OF PYRAMIDAL VAULTS.

The Spires of the Christian Churches are eitherpyramidal vaults (Fig. 2.), or convex pyramidal vaults(Fig. 15.) They are frequently of the latter charac-ter, though the eye of the ordinary draughtsman mayperceive, yet his mind cannot comprehend the pro-priety of this form; and in this case, as in moreimportant cases, the evidence of the senses is sacri-ficed to a defective judgment, and, as he cannot thinkcorrectly, he draws incorrectly. Emerson observes,“ All spires of churches, in the forms of cones orpyramids, are equally strong in all parts to resist thewind. But when the parts cohere not together, para-bolic conoids are equally strong throughout.” Thebeautiful spires of Northamptonshire , at and in theneighbourhood of Higham Ferrers, which invite thetraveller and direct his way to the villages they adorn,are convex pyramidal vaults. It is a melancholy re-flection, which succeeds a contemplation of ourvenerable but ruinous churches in all parts of thecountry, and of the chapels which elbow them ; thatthe religion, of which they are the temples, likethemselves may be falling into decay, and that thematerials of them may, like those of the temples ofGreece andRome, soonbe dedicated to an other service.To supply the dilapidation of our spires, may be substi-tuted the shafts of steam engines, and those who havethe erection of them will derive much knowledgefrom an examination of the structure of convex