the charm to antiquity. This is true to a certain extent; and yet how often are the marks of antiquity defaced, as by repairs, plaster, or whitewash, without destroying, or even much injuring the venerable appearance of the fabric; and, where additions have been made at several periods and in different styles, as is the case with all our cathedrals and a very great number of our parish churches, the character and symmetry of the whole has in most instances been completely preserved. It is, I may say, within the memory of man that the popular definition of a Gothic building was simply one which exhibited pointed arches, no matter what might be its ornaments, its proportions, or its composition; and therefore it is no disparagement to the talents of our present architects to assert that the Gothic style is not yet revived; even supposing the spirit of the age to admit of such revival. We may say of an architect, that he has built a good Gothic church, just as we say of a scholar, that he has written a good Latin exercise, if he has committed no egregious blunder in grammar, and has shown himself tolerably well acquainted with the idiom of the language. And, as the scholar who can do this is entitled to some praise, and cannot be said to have employed his time in a wholly unprofitable task, so neither is the architect who has made himself master of the details of a style, and can clothe his conceptions in them, to be denied commendation. But we cannot say that the one has received a language or the other a style of architecture. A competent knowledge of ordinary rules is sufficient for the mere imitator; but the reviver of an art must be thoroughly imbued with the spirit he would infuse: he must be gifted with an intuitive perception, and improve it by a diligent and anxious study of those natural principles which, so far from depending upon taught and written rules, constitute their very ground-work. The former may possibly be discovered by means of the latter, as the spring-head may be found by tracing the stream upwards; but they certainly will not be found by those who do not search for them, who rest contented with a blind dependance on mere technical forms. correctness affording the less hope of improvementbut no more imbued with the spirit and character of the middle ages than a school-boy's theme with that of Cicero *. The ecclesiastical buildings with which we are acquainted, belonging to the period between the tenth and sixteenth centuries (it might perhaps be extended each way), however they may differ in style, richness of ornament, outline, or general arrangement, are evidently designed upon certain principles of proportion, most difficult to investigate or explain, but of which the architects seem to have had an intuitive knowledge. Many, indeed, are open to criticism, as what human work is not? but there is a manifest propriety, a careful adjustment, and a remarkable gracefulness of composition, which pervades the whole, from the humblest and plainest village church to the magnificent structures of Amiens and Strasburg. Till this is not only felt and appreciated, but reduced to practice, little beauty will result from the most accurate imitation of details. How great is the value of these principles in comparison with mere knowledge of detail, any one may judge who contrasts many of Sir Christopher Wren's Gothic works with many of the present day. The latter have a coating of tolerably correct Gothic; the former, barbarous in the extreme as regards ornament, yet evince a clear perception of the higher and more important beauties of the style. The tower of Warwick church is quite a study for the architect; it teaches him how details, ill-designed and unsightly in themselves, are by the mere force of composition made to assume a most imposing appearance. At a short distance this tower would bear comparison even with that of Gloucester. The student is too apt to overlook buildings of this sort, as well as those Italianising churches common in France, as utter barbarisms; and yet their otherwise "unprofitable magnificence" may have its peculiar use, as showing to how great an extent it is possible to compensate for a defective knowledge in the minor parts by beauty of arrangement and composition. Had Gothic buildings been popular in sir Christopher Wren's time-had he been induced to follow up the art of which he so boldly seized the first principles, and to graft appropriate details upon his designs in this style, he would probably have raised it even to a greater degree of splendour than it had yet attained. In the present day, Gothic architecture is in fact a dead language, one perhaps of which we have learned little more than the grammar; yet the increasing wish to imitate shews that we have already a lively No art seems so completely to shun the guidance perception of its beauties, ignorant as we are of the of definite written rules, as it so evidently relies on source whence they spring, and unable to appreciate some unexplained fundamental laws, as this of Gothic them in their full extent; even as we may form some architecture. Let any traveller attempt to form a idea of the magnificent rhythm of Homer, Eschylus, theory on the subject. The first church he examines and Pindar, while we cannot so much as give the true may convince him that great height is absolutely pronunciation of their language. But our wish to necessary; the buttresses taper upwards in several imitate, if we have acted upon it prematurely, may stages, and are surmounted by pinnacles; the lofty possibly have thrown some very serious obstacles in clerestory rises above the aisles, and is in its turn the way of a revival. 1 cannot but think the taste for surmounted by a tower, itself bearing a spire almost Gothic cottages, and even mansions, to have been on equal in height to the rest of the building. Here, he the whole unfavourable to the art: it has had the may say, appear the true principles of art; in any effect of giving the details and smaller elegances of other proportion they cannot exist. And yet perthe style an undue importance, to the neglect of fun-haps he is next called upon to notice a church almost damental principles. A fanciful outline, or a neat finish, seems to have been the end and aim of the architect's skill; and the result is a class of buildings, orrect enough in mere details-and from this very A few modern edifices might be named, which, like the noble hall of Christ's hospital, stand forward among their contemporaries, and are worthy of the best Gothic era; but how small a proportion do they constitute! touching the ground with the eaves of its roof, having | buildings attached to churches were of a similar style, and these, in all probability, did not greatly differ from other houses of the same standard; while those of smaller consequence, though rude in their materials and construction, still harmonized with the richest Gothic. Is this the case with our flat fronts, square windows, low roofs, and horizontal parapets? Would not the oldest and most perfect Gothic edifice, if it ranged in a line with these, appear to be out of cha racter? a tower whose height scarce exceeds its breadth; nevertheless he is obliged to confess that it is essentially Gothic; that it could not have been any thing else; that, humble as it may be, it offers nothing mean, offensive, or incongruous. In one place he will stop to admire a minster, whose towers, turrets, chapels, and transepts, seem purposely so arranged as to break and vary the outline as much as possible; presently he falls in with a building as plain as a Grecian temple. One edifice is striking from its great length, another is compact and pyramidical; and yet all, from the rudest Saxon to the most florid Gothic, from the simplest chapel to the richest cathedral, are recognized as belonging to one family; and, though it is impossible to say in what the resemblance consists, still there is a very decided one, and this not produced by arbitrary rules, but by some general, though inexplicable law. The extensive range which this allows, while it seems to give the modern architect a better chance of falling in with its sphere accidentally, does in fact offer the greatest obstacles to actual discovery; but, if it were possible to express the conviction that some principle has yet to be discovered, it might be hoped that much talent and energy would be directed to the search which is now wasted upon meagre copies and incongruous adaptations. It is not always that mere copies will answer our purpose; the form and arrangement which was the best three or four centuries ago may now involve much inconvenience and loss of space; on which account it is more necessary to pursue the inquiry after general principles, which may enable us to turn to account the style of the middle ages in buildings designed to meet the exigences of the present day. That our architects are well versed in the details of the Gothic style, and that we have abundance of workmen capable of executing them with the greatest delicacy, is proved both by modern buildings and the repairs of older ones. York and Beverley furnish good examples; and above all, the new tower of Canterbury cathedral. In mechanical contrivance we are probably at least equal to the architects whose stupendous works astonish us at this day; but the subject of proportion seems to have been unaccountably neglected. If you start on a tour with a view of obtaining architectural specimens, and consult any traveller or guide-book, you will be directed to buildings remarkable for their size, or richness, or antiquity, or some peculiarity of detail; but the most truly beautiful models-the most perfect specimens of that harmony of proportion now so little understood-you will have to discover yourself; they are daily passed by crowds even of active and observant travellers, and yet remain unnoticed. Besides the proportions of the structure itself, it is clear that our ancestors attended to its position, and the objects surrounding (and likely to surround it. When Gothic churches were built, the houses also were in some style which harmonised with them. In most old towns we find numbers of Gothic doors, windows, and other details, scattered about, belonging to private dwellings, as in York, Chester, Glastonbury, Exeter, Rouen, Dijon, Avignon, Cologne, and almost every town in Holland and Belgium. The monastic We cannot help noticing how much the scenery influenced the design of the builder. In a flat country the principal churches are lofty in their proportions, and have high steeples which catch the eye at a considerable distance. The church of Delft, in Holland, Antwerp cathedral, Mechlin, Cologne, Frankfort, Strasburg, Milan-all occupy stations in immense level tracts. Ely cathedral, Boston in Lincolnshire, and Howden in Yorkshire, afford instances of towers being raised to a greater height than usual, on account of a similar position. In rocky and romantic situations, a less pretending edifice is preferable. Many of the Welsh churches, from their extreme simplicity, are the best models that could be chosen. The small bell-niche over the gable, or the wooden belfry where the climate admits of it, or a taper spire covered with slate or shingle, is appropriate. Switzerland, as may be supposed, affords many examples of happy situations. Though most of these churches are altogether devoid of architectural character-though whitewashed or painted on the outside-though the ornaments, when there are any, are often heavy and incongruous; yet I do not remember a single instance in which the church did not add materially to the beauty of a landscape. It is likely a professed architect would turn with contempt from these unpretending structures; yet he might do worse than take a few hints from them, and find out in what their peculiar beauty consists. And it may be remarked that, except in the very mountainous tracts, which occupy but a small proportion of the country, Swiss scenery has a decidedly English character; and, consequently, Swiss models might be used to advantage in many parts of our own country. I should, indeed, be sorry to see a continental manner generally introduced and established in the building of English churches. The models we have of our own, scattered abundantly through every county, are the very best we could procure. Our parish churches, taking them in the aggregate, may be pronounced the most venerable, the most truly beautiful, the most durable in appearance of any of their class; and, still more, they are endeared to us by every association. On this account, it is the more painful to see them imperfectly or unworthily imitated; while, at the same time, many circumstances may occur which render it inexpedient, or even impossible, to follow exactly their proportions or arrangement. Hence a wider range and a greater variety of examples than is to be found in our country becomes useful, both by overthrowing such rules of a narrow and restricting character as have been derived from limited observations, and by showing how exigences have been met which would force the architect who is unacquainted with any beside English specimens to building. How much some ground-work of this kind is wanted, any one may determine who has noticed our modern imitations of either the Norman or early English style. No one will dispute the necessity of providing church accommodation in large towns; but it is perhaps in remote and not very populous districts, and rely too much on his own invention. Many continental features, if adopted with discretion, might not only give a pleasing variety to our buildings, but prove exceedingly useful in meeting cases for which English architecture has less perfectly provided. The circular or polygonal apse, the light central octagon, the tall slender turret, the tower surmounted by gables, are of comparatively rare occurrence in Eng-out-lying hamlets in extensive parishes, that the land; while they constitute the principal beauties of many continental churches. And though, probably, some of the best and most perfect compositions are to be found in this country, yet the great number of different combinations of outline that are presented to the student, during even a very limited continental tour, will not fail to be most useful in forming his judgment, and may furnish him with suggestions to be acted upon according to a variety of contingencies. Again, much may be learned of the earlier styles of Gothic upon the continent, which is actually lost as far as English specimens are concerned. Our churches are almost uniformly finished in the later styles; and it is only in very small churches that the original character is preserved in any degree of purity. Norman towers have battlements and pinnacles of perpendicular character; windows of a late style are introduced into early fronts. Now, on the continent, though there is often as much dilapidation, there is seldom so much alteration and insertion; and, even where later repairs have been necessary, enough is generally left to enable us to judge of the original want of new churches is the most severely felt; and in such cases it must frequently happen that the funds will not be adequate for any thing beyond the plainest and simplest buildings. Yet, to resume my leading proposition, it ought to be the best in our power-to have a certain dignity of appearance which shall distinguish it above all surrounding objects; and this seems to be the real field for the genius of an architect, as he cannot, in such a case, disguise false principles or bad proportions by redundancy of ornament. If he would attack the main difficulties of his art, let him study to produce a perfect model with but little reference to any details of style, and at the least possible expence, consistent with durability; having attained this, he will easily learn to add as much decoration as he pleases. Should any general remarks or notices of buildings which occur in these pages, give a single useful suggestion to the student anxious to attain his object, I shall not consider the time I have spent upon them to have been thrown away. Those vivid tints that through the welkin shine, Like stars enwreathed; whose myriad spangles throw Sweet solace ours, when lurid tempests frown, First, faint brief segments spring on either hand, The mirrored brilliance softly gleams again; View it, vain man, whose dull unheeding soult PERILOUS POSITION OF ST. PETERSBURG.-It is melancholy to contemplate the constant danger in which this brilliant capital is placed. If Mr. Kohl's picture is not overcharged, the occurrence of a strong westerly wind and high water, just at the breaking up of the ice, would at any time suffice to occasion an inundation sufficient to drown the whole population, and to convert the entire city with all its sumptuous palaces into a chaotic mass of ruins. The Gulf of Finland runs to a point as it approaches the mouth of the Neva, where the most violent gales are always those from the west; so that the mass of waters on such occasions is always forcibly impelled towards the city. The islands forming the Delta of the Neva, on which St. Petersburg stands, are extremely low and flat, and the highest point in the city is probably not more than twelve or fourteen feet above the average level of the sea. A rise of fifteen feet is, therefore, enough to place all St. Petersburg under water, and a rise of thirty feet is enough to drown almost every human being in the place. The poor inhabitants are therefore in constant danger of destruction, and can within the next twenty-four hours, be washed out of never be certain that the 500,000 of them may not, their houses like so many drowned rats. To say the truth, the subject ought hardly to be spoken of with levity; for the danger is too imminent, and the reflection often makes many hearts quake in St. Petersburg. The only hope of this apparently doomed city is that the three circumstances may never occur simultaneously, viz., high water, the breaking up of the ice, and a gale of wind from the west. There are so many points of the compass for the wind to choose among, that it would seem perverse in the extreme to select the west at so critical a moment; nevertheless, the wind does blow very often from the west during spring, andthe ice floating in the Neva and the Gulf of Finland is of a bulk amply sufficient to oppose a formidable obstacle to the water in the upper part of the river. Such thou hast shone, fair Rainbow! when the sky Had the ancient sages in Okhta kept meteorological Has clothed in clouds its blue serenity; And such shalt shine; while, grateful for the vow, God's own blest hand-mark, mystic, sure, sublime, Nor dost thou live for earth and time alone : In paradise, around th' eternal throne Thine emerald lightnings play; thine every gem Is treasured for the Saviour's diadem§, records, one might perhaps be able to calculate how often in a thousand years, or in ten thousand years, such a flood as we are here supposing might be likely to occur. As it is, the world need not be at all surprised to read in the newspapers one of these days that St. Petersburg, after rising like a bright meteor from the swamps of Finland, has as suddenly been extinguishmed in them like a mere will-o'-the-wisp. May heaven protect the city!-Foreign Quarterly Review. London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY JOSEPH ROGERSON, 24, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. BY THE REV. EDMUND WILLS, B.A., Curate of Burnham, Norfolk. MAY 21, 1842. THE doctrine of the Trinity is unquestionably the highest of the mysteries, which holy scripture proposes as the object of our faith. How it can be, that, while there is but "one living and true God," there should yet be "in the unity of the Godhead three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity," we know not: it is altogether inexplicable; yet none who have searched the scriptures with an ordinary degree of attention, and in singleness of mind, will hesitate to admit that thus it stands revealed, line upon line, in the inspired volume.* * The Catholic faith is this-that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity. PRICE 1d. To the members of the church of England it is matter of thankfulness and congratulation, that she has in her various services so clearly and beautifully illustrated such of the leading doctrines of Christianity as capable of explanation; and, where they cannot be explained, has so judiciously stated them, as to prevent our running into extravagant and dangerous theories. Such an epitome as she affords in her articles, creeds, and collects of sound practical religion, as a chart and scale of the truth, can never be without its value-a value which is ten-fold increased in times when new and strange opinions are being daily broached; when empiricism, in things spiritual as well as temporal, is the ruling passion of the day, and every man thinks himself qualified to search into-to interpret-yea, to question or deny "the deep things of God," with as much confidence and as little solemnity as he discusses matters of mere human experience. In The creed of St. Athanasius, while it does not attempt to explain the great doctrines it treats of, gives in small compass an admirably clear and lucid statement of them, as we find them revealed in the sacred oracles. grave and solemn language, befitting the mysteriousness and loftiness of the subject, it presents to us at once a compendious body of divinity, and an authentic record of the sense of the church for centuries, on points not merely of considerable interest or importance to the cause of Christianity, but essential to its very existence-points, on the establish18, 22; Philippians iii. 3; 2 Thessalonians ii. 13, 14; Titus iii. 5, 6; Hebrews ix. 14; 1 Peter i. 2; 1 John iv. 13, 14; Jude 20, 21; Revelation i. 9, 10. A A [London: Joseph Rogerson, 24, Norfolk-street, Strand.] |