To The Editor Of The Time...
Sir,-I obscrve that the Temple Church, one of the very few round churcbes in this coun try, and said to have been built by the Knights Temolare, in imitation of the formv of the Holy Temple Ft JerusalePn, if; undergoing some repairs, ir preparation 'for wich a part of the old buildings attached to it, of beautiful Gathicarchitec- ture, has been pulle down with avery bold hand. tustthe ar- chitect has knowledge and taste enough to.have formed some ad- visable plan of improvement, othernise the Temple Chatch wil be added to the number of those specimens of our ancient Engish architecture, which bear the marks of modern Vandalimr. I do net knew who the gendeman is, and I sm far fromu having any wish to inspire a doubt of his abilities; but perhaps It may be pernitted to offer a caution against the introduction of any bastard arcblte- ture, which can be neitber designxted as Saxon, or ancient EngliSh The antiquary has now arn opportunity of eceing a beautifrl speci. men of the Saxon, asidst the ruins of the buildings just pulled down, on the outside of' this church: it is as fresh and white asif it were the work of yesterday, having been preserved for mny centu- ries from the air and smoke by the Gothic arches, which were erected against this Saxon pillar ann capital in after times. And, by the way, Sir, does not this specimen afford a hint of the style in whics the intended repairs should be made ? Does it nLet ahow that the Saxon-or lNormaan-( which are used, improperly, as synonymous terr,s) would be more correct than what is called Gothic ? If' we could doubt thia, the doubt ustul be removed by one viSit to the beautifitl Norman porch of this Temple Church, the adatiration of all antiquares; and a model, if they w ould but copy from it, for some of our exncrimental builders (soi.diwa nt archiEects) of the nresent dn.% r ,,An R ATTICUS. Oct. i. r ,. . vOuiuyou , ni r. esaiter, trouble yourself to look at the new St. Paul's uchool that is building, and inform rme whether those " a la Grec" ornaineits at the top of the cupola are in correct aste ? To mne they appear out of all order, and worse, if pessible, than those representations of suns which line the top of St. Psncras church, and which appe2r more fit'for a Persian or a Mexican temple than a church said to be built after a Grecian mnodel. I need scarcely add that nothing can be more distinet than architecture a la Gre, ana Grecian architecture: they are as different as a chestnut horse atnd a horse chestnut: or as far Temoved from each other, as the florid Gothic ofthe tinme of Henry VI., and the fantastictnixttare of what. we call the Elizabethan architecture, which introduced the GreciaTm orders, with some curious additions of John of Padua and Holbein, by way of supplement to the Gothic. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.