. Essays and Belles Lettres. etweenmy own house and London. I had passed it the day before,a goodly shop front, and sufficient house above, with a fewrepairs undertaken in the shop before opening a newbusiness. The master and mistress had found it dustythat afternoon, and went out to tea. When they cameback in the evening, they found their whole house; in theform of a heap of bricks blocking the roadway, with a partyof men digging out their cook. Hut I do not insist oncasualities like these, disgraceful to us as they are, for it is. 62 Architecture and Painting of course, perfectly possible to
. Essays and Belles Lettres. etweenmy own house and London. I had passed it the day before,a goodly shop front, and sufficient house above, with a fewrepairs undertaken in the shop before opening a newbusiness. The master and mistress had found it dustythat afternoon, and went out to tea. When they cameback in the evening, they found their whole house; in theform of a heap of bricks blocking the roadway, with a partyof men digging out their cook. Hut I do not insist oncasualities like these, disgraceful to us as they are, for it is. 62 Architecture and Painting of course, perfectly possible to build a perfectly securehouse or a secure window in the Greek manner ; but thesimple fact is, that in order to obtain in the cross lintel thesame amount of strength which you can obtain in a pointedarch, you must go to an immensely greater cost in stone orin labour. Stonehenge is strong enough, but it takes sometrouble to build in the manner of Stonehenge: and Stone-henge itself is not so strong as an arch of the Fig. 4. You could not raise a circle of four Stonehenges, one overthe other, with safety; and as it is, more of the cross-stones {are fallen upon the plain of Sarum than arches rent away,,except by the hand of man, from the mighty circle oflRome. But I waste words;—your own common sense[must show you in a moment that this is a weak form; andthere is not at this instant a single street in London wherelsome house could not be pointed out with a flaw runninglthrough its brickwork, and repairs rendered necessary inlconsequence, merely owing to the adoption of this badlform; and that our builders know so well, that in myriads|of instances you find them actually throwing concealecarches above the horizontal lintels to take the weight ofthem; and the gabled decoration at the top of som<Palladian windows, is merely the ornamental form resulting Architecture and Painting 63 from a bold device of the old Roman builders to effect thesame purpose. But there is a
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