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PART I I.

ARCHITECTURE AND PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS, SCIENCE, PAINTING, MUSIC, PHILANTHROPY,

LEGISLATION, STATISTICS, AND CHRONICLE OF 1878–79.

ARCHITECTURE.

IN recalling the leading events of the past year in the world of architecture and building, one is irresistibly reminded of the question so often discussed by critics-artistic, architectural, and literary--as to the real definition of architecture, and the reasonableness of the somewhat arbitrary boundary by which it is separated from engineering. For if we consider what is the most remarkable building event of the year, unquestionably we must conclude that 1879 will be memorable in the history of such events mainly, as far as this country is concerned, for the commencement of the new Eddystone Lighthouse. The fame of the older structure was so justly great, its name has become so proverbial as one of the most brilliant achievements of English engineering genius, under exceptional difficulties, and the new work promises to be so worthy a successor to the old, that it seems impossible, in speaking nominally of architecture, to put any other building enterprise of the year before this. It is something to be remembered with pride by the countrymen of Smeaton that the edifice which he erected has had to be superseded mainly through the defects of the natural rock on which it was founded, rather than through any weakness in the structure itself; and that the engineering science of the present day, with all its acquired experience, has hardly pretended an ability to make any improvement on the lines and general design of Smeaton's lighthouse, though some practical improvements in the process of construction are being realised. The new lighthouse is much larger than the old one; Smeaton's building had a base of 32 feet diameter, and carried its light at a height of 72 feet; the new erection, designed by Mr. J. W. Douglas, has a base of 44 feet, and carries its light at the height of 130 feet. Smeaton's lighthouse was built internally of Portland stone, faced externally with granite blocks, shaped from the exceedingly hard rounded granite fragments found on the face of the country in Dartmoor and other similar districts, and called hence "moorstone." The new work is built entirely of granite, with special

methods to ensure permanence; the stones in the basement especially being let into each other with a dovetailed projection fitting into a channel in the adjoining stone, both on the side and end, and additionally secured by bolts of a metal specially compounded for the purpose, as having the greatest power to resist oxidation and other chemical deterioration; and the whole, when put together in Portland cement, will probably furnish, as its engineer says, a structure "stronger than the rock itself." The Eddystone Lighthouse has an additional interest in connection with English building of every kind, as it was owing to the experiments made by Smeaton in order to discover the best cementing agent for his work, that we were first put on the right track in regard to the qualities and power of what is now known as Portland cement: a material which, though long confined to use in engineering works, is now likely to become an important ingredient in much of architectural work, as the basis of concrete, a material which is becoming more and more talked about, and already put into use in various forms, as a substitute for brick walling, in which capacity the economical advantages which it offers may even influence architectural decoration by leaving a margin for the introduction of ornament where it would otherwise have been impossible to indulge in anything but plain walls.

If we have to congratulate ourselves on the commencement of one great engineering work, we have also to rejoice over the preservation of another, which combines some of the highest qualities both of architecture and engineering. The additions which had been proposed, and were nearly being carried out, to increase the traffic accommodation on London Bridge, would have involved not only possible injury to the stability of the structure, but certain and absolute disfigurement to what may truly be called one of the noblest architectural works which London possesses; for London Bridge has exactly the qualities which constitute the highest architectural character and expressionsolidity and mass, perfect execution, and a complete suitability of the design to its practical purpose. The proposal to destroy the grand monumental character of this structure by tacking balconies on to it for pedestrians is a painful example of the indifference which is felt in modern England towards architectural grandeur when it is supposed to stand in the way of any fancied "practical" advantage; and it is matter for sincere congratulation, in the eyes of all those to whom architecture in its noblest and severest forms is of any consequence at all, that the House of

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Lords, by throwing out the bill of the City Corporation for widening the bridge in the manner proposed, have preserved us from the discredit of having deliberately spoiled and disfigured one of our grandest structures, and that the greatest ornament of the Thames is still left intact.

If there be any question raised as to the suitability of including the two engineering works just named under the head of "Architecture," no better justification for it could be found than in the writings and the career of the greatest mind among contemporary architects, whom we have had the misfortune to lose during the past year. Though Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was not an Englishmen, his loss is ours as well as that of his countrymen ; for, in fact, he belonged not to France but to all Europe. And the whole tendency of Viollet-le-Duc's teaching and practice was in opposition to the Academic theory of architecture, which regards the art as merely the application to buildings of certain derived ornamental or decorative features. With Viollet-le-Duc every kind of building, whether it was a mansion, a bridge, or a fortification, was equally "architecture," for, with him, architecture simply meant the best, most scientific, and most expressive form of building. His whole professional life was, in regard to this, more or less of a fight against the Academic party in France, and the system of Government instruction as carried on at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Of his work in other ways much is already becoming well known in England. His great "Dictionnaire Raisonnée de l'Architecture," itself nearly sufficient, as one might suppose, to be the work of a lifetime, is now a necessary element in every good architectural library, and is probably the finest work in illustration of architecture that has ever been published, when we regard the mass of detailed information it contains, the insight into the relations of architecture to the history and social economy of nations, and the admirable and hitherto (in such a work) unequalled character of the illustrations. Yet this great work, though constituting his chief monument, is but a part even of his literary labours. Among his many other critical and illustrative books in relation to his favourite study may be mentioned his "Dictionnaire du Mobilier;" his admirable "Lectures on Architecture," two volumes of which have already been translated into English, and which contain some of the most profoundly suggestive criticisms in regard to the very foundation of art and of artistic perception; his "History of a Fortress," in which the most minute informa

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tion in regard to the successive stages of military architecture is conveyed in a manner which has all the interest of a romance; his "Essai sur l'Architecture Militaire ;" and his History of a House," in which the philosophy of house architecture, practical and aesthetic, is brought into so simple and readable a form as to be clear to every comprehension, and which, it may be added, was written merely as an evening's amusement while making a survey for the French Government in an out-of-the-way district. His practical work included the restoration of some of the most interesting and historic buildings of France, among which may be mentioned Notre Dame at Paris, and the Abbey Church of St. Denis: and, subsequently, he restored the fortifications of Carcassone, the Cathedrals of Laon and Amiens, Notre Dame de Chalons-surMarne, and the Château of Pierrefonds; the last-named building being one of the finest and most interesting of the medieval châteaux of France, in which Viollet-le-Duc took especial interest, and arrived at nothing less than the production for modern spectators of a complete reconstitution of the feudal dwelling in the days of its greatest splendour-a task which his unequalled knowledge of French medieval architecture and furniture enabled him to accomplish as probably no one else of his time could. Subsequently he was intrusted with the supervision of the works for the additional fortification of Paris under the Republic, thus vindicating in his own person his theory as to the unity of all classes of building and construction under the general head of architecture. His knowledge seemed to be almost encyclopædic; and one of the men who worked under him was heard to say of him, "He knows everything from geology to cookery, and it all comes like music from his lips." The last scheme in which he had interested himself was the effort to bring about the foundation of an opera-house for the people, in order to bring the lyric drama within the reach of all. With all this varied ability and power, he was a man of the most simple and unassuming character, working hard early and late in his favourite craft; ready to impart his knowledge to all who sought it, and beloved and respected by all who had dealings with him; such a man as the architectural world will not, it is to be feared, see the like of again for some time to

come.

The great historic Abbey Church of St. Albans has continued during this year to be the subject of hot discussion in regard to the

treatment of the building by those under whose care it is for the time officially placed. Last year the walls of the structure were lifted into the perpendicular from which they had dangerously declined, a proceeding about the advantage of which there could be no difference of opinion; but dire was the outcry when it became known that the Restoration Committee intended to place a new roof on the nave; and sensible people could derive little satisfaction either way from a contest in which both sides were more or less wrong, and seemed influenced less by interest in a great building than by a wish to annoy their opponents. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, whose members seem to be actuated rather by sentiment than by any knowledge of facts, declared that the existing roof was perfectly good, which they had no means of knowing even if it had been the case; the Restoration Committee decided, quite rightly and on sufficient advice, that the roof was in such a condition that a new one was indispensable; but they then unfortunately adopted a theory that it was their duty to replace the low-pitched roof by a highpitched one, such as would very likely have been first placed on the building when the walls were erected, but of the former existence of which there was no trace and no proof. They have, it is to be regretted, carried their point, and have thus altered the proportion and the outline of a building which has been for centuries a part of the landscape in which it stands, and breaking through all the sentiment and the associations of the place for an object even the architectural value of which is exceedingly doubtful. The moral connected with the matter is that if the mass of the public interested themselves more in such subjects, and were not so deplorably ignorant and indifferent on the subject of architecture, both ancient and modern, there would be a healthy public opinion which might prevent the indulgence of sentimalities and mistakes such as these; but the public and the press, as a rule, neither knowing nor caring anything about such things, the treatment of buildings which form a part of the history of the nation is thus left to the pleasure of a few irresponsible persons, who may do an entirely irreparable injury to it, the extent of which will only be recognised when it is too late.

It is important that every opportunity therefore should be taken of endeavouring to promote increased interest in such subjects in the minds of those who are not specially or professedly concerned in architecture and archæology, and who may therefore exercise in such matters what may be called the judgment