to make. Kent was a painter as well as an architect, though as the former very inferior to the latter; and to these accomplishmen's must be added those of a gardener, for he was the father of modern picturesque gardening. Kent's greatest, and, out of many, also his best work, was Holkham, in Norfolk, for the Earl of Leicester. The designs were pub. lished in 1761, by Matthew Brettingham, who had been engaged on the building, apparently as resident architect, as explained in the edition of 1773. The noble hall of this building, terminated by a vast flight of steps, produces an effect unequalled by any. thing similar to it in England. During, and, indeed, previous to, Kent's coming so much into employment, a great passion seems to have existed with the architects for ill-shaped, and, perhaps, almost grotesque, urns and globes, on every part where there was a restingplace for them. Kent not unfrequently disfigured his works in this way, but more especially so at the beginning of his career. The pile of building in Margaret Street (part of which has been removed for additions to the new parliament houses), now containing the law courts, a house at Esher for Mr. Pelham, the Horse Guards, and other buildings, which it is needless here to particularise, were erected under the designs of Kent, upon whom unbounded liberality and patronage were bestowed by Lord Burlington during the life of this artist, which terminated in 1748.

512. About 1733 appeared, we believe, the last of the stone churches with steeples, which the practice of Wren had made common in this country; this was the church of St. Giles's in the Fields, erected by Henry Flitcroft. The interior is decorated with Ionic columns resting on stone piers. The exterior has a rusticated basement, the windows of the galleries have semicircular heads, and the whole is surmounted by a modillion cornice. The steeple is 165 feet high, consisting of a square tower, the upper part decorated with Doric pilasters; above, it is formed into an octagon on the plan, the sides being ornamented with three quarter Ionic columns supporting a balustrade and vases. Above this rises an octangular spire. Besides this, Flitcroft erected the church of St. Olave, Southwark, and the almost entire rebuilding of Woburn Abbey was from the designs and superintendence of that master, who died in 1769.

513. During the reign under our consideration, the city of Bath may be said to have almost arisen from the designs of Wood, who built Prior Park for Mr. Allen, the friend of l'ope, and Buckland was erected by him for Sir John Throckmorton. Wood died in 1754, To him and to his scholars Bath is indebted for the designs of Queen Square, the Parades, the Circus, the Crescent, the New Assembly Room, &c. The buildings of this city possess various degrees of merit, but nothing so extraordinary as to call for more than the mere notice of them. We are by no means, for instance, disposed to agree with Mitford, who reckons the crescent of Bath among "the finest modern buildings at this day existing in

the world!"

SECT. X.
GEORGE III.

514. Though the works of the architects about to follow, belong partially to the preceding reign, they are only properly to be noticed under that of George III. Without a lengthened account of them, we commence with the mention of the name of Carr of York, who was much employed in the northern counties, where he built several noble residences, particularly that for Mr. Lascelles, afterwards Lord Harewood, and a mausoleum in Yorkshire for the late Marquis of Rockingham. Paine was engaged at Worksop Manor, Wardour Castle, and Thorndon; and Hiorne, whose county sessions-house and prison at Warwick exhibit considerable genius, was a promising artist, prematurely cut off. His talent was not confined to the Italian style, as may be learnt from reference to the church at Tetbury in Gloucestershire, and a triangular tower in the Duke of Norfolk's park at Arundel.

515. At an early part of the reign of George III., architecture was cultivated and practised here with great success by Robert Taylor, afterwards knighted. His best compositions were designed with a breadth and intimate knowledge of the art, that prove him to have been abundantly acquainted with its principles. That he was not always successful, the wings of the Bank, now removed, were a proof. Of his works sufficient would remain to corroborate our opinion, if only what is now the Pelican Office in Lombard Street existed. We believe it was originally built for Sir Charles Asgill, and ruined by the directors of the Pelican when they took to the place. There are, however, also to attest the ability of Sir Robert Taylor, Sir Charles Asgill's villa at Richmond, and his own house in Spring Gardens. After his visit to Italy he commenced his practice in sculpture, in which branch of the arts he has left monuments in Westminster Abbey and elsewhere; but he afterwards devoted himself to architecture alone. Among his works were a dwelling house for Sir P. Taylor,

Q

near Portsaown Hill, a house in Piccadilly for the Duke of Grafton, a mansion in Herts for Lord Howe; Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn; Ely House, Dover Street, a very clever composition; Sir John Boyd's at Danson, near Shooter's Hill; the beautiful bridge at Henley on Thames, and Lord Grimstone's at Gorhambury. He had for some time a seat at the Board of Works, was surveyor to the Admiralty, the Bank, and other public bodies. His reputation was unbounded, and met with reward from the public. Sir Robert Taylor died in 1788 at the age of seventy-four.

516. Cotemporary with the last-named artist, was one to whom the nation is indebted for first bringing it to an intimate acquaintance with the works of Greece, to which he first led the way. The reader will, of course, anticipate us in the name of James Stuart, who began his career as a painter. After some time passed in Greece, he, in conjunction with Nicholas Revett, about the year 1762, published the well-known Antiquities of Athens, from which he acquired the soubriquet of Athenian. The public taste was purified by a corrected knowledge of the buildings of Greece, especially in respect of the form, composition, and arrangement of ornament; but we doubt whether mischief was not for a time induced by it, from the absurd attempt, afterwards, to adapt, without discrimination, the pure Greek porticoes of the temples of Greece to public and private buildings in this country, often with buildings with which they have no more natural relation than the interior arrangement of a church has with that of a theatre. The architects of our own time seem, however, at last to be aware of the impossibility of applying with success the forms of Grecian temples to English habitations; and a better system has been returned to, that of applying to every object a character suitable to the purposes of its destination. We consider Stuart's best work the house, in St. James's Square, which he built for Lord Anson. Among other works, he executed Belvedere, in Kent, for Lord Eardley; a house for Mrs. Montague, in Portman Square; the chapel and infirmary of Greenwich Hospital; and some parts of the interior of Lord Spencer's house, in St. James's Place. Stuart died in 1788, at the age of seventy-five. His collaborateur, Revett, shared with him a portion of the patronage of the public. He survived him till 1804, when he died at the advanced age of eighty-two years. He was employed on the eastern and western porticoes of Lord De Spencer's house at West Wycombe, and on some temples. For Sir Lionel Hyde he built the church of Ayot St. Lawrence, Herts, the front whereto is a Doric portico crowned with a low Grecian pediment, and on each side an Ionic colonnade connects the centre with an elegant cenotaph. He also built a portico to the eastern front of Standlinch, in Wiltshire, for Mr. Dawkins.

517. The chasteness and purity which the two last-named architects had, with some success, endeavoured to introduce into the buildings of England, and in which their zeal had enlisted many artists, had to contend against the opposite and vicious taste of Robert Adam, a fashionable architect, whose eye had been ruined by the corruptions of the worst period of Roman art. It can be scarcely believed, the ornaments of Diocletian's palace at Spalatro should have loaded our dwellings contemporaneously with the use among the more refined few of the exquisite exemplars of Greece, and even of Rome, in its better days. Yet such is the fact; the depraved compositions of Adam were not only tolerated, but had their admirers. It is not to be supposed that the works of a man who was content to draw his supplies from so vitiated a source will here require a lengthened notice. Yet had he his happy moments; and that we may do him strict justice, we not only mention, but

present to the reader, in figs. 221. and 222., the ground plan and elevation of Kedlestone, in Derbyshire, which he erected for Lord Scarsdale. The detail of this is, indeed, not exactly what it ought to have been; but the whole is magnificently conceived, and worthy of any master. Adam died at the age of ninety-four, in 1792; and, besides the Adelphi, in the Strand, which he erected on speculation, he was engaged at Luton Park, in Bedfordshire, for the Earl of Bute; at Caenwood, near Hampstead, for Lord Mansfield; at Shelburne House, in Berkeley Square, now Lord Lansdowne's, well planned, but ill designed. a meagre affair; the disgraceful gateway at Sion, near Brentford; and on part of the Register Office at Edinburgh. None, however, would now do credit to a mere tyro in the art except the first named.

518. Previous to the accession of George III. it had been considered by his tutors necessary to complete his education by the study requisite to give him some acquaintance with the art. We venerate the memory of that monarch as an honest good man, but are compelled to say that the experiment of inoculating him with a taste for it was unsuccessful, for during his reign all the bizareries introduced by Adam received no check, and seeing that Adam and Bute were both from the north, we are rather surprised that his education was not in this respect committed to the former instead of Sir William Chambers, whom, as one of the first architects of the day, it is incumbent upon us now to introduce. We believe that whatever was done to forward the arts, owes a large portion of its effect to that celebrated man; and it is probable, with the worthy motives that actuated the monarch, and the direction of his taste by that individual, much more would have been accomplished, but for the heavy and disastrous wars which occurred during his reign, and the load of debt with which it became burthened. The works of Chambers are found in almost every part of England, and even extended to Ireland; but we intend here chiefly to restrict ourselves to a short account of Somerset House, his largest work, in which, though there be many faults, so well did he understand his art, that it is a matter of no ordinary difficuity, and indeed requires hypercriticisin, to find anything offensive to good taste in the

detail.

519. This work was commenced in 1776, and stands on an area of 500 ft. in depth, and 800 ft. in width. The general interior distribution consists of a quadrangular court, 343 ft. in length, and 210 ft. in width, with a street or wide way running from north to south, on its eastern and western sides. The general termination towards the river is a terrace, 50 ft. wide, whose level is 50 ft. above that of the river, and this occupies the whole length of the façade in that direction. The front towards the Strand is only 135 ft. long. It is composed with a rustic basement, supporting ten Corinthian columns on pedestals, crowned by an attic. extending over the three central intercolumniations, flanked by a balustrade on each side. The order embraces two stories. Nine large arches are assigned to the basement, whereof the three central ones are open for the purpose of affording an entrance to the great court. On each side of them, these arches are occupied by windows of the Doric order, decorated with pilasters, entablatures and pediments. The key stones are carved in alto-relievo, with nine colossal masks, representing the occan, and the eight principal rivers of Great Britain. The three open arches of entrance before mentioned lead to a vestibule, which connects the Strand with the large quadrangular court, and serves also as the access to those parts of the building, till lately occupied by the Royal Academy, (1836). and on the eastern side (lately to the Royal Society and) to the Society of Antiquaries, the entrances thereto are within the vestibule. This is decorated with columns of the Doric order, whose entablature supports a vaulted ceiling. We insert a reduced woodcut (fig. 223) of Malton's view of this "magnificent Doric arcade leading to the great court, which conveys to the spectator a more ample idea than words can possibly furnish, of this piece of grand and picturesque scenery." The front of this pile of

building towards the quadrangle, is 200 ft. in extent, being much more than the length of that towards the Strand; the style, however, of its decoration is correspondent with it, the principal variation being in the use of pilasters instead of columns, and in the doors and windows. The front next the Thames is ornamented in a similar manner to that already described. It was originally intended that the extent of the terrace should have bee 1,100 ft. This last is supported by a lofty arcade, decorated towards the ends with coupled Tuscan columns, whose cornice is continued along the whole terrace. The edifice was at the time the subject of much severe criticism, and particularly from the pen of a silly engraver of the name of Williams, under the name of Antony l'asquin; but the censures be passed on it, the author being as innocent of the slightest knowledge of the art as most of the writing architectural critics of the present day, were without foundation, and have lorg since been forgotten. At the time, however, they received a judicious reply from the pen

of the late Mr. John B. Papworth, which deservedly found a place in our edition of the work by Sir W. Chambers, yet to be noticed.

520. Malton, in his London and Westminster, fol. 1792-7, gives several carefully drawn views of this noble edifice, the design of which he describes as being at that time (1796), far from complete, and little progress has been made in the building since the commencement of the present war; the exigencies of government having diverted to other uses the sum of 25,000l. which for several years had been annually voted for its continuance." Since that period the river

frontage has been completed at the east end, by the additions in 1831, under Sir R. Smirke, for King's College while new offices were skilfully added on the western side, during the years 1852-56, by James Pennethorne.

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521. In the year 1759, Sir W. Chambers published a Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture, in folio; a second edition appeared in 1768; and a t id, with some additional plates, in 179!. Two others have since been published, in 1825. This work, as far as it goes, still continues to be a sort of text-book for the student; and much of it has been adopted for that portion of this volume. entitled Practice of Architecture" Chambers held the office of surveyor-general in the Board of Works, and to him much is owing for the assistance he rendered in establishing the Royal Academy of Arts, in 1768, to which institution Ie was treasurer. He died in 1796. He had many pupils, several of whom we shall rame.

522. Robert Mylne, the descendant of a race of master masons and architects in Scotland, designed Blackfriars Bridge, having been the successful competitor, a preference he obtained while yet unknown and abroad. It was built between the years 1760 and 1768, at an expense of 152,840l., a sum which was said to be somewhat less than his estimate. He was voted an annual salary of 3007. and a percentage on the money laid out; but to obtain his commission of 5 per cent. he had a long struggle with the city authorities. his claims not being allowed until 1776. This bridge was pulled down in 1865. At the time when the designs were under consideration, a long controversy arose on the questions of the taste exhibited, and safety in employing elliptic, in place of semicircular, arches, which had been up to that time used in England for bridges. He was surveyor to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, London, and is said to have placed in that building, over the entrance to the

choir, the memorial tablet with the celebrated inscription (par. 482) to the memory of Wren, lately removed. He was appointed, in 1762, engineer to the New River Company; and dying in 1811, was buried in the crypt of the cathedral, near to the grave of Sir C. Wren.

523. George Dance, being nominated, in 1733. by the corporation of the city of London, to the office of clerk of the City Works, and appointed thereto in December 1735, designed St. Luke's Church, Old-Street; St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, a bold example of the Doric order; and the Mansion House, or official residence of the Lord Mayor for the time being, during the years 1739-53, at a cost of about 42,639. This edifice has received many alterations, including the removal of the lofty attics in front and rear, which has tended much to deprive the structure of a large share of dignity. Its confined and low situation gives the building an appearance of heaviness, it would be free from this, if placed on an elevated spot, or in an area proportionate to its magnitude. It is substantially built of Portland stone, the material used in most of the erections of this period. The finely designed sculpture in the pediment, above the six columns of the Corinthian order, was well executed by Mr., afterwards Sir Robert, Taylor. Many other buildings in and about the eity are attributed to Dance, who died in 1768, and was succeeded in office by his sou George Dance, another of the first four architect members of the Royal Academy. H designed Newgate prison, with the Sessions House, &c. It was completed in 1778, at a cost of upwards of 130,000Z.; besides being subsequently repaired under his directions,

after the riots of 1780, when it suffered greatly from fire. This edifice (fig. 224.) has become a chief example of the theory of the observation to "apply to every object a character suitable to the purposes of its destination" (page 224.). The walls, which are constructed of Portland stone, without apertures, or any other ornaments than rough rustic work and niches, are 50 ft. in height. The principal front is 300 ft. in length. Dance also designed St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics, Old Street, built in the years 1782-1784, at a cost of about 40,000l. It is of brick, with a few plain stone dressings, three stories in height; the spaces between the centre and ends are formed into long galleries-for the females on the western side, for the males on the eastern. The simple grandeur of the design of the façade, the length of which is 493 ft., produces very agreeable effect of propriety upon the mind. He rearranged the south front of Guildhall in a style of architecture neither Gothic nor Grecian, the capabilities of which his pupil, John, afterwards Sir John, Soane. largely availed himself in after life. He also designed the elegant council chamber attached; together with. many country residences for the wealthy citizens and others; and dying in 1825, was buried in the crypt of St. Paul's. Upon the resignation by him of his city appointment in 1816, he was succeeded therein by his other pupil, William Mountague.

524. Henry Holland, in 1763, designed Claremont House, near Esher, for Lord Clive; formed, 1788-90, Carlton House into a palace for the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV.; designed, in 1791, Drury Lane Theatre; the façade of the East India House, Leadenhall Street; the original Pavilion at Brighton, about 1800; improvements at Woburn Abbey for the Duke of Bedford; and 1785, the vestibule, with its charming portico in the Grecian style, to Melbourne, now Dover House, Whitehall, for the Duke of York. The fig. 225 is from Malton's work already mentioned, and is given not only for the intrinsic merit of the design, but because little else now remains, with Claremont, to demonstrate the talents of this fashionable architect of his day. He was the chief introducer of the so-called Greco-Roman style. Holland died in 1806.

525. With these architects should be mentioned Isaac Ware, "of His Majesty's Board of Works," who published, besides other werks, a Complete Body of Architecture, folio, 1756. This volume, relating to Italian design only, contains much sound information, and is more complete than Sir W. Chambers's publication, but it is not treated so artistically. He designed Chesterfield House, May Fair. Willey Reveley, a pupil of Chambers, followed the steps of Stuart, and visited Athens and the Levant. He was the editor of the third volume of the Antiquities of Athens, and died prematurely in 1799. He built the new church at Southampton, and offered some beautiful designs for the new baths at Bath, which, however, were not adopted. Joseph Bonomi, a native of Rome, an associate of the Royal Academy, amongst many large structures composed chiefly in the Grecian style, designed the gallery at Townley Hall, Lancashire, for the collection now in the British Museum; 1790.