10 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 A letter of 1764 to Sir Horace Mann fromThe Letters of HoraceWalpole, Volume II, T Fisher Unwin (1890) My journey to Paris is fixed for some time in February, where I hear I may expect to find Madame de Boufflers, Princess of Conti. Her husband is just dead; and you know the House of Bourbon have an alacrity at marrying their old mistresses. She was here last year, being extremely infected with the Anglomanie, though I believe pretty well cured by her journey. She is past forty, and does not appear ever to have been handsome, but is one of the most agreeable and sensible women I ever saw; yet I must tell you a trait of her that will not prove my assertion. Lady Holland asked her how she liked Strawberry Hill? She owned that she did not approve of it, and that it was not digne de la solidité Angloise. It made me laugh for a quarter of an hour. They allot us a character we have not, and then draw consequences from that idea, which would be absurd, even if the idea were just. One must not build a Gothic house because the nation is solide. Perhaps, as everything now in France must be à la Grecque, she would have liked a hovel if it pretended to be built after Epictetus’s – but Heaven forbid that I should be taken for a philosopher! Is it not amazing that the most sensible people in France can never help being domineered by sounds and general ideas? Now everybody must be a géomètre, now a philosophe, and the moment they are either, they are to take up a character and advertise it: as if one could not study geometry for one’s amusement or for its utility, but one must be a geometrician at table, or at a visit! So the moment it is settled at Paris that the English are solid, every Englishman must be wise, and, if he has a good understanding, he must not be allowed to play the fool. As I happen to like both sense and nonsense, and the latter better than what generally passes for the former, I shall disclaim, even at Paris, the profondeur, for which they admire us. a table of 27 examples of timber testing carried out between 1825 and 1885, and an important exposition of timber roof-structure and bridge types that some readers may encounter. Bill concludes that throughout the 19th century British military engineers spent considerable time and effort mastering timber. Their efforts were not merely for their own self-interest, but intended to advance science and engineering. From testing, to its application on roofs and bridges, military engineers facilitated the transfer of timber technology. The author notes that, while many officers made valuable contributions, the efforts of Sir William Denison and Frank Fowke stand above all others, and their legacy has had a lasting influence. None of the timber bridges has survived, but collectively military engineers have left us with an architectural legacy in the form of numerous roof structures, some still extant in the UK. For those interested in the construction of tile-vaulting, four authors from Spanish universities explain how these remarkable structures were quickly built in the middle of the 18th century. The motivation of the article stems from a desire to understand a construction technique that adjusts to the needs of a unitary architectural space with data about it obtained using terrestrial laserscanning techniques. From this, formal anomalies, not initially visible, were detected between the construction elements. Also of note are a paper regarding Antoni Gaudi as the first architect in history to use hyperbolic paraboloid vaults in his experiment buildings; a history of the technological development of tubular steel scaffolding and its connection pieces in inter-war Italy (well-illustrated); and an article on how French plasterers executed a series of discursive strategies to differentiate themselves as a distinct group of workers (based on a treatise published in 1837) and some of the features that were typically attributed to the trade. Bob Kindred MBE Horace Walpole: ‘It made me laugh.’
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=