Architectural Reveries.

narrow part of Avhich being upwards , and terminating , as it were , in the stalk , the staff of the weathercock was thus achieved as the crowning feature of the device ; and here Ave have a high-peaked Dutch or Flemish roof , almost worthy , by the ingenuity of its design and structure , and by the variety of its outline , to be recognised as an actual spire . But it was only when greater architectural skill and boldness ventured to construct the loffcv and

decorative roof entirely of stone , that the genuine character of the true- spire developed itself ; aud having once developed itself , blossomed , as it were , into so many forms of beauty , such intricacy , anel such complicated and almost endless perforations , that the idea of a mere roof Avas no longer suggested b y its aspectany more than the rich colonnade and

cor-, nice of a Corinthian temple suggest the idea of the timber beams and props of which they are the artistically-developed exaggerations , or to use a simile from a merely mechanical arfc , than a powerloom , with all its recent improvements and complicationsfor stocking Aveavingrecalls the simple device

, , of the original knitting-pins . This last is , however , not an accurate simile , inasmuch as the developments of the loom have each had their allotted function to perform , neither more nor less ; Avhile many if not most of the architectural features alluded to are almost entirely parasitic or decorative .

The humble origin of the spire is forgotten in the contemplation of its varied richness aucl beauty , and its original purpose , as the mere roof or cap of the building is entirely overlooked , just as in admiring the coronet of a peer , rich Avith its gold and gems , we are apt to overlook in a similar manner the equally

simple fact that , after all , it is but an ornamented cap or hat , which the goldsmith and jeweller have by degrees converted into au elaborate piece of headgear , in Avhich the original purpose appears so utterly ignored , that it seems to have become a mere decorative object for heralds to paint on coach-panels , as a means of defining various gradations of rank , instead of being of any sort of use as hat , cap , or even helmet .

In art matters , restrospection , especially historical retrospection , is always instructive . B y teaching us the original uses of features which the profuse elaborations of inventive design have obscured , or turned to actually nefl purposes , ifc forces us to become acquainted with tlie true spirit of those features , and

creates in the mind of the art-student a natural tendency to treat them with that sentiment of their origin md history which is sure to lead to a more intelligent vieAV of design than those impressions aud convictions which found themselves upon the mere externals of existing models , Avithout a knowledge of

what may be termed their vital princi p le , and the nature of the germ from which they have sprung . Thus , a young architect full y imbued wifch the knowledge thafc the spire was in its origin merely the roof of tlie toAver , -will design his steeple or spire Avifch a certain definite feeling arising from his knowledof

ge its pedigree , that is sure to impart it to a more consistent and appropriate character than he Avould have given to it if in utter ignorance of its ori gin . For instance , if he should choose to make his design consist of successive stories , the acurnination heing rendered gradual by a series of slender pinnacles , and

delicatelyvrorked miniatures of flying buttresses , as in the graceful spire of the Hotel de Yille at Brussels , he will then give to his perforations more absolutely the character of lateral AvindoAvs ; while , if he should greatly simplify his design , making the acurnination continuous to the apex , and only enriched at the ridges hy tbe usual decorationsthenAvhen he

pro-, , ceeds to lighten the effect of the mass by a certain number of perforations , he will give to those apertures the character of dormer windows , which , in fact , they are ; such openings in many of our English village steeples , showing by their character that they Avere intended to stimulate the smaller dormer

AvindoAvs that , whether for use or ornament , are generally found in the high-pitched roofs of Gothic buildings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries . Even when the design of a spire is most complicated aud intricate , as is thafc of Antwerp and others that might be citedthe original roof character may still be traced

, , though not so obviously ; and in modern designs it may be asserted , as a principle , that iu proportion as the original roof feeling is preserved in sentiment , however veiled hy the beauties and intricacies of profuse decoration , so the design of a modern spire will have stamped upon it the seal of true art feelingor

, the reverse ; for mere idle device , not inspired by the life-breath of original purpose , will become tame , and seem wanting in a hving something that no idle elaboration can supply , however profusely resorted to .

From the tower-roof , that in its richest form developed itself into the spire , the dreamer of architectural dreams , or reveur of architectural reveries , is led to tbe subject : of roofs in general , the history of Avhich is nofc so satisfactory , inasmuch as , after having arrived at a certain degree of development in tlie principles of structure and in artistic beautythat branch ofthe

, noble art gradually declined , especially in this country , and the roof , which should be the crowning feature of the edifice as the most intrinsically important feature of all , Avas made to sink out of sight behind the ? parapet , or offended the eye of taste by its unsightly aspect , and the absence of any attempt whatever afc artistic treatment .

In order to fully appreciate the nature of this retrogression , ifc is necessary to consider the nature and purport of the roof in its original and rudely primaeval character ; aucl it Avill appear afc first a sorne-Avhat paradoxical statement , Avhen it is asserted thafc roofs were built before AAIIIIS—that the roof was nofc only the most important part of the buildingbufc the

, only part ; so that there Avere , in fact , roofs without Avails to carry them , aud , moreover , never requiring walls to carry them . Not to be enigmatical , ifc may be as Avell to state at once that the earliest known form of a constructed dwelling Avas the Tent form , which isnecessarilall roof . Taking it for granted

, y , that Central Asia was the cradle of ( at all events , for a branch of ) the human race , and that all our forma of civilisation have travelled to us from thence—a theory more and more firmly established by the successive discoveries of recent times—we must accept the tent as the first form of a constructive human

dwelling—a form in Avhich , as we ha \* e seen , the building Avas simply roof , all roof , aucl nothing but the roof . As more permanent forms of dwellings developed themselves in the East Avith increasing population and increasing civilisation , the roof remained