Military Idea Of The Status Of An Architect.

will be " a bounty of £ 2 and a free kit . " We , the architects , collar-makers , & c , are then directed to apply to Sergeant R . Griffith , R . E ., Blue Boar ' s Head , King-street , Westminster ; and the whole performance winds up , like the last bounce of an exhibition of fireworks , with " God save the

Queen !" Here is encouragement to the rising young men of the architectural profession . Only a limited number is required , so "be in time ! " JHaving passed the examination in mathematics , physics , languages , & c , would no doubt be accepted as a

proof that they are " able to read and . write ;" and then , think of the advantages of the fellowship with the collar-maker and the tailor , and , above all , the " bount y of £ 2 and a free kit . " What the architects' "kit" is to consist of we are

not informed . We hope , however , there will be no mistake as to allotting their " kits" among the " trades , " or the tailor may get a T square and drawing-pen , while the architect may receive a pair of shears and a goose . No bad premium , by the way , this last would be for men who go

in for those swindles facetiously called " competitions . " There is no reason wh y Government should not advertise b y placard : in fact , I expect we shall soon see other professions also invited to apply to the gallant sergeant at the Blue Boar ' s Head .

The " kit , " however , would differ according to the peculiar vocation of each . Thus , the young surgeon would be tempted by a , lancet-case and a gallon of half-and-half ; the young barrister by a crimson bag and order for the pit at the Princess ' s ; the young physician by a gross of blue piUs and a

quart of black draught ; the young curate by a dozen cambric handkerchiefs and a bottle of eaude-cologne ; the aspirant clerk of the Circumlocution Office , by a Bell ' s Life and a dozen real Manillas ; the di plomatist by a stone or two of lead paper-weights and a gross of hanks of red tape ; the debater b y the last edition of Joe Miller ; and so on .

Ihere is one thing I should like to know , and that is , who can have penned this p lacard , where he was caught , and what strange chance threw him into the military service . He must be a curiosity . An employe of the Poor Law Board , inspector of spirit duties , mines , nuisances , & c , mig ht p lead that his j > eculiar avocations so took him from the world that he was sometimes at

fault as to its courtesies and usages ; but we generally find military men are gentlemen . Can any of your readers point out who it is , and satisf y the curiosity of , Q . The Corner .

[ We agree with Q . in the Corner , that we expect to find military men to be gentlemen . But how often are our expectations disappointed ?—ED . ]

Ar00502

HAPPINESS may grow at our fireside , but it is not to be picked up in our neighbour ' s garden .

Architecture In France.*

ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE . *

MEDIEVAL TO EEHAISSAffCE . A history of architecture in France is no light matter to give to this audience . Its leading features , and very much of its details , have been already most admirably set forth by such writers as Petit , Freeman , Fergusson , Scott , and others of our own country ;

and by De Caumont , Viollet-le-Duc , Verneilh , and other French authors ; and there are few , perhaps , of my audience who do not well know not only those works , but the examples themselves , from personal study in France . Much , therefore , that one would ordinarily dwell

upon would be a mere waste of time here , and I trust , therefore , that I shall be excused in speaking to a greater extent than I usually do of these particulars , which have struck me the most forcibly in my own French studies . Nowto begin withI must ask you to call to

, , mind the well-kuown fact that France never did , from the earliest to the latest of the Medieval times , exist as an architectural whole . We find great local peculiarities in England , between even the different counties . Extend the studies to the sister kingdoms of Ireland and Scotlandand the peculiarities are

, seen still more strongly . But Mediaeval France was broken up into various schools of art in a much more determined way . It was never , except in a few rare instances , one kingdom at all , politically , —not subject to one ruler ,- —not obeying the same laws . Clovis found at his accession that his southern

boundary was the Loire . He passed that , and pushed his confines on to the Garonne , and even beyond . Burgundy was added by his son . Charles Martel did nearly the same ; so did Pepin ; and so , after him , did the still more renowned Charlemagne , who ruled at his death what no French ruler , except Napoleon , ever did before or since , all France , with a great part

of Italy , Spain , and Germany . But after these great monarchs , France was dismenbered by their several sons ; Italy , Spain , and Germany were eventually lost ; and Mediaeval France , such as her kings ruled in the twelfth century , really comprised only what wasleffeof the kingdom whenBrittany , Normandy , Burgundy , and all else to the east of the Rhone and south of the Loire were cut off .

And we must remember that this was not merely so in name : that these provinces , owning the French king as their feudal chief , were not really his vassals . These provinces were , de facto , distinct kingdoms , allied with their feudal chief when it suited their purpose , and allied equally often , for the same reason , with his enemies ; and the counts of Brittany ,

Normandy , Burgundy , and Aquitaine , warring as often against the king as for him , and thus keeping up the national feeling of their several provinces in opposition to a united France , drew strongly a line of boundary to each for art as well as for war . It was not till Philip Augustus and St . Louis

( 1226—1243 ) , at the beginning of the thirteenth century , that the King of France was really the ruler of the greater part of it , as we now know it ; and even after them France had to go through the fiery ordeal of our Edward and Henry , and saw Brittany , Normandy , Burgundy , and Guienne still and again