I laving thus formed a new creation of splendid dwell ings, the architect, for the accommodation of the inha bitants, constructed new assembly rooms on a suitable scale, in a convenient situation, on the eastern side of the circus. The ball room is 103 feet 8 inches long, 42 feet 8 inches broad, and 42 feet 6 inches high ; the octagon room 47 feet diameter ; the tea-room 66X41; and the card room 60x30. These rooms were opened in 1771 ; the lower assembly-rooms adjacent to the parade, had been established 21 years befoic that time.
From these great leading features, other streets, squares. and crescents, which, though inferior to those constructed by Mr \Vood, yet by no means deficient in architectural merit, have since been spread along the face of the hill, and also on the eastern, or Bathwick side of the river Avon, rendering the city of Bath a suitable reception for the wealthy and luxurious.
It would much exceed our bounds to include in this article a full description and comparative statement re specting city architecture, as practised in different ages and countries. We shall therefore content ourselves with stating, that, in the cities of London and Glasgow, some excellent specimens may be seen, of extending im provements upon a nearly flat surface ; and that at Edin burgh and Bristol an instructive variety will be found upon hilly ground. We may have au opportunity of again taking up this subject, and entering more into detail.
OF Go'u HIC ARCHITECTURE.
The attention to Gothic architecture having only been lately revived, the practice has not hitherto been digested into a like systematic order as that of the Greek or Ro man ; and it is not a little extraordinary, considering that, during the ages in which it was extensively practised, its operations were directed by men of science and literary habits, that no written rules have been discover ed in the religious boos s, which were then the only de positories of knowledge. This has led Mr Knight, and other men or observation, to assert, that each architect proceeded independently of rules, and worked in the man ne• which to him appeared best calculated to produce a striking effect, and that it was in consequence of the ab sence of determined rules, that this school rose to the de gree of sublimity it attained. This is denied by other able and enlightened men, who have paid much attention to the subject, especially Dallaway, Milner, and Hawkins, who maintain, that although few arranged rules and pro portions have been published in books, yet that the archi tects and workmen were constantly guided by known rules, agreeable to the prevailing mode. It is evident. although not so rigidly confined as the Egyptian, that the Gothic architects were fully as much limited as the Ro man ; for the contrast between the massy plain Norman style, and the latter or florid Gothic, is not greater than what was produced by varying from the plainness, sim plicity, and oblong forms of the ancient Greek temples, to the circular, delicate, and highly ornamented edifices of the latter Roman.
The non-existence of written rules may also be attri buted to a jealousy in the fraternity of free-masons, who spread over Europe, and were the persons chiefly employ ed in constructing the Gothic churches ; and these men. when constantly so employed from age to age, had no more need of written rules than many other men confined to one profession, and probably to separate branches of it. 'We may In ing forward as an instance, the most expert of our British shipwrights.
We shall now consider the practice of Gothic architec ture, 1. As regards the general distribution of the ground plan, and elevation of the edifice.
2. The forms of the essential parts.
3. The decorations.
1. The Gothic style having been employed almost ex clusively in edifices appropriate to the purposes of the Christian religion, the outlines of the ground plan have almost uniformly been a cross. In the Greek and Ro man oblong temples, the ratio of the length and breadth was determined by the number of columns placed at near ly equal distances along the ends and sides, while that of the height was regulated by the diameter of the column ; but in the Gothic, where seldom any columns have been placed on the outside of the edifice, and the use of arches proving a relief from constraint within it, it is alleged, that the proportion of the length to the breadth has been determined by triangles and squares. Oh' this, Mr I law kins, in his I listwy of the Origin and Establishment of Gothic Architectui c, (chap. x.) has produced an early in stance from Cesar Cxsarianus, a celebrated architect of Milan, who, in an elaborate commentary annexed to his translation of Vitruvitis, (printed in 1521, a copy of which we have seen in the hands of Mr Taylor of Holborn.) has explained the principles of Gothic architecture. For a full dissertation upon this part of the subject, we must refer to Mr I lawkins's excellent book, and shall here on ly give two diagrams from Cesar Cxsarianus, drawn upon the plan and elevation of the church of Milan, with his description of them, which, though not very distinct, will serve to convey an idea of the principles he means to inculcate. In Plate CLX V. Fig. I. a, the letters ABC,
BCD, EEG, and FGII, are four equilateral triangles. 1JK are the boundaries at the cast end. JKL farm an equilateral triangle, which touches the line that passes through the two eastern middle columns. These last, by their correspondence with the other columns, not on ly divide the body of the church from the aisles, but set tle the foundation for the square tower in the middle, and show how it is constructed, the centre of which tower is the letter M. In like manner the letters INO form the other equidistant line which passes through the two western middle columns, the measure of which line, from the south to the north door, is 128 cubits, (of 25 inches each.) The letters PQR are an equilateral triangle of the measure of 64 cubits, as are also, and of the like quantity, the letters STM. The letters UVW are an equilateral triangle, from the centre of one to that of another of the columns, which form the range extend ing towards the west, the distance of which columns is 32 cubits. Where the letters XUW are found, are the different indications for the smaller intercolumniations, which are of the measure of 16 cubits, from the centre of one to that of the other pillar ; and the letters LA shew the intercolumniation of the columns, between which they stand. They ascertain also the outside extreme width of the door of the vestibule in the front of the nave, and regulate the vaultings of the arches over that part, in the centre of which is placed the letter B." With regard to the orthography or elevation, (Fig. 2.) " the triangle is here marked at the base with the letters ABCDEF, and the point of it is to be found at B; a per pendicular from which is dropped upon the base line, and there distinguished by the letter H. But in order," says he, to show the method by which the colossal figure at the top was regulated, and those marks to have the rules for the largest triangle, I shall extend the before mentioned triangle on one side from A to I, being a space of 16 cubits ; and from F to J on the other side. Draw ing a line from I to J, I shall gain the length for raising two other lines, which form the equilateral triangle on the before mentioned perpendicular GIL at the point K, the extremity of the arch called in the third acute or pointed. This triangle, if placed upon the range of capitals of the smaller columns, marked L and M, will touch, at its extremity, the letter K. In like manner, if I place over the former a triangle on perpendicular lines, raised from A and F, the base of which will be NO, and its point P in the perpendicular PII, which forms the largest triangle QRP, I shall then have the base NO, resting upon the arch of the nave ; which base, by touch ing the extreme line of the building, ascertains, with the letters ST, the place where the top of the border is to be ; so do also the letters UV, a little distant from them, as to the border a little above. The letters XY give the base of a triangle on the capitals and upper vaulting ; which upper vaulting is compacted together with an iron chain. Every vaulting of the arches is constructed by the compasses placed on an acute triangle, the strength of which, for supporting a weight, is always greatest at the top ; but if the weight be placed a little on one side or other of the centre, the arch is easily broken. The method of placing an octagon tower on a square raised from the solid, is shown by the letters UVW; and within the spaces LZ and MA is the range of lowest windows." The dimensions of this magnificent edifice are stated, on the authority of Carlo Torre, to be, from the modern front to the wall of the choir, more than 260 cubits, (of 25 inches), the length of the choir 60 cubits, and its width 28 ; the middle nave 32 cubits wide, and 85 high to the vaulting ; the two side aisles next this nave are each 16 cubits wide and 60 high ; and the two outermost aisles are each 16 cubits wide and 50 high. The vaulting of the Louvre is 130 cubits. It is supported by four columns larger than the others ; upon these arches the cupola, which is octagonal, rests. This cupola is 202 cubits high from the ground. The columns or pillars are 52 in number, and, including the base and capital, each 46 cubits high, of which the base is 2 and the capital 10 cu bits. These columns are each in girt 13 cubits, and the four columns under the cupola are 15 cubits girt at the capital and 22 at the base ; they are clustered eight shafts in each.