Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/829

 I860.] Monthly Memoranda. 611 to art-fame desire to do justice to the genius with which he is gifted ? If so, let him re-search the Book of Nature, which they of the classics searched so well ; and he will find, that there is an abundant harvest of informa- tion, to be gleaned from its pages yet, which cannot fail to inculcate a taste — a classic taste. ' So, remember that, it is not in the mere study of the ancient relics of art we should look for ideas ; but in the yet fresh and invigorating fields, whence the inception of those beauteous relics came. The nearer the spring the purer the draught. All our young friends should bear this in mind ; and also, that the genius of invention in architecture, is not dead and buried with the past, but lives, and will live, for ever. It is for the ambitious student, who comes to his work with a lover's ardor, to strive and make fresh loveliness appear. Determination like this is what will give character to modern architecture and inculcate, in something more than the mere name, a Classic Taste. MONTHLY MEMORANDA. Prospective — There will be more building this season, in the United States, than has ever been known in any one period before. There is no safer or better investment for spare capital, and there is no greater national blessing can be conferred by wealth, than in the construction and embellishment of cities, which cannot fail of exciting the admira- tion of foreigners, and that pride of our citizens, which is a certain impulse to progressive exertion that knows no im- pediment, and seeks for no final point. Esto perpetua. Go ahead ! Glazed Columns. — It has been sug- gested to use in all public buildings, lay and ecclesiastic, instead of solid stone, or cumbrous wood columns, in the aisles of churches or halls, light iron pillars, and to surround them with plate-glass, I stained in various colors. Very beauti- ful effects might thus be produced, and a happy riddance be insured of the existing system of blank obstacles in- tended to support the roof, yet insup- portable to the convenience and com- fort of the people. Architecturesque. — Professor Kerr, of London, has suggested the use of this new coined expression, as a parallel to that other art one, picturesque, and there is much ado about nothing, in consequence, among the British Archi- tects. If the word is an apt one, why not use it ? If it be worthless it will never get into use ; and that's all about it. Stone-Dressing Machinery Some three months ago the stone-cutters of Bradford, England, struck because em- ployers began to use machine-dressed stone. The employers turned the tables on them, and insisted that their work- men should in future dress all the stone. Now, most of the building-stone used there is hard, and the stone-cutters soon found that it would not pay to work it, so they struck again, but in favor of machine dressing this time. The Cities of the Dead. — The exca- vations at Herculaneum, which for the last twentj 7 years have been interrupted, will be shortly renewed, the King hav- ing given from his private purse the sum of 30,000fr. for that purpose. Pom- peii was buried but a few metres, but Herculaneum is covered with lava, sco- ria and earth to a depth of from twenty- one to thirty-four metres. Religious Liberty — The municipal- ity of Madrid has sold a plot of land in one of the promenades of the capital as a site for the erection of a Protestant church. The sale was concluded on the 3d instant, and the works are to be commenced before the opening of the Cortes. The municipality and the mem- bers for Madrid have been specially in- vited to be present at the ceremony.