1829.]

REVIEW.-Lawson's Life of Abp. Laud.

west of Westminster AT or NEAR London; yet we are certain that the present street from St. Paul's towards the Tower, called Watling-street, does run S.E. from the Cathedral (which stands of course east and west), in the general direction of the Watling-street as mentioned by Higden, (viz. ab euro austro in zephyrum septentrionalem), from S.E. to N.W. Moreover, the street leads direct to London-stone. This stone, which is justly presumed to have been a Roman milliary, is, in our opinion, junior to the Watling-street, and was made a point or groma, from whence the Romans struck out new roads. If, however, the Watling-street commenced at Dover, it must have passed the Thames from Southwark (it has been supposed at Dowgate), to reach the northern bank: but certain it is, according to Bowen's map, that straight line running S.E. to N.W. crosses the Thames obliquely from between Rotherhithe and Southwark direct to the Tower, the arx palatina of the Roman æra, and the very probable site of a Celtic fortress. If the Watling-street crossed here, and formerly included Cannon-street, Towerstreet, &c. in the line from the Tower to the present Watling-street, then the S.E. and N.W. direction is faithfully preserved.

a

We know that the modern accounts of these British highways are very controvertible, and we pay great regard to our ancient writers on the subject, because, in the middle age, these roads were in common use.. The Watlingstreet, upon leaving London, ought, according to the straight line S.E. to N.W. to pass through Fancras, Hampstead, Stanmore, and Watford, to Verulam; but Higden says, that it went "ad occidentem Westmonasterii, indeque processit juxta S. Albanum;" i. e. "to the west of Westminster, and thence to St. Alban's;" but no road west of Westminster would ever reach St. Alban's. Now certain it is, that Coway Stakes do lie south-west by west of Westminster, and that Cæsar did pursue Casivelaun in that direction to Verulam. The British trackways did not adhere to the straight line; and though we will not presume to determine the actual direction of the Watling-street, we are sure that the words "ad occidentem Westmonasterii," do not imply immediate contiguity to that GENT. MAG. April, 1829.

329

city; and that the fact quoted from Cæsar does afford a vindication of Higden, hitherto unnoticed, although he may misnomer the Coway Stakes road, that is, have confounded the Watling-street with some other British trackway. It is, too, to be recollected, that the term Watling-street is an_Anglo-Saxon denomination.

In making these statements, we must be understood as showing the perplexities of the subject, not determining any doubtful questions. We are only of decided opinion, that nearly the whole of the high roads issuing from London were of Roman, not British origin.

We shall end this long notice concerning the first and second London, by observing that double heads were not peculiar designations of Janus, and that the pretended Janus's head (in i. 36) is a Jupiter Ammon with the ram's horn, in union with a Juno with the mitre. We must, however, particularly congratulate Mr. Allen,* upon his having, in our judgment, made out a clear case of Coway Stakes having been the actual spot where Cæsar crossed the Thames. In our opinion, nothing short of manifest impossibility ought to be admitted in invalidation of the antiquity of places where history is attested by ancient remains. The idea of the Stakes having been part of an old wear, is hypercritical.

(To be continued.)

Lawson's Life of Abp. Laud.

(Continued from p. 244.)

MR. HALLAM (in his Constitutional History,) having, in the opinion of Mr. D'Israeli and our author, leaned too much to the Commonwealth side, the former has in his "Commentaries" vindicated the Royalists, and our author has shown up the Calvinists and Puritans, in all the horrors of their pernicious doctrines, because he deemed it seasonable in the present day, on account of the following result, namely, the natural lapse into Socinianism of such monstrous perversions of Christianity:

"While the Archbishop was thus watching sedulously against the prevalence of the

In differing from the book, we are to be understood, as differing from his authorities, not himself, for he merits high praise.

330

REVIEW-Lawson's Life of Abp. Laud.

Romish superstition, he was no less mindful of the ravages of sectarianism. The impieties of Socinianism had begun to extend universally among the Puritans, as they did rapidly among their descendants in the succeeding century; and indeed it could hardly fail to be otherwise, for Calvinism, which is in reality religious necessity, if carried to the extreme, is apt, as in the well-known case of Dr. Priestley, to land its votaries eventually in the principles of pure Deism. And yet it is not easy to see how a man can be what is termed a moderate Calvinist, which is a mode of phraseology current among our modern evangelicals; in other words, a moderate Calvinist is one, who believes in predestination, and who does not believe in it; for the phrase literally signifies this absurd contradiction. A man must either ad

mit Calvinism to the full extent, there being no middle course, or he must reject it altogether for to say, that there is redemption for all men who hear the gospel, if they repent and believe, and also to say, that, nevertheless, none but the elect will be saved, is an absurd contradiction." ii. 274.

If such is to be the termination of certain bubbles of the day, we ask those who have loaded us with abuse and insult for scouting them, which is most likely to be right in the end? In doctrinal points, we have advanced nothing but upon high authority. If referred to the Bible, we have not taken the sense by insulated texts, or neglect of their meaning and application at the time when they were written. Of Bible-proud people, Mr. Irving exposes the assurance in no very flattering terms:

*

"Come," (he says,) "my Bible-proud brother, let me tell thee a secret into thine own ear, as if it were heard only by thyself; because thou settest no store by the constantly received opinion of Christ's Church, I dread thou art an ignorant novice, or a self-conceited bigot; and that, if thou take not heed, Satan will make thee an incorrigible heretic."

In estimating the consequences of doctrines, we have been guided by History, and declined innovation upon questions of principle. The doctrine before us now is Calvinism and Puritanism, and that doctrine is substantially this "All men are predestinated before birth, to salvation or damnation, and if the former make dangerous lapses, the grace of God will interfere to prevent their final damnation, provided that they do not go to concerts or balls, which is the Calvinistic sin against the Holy Ghost. As to the condemned *Sermons, ii. 434.

[April,

predestinates, it is useless to make any efforts to reform them, because they cannot be saved."

Such is the doctrine of a recent Calvinistic work, (which we forbear to name,) and it is from the propagation of such doctrine among the lower orders, that wretches, who are brought before the magistrates for the most heinous offences, allegate that they are still under grace, and are persecuted for righteousness' sake, by those who go to wicked stage plays.*

Whenever party runs high, reason is invalid, because mankind fall into classes, passions are roused, interests are conflicting, and triumph, not edification, is desired. There never was a period when the common sense of this once common-sense nation was less. All the wisdom that the great writers on the history of man and the philosophy of human action have left us, is utterly neglected; and states of arduous circumstances are created, which nothing but force can overcome, because the incurable insanity of fanaticism has taken deep root. For our parts we are resolved in future not to propagate nonsense by quoting or discussing it, because adversity can alone cure folly; and mortification, ambitiou.

We have spoken thus in vindication of the evident design of Mr. Lawson, which is palpably to expose the civil and political evil of Calvinism and Puritanism from the unerring testimony of History. He means to show, that they terminate in bringing upon us the curse of infidelity and profligacy; and in that opinion he is supported by Mr. Pusey, Mr. Mackey, and Mr. Scott.

As to Laud, the history of his fate lies in a nutshell; he was all oak and no willow, in times when integrity was the sure means of destruction.. The incendiary Calvin (we are astonished how any person can speak of him with respect,) made difference of opinion (as in the case of Servetus,) a capital crime, and his accursed predestinatory doctrines not only destroyed reason, feeling, and morals (as to duties due from man to man) in the partizans of his own day, but in those of after times. Nor is that the only gross error of Calvinism. He published (see our Author vol. i. p. 399,) a bodily descent of Christ into hell, and a suffering of the pains of the damned in his soul, in the very face of the re

* See Mr. Bowles's Banwell Cave.

1829.]

REVIEW.-Lawson's Life of Abp. Laud.

ceived doctrine of an Intermediate State, of the knowledge that Hell does not mean the place of final punishment, of the parable of Lazarus, and the text of "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." The Bishops have now set their faces against Calvinism, and Mr. Lawson has laudably seconded the efforts to hoe it up. It matters not that Calvin was an excellent commentator in many other points. That is only a plea of eminence in calligraphy, in vindication of forgery: Christianity and public good require, that he should not be considered as "one having authority."

Of the moral character of Laud, nothing in serious depreciation can be said. Violent he certainly was, but he thought himself obliged either to fight or fly; and chose the former when the enemy was too powerful to render victory practicable. Now Juxon, his contemporary, chose an armed neutrality, and the contrast between him and Laud will best show how the latter victimated himself:

"Like the Archbishop, Juxon was eminent for his integrity, piety, loyalty, and attachment to the Church, and had nature,' (remarks Sir Philip Warwwick, who knew both these distinguished prelates,) mingled their tempers, and allayed the latter by the prudence and foresight of the former, or invigorated the former with the zeal and activity of the other, she had formed a finer mass than she usually does in her most exact workmanship about mankind.' Meek and steady in judgment, Juxon's profound knowledge of the civil law, which he had successfully studied, capacitated him for secular business; and though he found the Treasury much diminished, yet he acted with such moderation, as not only to support the dignity of the royal household, and to administer uniform justice in all public business, but he also reduced the debts of the Crown, and made the Treasury rich in a surplus sum. Fewer complaints were made against him than had been made against any of his predecessors; his conduct was so calm and circumspect, and his advice at all times so judicious, that the King himself declared, that Dr. Juxon never gave his opinion freely in his life, but when he had it he was always the better for it. It was indeed feared, and perhaps ardently hoped by some, that he would be unable to fulfil the arduous duties of his office; and as Heylyn observes, ⚫ sink under the burden of it, as Williams did under the custody of the seals." But his mildness and prudence obtained for him such reputation, that, though he was a Bishop, which was crime enough in the eyes of the Puritan zealots, and in that

331

capacity united the office of Lord Treasurer, two most dangerous offices in that age of fanaticism, he was neither envied, nor subject to the caprice of the times. It was by means of his admirable temper and conduct, says Sir Philip Warwick, that he weathered the most dreadful storms that ever the nation felt, and at last rode triumphantly into the harbour, without any shipwreck of his honour or principles. Never was there a more fortunate pilot, or a more upright man." ii. 126, 127.

Such was the effect of uniting the suaviter in modo with the fortiter in

re.

Laud had only the latter. He was a knock-down character; one which requires no anatomical discussion to understand. All that can be said for him is vindication of his intentions and principles, for his passions were never in harness; they were not carriage horses, but hunters.

object of the work.

We shall now come to the main Mr. Lawson is a Scotch minister of the Episcopal Church, now only tolerated in his nation. He therefore advocates the institution to which he belongs, and charges Andrew Melville with the introduction of Calvinism and Puritanism, (i. 51,) so far as they concern the opposition to Episcopacy. Calvinism and Puritanism having also survived to the present day, he mixes up modern times with his discussion; and most assuredly it is an excellent plan to illustrate the effects of doctrines by history; for philosophers, statesmen, and men of learning, know that Calvinism and Puritanisın cannot exhibit the will of God with regard to man, because they stultify religion; it being absurd that God should send a Saviour upon earth, if he had previously predestinated the future lot of man; or have given us material bodies with senses and passions, if he intended us to be Puritans. Laud having fallen a martyr to the sedition and treason spawned by the unphilosophical trash thus deprecated, his life was a proper thesis for Mr. Lawson's strictures. The friends of the Church of

England, as founded by reformers anterior to Calvin, and uncorrupted by his errors, will find in his book strength of argument, soundness of doctrine, and felicity of illustration; and in the commixture of the times of Charles I. with our own, they will also discover, in the words of Mr. Huntingford,*

*Intermediate State, p. 4.

332

REVIEW.-Woods's Letters of an Architect.

that controversialists of the present day contend only with the weapons handed down to them by former disputants, "and produce only a revival of erroneous opinions, which have often before been promulgated and confuted."

Woods's Letters of an Architect.

(Concluded from p. 239.) WE shall end this notice by abstracting certain particulars which tend to improvements in knowledge..

Kitchen chimnies,-formed by a deep recess, the stoves in the middle, the general flue for smoke aided by smaller ones, two windows for light on the sides. ii. 5.

Ceilings, height of. This ought never to be less than the width; if it be more, the height should be increased, to make it the characteristic of the room. ii. 4.

Coupled columns have neither the solidity of a pier, nor the lightness and grace of a single column. ii. 14. Paintings, criticism of, if not excellent, are worthless. ii. 14.

Foundations. After the trenches are dug, introduce water to the depth of about a foot, and throw in stones and liquid mortar without order, and a solid mass is formed. ii. 15.

Stair-cases, raised on arches, may have a noble aspect. ii. 16.

Columns upon Arches should be very small, and two in each space. ii. 17. Vaults. Lightness may be given to a small arch, but it does not harmonize with a continued vault. ii. 21.

Friezes adorned with arches, a proof

of the decline of art. ii. 38.

Arches groined, probably the first appearance in the baths of Dioclesian. ii. 39.

Arches over columns.

"The cloisters of the convent of Badia consist of a range of arches supported on columns, and over these there is a range of small columns, very wide apart, supporting the roof. It is, I believe, an advantage that these supports are so far asunder, as they thereby assist the idea of lightness in the roof. Where the slenderness and wide separation of the supports below can persuade the spectator that the parts above are very light, it is a beauty: one, indeed, not to be sought on every occasion, but admirable in its proper place. But where this persuasion is not accomplished, and the upper parts are manifestly heavy, the slenderness of the lower is a very great defect. Where columns stand over arches, it is absolutely necessary to have a consi

[April,

derable space over the latter, otherwise the effect is poor and meagre. ii. 109."

Gateways of cities, usually of two arches, that those going in might not interrupt those going out. ii. 209.

Simplicity without relief: mere tameness and insipidity. ii. 309.

Lightness tends to exhibit the richness of the architecture, and the painting and sculpture with which it is adorned. ii. 390.

Greek and Roman architecture, difference between.

"There is a marked difference between the ornamental style of the Greeks and Romans. The former made their ornaments much smaller in proportion to the building than the latter, and there is a degree of simplicity and elegance of design, and a neatness and delicacy of execution in Greek buildings, which you would seek for in vain in Italy; while on the other hand, in the Roman edifices, there is a full and rich magnificence, which is not to be found in those of Greece. The beauty of both is, that the same feeling is observed throughout, and that in each building all the parts are in perfect harmony; while in modern structures it frequently happens, that one beauty is copied from one ancient building, and another from another, and their union only produces disgust. This difference of character was preserved, though perhaps in a less degree, even to the latest times of the Grecian art." ii. 239.

Architecture, history of its decline. · "In the history of ornamental architec ture, we may observe that the Composite order was not introduced so early as the time of Augustus, but we have not materials tion. It seems to be the order of a people to determine the precise date of its invenwho loved richness of effect, but had not patience or skill to attain the delicacy of the Corinthian; yet there are some examples, highly beautiful in design and exquisitely finished. The remains in the Church of Santa Maria, in Cosmedim, form an example of this; and the capital, which adorns the entrance of the baptistery of Constantine, is another not less beautiful; but it differs so much in the arrangement of its parts, that, if we consider such little particulars as essential characters, it could hardly be considered as the same order. Among the fragments at Rome, we have hundreds of specimens equally or more anomalous, but in general of far inferior workmanship; and it would be more convenient to class all these much-ornamented capitals as varieties of the Corinthian.* The ear

* Mr. Woods thinks (ii. 264) that Dr. Clarke's early Corinthian capital is only a work of the Lower Empire.

1829.]

REVIEW.-Woods's Letters of an Architect."

liest Corinthian entablature was without modillions, and in nowise different from the Ionic. Modillions were probably introduced about the time of Augustus, and the dentils were diminished to make room for them, and even at times omitted; but this fashion does not seem to have lasted, The dentils came in again, but reduced in size, or at least in length, perhaps not in width, for they are proportionally much wider, and farther apart, but frequently connected at top, the dentil-band being only cut partially; or else some little oanament was introduced on the upper part of the interval; this, indeed, occurs in some ornaments of the Augustan age. In the same manner the eggs became wider and farther apart, and the little processes between them, which at first were mere points, became arrowheads. In the temple of Jupiter Tonans, each ovolo is laid in the hollow of a leaf, and is itself carved on the surface; and at the same time that the leaves of the capital became more united with the solid, which they surround, the ovoli were executed so as to stand more detached from the background. This process continued to the time of Dioclesian. The capitals of his baths were not of contemptible workmanship, nor is the entablature bad, though very much inferior in every respect to those of the age of Augustus, and even of Septimius Severus. In the short interval between Dioclesian and Constantine, the builders seem to have forgotten every thing: between the reign of Constantine and the death of Honorius, a period of above one hundred years, I have seen no building of any consequence. We may perhaps attribute to this period the church or basilica of San Lorenzo. The columns and capitals of any edifice then erected at Rome, were probably always taken from older buildings, and the entablature frequently made out of the fragments of former entablatures: but in the portico of that church there is an entablature made for the building, with a high frieze in mosaic, and the mouldings of the cornice are composed of lines nearly straight, and with ornaments of little relief. In the time of Dioclesian, and before that period, when arches and columns were used to

gether, the arches sprang from the top of the entablature. In Constantine's time, the practice was to spring them from the capitals of the columns; and in some countries we find this practice existing to a comparatively recent period, especially in cloisters. But the Northern nations, in their attempt to copy Roman architecture, imitated rather that of the time of Dioclesian, than of a later date. They, however, diminished very much the entablature, and ultimately reduced it to a mere slab over the capital, on which some of the appropriate ornaments of the ancient entablature might still be traced. On the

$33

other hand, the architects employed by Theodoric introduced a solid block under the springing, which is evidently derived from the construction of a stone arch, and not from that of a wooden entablature. The same arrangement occurs at St. Mark's, at Venice. This peculiarity forms one striking point of difference between the architecture of the age of Constantine, and of that of Theodoric; another is the use of corbels; the small columns of the latter age frequently standing upon them; and the impost of the arch is sometimes lengthened out into a corbel, and supported by a column, which is not placed under its extremity; the impost continuing beyond its support, and sustaining a wall, considerably advanced before the face of the columns. Something of this sort occurs in Dioclesian's palace at Spalatro, but I have not observed it in any of Constantine's buildings.

"A third distinctive mark may be found in the ornaments, and especially in the capitals: in point of execution there is not much difference, but the design in Theodoric's time is much inferior. The artists no longer endeavoured to imitate the antique, but introduced badly-imagined fancies of their own. Theodoric was educated at Constantinople, and probably procured his artists from that city. At a later period we know the Church of St. Mark, at Venice, to have been built under the direction of a Greek architect, and, though an interval of several centuries occurred between these erections, we yet observe many points of resemblance, and may reasonably consider some of these peculiarities to arise from the Greek school of art in the later ages. We meet occasionally in other places with traces of the employment of Greek artists, quite enough to show that, though they combined with the Western and Northern nations in the degradation of architecture, each nation, however, following a road in some degree peculiar to itself; yet that they had nothing to do with the new and very different style which arose out of that degradation, and which we now call Gothic." ii. 165-167.

Here we see the germs of our Saxon oriental in manner and principle. The and Norman style; the Gothic being following extract will show the imme

diate

"Archetypes of our Churches.

"There are several churches at Ravenna, of the fifth and sixth centuries. The interval which elapsed between the first and last of the churches of this period, which still remain tolerably perfect, was not accompanied with any change of style; the ancient basilican form, consisting of three naves, divided by two ranges of columns supporting arches, prevailed in most of them. Above the arches is a high wall with nar