of splendid volumes, containing engravings of its best speci mens, from drawings and admeasurements by him. The Antiquities of Athens had already done much to dispossess men of then- prejudicies, by showing that Greek architec ture, though neither Vitruvian nor Palladian, was never theless beautiful ; and the great work of the Society of Antiquaries did the same for Pointed architecture. Since the death of Mr Carter our national buildings have been studied, catalogued, drawn, and published by an infinity of admirers, who have done their work with zeal which has been thoroughly enthusiastic. The works of the elder Pugin were the first to show how architecture ought to be drawn, whilst the work of Mr Rickman was the first to show how it ought to be studied. From the time of these two pioneers in the work, it would be impossible to catalogue a hundredth of the works which have be ?.n devoted to the subject. Nor have they been written by architects only. On the contrary, a large number of them are the work of amateurs, and it may be truly asserted that never since art has been written upon at all have so vast a num ber of publications, on every branch of it, been given to the world as within the last thirty years have been devoted to the illustration and history of our national Gothic architecture. Germany and France have been equally prolific on the same subject, and the only diffi culty now is, out of the mass of materials how to select that which is useful and to the point. In Spain and Italy no such zeal has been shown, and the elucidation of their mediaeval antiquities has been left almost entirely to foreign hands. SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. The beautiful forms by which Saracenic or Arabian architecture is best known were wrought into a style, if they were not invented, by the descendants of the wild Arab tribes who accepted Mahomet as their leader and prophet. In estimating their influence upon architecture, Fia. 46. Plan of Mosque of Tooloon, Cairo. From Coste a Architecture Arabc en Caire. the first point to be considered is whether the Arabs, a?

they emerged from their deserts and overran the rich