1826.] 



Domestic 



friend of the fair translator. Among others 

 we find Ben Jonson in this style : — 



BENJAMIN JONSON, 

 fHrni 1575, rfifd 1(«7; 



Was bom at Westminster, and his motlier marry- 

 ing a second time to a builder [did the reader know 

 Ben's own father was a builder too ?] obliged her son 

 to learn the business of his step-father. He worked 

 from indigence at the buildings in Lincoln's-Inn, 

 with a trowel in his hand, but a book in his pocket. 

 His taste for poetry' soon overcame the xjuare, and 

 he became a celebrated dramatic poet, even rivalling 

 Shakspeare in tragedy; and if inferior to him in 

 genius, he certainly surpasseil him in knowledge of 

 the ancients, which he asserted with great bolilncsa. 

 His epitaph is, 



O, BARB BzN Johnson ! 

 Of course nothing more could well he said 

 of liis celebrity in brick and mortar ; but 

 why so much ? 



Inigo Jones we have at considerable 

 length, but with no description of any pe- 

 culiarities of style, or any enumeration of 

 Lis leading performances ; Holmliy House, 

 and Woollaton Hall are mentioned ; the 

 Banqueting House at Wliitehiill, and 

 perhaps another or two. The narrative is 

 of the most rambling sort, blended with a 

 useless hst of his undistinguished contem- 

 poraries, and a fair specimen of the writer's 

 power of extinguishing all interest in his 

 subject, and of the general flippancy of his 

 observations. At the top of page IGO — 



James I. took no interest at all in the fine-arf:, 

 and it was well he did not ; for he who considered 

 quibbles and formalities as evidences of eloquence, 

 would have introduced as bad a taste in architecture, 

 as he did in literature. 



But while we were thinking about the 

 real fact, towards the middle of the same 

 page, we found he was an " encouniger of 

 architectiu-e." So wiiether James was or 

 was not, the reader, if he think it worth 

 his while to inquire, must look to other 

 authorities than Milizia, or Mrs. Eliza 

 Cresy. 



Jones designed a royal palace, at Greenwich, for 

 Charles II.: Webb executed it; and William III. 

 afterwards appropriated it to a naval hospital, 

 making many additions [William, or Webb ?1. This 

 hospital, which is on the banks of the Thames, a 

 short distance from London, is not to be equalled iu 

 the whole world for magnificence, beauty, conve- 

 nience and extent. The apartments are noble, with 

 a variety of conveniences, the most delightful views, 

 and a number of pictures by Thomhill, the English 

 Apelles.* The attic, which is above the grand 

 Corinthian order, appears too high, though only a 

 third of the whole order. The rustics (an assem- 

 blage of rough rude stones, called bugne or bozze, 

 suitable to some walls — vide Introduction, p. 28) 

 are conect, the ornaments elegant, the arrangements 

 well made. It will be observed, — why so much mag- 

 nificence for an hospital, to be occupied by the poor 

 and infirm, and which should consequently be sim- 

 ple, and fitted to the use for which it was destined ? 

 But, certainly, magnificence is consistent with an 



• In the life of Wren, this same Thomhill proves 

 to be the English Raphael. Was he both ? or was 

 Raphael the Italian Apelles ? What do we know of 

 Apelles'to enable us to characterize another by his 

 style? 



and Foreign. 631 



hospital for English tailors, who form the strength! , 

 and glory of tlieir nation. \ 



Conclusive! — But poor Inigo — the reader < , 

 remembers he was persecuted by the ' 



Round-heads of his day, and obliged, like 

 many other royalists, to compound ; but it 

 may be news to him that the king's martyr- 

 dom atfected him so greatly, and so injured 

 his health, that when replaced in his oftice 

 by Charles J I., his debilitated frame would 

 not allow )iim fully to satisfy the magnifi- 

 cent ideas of that voluptuous monarch. 



Of the same unsatisfiictory and inaccu- 

 rate cast is the life of Wren. After the 

 fire of London he designed a plan for re- 

 building the city, wliieh, however, was not 

 executed : — 



Had this plan been followed, London (says Mali- 

 lia) might have arisen the finest city In the world : 

 but, from individual and selfish motives, she li»t 

 the advantage that might have resulted from this 

 calamity. The streets were however widened, and 

 handsome squares were built. 



Where are these squares ? is there one in 

 the city of forty yards ? London, we know, 

 was quickly rebuilt. 



A tax on coals (says Milizia), and above all, the 

 ardour and zeal of the citizens, were sufficient for 

 this great work— a fine example [he adds, in his bal- 

 derdash manner] of the power of man ; an example 

 which leaves room to creilit all that has been said of 

 the rapid construction of some of the ancient cities 

 In Asia and Egypt- 

 Speaking of St. Paul's, lie says — 



Much as this front has been criticised and con- 

 demned for the coupling of the columns, ami other 

 departures from the general application of the orders, 

 there are few churches of the past or present day 

 that can vie with it in richness of design. 



This is all veiy well ; but tlien he adds — 



And St. Peter's, with its single order and attic, 

 appearing of much smaller dimensions than it really 

 is, cannot be put in comparison with it. 

 We sup])0se this means that St. Peter's is 

 inferior to St. Paul's. 



Of Sir John Vanburgh he says — 

 This architect was an agreeable man and a poet : 

 and it is said that his writings were as delicate and 

 elegant as his buildings were clumsy. Sir John, 

 going a journey to France in I701, was thrown into 

 the Bastile, and remained there some time, without 

 ever being able to discover the cause for such treat- 

 ment. He wrote a comedy while in confinement; 

 and it is astonishing that fie should have totaUy ab- 

 stairted from any injurious observation on a country 

 in which he had suffered such violence. 293. 



We suspect this comes within the limits 

 assigned to the translator's coadjutor, 

 whose contribv.tions are stated to commence 

 at 372, a))parently a misprint for 272 ; and 

 if so, Milizia's spirit is caught witli admira- 

 ble felicity by his continuator. 



It is singular, we think, that the archi- 

 tects of the old cathedrals, both of this 

 coimtr)- and the Continent, are entirely un- 

 known. The priors and bishops, whose 

 munificence furnished the cost, are comme- 

 morated, but of the architects and builders 

 no vestige of a name Is left. 



