Architecture And Archæology.

ARCHITECTURE AND ARCH ? OLOGY .

LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL . The works at Lichfield Cathedral are sufficient ]} " - advanced to enable us to judge of the lovely effect which its interior presented before time and the Puritan soldiers marred it . For upwards ot two years , masons have been cmplyed there , under the direction of Mr . George Gilbert Scott , restoring the choir to its pristine beauty . The ruined capitals , the tallcrumbled , shattered columnsthe elaborate canopies ,

, , and the multilatcd effigies once more sparkle in perfect restoration . The walls and plain surfaces have been scraped down , ancl the destroyed portions of foliage and mouldings have been cut out and replaced by plugs of stone subsequently carved as near as possible to the form of tho original ancl to match the adjoining portions . The choir consists of eight bays , extending from the central spire to

the Lady Chapel , ft- has a north and side aisle . Three of tho westernmost arches on tho south side were formerly blocked up . These obstructions have now been taken away , and the organ lias been removed to , or rather a space has been prepared for it in the south transept aisle , where the beautiful monument of Bishop Ryder , one of Chantrcy ' s latest works , formerly stood . This is placed temporarily

in the south transept . It will lie removed , wc believe , into the aisle ofthe north transept as soon as tiie restoration of that portion is completed . The four piers on each side ofthe westernmost end ot the choir are different from and richer than tho others . Canopied statues and brackets project from the face of them . These , were altogether destroyed , and it was only from trifling fragments that Mr . Scott , ivas

able to replace them . Tho dwarf columns supporting the statues are themselves carried by eight scmi-angcls , onehalf of which arc singing , the other half playing somo instrument . The capitals of tho columns are very rich in varied leafage . The statues are designed medievally , anil yet beautifully . The awkward drawing and jiainful contortions of many of the old Gothic sculptures aro dispensed with : the lines of tho drapery arc easy and graceful , and harmonise well with the freely designed foliage near them .

Thoy are executed m red Staffordshire stone , like the other parts of the building . They represent on one side St . Philip , St . Jude , St . James , and St . Christopher ; on tho other , St . Paul , St . Peter , the Virgin , and , if wo recollect rightly , Mary Magdalen . Similar canopies and effig ies occurred in the Lady chapel : they were destroyed the same time as the others , and they have not boon hitherto replaced . The delicate shrine at tho eastern cud remains

likewise untouched . Tho chapter-house and the gallery loading to it have boon scraped down , and tho carving shows itself as beautiful as ever . The transepts are likewise nearly completed . Tho roof has heen entirely restored , and man } ' experiments appear to have been made for colouring it . A discovery of some red , white and blue stripes ou one of the

ribs suggested the idea that ii ivas all thus tinted , and a portion ivas restored to judge of its effects . It was , as might have been expected , unsatisfactory . A great number of the bosses still bear more or less of gilding and paintpractical illustration . ' , of different degrees of colour ; but they arc , one and all , mistakes . The stono has itself a lovely warm and varied tini ' , and if , instead of smearing it

with colour , the authorities were to devote the same amount of money to filling the choir windows with stained glass , they would better dispose of it . 'i'ho cold grey light of the present windows wants subduing , and if this were done , thoy would find there ivas no necci to colour the vaulting and walls . Iu fact-, if they did so , the effect ofthe ornament

would be altered entirely by the shifting coloured li ght from the stained glass . In a few months the fittings how in the nave will be leinpornriiy placed in the choir , and the whole ofthe nave will be scraped down and restored . The temporary fittings will then be moved back into it until the carved oak permanent fittings are completed in the choir . In aboutanother year or fifteen months , wc may hope to

, sco the whole of the cathedral re-opened , — not peri ' octiy rcstored , but as nearly so t . , - . the funds will allow . "Whilst making an excavation a week or two ago for a hoc-air if ne in ihe choir , a curious discovery was made , — no les .: ; than VnQ foundations of a former edifice . The walls

still remain exposed for tho examination of archceologists . They consist in the first jilaco of a chamber with massive walls rectangular at the western end , and semicircular at the eastern end . Its exterior boundary on the north and south is tho inner lino of the present cathedral walls , and it extends between GO and 70 feet eastwards from the central tower . A smaller rectangular chamber , about 30 feet long

by 20 feet wide , proceeds from the apsidal end . Still further eastwards , and in the centre of this latter chamber , there are two bases of columns . Whether these chambers formed together the original cathedral is a question . We are inclined to doubt it . An examination of the remains leads ns to believe that the first-mentioned building was in itself complete . We can scarcely hazard an opinion about the

smaller one . It may have boon a subsequent addition , or it may have been a still earlier building , unconnected with that now seen beside it . The westernmost chamber , i . e ., that with the apsidal end , no doubt immediately preceded the present cathedral , its external walls defining the limits of the existing choir . To enable our readers to form their own opinion on this matter , wc will give a short summary of what is known respecting Lichfield Cathedral . Osivy , King of Mercia , ancl his son-in-law , Pida , are generally said to have founded Lichfield , and Diuma , in 605 , ivas appointed to

the bishopric . Chesterfield , who wrote tho "Chronicle of the Church of Lichfield" in 1350 , assorts that the Mercian church was founded and a cathedral built before Diuma ' s time , but Britton tells us his assertion is not much credited , alleging against it the fact that Ccadda ' s ( the fifth bishop ) remains were removed to the church of St . Peter , and tho statement of Warton that tho prelates before Ceadda ( 670 ) hacl no cathedral . The church to which this bishop ' s

remains were removed may be regarded as the original cathedral , and was finished and consecrated by Hcdda in A . D . 700 . It continued to be the cathedral church till after the Norman Conquest . Thence until the time of Roger do Clinton ( 1128 ) little or nothing is known of tho cathedral ' s history ; but at that period , or soon after , the present church was begun , and nearly the whole of it was completed by the

end of tho thirteenth century . Tho subsequent history may be read in its architectural features . It was mutilated at the period ofthe Reformation , repaired in 1661-69 , and subsequently by James Wyatt , in 1705 ; but its architectural merits , and its rich details , have not been for ages so ivell displayed as they arc now , and arc likely still more to be , under the care of Mr . Scott . We arc inclined to the belief that the portion ofthe foundations with the apsidal eastern end is the church consecrated , as above stated , by Hedda , in 700 . ¦ -

GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL INTELLIGENCE . The appearance of the south-side of Tipper Bryanstone Street , London , and tho corner where it joins the Edgcware Road , have lately undergone a material change . The low mows in the former street have been removed , ancl a new synagogue , now nearly finished , occupies its place ; the small shops at the corner of Edgcivare Road havo been

demolished , and . on their site lofty ancl imposing shops havo been built . The synagogue is built Of brick , with occasional red brick bands and Bath freestone . Tho entrance is by an open loggia of three arches . Tin ' s leads into a vestibule twenty-three feet wide , by ten feet six inches deep . Ri ght ancl left arc staircases conducting to the ladies' gallery , and corridors leading to lavatories & c . ancl to the end entrances

, , of the synagogue . The synagogue is a rectangular a ] iartment , somo forty feet by twenty feet , running from east to west , parallel ivith the front . Tho doorways are in the side wall ; tho principal one is in the centre , " facing the main entrance to the building . The whole frontage of the buildingis seventy-four foot , upwards of twenty feet of which is occupied by tho minister ' s house at the cast-end of the

frontage . The minister ' s house has a depth of about thirty feet ; the main building a- depth of sixty-four feet . It has two rooms on a floor , and is three stories high above the basement . On tho first floor of tho synagogue there is a retiring-room for ladies , and entrances to the gallery appropriated to them ; and a largo committee-room , with a sky-light over , which has a very objectionable external appearance , and seriously injures tho f ront . It was , however , wc believe , a necessity , not for light , but for a part of