row. In this our architects followed the practice of the Lombards, though afterwards too closely that of the Italians, not considering the difference of our climate. All imitation should be guided by the rules of sound judgment; it is by this persons of genius follow the best examples, otherwise they would be no better than mimics, a petty kind of imitators. That which may be proper, as I have so often observed, in Italy, would be very improper in England, and the above practice is an instance of it. It is true, that our windows were too numerous and too large before, because they weakened the fabric that was built of brick, though it did not those that were of wood but it was possible to err on the opposite side, and the improver did so; not that he failed to avoid that error and give the edifice more strength, but he made a great mistake by shutting out so much light. In Italy it may be proper to keep out the sun in a greater degree than here, because in that country the air is clearer, not being so humid, and with fewer clouds; the natural light is therefore much greater. The English air is often thick from the condensed vapours in the atmosphere, and sunshine here is less constant. This should have been considered with the improvement, for the distribution of light is a thing very essential in a building, though some of our young architects never take it into their consideration, but act without any rule whatever in this respect.+

Moderation is the mode of pleasing generally, and that they had not found; we are now however in general improved in this part, but there are yet some who follow the old method introduced by the first improver too strictly. Respect being had to the number and size of windows in houses of ordinary magnitude, we are now to caution the architect, that when he is about to build on a large scale, he is to consider in his first view the great strength of the building, as well as increasing his windows, not only in size but in number. A great edifice should have all its parts equal, or some parts will look small in comparison with the others. The windows and doors are all to come within this description, and the increase in their numbers is also to be followed by that of an increase of their dimensions. This is the general rule, but here again comes in the former as the groundwork of all; what should be the proportion of them to the size of the building? what is the quantity of light required for each room? This is exceedingly necessary to be known, and may be found under the article 'Windows' in the succeeding section.

In concluding this article, we must again caution the young architect never to place his windows too near the corners or angles of the house, nor to make any door-opening there. This will probably thrust out the wall, or at least weaken that part upon the strength of which the firmness of the whole house depends.

* In the reign of James I. the windows became contracted, though the bay- or conversational-window was still adopted.

-(B.)

+ In houses of the common size for families of moderate income, the old practice was to have four great windows, and a slip or side light on each side in the Venetian form, parted by brick-work; the door was in the middle of the front with a small window over. In reforming this, the architects afterwards adopted three separate windows, and this was more consistent; but at the same time the architect, forgetting the laws of proportion between the component parts and the whole mass, where he had reduced them to a moderate number and size, he made them too small, the rooms were dark; and the houses on the exterior, though they looked different indeed from those of the former period, yet were equally unpleasant. The first had resembled a lantern, the brick-work between serving as it were for the ribs to hold the glass together; the other resembled a prison, where the windows were only made to let light into the separate dungeons: the one was a house of glass, the other a mass of perforated brick.—(B.)

DISSERTATION XXXVIII.

ON THE VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND PROPORTIONS OF WINDOWS.

"Two circumstances must necessarily give all southern continental towns a gloomy appearance: in the first place, the streets are generally narrow; and in the second, the windows are seldom glazed, but formed of trellis-work. These deformities, for such they are in our eyes, are the natural consequences of the climate, and prevailed in ancient as well as in modern Greece; even in Rome itself, new modelled and improved by Augustus, the streets were narrow, and remained so till the city was rebuilt by Nero after the conflagration.”—Jac. Annal. xv. 43.

distribution of aper

Having described the various kinds and patterns of doors, and the proper tures consonant to the required strength of the building, with their number and places according to the proportion of the edifice, we are now naturally led to that of the windows. Those are a very important part in a dwelling-house both in respect to light, to their proportions and appearances. They are of various forms and characters, therefore, in order that they may be understood, we shall fully describe all the different kinds and forms as adapted to different dwelling-houses, and after this lay down a rule and calculation to enable the young architect how to find what light is at all times necessary for an apartment.

The Romans made their windows in height of an oblong form, which they regulated according to the height of the rooms; and where it would admit of it on the principal floor, they were made twice the height of the breadth; but twice and one-sixth may be allowed in certain cases, without any violence being observed in the true proportions. In bed-rooms, where the windows were kept higher from the floor and nearer the ceiling, here, instead of twice the breadth for the height in the second floor, they took the diagonal line of the window for the height, which is one and a half the breadth. This is what the builder expresses by the name of a diagonal window: the attic windows above the cornice, (this room being low,) the windows were made square. The first-floor windows generally consisted of twelve squares, the second of the same number but shorter, and the attics of nine, that is in middling-sized houses.*

The Venetians used large windows, in which they had two mullions, dividing the window into three, but unequal parts, as they made the centre sash three times the width of each side light.

* Sir Henry Shere, in his directions given to Lord Nottingham when building his mansion, (see page 138 of this work,) says, Let no light or openings be higher than three diameters, nor lower than one.

The windows in the houses of the ancients were so disposed as not only to admit light, but to ventilate the whole house, that it might not be unwholesome, and not receive more light than was necessary. They were placed high up, that the person might be sheltered from the wind, and receive the benefit of the latter without injury. They were to be large or small according to the exposure (there being then no glass in use among them) to the sun. Those of a southern aspect

were to be low and small, because they would receive the light air, and be impervious to the heat of the solar rays; but in winter dwellings they were to be open to the sun. All windows, however, which were made for the purpose of receiving light were to be placed high. (Albert, i. p. 20.) It is certain that windows were very rare, and long galleries only lit up by long slips, and that the few elevated windows to be discovered were closed with curtains and trellis-work of bronze suspended upon hinges, to open and shut at pleasure. (See Ruins of Herculaneum.) The chambers of Pompeii had no windows, but were lighted by the door, or rather a light over the door, the same opening under a piazza. This was also the formation of Apollonius's chamber at Meda. (Dr. Gell.) In the time of St. Paul, the houses at Macedonia consisted of at least three stories, and we should infer that the windows here were but little elevated from the floor; being informed in Acts, xx. 9, that while he was preaching, a young man who sat in one of the windows, having fallen asleep, fell down from the third-loft and was taken up dead. "Now," says an eastern traveller, "this intimates that the upper chamber in which they were assembled was on the third-story. It appears that the young man had seated himself in the window, and being overpowered with sleep, fell out of the window into the court below. It will be recollected that there were no windows of glass, whence we may perceive that the window here mentioned was a lattice of joinery or a door, which on this occasion was set open on account of the heat from the many lights and the number of persons in the room. It should be observed, that the windows of such places in general reach nearly to the floor, and differ considerably from our windows, but correspond well to what our own word 'window' denotes in its original signification, (window, windore, wind-door,) a door for the admission of wind or air."

The centre contained a pair of twelve-light sashes, and each pair of side-lights that of four. This window, in reality, is nothing more than a common sash in the centre, and one-third of a sash between each mullion. The real Venetian window had a semicircular head in the middle, with semicircular and radial bars in the top; which window is most noble, ornamental, and cheerful, and admits of a peculiar proportion. Its application is best for that of a library, but may be applied to a withdrawing- or dining-room when on the ground-floor; but it is improper when applied to upper stories.

The Palladian window, so called, is of Roman origin, and is formed in the shape of the Roman letter A, turned on its left side. It is divided by two mullions, like the Venetian, and is sometimes placed over the entrance-door in the story above; where the front consists of only two stories here it has a good effect.* It is also applicable to the wings of a dwelling-house, but it is more generally adopted in public buildings where the windows are required to be high above the persons within the room. Italian windows are formed by triplicate, or three windows together, parted by about nine-inch brickwork, the windows having circular heads. These are exceedingly picturesque in cottage villas, and may be adopted with happy effect in such buildings. The oriel- and baywindows, adopted in England during the Lancastrian and Tudor periods, are only applicable to buildings of that class, whose windows were formed by casements.+ Probably there has not been any improvement in building so decided as that which has now taken place in the way of windows, in point of cheerfulness, warmth, and cleanliness; the modern manner is infinitely better than the ancient, although the eye of an antiquary finds it difficult to acknowledge any mode to be so characteristic as the old-fashioned quarry.

French sashes, sometimes called French casements, are windows which open up the middle, and are hung on each side with hinges; on the ground- and first-floor they are generally divided by a transom-head at the height at which they open; the window opening up, the middle parts represent a crucifix. Those which have semicircular heads are the most handsome. In the bed-rooms, the windows not being so high as the others, a transom is not used. The above windows are very common in France even in the meanest cottage, but are more frequently seen in the châteaux. Glass being there much cheaper than in England, very large squares are generally used.§

The above are the general characters of all the sash-windows in use; but in determining the height of the frame, there may be an extreme height at which the sill may be raised from the floor, and the same excess downwards from the ceiling in that of the heads. The view from the windows within and without are both to be considered in the former, and the cornice of the room in that of the latter. It is a fault to have windows too high up from the floor in drawing-rooms, as

* A house with a window so situated may be seen on Hearn Hill, near Dulwich, built by the late Mr. Nash.

+ A fine specimen of a bay-window of the period of King Henry VII. still remains at Exeter, near the Globe Inn; it was built by Thomas Elyot, Esq., collector of the customs for the port of Exeter and Dartmouth. Its back front towards the Globe Inn is the admiration of every beholder.-(See Rev. G. Oliver's Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Devon.)

We mean sashes hung with weights and lines, which were introduced in the reign of Charles II.—(H.) When the French sashes are made to open inwards, and which is the most proper direction, the patent lifting-bar, made by Mr. Smith, of Whitcomb Street, near the Haymarket, London, should be used, being made to prevent all water from entering the room between the bottom rail of the sash and the sill of the sash-frame.-(Author.)

Nothing can be more inconvenient, and therefore out of place, than pointed windows (ecclesiastical features) in ordinary or domestic sitting-rooms. In the first place, there can be no corresponding shutters to that of the heads, consequently no security above the springing of the arch; and in the next place, the curtain draperies must, of necessity, be so deep as to obscure all the glass above that level, and deprive the apartment of its due share of light, unless, indeed, the windows be out of all proportion in size or number. Palpable as this error surely is to the most cursory observer, some modern builders very unaccountably persist in introducing these ecclesiastical objects into their dwelling-houses.-(Author.) In the sideslips to sashes we frequently see a false application. These were introduced at first where squares of glass; were larger than are generally used, consequently expensive; such is the mistaken notion of their first origin.-(B.)

the purpose of looking out cannot be obtained while sitting. It would be much more pleasing here that the company as they sat in their places should see objects out of the window without rising, whether it be garden, lawn, ornamental plantations, or distant hills. These windows may be brought lower than the others without transgressing the laws of architectural science. In France it is no uncommon thing to bring the windows in drawing-rooms down on the skirting, which has a sunk face; the whole skirting rising about fifteen inches from the floor. Some are of opinion, that the greatest propriety would be to bring the window just so far down that the command of the prospect should be within reach of the eye when sitting, though no lower; but they have certainly a nobler appearance when they come down to the skirting, just forming a step out on the balcony. Bed-room windows should be tolerably high up to prevent persons from being seen from the outside of the house, and kept near the ceiling for better ventilation, which is here so much required.*

In constructing the size of openings for our windows, as we have already observed, the climate and situation of the house are to be particularly attended to, for a small aperture may admit light enough where the light is itself strong and not obscured by local obstructions; that is, if the light comes direct but supposing this to be the case with light in the summer it may not be so in the winter. In England, the architect who should calculate nicely his proportion of light for a bright day in summer, would shut up the inhabitants more than half the year in dungeons. The houses during the dark ages were as dark as the affections of the inhabitants; but when the light of reason began to shine into their minds, they then increased the light of their dwellings. Casements formed of lead-lights prevailed at one period of time; at another, sash-bars of immense thickness of wood were constructed, but which thickness at last gave way, being now retrenched in a very happy manner. This mode of forming windows at first continued from a want of some known rules as guides among the domestic architects of that day. It will therefore be our business now to enter upon a calculation of what light is actually necessary for an apartment, in conformity with the Italian or more modern window, according to the magnitude of each room, by which all rooms may be illuminated more or less, according to their appropriate use, and at the same time preserve an external regularity.

For example, let the magnitude of a room be given, multiply the length and breadth of the room together, and that product multiply by the height, and the square-root of that sum will be the area or superficial contents in feet and inches the height required. Suppose the room to be forty feet long, thirty feet broad, and sixteen feet high; then 40 × 30 × 16=19200, which product is in feet the cubature sought, and the square-root of it, neglecting a small remainder, is one hundred and thirty-eight feet for the aggregate area of the apertures. One hundred and thirty-eight feet will make four windows of a handsome size and shape, adapted to the apartment in question; and if divided accordingly into four parts, thirty-four feet and a half will be the area of one of them. The area thus obtained when set out for a ground-floor, according to the customary rule, which allows rather more than two squares in height, each window may be about eight feet eight inches high by four feet broad.

* Sills of windows have been generally made from two feet six inches to three feet distant from the level of the floor, as at that height they formed a convenient parapet to lean upon; but the French fashion having been introduced of having the windows, at least in the principal drawing-rooms, down to the floor, window-sills are now, partly in imitation of it, made lower than formerly, and in ordinary dwellings are frequently not higher than two feet, and in the extreme not more than two feet six inches. The sills of all windows on the same floor should be on the same level.—(B.)

+ For example, in a long gallery one window at the end will be more efficient than two windows of the same size placed at the side. Light is also absorbed by dark and porous objects in a room, but reflected by smooth ones, the same as heat.-(A.)

By the same rule the dimensions of the apertures of windows for rooms of be determined.*

Again, suppose a room whose magnitude is the arithmetical numbers of five, four, and three, and is twenty feet long, sixteen broad, and twelve feet high; the cube or product of its length, breadth, and height multiplied together, three thousand eight hundred and forty, the square-root of which sum is sixty-two feet; if the height of the story is twelve feet, as before mentioned, divide that sixty-two feet into three windows, each will then contain twenty feet eight inches of superficial light; and those will be found to be three feet two inches and a half broad, and six feet five inches high, which are windows of two diameters. Let us now suppose another room on the same floor, whose height is twelve feet as before, and its proportion that of the cube; the product of that cube is one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight, and its root forty-one feet four inches nearly; divide that forty-one feet four inches into two parts for two windows, and each window will contain twenty feet eight inches of superficial light; those will therefore be two diameters in height, and the magnitude the same as the preceding room. For a further exemplification we will suppose, another room upon the same floor twelve feet high, whose proportion shall be the arithmetical of three, two, and one, that is, its height being twelve feet, the breadth will be twenty-four and length thirty-six feet; the product of these numbers multiplied together will be ten thousand three hundred and sixty-eight, and its root one hundred and one feet eight inches nearly; divide this room into five windows, each window will then have twenty feet four inches superficial light, and the magnitude will be nearly equal to the others; and if the proportion be six, four, and three, (with a waggon-headed ceiling over the room,) the light will be the same.†

If you extend the rule to larger rooms, the same results will be preserved, even if their height be continued through two stories, if the upper windows be made square, and have two tiers of windows. For this, let us suppose a particular room, with two tiers of windows in height, to be fifty feet long, forty feet wide, and thirty feet high, the arithmetical proportion of five, four, and three; the product of those numbers multiplied together will be sixty thousand, the square-root of which sum is two hundred and forty-five superficial feet; divide that sum for the tier of windows into three parts, or take one-third of it, and that makes the attic or square window eight feet eight inches superficial light; divide this into five windows, and they are four feet and a half inches square, and the five lower windows, consisting of one hundred and sixty-three feet four inches superficial light, being what remains out of the two hundred and forty-five feet, the root; each of these windows is four feet and a half inch, by eight feet one inch, or two diameters, which two hundred and fortyfive feet, the whole sum of the square-root of the room, will sufficiently illustrate the same. I have

* It will be proper to remind those who are partial to spacious and numerous windows, and who are not disposed to modify their choice by motives of economy, that as the aggregate area of the windows is enlarged, it becomes increasingly difficult in winter to keep apartments warm; the heat produced in them being so very speedily communicated through the glass to the atmosphere without. It is for this reason that in Russia they generally make their windows double, and as air is a bad conductor of heat, the stratum of it interposed between the two windows in the same frame, tends very materially to prevent the temperature of the room from being carried off. The cold season is not so severe in England or of such long continuance, as to have occasioned the introduction of this practice generally for front windows; but it might be advantageously acted upon here with respect to lantern lights, employed to light staircases and galleries, as such windows when only single, contribute greatly to the steady dissipation of the warmer air which ascends to the top of the house. (S.)

There is but one objection against this rule, or it would be universal for all kinds of proportioned rooms on the same floor, and that is, the square-root doth not always happen to be exact enough to bring them all alike, but as the variation will be so small, it may be made use of, and if the area exceeds something of the standard of the principal of rooms, that room may be converted to a use which requires more than standard light, and the necessities of families sometimes require it. But, however, the rule will serve for the purpose near enough for practice.—(A.)