English Patents for 1841. By Andrew Pritchard, M.R.I., &c. Whitaker and Co., London. 2s. 6d.
We had commenced the selection of a list of patents from this excellent compendium, with the intention of laying before our readers all those pertaining to the Building Art, but found that we should have to reprint nearly the whole of the book; so comprehensive is the range we have chosen, and so ingenious the class we have the honour to serve. Of 441 patents herein entered, by far the largest proportion are as we have stated; and we can only, therefore, refer to the work itself. Besides the above list of patents, there is appended a copy of Letters Patent, an abstract of the Registration of Designs Act, and a notice respecting its operation, concluding with a useful Index, which shews at one glance what you would refer to. The value of such a work as this is not to be estimated. All persons intending to take out patents should look over its pages, as it may save much trouble and expense. We know of many who would have been great gainers had they had such a guide at their elbows.
MISCELLANEOUS.
There is a consideration which entitles architecture to a decided pre-eminence amongst the other arts. It is itself the parent of many separate professions, and requires a combination of talents and an extent of knowledge for which other professions have not the smallest occasion. An acquaintance with the sciences of geometry and mechanical philosophy, with the arts of sculpture and design, and other abstruse and elegant branches of knowledge, are indispensable requisites in the education of a good architect, and raise his art to a vast height above those professions which practice alone can render familiar, and which consist in the mere exertion of muscular force. From these considerations it appears there is some foundation in the very nature of architecture for those extraordinary privileges to which masons have always laid claim, and which they have almost always possessed—privileges which no other artists could have confidence to ask, or liberty to enjoy.—Ency. Brit., Vol. XIV., p. 280.
Alison on French Architecture.—In France we find that public works have been reared at an expense not exceeding that of edifices of little or no excellence in our own country, even although the charges of building are not materially different in the two countries. So true it is, that the most essential elements in architectural beauty—genius and taste in the architect, are beyond the power of mere wealth to command—that it is not money to construct beautiful edifices, but the mind to conceive them, which is generally wanting. It would seem, therefore, that it is the pure taste and noble conceptions of the artists of Southern Europe, rather than in any great excellence in the materials at their command, or the wealth of which they have the disposal, to which we must ascribe their remarkable superiority to those of this country.
Devonshire House, Piccadilly.—The additions and alterations which are being made to this fine old mansion, the residence of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, are proceeding rapidly, and will add considerably to the extent as well as to its internal arrangements. Mr. Decimus Burton is the architect, and Messrs. Woolcott and Son are the contractors, for these works, which will yet take many months to complete. The Duke is for the present staying at his princely abode, Chatsworth.
Church Extension.—There are now twelve new churches building, or about to be commenced, in various parts of the metropolis; one in the Kent-road, in the parish of St. George, Southwark; one in the parish of Paddington; another on the site of the Old Broadway Chapel, Westminster; a large church, with a lofty Gothic tower, in which a musical peal of bells is to be placed, in Wilton-square, Knightsbridge; three in Bethnal-green parish, and a church in St. Pancras parish. Sites have been chosen for a new church in the Waterloo-road district of Lambeth parish; another in St. Botolph Without, Aldgate, in the county of Middlesex; and a third in St. George’s-in-the-East. The new parish church of St. Giles’s, Camberwell, building on the site of the old edifice, which was destroyed by fire, is progressing rapidly, and will be a noble and spacious edifice. The new church at Paddington will be a great ornament to that neighbourhood. The University of Durham has granted 400l. towards the erection of a new church at South Shields. It is intended to build a new Roman Catholic Church in the eastern part of the metropolis. The site chosen is a large piece of ground on the south side of the Commercial-road, and it is expected that the total cost of the edifice and the purchase of the ground will not fall short of 30,000l.
NOTICES.
To Advertisers.—This first impression of Five Thousand is reserved for sale in London and the large Provincial Towns. The next impression of five thousand will be stamped, so as to pass post-free, and will be circulated gratuitously on the 7th of January, 1843, amongst that number of the nobility, gentry, clergy, professional men, and principal tradesmen, all over the United Kingdom, according to a list which has most generously been placed at our disposal for that purpose by a friend. It is important, therefore, to advertisers that they should seize the opportunity thus afforded them of a special and select notification of their business among a class of such importance. It may be affirmed, indeed, that a circulation of this character and amount is superior to one of four times the number of copies dispersed at random, in the ordinary way of sale. Additional advertisements, therefore (if sufficient in number) will be inserted in a Supplement to accompany this gratuitous circulation, as well as the future sale, and should be sent to the Office at latest, on Thursday, the 5th of January. The charge for advertisements in the Supplement will be 15s. per quarter column, 1l. 10s. per half column, and so on; smaller advertisements according to agreement. To insure more attention to the Supplement, as well as to secure an additional circulation for it, it will contain matter of interest as to the progress of the first impression, correspondence, and the like. Our prospects hitherto have been so far gratifying as to give us confidence that the whole number of 20,000 copies of the Precursor will be disposed of!