PROCEEDII^GS or THE 



best examples of arcbitecture iu foreign lands. AVith tliis view, 

 aud intending, as lie says, to resume the practice of liis profession 

 on Ills return (an intention never carried out), lie passed about four 

 years in a tour tlirougb Prance, Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, and 

 G-reece, during wliicli he formed a most extensive collection of 

 sketches and critical notes upon the principal public buildings 

 which came in his way. The results were given to the world, in 

 1828, in two quarto volumes, under the title of ' Letters of an xVr- 

 chitect from France, Italy, and Grreece,' — a work, says the late 

 JMr. Britton, " written by a man of science, of general knowledge, 

 of discriminating habits of observation: it may be referred to 

 with confidence, and read with pleasure, by every person who is 

 attaclied to the iine arts generally or to architectural antiquities 

 in particular." Mr. Donaldson, the eminent President of the 

 Institute of British Architects, thus speaks of the work : — " Whe- 

 ther describing the monuments of art, tlie customs of the people, 

 politics, or religion, he discusses all with a calm, impartial, and 

 uuimpassioned spirit ; for, although deeply impressed with every 

 object he saw, he never allowed any intensity of impression to 

 mislead his sober judgment. It is the same philosophic mind, and 

 lucidity of perception, that directed his descriptions and matured 

 his judgment on the architecture of the various countries through 

 which he passed. Imbued, as he educationally was, with the 

 purity and sublime beauty of Grecian art, he still had admired 

 and reverenced the impressive grandeur of mediaeval buildings in 

 England." . . . . " Throughout, he generalizes his observations, and 

 seeks to form some broad principles of composition, as to arrange- 

 ment, proportions, or decorations of buildings, or the distribution 

 of light and shade. He passes in review the most remarkable 

 buildings, ancient or modern, of all styles, in Prance, Italy, Greece, 

 Turkey, and Sicily, and makes his remarks on them in the most 

 simple and unaffected manner, never seeking to enhance the sub- 

 ject by ambitious language or high-flown sentiment : all is calm and 

 tranqud., yet firmly treated with simple truth. His pages teem with 

 maxims of precious meaning, and he treats on every subject con- 

 nected with our art, includuig his ideas for the studies of the archi- 

 tect and the best system of architectural education." 



On his return to England in 1819 or 1820, Mr. Woods took 

 up his abode in Purnival's Inn, where, though his principal occu- 

 pation for se\'era] years was the preparation of his ' Letters ' for 

 publication, much of his time was also devoted to the arrangement 

 of the botanical collections formed during his recent tour, — his 



