both points; remarking that Exeter Hall had been greatly improved by substituting a gently curved wooden ceiling for the original ceiling intersected by wide spaces; and noting that "one of the best churches for facility of hearing is the large parish church of St. Pancras in Euston Square, which accommodates 2,500 persons, with a flat ceiling, and no massive arches and columns to intercept the sound, which travels freely round the walls of the spacious building.'

2878b. The subject of Church arrangement during the mediæval period has been elucidated by Mr. W. H. Dykes, architect, in a paper read before the Yorkshire Architectural Society, in 1852; and the Rev. M. E. C. Walcott, On Church and Conventual Arrangement, a paper read at the Royal Institution of British Architects, Dec. 3, 1860; and published by him in 1861, 8vo, with plates of the conventual plans adopted by the various religious orders.

SECT. IV.

PALACES.

2879. A palace is properly an edifice destined not only for the residence of the sovereign or prince, but for the reception also of persons who have the privilege of public or private audience. It being impossible for the whole of the parties to be present together, there must be, besides the apartments which are occupied by the sovereign and his or her family, ample room and accommodation for the attendants in waiting of every degree, and the consequent accessories. A palace should be disposed with porticoes, vestibules, galleries, halls of waiting suited to every season, wherein those to be admitted may wait with convenience and comfort till their turn of admission arrives. It is evident that, from the nature of such an edifice, much magnificence should be displayed in it.

2879a. The palaces of the Escurial, Versailles, and the Tuileries are, though extremely spacious and imposing, but ill-disposed and imperfect examples of a palace. Perhaps the most perfect in Europe is that at Caserta, near Naples, commenced in 1752, which is described by Milizia as follows:-" The plan of this palace is a vast rectangle, 731 feet long from east to west, 569 from north to south, and 106 feet in height. The interior is divided into four courts, 162 feet by 244. The depth of building that surrounds these courts, in which are the apartments, passages, &c., is 80 feet, including the thickness of the walls, which are in some instances 15 feet. The two principal façades have five stories besides that below the ground, and each contains thirty-seven windows. There are three entrances, one in the centre, and the others at equal distances between it and the extreme angles, where, as well as in the centre, the building breaks forward a little, is carried up to the height of 60 feet, and formed into pavilions by columns 42 feet high. Thus the whole height of the building is 102 feet from the foundation to the top of the pavilion, at the angles 162 feet, and in the centre 190 feet. The basement, which is rusticated, comprises the lower offices, the ground floor, and its mezzanine. Above is placed an Ionic order of columns and pilasters, which contains the two ranges of state apartments; the lower windows are ornamented with pediments; in the frieze are introduced the windows of the upper mezzanine. The centre entrance leads to a superb portico, which traverses the building from north to south, and is sufficiently spacious to allow carriages to pass under from either façade to the centre of the building, where is a large octangular vestibule, which unites the arms of the cross produced by dividing the plan into four courts: two sides of the octagon are open to the portico, four to the four courts, one to the grand staircase, and the eighth is occupied by a statue of Hercules crowned by Virtue, with this inscription:

Virtus post fortia facta coronat.'"

2880. The grand staircase, which is on the right, is lighted by twenty-four windows, and decorated in a beautiful style. At the first landing it is divided into two flights; the hundred steps of which it is composed are 18 feet long, and each of one piece of marble; it is lighted also from the top by a double skylight. The upper vestibule is also octangular, and surrounded by twenty-four columns of yellow marble 18 feet high. Four doors lead from thence to the apartments, the one opposite the landing to the chapel, that to the right to the apartments of the king, which comprehend the south-west angle of the building overlooking the sea and the plains of Naples and Capua. To the left are the apartments of the queen, occupying the north-west angle, the remainder of these floors being occupied by the princes. The chambers throughout are vaulted, and admirably arranged; the apartments of the king and queen are separated by a gallery 138 feet long, 42 wide, and 52 high. The palace contains a small elegant theatre, on a circular plan, divided into nine compartments, with four tiers of boxes. The chapel is rectangular in its plan, with the end terminated semicircularly, and decorated with isolated Corinthian columns on pedestals.

with an entablature, in which the cornice is not omitted. The marbles and sculptures throughout are of the richest kind; the apartments generally well arranged and distributed, of magnificent dimensions, and of various forms. The whole is a rare assemblage of vastness, regularity, symmetry, richness, ea›e, and elegance. The multiplicity of windows may certainly be a little at variance with propriety,

"But the most wonderful part of this grand work has not as yet been described. There are ranges of aqueducts of a great height, and of sufficieut length to unite the two Tifati mountains near the Furche Caudine. The waters on the mountains are collected into a canal for the purpose of supplying these aqueducts, and conducted to various lakes and fountains of every description. To the embellishments," adds Milizia, “of this royal residence are added a convenience and solidity that throw into shade all that has been done before or since." The plans, &c. of this palace are given in Durand's Parallèle des Édifices. 2881. Great as this work is, it would not have eclipsed the palace at Whitehall projected by Inigo Jones, and published in Kent's Designs, (see fig. 207, supra,) had the edifice, whereof the banqueting house is not the hundredth part, been carried to completion. On turning to this reference the reader will find that the proposed palace consisted of six courts, and, with greater beauties of composition, would have occupied a much larger site than the palace at Caserta, of which edifice we have been diffuse in its description, because it contains the leading, and, indeed, governing principles upon which the palace for a sovereign should be constructed; and from the description, the student might almost be at once led to the design of such an edifice.

2882. It is almost unnecessary to observe, that the site on which a palace is to be seated must be open and free in every respect, that a large expanse of gardens should be attached to it for the use of the public as well as the sovereign, in which respect the palaces of the Tuileries and Versailles are unparalleled. All should have a royal bearing, parsimony being inadmissible in works of this nature. Many useful remarks on this subject will be obtained in perusing Brewer's Descriptive and Historical Account of the various Palaces and Public Buildings, English and Foreign, 4to., Lond. 1821. We regret that in this country no model of a palace can be offered for the student. Windsor Castle, with all its beauties, which consist, however, more in site and scenery than in the disposition of a palace, is not to be commended; St. James's Palace is said to be planned with many advantages for holding courts, but the exterior is far from what a palace should be.

SECT. V.

COURTS OF LAW.

2883. A court of law in this country, speaking in more senses than one, but chiefly, here, to preserve the gravity of our work architecturally, is a building in which every one, whose business unfortunately leads him to it, sits in pain, the judges and counsel excepted. Attorneys, witnesses, jury, and audience or public, are equally doomed to be pent up and cramped like the poor sheep formerly at Smithfield, or a sailor in the bilboes, if that punishment be still in existence. Since these lines were written by Mr. Gwilt, upwards of thirty years since, much has been done to alleviate matters by the erection of new courts of law in various provincial towns; and in 1874 were commenced, after many years of debate and consideration, those for London, under the direction of Mr. G. E. Street, R. A. But as no complete information has been yet given regarding this structure, and such portions of it as have been shown in the illustrated journals have met with much criticism, we withhold any further remarks upon it, only observing that of course, from the architect selected, only a design in a Pointed style could be expected.

2884. The architect who may be called on to furnish designs for such a purpose, will have to provide suitable accommodation for the jury who are to decide upon the evidence, the witnesses from whom such evidence is derived, the attorneys whose instructions to counsel are from instant to instant necessary for the proper conduct of a case, and, though last not least, ample space for the public who have an undoubted right to be present. He must be careful to supply such acco·nmodation as shall render the office of all parties engaged a pleasing duty rather than an irksome task. To every court of law should be attached a vestibule or saloon, sufficiently large to afford a promenade for those of all clisses engaged in the courts. In Westminster, bad as the courts are, this is well provided in the magnificent room called Westminster Hall. Apartments and accommodation are to be provided for the robing, and occasional refreshment, of the judges, the bar, and the different officers attached to the court. There might also be refreshment and waiting rooms for the public. In courts for the trial of felons it may be necessary, if the prison has no communication with the court, to add some few cells for securing criminals. This, however, will be dependent on circumstances, and should be provided accordingly.

2885. In these, as in other buildings where there is often congregated a great number of persons, the entrances, and at the same time outlets, should be increased in number as much as convenience and the situation will permit; and another indispensable requisite is, that the court itself should be so placed in the design that no noise created on the outside of the building may be heard in the interior, so as to interfere with the attention of those engaged on the business before them.

2886. The assize or law courts at Manchester, erected 1859-64 by Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, architect, in the Pointed style of architecture, have received the highest approbation for the accommodation provided, not only for all those immediately interested in the administration of justice, but for the public. This edifice has been described by its architect, in the Sessional papers of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1864-5, p. 165, from which we gather that the cost, limited to 70,0ɔɔl., did not exceed 110,0001. or nearly 9d. per foot cube; the furniture was about 10,000/ more. It consists of two almost distinct parts, the inner structure containing the courts, public offices, and arrangements for business. This is separated by a court yard in front, but connected by a corridor at back, from the judges' residence or "lodgings,"

2887. In the basement of the main building, which is 256 feet long by 166 feet deep, and three stories or about 60 feet in height, are cells for the prisoners under trial, chambers for heating and ventilating, kitchens, refreshment rooms, &c. On the principal floor, which is

about 17 feet above the level of the street, and close to the entrance, is the central hall, 100 feet long, 48 feet 6 in. wide, and 75 feet high; beyond it are the assize courts, and the sheriffs' or additional court at one end; also the various rooms for the accommodation of the bench, the bar, the different officers of the court, witnesses, and jurors. The crown and civil courts are each 59 feet by 45 fret and 39 feet 6 in. high, being among the largest courts in the kingdom. In them the bar is placed as usual opposite the bench, the jury is on the judge's left hand, the witness box on his right and brought close to the bench. To each of the courts there are eight entrances, and also two to the ladies' gallery above. All these are approached from the corridors, 10 feet wide, which, diverging from the central hall, run round the building, and return to the hall again. The barristers' corridor at the rear of the courts is 184 feet long, and shut off so as to keep it for the exclusive use of the bar. Opposite the main entrance, but quite in the rear, is a door leading from this corridor into the library, 60 feet by 25 feet, another into the robing room, beyond which are the lavatories placed round a ventilating shaft. The rooms for the prothonotary, clerk of the crown, and indictment office, all also open into this corridor. Other rooms on this floor are devoted to the witnesses, who are classified as much as possible, to jurors, attorneys, and barristers' clerks, to the various officers of the assizes, and to purposes of consultation. On the upper floor are situated the Chancery court for the county Palatine of Lancaster, 41 feet by 23 feet; the grand jury room, 40 feet by 25 feet; the magistrates' board room; and the barristers' mess room, 55 feet by 22 feet.

SECT. VI.

TOWN HALLS.

2888. The town hall of a city or town will necessarily vary with its extent and opulence. In towns of small extent it should stand in the market-place; indeed, in a large proportion of the towns of this country the ground floor is usually on columns, and forms the corn market of the place, the upper floor being generally sufficiently spacious for transacting its municipal business. Where the sessions and assizes, as in cities, are held in the town hall, it is necessary to provide two courts, one for the civil and the other for the criminal trials; and in this case the observations on courts of law in the preceding section equally apply to this in that respect.

2889. In cities and corporations where much municipal business occurs, the number of apartments must of course be increased to meet the exigencies of the particular case; and, if possible, a large hall should be provided for the meetings of the corporation. A certain appearance of its being the property of the public is the character to be imparted to it, and this character must be stamped on the disposition as well as the elevation. Thus, on the ground floor of the first class of town halls, courts, porticoes, or arcades, and spacious staircases should prepare for and lead to the large apartments and courts of law on the first floor. Every means should be employed in providing ample ingress and egress to the persons assembling. Fire-proof rooms. moreover, should be always provided for the records and accounts belonging to the town. The exterior of the building should not be highly decorated, but designed with simplicity, yet with majesty, as it is an index to the wealth and importance of the place for whose use it is erected.

2890. For the disposition of these buildings the student may turn with profit to the examples abroad, in which, generally, apartments are provided for every branch of the

side from the tower, the piers of the loggia, which on the basement extends along the front, consist, at least three of them, of columns whose date is evidently a century earlier, and which it is probable were left when the main front of the building was carried up. Indeed, it seems highly probable that when the architect Jean van Ruysbroeck undertook the tower, his part of the work, the hôtel was in existence as high as the one-pair floor. The whole of the tower seems rather later than the date above given, which accords well enough with the northern wing. The authorities we have looked into scarcely, however, admit us to doubt its correctness. As the building stands executed, taking one of the bays on the northern side as a measuring unit, there are three measuring the central space for the tower, ten for the north wing, and eleven for the south wing; the height, to the top of the parapet, nine; to the ridge of the roof, thirteen; to the top of the spire, thirtythree. The tracery on the spire is very elegant, and is pierced throughout. It is $64 feet high, and crowned with a copper gilt colossal statue of St. Michael, the patron of the city, 18 feet high, which is so well balanced upon the pivot on which it stands that it is susceptible of motion with a very gentle wind. The interior of the edifice has a quadrangular court, with two modern fountains, statues of river gods with reeds and vases, as usual in

such cases. Besides the Grande Salle, there are many interesting apartments, some whereof possess ceilings of great beauty. This fine monument is perhaps the most admirable example of the adaptation of the style to secular architecture that can be quoted.

28906. Smaller in plan, but more beautiful and symmetrical, is the hôtel de ville of Louvain. It is the most perfect, in every respect, of this class of buildings in Europe. Nothing can surpass

the richness and delicacy of the tracery upon it. Like that at

Brussels, it consists of three stories, but has no tower. Commenced in 1448, it was not completed till 1463 by De Layens. It stands on a site of about 85 feet by 42 feet; so that it derives little advantage from its absolute magnitude, and perhaps appears less than it really is, from the great height of the roof, which is pierced by four tiers of dormers or lucarnes. The angles are flanked by turrets, of which some notion may be formed by reference to fig. 1344., and the ridge of the roof is received at each end by another turret corbelled over from the gables. The façade towards the Place extends rather more than the height, and is pierced with twenty-eight windows and two doorways, being ten openings in each story, the spaces between the windows being decorated with canopies, and groups of small figures from the Old Testament. some whereof are rather licentious. This charming edifice, which in its delicate rich tracery had suffered much from time and the elements, has, at the joint expense of the town and government,

undergone a complete renovation. This has, stone by stone, been effected with great care and artistic skill by M. Goyers. The new work being executed in very soft stone, which, however, hardens with exposure to the air, it has been saturated with oil.

2890c. In form, though not in features, totally different from the hôtels de ville we have just left, is that at Ghent, never completed, but exhibiting, in what was executed of the design, a choice example of the last days of the flamboyant period. It was begun in 1481; in it are all those indications of change in the sofites and curves as well as in the lines of the foliage and tracery, that eventually proved its downfall; and the style is now out of character with the habits of the age, from which alone a real style of architecture can ever spring. The subdivision of the building as to height is into two stories as to effect, though in