very bad, from its being on the slope of a hill, and a clay soil. The whole of this appeared to have gone downwards under the old roof, and about eighty years ago they rebuilt the clerestory upon that sloping arcade, with a good oak tie-beam roof, well braced and framed on to the corbels; but its tendency southwards was still so great, that during the eighty years that had elapsed it had been gradually going still further to this side, and over the chancel arch there were several settlements into which the hand could be introduced, and in a short time it would be down. But an attempt at supporting the arcade was made by putting struts from the points of the arches down on to the south wall. They felt, evidently, the insecurity of the sloping arcade, and they either put on these struts at that time, or else, perhaps, they left them there when they re-built the clerestory. But these struts were actually pushing out the aisle wall to such an extent, that it had drawn the first piece of the roof several inches from that wall. That was a case, without any doubt, for the drawing up of an arcade in the manner described, and he did not at all think it would be necessary to re-build the arcade, for the stone work was substantial, and the masonry was not too solid to resist the force of drawing; it was, however, solid enough to stand if it were pulled up, and the only way would be to get sufficient struts against the inside of the north arcade wall to keep it from going further southwards when the lateral tension was applied; for the north arcade plainly was already giving, since, apart from the indications named, there were also cracks in the spandrils of that arcade, which showed that it was gradually going. There was another point to which he did not think sufficient attention had been called, viz.-the grand spaciousness of the interior of the Church of the Austin Friars. This was well deserving attention, for it was in that respect a type of plan admirably fitted for congregational worship at the present day.

THE PRESIDENT, A. J. B. BERESFORD-HOPE, M.P., &c., said, they were much obliged to Mr. I'Anson for his paper, and for the discussion that had taken place upon it. He had listened to the paper with peculiar interest, for Austin Friar's Church was one which he looked upon, long before it had been burnt and restored, as a very beautiful and interesting monument of ancient conventual architecture. He, too, was himself one of that party who had met within its roofless walls to hold conference with those gentlemen who, so honourably to themselves, rescinded a determination to which they had seemed committed, when reason was shown to them why they should do so. Credit was also eminently due to Mr. I'Anson for the avowal of the part he had then taken, so manfully and so modestly made that evening. It was honourable to him that he should have been able so candidly to explain the course he took in such a way as to reconcile his former opinion with his present action. Connected with this work was the memory of one whom they all esteemed so highly and mourned so sincerely-the accomplished Mr. Lightly-and this recollection imparted a mournful interest to the restoration of Austin Friars. As to the grand spaciousness of the Church, he fully agreed. In the book which he wrote some few years ago on the English Cathedral of the Nineteenth Century, in which, to say the truth, he really dealt with the question of large town churches, making the idea of a "Cathedral" the point of departure, and the centre around which to group his thoughts, he had made especial reference to this Church of Austin Friars. It was his ideal of one of the two alternative types which he believed the town churches of our age ought to follow. He pleaded that they should not be the tiny structures which the middle ages of England had scattered over cities, like York and Chichester, but that they ought rather to aspire after the size and the dignity which often marked the town church of the Continent. Either like a large class of those Continental churches they ought to exhibit something of the Minster character-the character which we associate with cathedrals and abbeys, although found in England at S. Mary Redcliffe, at Newark and elsewhere—or they should follow that other type of large church, where breadth made up for height-churches of a single story, with wide naves, slender pillars and a large internal area. The Temple Church was an early adumbration

of this idea, and Austin Friars at a later date-larger though less ornate than the Temple Church— was a reproduction of the same model, with the substitution of wooden roof for groining. He had anticipated that Mr. Ferrey, connected as his name was with that great man, Pugin, would have remarked upon the fact, that beyond a doubt Austin Friars Church had helped to form the style of that eminent artist, for no one could see St. George's Church, in the Borough, without feeling that the mind of its architect was saturated, as it were, with Austin Friars, of which it was almost a re-productiou, with steeple and chancel added. Carpenter was another man who owned (as he happened to know) his obligations to Austin Friars Church, and in his Church of St. Mary Magdalene, in Munster Square, a strong recollection of that model was evident. Here was a proof that the building had not been fruitless in forming the modern style of ecclesiastical architecture, when two conspicuous edifices, which marked its earlier phase, had been modelled on it. This was an additional reason why it would have been a sore grief and pity if it had been allowed to be swept off the surface of the earth, in a day too, when the other large medieval churches of the city, St. Bartholomew and St. Helen, were being restored.

The President then put the vote of thanks, which was unanimously passed.

M

NOTES ON A VISIT TO THE AUVERGNE CHURCHES.

BY EDWARD I'ANSON, Fellow.

Read at the Ordinary General Meeting of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 29th January, 1866.

I DID not recollect when I proposed to mention the churches of Auvergne that the subject had already been spoken of in this room by Mr. Street. Referring to his paper I see that he has most ably described the character of these interesting buildings, but as I was not prepared under any circumstances to have entered at length into a description of the buildings, I have the less difficulty in offering the very few remarks which it occurred to me might help in filling up the evening.

I exhibit some unfinished and too hasty sketches of some of these buildings, and a plan and section of one of the churches which gives the form of all the Auvergne churches. What is particularly striking is, that throughout a certain district there is a most marked peculiarity and distinctive form, more exclusively and generally prevailing than in any district of which I am acquainted-less mixture of buildings of different styles and dates. There are other districts, such as Normandy and the neighbourhood of Perigeux, where there are very distinct styles prevailing, but there is more admixture in the same locality of buildings of different character, and so far as I recollect nowhere the same style is so exclusively used as in Auvergne. The style, too, although not so perfect as the Norman and some other provincial styles, is generally picturesque, and strikingly successful in the arrangement and grouping of the apsidal chapels, and it is also remarkable for the successful employment of the external mosaic work with which the exterior of all these churches is decorated.

The west fronts generally are remarkably plain. It is said that all of them had two western towers, but these have ceased to exist; and as at St. Etienne at Nevers, Notre Dame at Dijon, and even at Notre Dame of Paris the west front forms a mask to the building, and does not reveal by the gabled termination of the nave roof the general form of the church, as is commonly the case in our English cathedrals.

M. Mallay, a French author, who has published an account of the Auvergne churches, enumerates no less than eighty-four churches within a limited district which partake of the character of the church, (Notre Dame du Port Clermont), the plan and section of which is now before you. The date of these churches does not seem to be accurately determined, but it ranges from 1080 to 1200; and they are evidently nearly contemporaneous-a prevalence of the pointed arch in some showing the later datebut the same general character prevails throughout. They all have the nave covered with a barrel vault and aisles with quadripartite vaulting, without ribs, and as there is no clerestory the roofs are heavy and dark in appearance.

The chancel, or east ends with the radiating apsidal chapels, as may be inferred from the plan, produce the most pleasing effect both internally as well as externally; and under most of the churches there is a crypt at the eastern end. The churches in the principal towns have been recently restored, and it appears to me with great success. The roofs externally are crowned with a low ridge or cresting. All the ridges I saw were evidently restorations, and so classic in character, as to raise a considerable doubt as to the restoration being correct; the gabled crosses are also peculiar, and somewhat Byzantine in character. The capitals of the columns internally partake largely of the character of the classic Corinthian model, with strongly marked Byzantine character in the foliage, and very different from the contemporaneous architecture in the north of France.

The most remarkable of these churches are those at Issoire, which is the largest; Notre Dame du Port at Clermont; one at St. Nectaire, considerably smaller than the others, but with a beautiful grouping of the apsidal chapels; and one at Orcival, the latter standing in the midst of most lovely scenery, surrounded by a most quaint and primitive village, and celebrated in the surrounding country for the miraculous cures of Notre Dame D'Orcival.

This notice, as I stated at the commencement, is very slight: it is but an indication of churches which exist in a district, very near to one visited annually by the many English tourists who resort to the springs of Vichy. A district abounding with interest to the geologist, where the ancient lava streams still are as fresh as the lavas of Etna, although there has been no volcanic action in this district within historic times, and one which offers much of interest to the architectural student and archæologist,-a rich and comparatively unworked field to the architectural draughtsman, and to the photographer.

Although not in the Auvergne style, no architect would visit this district without seeing the remarkable church at Le Puy, whose great cavernous portico is unsurpassed in grandeur of effect by any building with which I am acquainted, and whose front bears a striking resemblance to many of the cathedrals of Italy. Near it is also the remarkable church of St. Michael, with a bell tower, which might pass for Italian. Mr. Street's paper contains the fullest account of these buildings.

The Rev. RICHARD BURGESS, B.D., Hon. Member, said he had listened with great attention and pleasure to all that had been said this evening. He confessed he never knew so much about Austin Friars Church as he had learnt this evening, and he rejoiced at having the opportunity to be present. The subject had been brought before them in a way that was most pleasing-with great simplicity and clearness, and no attempt beyond stating the real facts of the case, and that was the best way of conveying information. He heartily joined in the thanks given to Mr. l'Anson, and he thought that gentleman deserved their further thanks for the observations he had made upon the churches of a part of France, which he (Mr. Burgess) had visited once: perhaps he should go there again next summer, and he was sure he should derive benefit from what he had heard on that subject this evening. He felt he was a great loser by not being able to attend more frequently the meetings of this Institute, for which he entertained the highest respect and veneration. He concluded by proposing a further vote of thanks to Mr. I'Anson for his second communication.

Mr. WOODTHORPE seconded the vote of thanks, which was unanimously agreed to.

Mr. THOMAS MORRIS, Associate, remarked that the selected district seemed to be one of great historical importance. Like Mr. I'Anson, Mr. Street had brought before them (not very long ago) some admirable illustrations of the general character of those churches, as they appear to an observer passing through the country. But there was a higher interest in the churches of Auvergne, and that part of France, from the historical link which they seemed to afford in connexion with the Romanesque. In England we had a very clear account of our architecture from the Anglo-Norman period, but were accustomed to regard the Saxon as a mere sub-class of the Anglo-Norman mode. We had no complete specimens of it. Beyond that, we were lost in the void of the heptarchy; or if we went back to the Romans, we had no considerable remains of their edifices, but simply sufficient to shew that they adopted the same style in their colonies that was practised in the mother-country. But in this southern part of France, to which Mr. Street and Mr. I'Anson had devoted attention, stood the ancient city of Nismes, a city of great original grandeur, with temples, baths, city gates, amphitheatre and aqueduct. It still presented remains, in fact, which were not equalled, perhaps, in any other place out of Rome itself. They found, in some of the ancient remains (as the temple of Diana, more probably

Baths,) the barrel or cylindrical vault, which, with other forms and features of classic origin, was particularly noticeable in the churches of Auvergne and neighbouring districts; (at Valence it was employed lengthwise, and at Tournus in a series of transverse compartments): and generally, the details and forms of the Roman work, seemed to have been incorporated with more or less of transitional feature. He thought, indeed, that the whole history of Romanesque architecture, might be traced from those classic remains, down to the Norman. The link in the history of architecture, for which materials were so deficient in this country, could possibly thus be supplied; and great service would be rendered by any gentleman who, following such pioneers as Mr. Petit, Mr. Street and Mr. I'Anson, should record the historical bearings of Southern France, on the transition from the classic to the medieval styles.

THE REV. R. BURGESS having promised a paper on a future occasion on the Aqueducts of Rome and the supply of water to that city,

THE PRESIDENT said he was sure such a paper would be welcomed with both hands. It was his pleasing duty again to thank Mr. I'Anson. He was quite sure that gentleman had as yet only gleaned a tithing from the surface of the land, and he hoped that the writer, having once made himself acquainted with that most interesting district of Auvergne, would not make these notes the conclusion of the information with which he was prepared to favour the Institute.

The vote of thanks was then passed unanimously, and the meeting adjourned.