Architectural Progress.*

leave ifc in the hands of persons who will use ifc without caring anything for ifcs artistic treatment . To me these things , under disguises , instead of taking the trouble to discover a form which becomes them , is as great a loss to art as is the attempt to supply some new want of modern times by twisting the design for an ancient building out of its proper use , instead of trying to supply the need

from more orig inal sources . I have alluded to these matters , though they are by no means novel ones , because I believe that while we are calling for more originality , we are throwing away very important opportunities for developing it , and because ifc is specially our business here to see that no occasion of doing a good thing shall pass ; andif ifc beat the same time a new thingwe profess fco

, , be better pleased . I will only say further , that such questions as these , where truth is involved , are above and beyond mere questions of style ; and that any style which refuses to adapt itself to new purposes , and to use novel nieaus , will in no long time become an antiquity , and give place to a more pliant rival . We must , then , endeavour to promote originality ,

wherever a proper opportunity arises ; but in doing so , I sincerely hope thafc nothing will be done to greatly check the strong feeling which men now have for the style in which they work . There is so little of enthusiasm in the world that ifc would be matter for fche greatest ; regret to see that which exists so strongly amongst us reduced to a cold impartiality which con d not be very far from indifference . Wherever work is to be done that

is difficult ; , and not always agreeable , the man whose heart is in . ifc is fche man to do ib . The study and revival of ancient styles is of a nature to produce feelings of a very strong kind : if it were not so , the arfc of architecture would be ns dull and prosaic as any ordinai-y business in life : but , happily for us , we are employed in a pursuit in which wo may , if we will , take a warm

interest : we may feel thafc ifc is endeared to us by the labours which ifc has cost us , the friends who have aided us in ifc , the opponents against whom we have . defended it . The man who has spent his best years for study either in foreign travel or in seeking oufc the exquisite remains thafc are scattered up and down his native country , can ever be truly impartial . Ifc is for the man

who has done neither of these , or the man who has done both and cares for neither , to serve out justice wifch one weight and one measure . But we may be sure thafc it is by no such judgment thafc the fate of parties will be settled ; the profession will settle the matter amongst themselves in the ordinary course of events . That style , the followers of which practice it with tho truest ; feeling , and are afc fche same time most confident in its powers to supply the wants of the age , will contribute most

largely to the style ot the future . But speaking as I do Avithout professing to be impartial , I may bo allowed to suggest thafc it is for the interests of all parties and for the great cause which through all our differences we profess to serve , that we should seek to temper our enthusiasm wifch a larger information upon the beauties and advantages that we claimed for the

style which we , do not ; profess to practise . We may depend upon this , that no very large body of professional men has become attached to any style by accident ; aud if we were to take some trouble to find out ifcs merits instead of seeking for defects , we should be gainers in information , in liberality of idea , and in the power of judging correctly as fco matters more immediately

connected vfifck our own pursuit . We should be able to discuss matters fairly open to dispute wifch something like good temper and with something -like sound logic : and by being compelled fco inquire into fche hidden principles of thafc beauty which seems to us so obvious , but which does nob affect all iu the same degree , we should be more competent to produce designs claiming fco be original , and could more safely leave the beaten track for fields now unexplored , but whose treasure may be not less rich than that now lying in our hand .

The New System Of Lighting Theatres In Paris.

THE NEW SYSTEM OF LIGHTING THEATRES IN PARIS .

On the Place du Chatelet , which is one of the bold openings cut through the mass of buildings of old Paris for the formation of the Boulevard Sebastopol , two new theatres have recently arisen , both claiming high rank in architectural design . These rival structures face each other , irom opposite sides of the Place —one being tbe Theatre du Chatelet , replacing the Cirque , and the other the Theatre Lyrique . The Theiltre du Chatelet , with which we have to deal at presentexhibits bfar the more

effec-, y tive facade , in consequence of the large open gallery or loggia which forms its principal feature . The design of the basement story , with the decorated entrances , is good , and sufficiently massive to form a characteristic support to the loggia above . This last feature is formed of open arcades , which support the upper story , both arcades and the architectural features above being richldecorated with ornamental sculpture of a very

supey rior kind . The loggia of the ceiling , as well as the inner sides , of the arcades and the hack , are richly decorated with arabesque paintings ; and the warmth and colour so obtained , combined with the depth of shadow beneath the arcades , produce an effect which is indisputably fine , and . in northern architecture , quite original , though but a successful piece of borrowing from an architectural device which is common enough in Italy . This

open loggia , or spacious covered balcony , forms an agreeable salle de promenade between the acts , and we recently found ifc amost agreeable lounge on one of the hot October evenings of this exceptional season . The interior of this graceful theartre is constructed after a fashion still farther from the vulgar beaten track than the exterior . There is no architectural proscenium ; the tiers of boxes ing round in a richly undulating curve till they abut

sweep against the sculptured bordering which , from Soor to ceiling , frames the front of the stage , as it would a picture . The second innovation occurs in the projecting balcony , which in most Preach theatre * mus round the front of the principal tier of boxes , having an even depth of one , or at most two , rows of seats . In the present instance , however , the balcony feature is made to deepen in the centre , projecting far over the pit , and liaving , in its deepest part , 10 or 12 rows of seats . Here ifc is

that the greatest amount of light falls , and that toilettes are seen to the greatest advantage . It is a central section of this portion of the house that is destined to he set aside for the imperial family , when visiting the Theatre du Chatelet . The decorations of the salle also present a general novelty of effect . There is little of that heavy sprawling class of ornament , in impertinently high iclief , so common in theatrical decorations ; the principal effects being obtained by contrasts of burnished

and dead gold , blended together , and subdued by a soft ground of delicate buff , which is relieved , sparingly , by sparkling traces of white . ' Among that class of ornaments intended to convey some , more or less , appropriate meaning , there are none of those bothering allegories , the pitli of which is so difficult to (' extract ; the only ornamental features intended to illustrate move or less directly , the purpose of the structure being a series of medallions of the great patrons of art in all ages . These are placed on the

fronts of the upper tier of hoxos , and although the selection has been made in the reign of Napoleon HI ., former sovereigns of France , are not excluded . Francis I . and Louis XIV ., are allowed to held then- goonnd against Napoleon I . and Napoleon III . ; though these last appear to have assumed the chief places of honour , flanked as they are by Pericles and Augustus . The last and hy far the most important of the novelties of structure and decoration attempted ( successfully attempted ) in this new

theatre , is the entirely original mode of lighting the salle . Not a single chandelier appears , large or small ; and yet the house is perfectly lighted , and the richness of the architectural effect , strange to say , seems absolutely to gain hy the absence of those glittering accessories of glass and lights , wliich usually form such principal features in theatrical interiors . In lieu of these we are presented with a ceiling of ground glass , sparingly

decorated wifch elegant arabesques ; from above which , and unseen , are jets of gas , arranged in a concentrated mass , which pour down a flood of softened and equalized light through the semitransparent ceiling , the intensity of which can he heightened or diminished at pleasure . It was at first suggested by some of the art-critics of the French press , that the light so introduced was not brilliant—that it produced the effect of imperfect sunlight during an eclipse ; in short , that the new system was less advantageous than the old ones- Farther experience has , however , proved its triumphal success , both in an artistic and