Books and Prints that have been published relating to the Cathedral and its Prelates.

The plates embellishing and illustrating the volume are thirty-one in number, besides three wood-cuts, and embrace a good selection of subjects engraved in the first style of art. They consist of Views and Elevations of the principal parts of the Cathedral; and also Ground-Plans, and Sections of the Buildings; which we consider as great improvements, inasmuch as they contribute to gratify and inform the curious inquirer as well as the professed architect. In addition, we have views of the more interesting architectural ornaments of the church, and several tombs and monuments; all of which are executed in a masterly way.

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To give our readers an idea of the manner of the author, and at the same time communicate some acceptable particulars of the Cathedral, we select the following paragraphs:

The origin and the time of building Salisbury Cathedral having been already stated, it now remains for me to describe and define the peculiarities of the edifice, to point out its character as a whole, and to particularise it in detail. This church is remarkable as being the most uniform, regular, and systematic in its arrangement and architecture of any ancient cathedrals in England; and in this respect is also contradistinguished to those on the Continent: for whilst all the others consist of dissimilar, and often heterogeneous parts and styles, that of Salisbury is almost wholly of one species, and of one era of execution. It appears not only to have been constructed from one original design, but to have remained to the present day, nearly in the state it was left by its builders: at least we do not readily perceive any very discordant additions, or serious and palpable dilapidations. Hence consistency and harmony are its characteristics; and from this cause the architectural antiquary must view it with admiration, and investigate its execution with satisfaction, and even with pleasure. Independently of the style, or class of architecture, and divested of all prepossessions or prejudices in behalf of Grecian, Roman, or other classical examples, as certain edifices are called, the young architect is required to scrutinize the present cathedral, for its symmetry, magnitude, and construction. He will do well to analyze his own emotions, after first viewing this noble pile, and endeavour to ascertain the causes of amazement, admiration, or delight, as these may be jointly or separately excited by the object. It is his duty to store his mind with knowledge, to seek for useful information rather from example than from theory: and this cannot be better acquired than from an edifice that has stood the test of eight centuries, is evidently scientific in its design, and bold and original in execution. Such is the church we are now surveying and therefore I have thought it requisite to represent its general features by perspective views, taken internally and externally; and by plans, sections, and details, to show its anatomy, or constructive arrangement, and individual forms. • The

The whole of this cathedral may be said to consist of six distinct and separate portions or members: 1. The body of the church:-2. The tower and spire: 3. The cloister: 4. The north porch:-5. The chapter-house-and, 6. The chantries and monuments. Each of these has a peculiar and positive character and appropriation, and each is contradistinguished to the others by marked forms, and dissimilarity in style and ornament. The church consists internally of a nave, with two lateral ailes; a large transept, with an eastern aile branching off from the tower; a smaller transept, with an aile east of the former; a choir, with lateral ailes; a space east of the choir, and a lady chapel at the east end. On the north side of the church is a large porch, with a room over it; and rising from the intersection of the principal transept with the nave is a lofty tower and spire. South of the church is a square cloister, with a library, over half of the eastern side; a chapter-house; a consistory court; and an octangular apartment, called the muniment-room.

Salisbury Cathedral is not only peculiar for its uniformity of style, but is also remarkable for its insulated and unencumbered state and situation: for whilst most of the other great churches of England are obscured and almost enveloped with houses, trees, and walls, that of Salisbury is detached from all extraneous and disfiguring objects, and is thus laid open to the inspection of the spectator. It is thus rendered easy of access and of examination from several different points of view; and hence may be studied by the draftsman and architect, from such stations as best display the form and effect of the whole. From this circumstance Salisbury Cathedral is popularly regarded as the finest church in England; and from the same cause, it is certainly peculiarly imposing on the eye and imagination of the stranger. It is customary for visitors to approach it from the east; and having reached the north-east angle of the enclosed cemetery, where the whole edifice is commanded at a single glance, the effect is pleasingly sublime. Plate II. shows it from this station, where it constitutes at once a beautiful and picturesque mass. A series and succession of pedi ments, pinnacles, buttresses, windows, and bold projections,

The practice of building houses and offices, and of attach ing other objects to cathedrals and churches, cannot be too strongly and unequivocally reprobated. It is not merely offensive to the eye, but is incompatible with the original intent of the architects and founders, and is highly injurious to the stability of an edifice. The Abbey church of Bath, and the Temple church, London, are two glaring instances of this shameful practice; where the owners of the ground, for the paltry consideration of receiving a few annual pounds, have permitted the walls of those churches to be cut away, their windows filled up, drains made into the foundations, and the architectural features not only obscured, but partly destroyed. It is really lamentable that such nuisances should be permitted: and it is equally to be regretted that national buildings should be at the mercy and caprice of ignorance and avarice.'

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crowned with the rich tower and lofty spire, are embraced at one view, and fill the eye and mind as a homogeneous whole. This northern front however is generally monotonous in effect, and to be seen to advantage should be visited when the morning sun lights up one side of the tower and the eastern sides of the transepts, as in the print here referred to; or when the summer sun is declining in the west, and throws its golden rays on the northern faces of the transepts, and tips the pinnacles and other projections with sparkling gleams of brightness. At this time also the recesses are dark and solemn, which enhance the grandeur, and augment the magnitude of the edifice. In the twilight of evening, or when the moon is about forty-five degrees above the western horizon, and displays her silvery face amidst solemn azure and fleecy vapours, then the effect is still more awful and impressive: the enthusiastic spectator is rivetted to the scene; his mind wanders in reveries of delight; and his enraptured imagination" darts from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven," in rapid and daring flights. Should the deep-toned organ sound at such a moment, and reiterate its solemn music through the ailes, the effect would be infinitely augmented.'

In order the better to qualify himself for the undertaking, Mr. Britton remained some months at Salisbury, inspecting minutely the several parts of the Cathedral, examining its archives, and collecting all possible information on the spot; a course which he intends to adopt with respect to the other cathedrals, as he proceeds to describe their antiquities.

Altogether, then, we congratulate the public on the appearance of the present volume, and trust that the author will meet with that patronage which his ingenuity in projecting it, the spirit manifested in its progress, and the ability evinced in the execution of it, so well deserve. Since our ancestors have left us such buildings as excite our wonder and admiration, surely that chronicler, or that artist, deserves every encour agenient who propagates their fame, and surprizes and gratifies those who have not opportunities of actually beholding their excellences.

ART. VII. Transactions of the Society instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; for the Years 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1816. Vols. XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV. 8vo. 10s. 6d. each. Hunter, &c.

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T is with regret that we see an arrear of four * ticed volumes of the Transactions of a Society unrivalled for the munificent and honorable premiums which it awards

Another, for the year 1817, has appeared since this article was in preparatión.

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to taste, genius, and art; to science displayed in mechanical invention; and to every discovery which tends towards the im-provement of our manufactures and the extension of our trade.: Idle, however, would be any apology from us for the omission, except as it conveyed an assurance that our remissness has not arisen from disrespect, or from any feeling that the latter volumes have been less intitled to attention than those which preceded them. The simple fact is that one of our coadjutors, to whom this department was confided, sustained a lingering illness which gradually incapacitated him from exertion, and which terminated only with his life. From a variety of circumstances, arrangements were not immediately made to supply the vacancy, and thus the matter rested.-The Society' itself has also, within a short space of time, been deprived of two members, who occupied in it stations of great importance': the one a nobleman of the highest rank, viz. the Duke of Norfolk, who held the office of President during the long series of twenty-two years; the other, Dr. Charles Taylor, who for many years gave up all his time and his talents, with a devotedness which never relaxed, to the laborious situation of Secretary. Thus are the mandates of the tearless arbiter of human destinies alike irresistible:

"Cùm semel occideris, et de te splendida Minos

Fecerit arbitria,

Non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te

Restituet pietas!"

HOR. Car. lib. iv. Ode vii.

To the Presidency has succeeded an illustrious member of the Royal Family, the Duke of Sussex: who, as it is well observed in the preface, has thus given a public pledge that the encouragement of the Arts, Commerce, and Manufactures of the country does not misbecome the highest patronage; and who is sensible that, in personally distributing the medals and other honorary rewards allotted to merit, often in the lower walks of life, he is thus superadding to the direct encouragement of the Society the collateral, and in many cases equally satisfactory, gratification, which arises from the high rank of the personage through whose hands the reward is immediately received.

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The office of Secretary, likewise, is filled by a gentleman whose extensive attainments in the sciences of Mineralogy, Geology, Chemistry, and Physics in general, eminently qualify him for the situation to which he was appointed in a manner peculiarly honorable and gratifying to his feelings; we mean Mr. Arthur Aikin.

The three former of the volumes, which are enumerated at the head of this article, have been long before the public; and,

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as the most meagre analysis of them would occupy no inconsiderable space, and the papers themselves have by this time been generally read by those who are interested in the subjects on which they treat, we deem it, on the whole, adviseable to limit our present account to the contents of the thirty-fourth volume.

AGRICULTURE.

If, on the one hand, no station in life is too humble to claim from this excellent society the reward of useful exertions; on the other, no rank is so high, as not to feel honored by receiving its premiums. The gold medal was adjudged to the Duchess of Rutland for the success of her experiments on the best methods of raising Oaks; which experiments were made on a large scale under her Grace's own immediate inspection. The result appears to be that the best method is, after having once ploughed the land, to sow the acorns in drills three feet apart, where they are intended to remain as a crop; to hoe between the rows for two years; and then to plant potatoes, one row only between each row of oaks, for the three following years. It is asserted that, in all cases, oaks will grow as much in the first four years with potatoes as in six without them. The potatoes are a smothering crop to all weeds, till the oaks themselves become so: but during the first two years the hoe alone must be used, because the luxuriance of the potatoe-crop would overwhelm the very young oaks. If seedlings of three years old be adopted instead of acorns, they may be planted in holes dug at four feet distance each way: one row only of potatoes to be planted, for the three following years, between each row of oaks. It is likewise recommended that oaks should be planted by themselves; for, contrary to the general opinion that a mixture of firs and other forest-trees is useful to protect and shelter the oaks in their infant-state, it is asserted that the plantations round Belvoir Castle bear unequivocal testimony that the growth of oaks is uniformly retarded, and the plants themselves rendered worse, by the contiguity of other trees. The plantations which have been made at Belvoir Castle during the last 25 years are estimated at 800 acres; and those under the immediate directions of the Duchess contain 190 acres, bearing almost 800,000 forest-trees of every description, in soils and situations best adapted to their respective natures. It is to be observed, too, of these latter plantations, that they have generally been made on land not calculated for the purposes of husbandry. The communication on this subject comes from Mr. Matthew Pound, the Duchess's woodman.

A gold