541 



SMIRKE, SYDNEY, A.R.A. 



SMITH, ADAM. 



642 



which any architectural embellishment is expended, IB 370 feet long, 

 and consists of a central portion with advanced wings. The forty- 

 four columns of the facade arc five feet in diameter at the base, and 45 

 feet high, and rest upon a sty lobato five feet and a half high. The 

 tympanum of the pediment is occupied by a group in alto-rilievo, 

 from the chisel of Sir 11. Westmacott. The building as originally con- 

 structed inclosed an open quadrangle, 320 feet by 240 feet, and each 

 of the facades of the quadrangle had a certain amount of architectural 

 character. But this open space has been now pretty well filled up by 

 the new Heading Room and connected buildings, and the quadrangle 

 fronts are almost entirely concealed. It has been the lot of the 

 British Museum to be subjected to a great amount of adverse criticism 

 both as regards the aesthetic character of the building and the fitness 

 of the interior arrangements for the purposes for which it was designed. 

 The public taste has outgrown the period when objection was silenced 

 by the statement that a work was classic in character; but it may 

 be that the re-action against classic art is excessive, or at any rate it 

 may fairly be doubted whether the adoption of an ornate, ecclesiastical 

 Gothic, or renaissance style would not, after the novelty had worn off, 

 have proved less satisfactory for the purpose of a public museum of 

 archaeology and natural history than the more severely simple Grecian 

 one adopted by the architect. At the same time the question as to 

 the actual style of the architecture ought, of course, to be regarded as 

 subsidiary to that of the adaptation to its purpose of the building 

 itself, in the size, height, lighting, number and arrangements of its 

 apartments ; and in this respect it is to be feared that the British 

 Museum is far from satisfactory : but this is a failing which it has in 

 common with most, if not all, of our great public buildings. 



Sir Robert Smirke was elected R.A. in 1812; and was for some 

 years treasurer of that institution, but resigned the office in 1850. 

 He was one of the architects to the Board of Works and Public Build- 

 ings for several years prior to the abolition of the office in 1831, when 

 he received the honour of knighthood. 



* SMIRKE, SYDNEY, A.R.A., is like his elder brother, Sir Robert 

 Smirke, a distinguished architect. In 1834 he published ' Suggestions 

 on the Architectural Improvements of the West of London ; ' but he 

 first made his name known to the public as an architect in 1835-37 by 

 the erection, in conjunction with his brother, of the Oxford and 

 Cambridge University Club-house in Pall-Mall. In this building, of 

 which the design of the north or Pall-Mall front was understood to be 

 the production of Mr. Sydney Smirke, he showed, by giving to it a 

 florid Corinthian character, that he was by no means disposed to 

 become a servile adherent of the severe classicism which had for so 

 many years been associated with the name of Smirke. About the 

 same time he erected a church in Leicester, and conducted extensive 

 alterations and enlargements of Bethlehem Hospital. In 1842 he 

 superintended the completion of the restorations of the Temple 

 Church, of which he published an account, ' Architecture of the 

 Temple Church,' 4to. His next works were a church at Bickerstaffe, 

 in Lancashire, which he erected for the Earl of Derby ; and the office 

 of the ' Morning Post ' newspaper, and Exeter Change in Wellington- 

 street, Strand, London. A more important work was the Conservative 

 Club-house, erected on the site of the Thatched House Tavern, St. 

 James's-street, in 1844-45 ; but in this work Mr. Smirke was asso- 

 ciated with Mr. Basevi the architect of the Fitzwilliam Museum, 

 Cambridge [BASEVI, GEORGE] ; and we have no means of apportioning 

 the respective shares of the two architects : in the interior was largely 

 introduced that polychromatic decoration of which Mr. Smirke has 

 since shown himself so decided an adherent. 



In 1845 Mr. Smirke erected a new portrait-gallery at Drayton Manor, 

 for the late Sir Robert Peel. In 1847 he commenced the new Carlton 

 Club, Pall-Mall. For this building he slightly modified the well known 

 design by Sansovino of the Library of iit. Mark, at Venice, a work 

 much more ornate in character than any previously adopted for a 

 London Club-house, and it has been carried out in all its richness 

 of decoration. At first ouly half the design was erected as an 

 addition to the original Carlton, constructed by Sir Robert Smirke, 

 which was made to look singularly gloomy by the contrast ; but in 

 1855 Sir Robert's building was replaced by the other half of his 

 brother's Italian edifice, and the whole is now complete. A novelty 

 was introduced in this fagade in the shape of pillars of polished Aber- 

 deen granite, but from the building standing on the shady side of the 

 street, the anticipated richness of effect was hardly attained. Another 

 of Mr. Smirke's works, the New Buildings in the Temple, also placed 

 him in something' like antagonism to the architectural taste of his 

 brother, they being in connection with, and partly an extension of, 

 those noticed above as erected by Sir Robert Smirke in 1830, and 

 Mr. Smirke made the antagonism the more palpable by the adoption 

 of the Elizabethan or Tudor style, while the buildings of Sir Robert 

 were of course Grecian ; an incongruity by which both have suffered. 



Except the restorations of Lichfield Cathedral, Mr. Smirke's recent 

 work?, so far as they have been brought under public cognisance, have 

 been chiefly in connection with the British Museum, of which he has 

 succeeded his brother as architect. And here, to pass over various 

 modifications of his brother's design, his great work has been the 

 New Reading Room, by general consent the most successful of recent 

 public works. The suggestion for the erection of a great circular 

 reading-room in the inner quadrangle of the British Museum, was 



made by Mr. Panizzi, keeper of the department of printed books, and 

 now principal librarian of the Museum, but the designs for carrying 

 the suggestion into effect were made by Mr. Smirke. The building is 

 constructed principally of iron ; and the dome, the largest in existence 

 with the exception of that of the Pantheon at Rome, which is 142 feet, 

 this being 140 feet in diameter, is admitted to have evinced the highest 

 order of constructive skill. It was executed too with remarkable 

 rapidity, the first standard being only fixed in January 1855, and 

 "the framework and scaffolding upon which the dome rested were 

 removed on the 2nd of the following June. No subsidence or 'set' 

 of material was observed on the wedges being removed. The entire 

 dome was roofed in and the copper covering laid in September 1855." 

 The building was completed for use in May 1857. The interior 

 arrangements, fittings, &c., were designed by Mr. Panizzi; and the 

 complete adaptation of the work to its object, and its consequent 

 complete success, is unquestionably due in a great measure to Mr. 

 Panizzi's constant superintendence of its progress, and his cordial and 

 unreserved co-operation with the architect. This however can in no 

 wise be regarded as detracting from the merits of the architect, of 

 whose constructive ability and artistic skill it is a noble monument. 



SMITH, ADAM, the only child of his parents, was born at Kirkaldy, 

 June 5th 1723, a few months after the death of his father, who was 

 comptroller of the customs at that place. He was brought up with 

 great tenderness by his surviving parent, and sent to the grammar- 

 school of his native town. From 1737 to 1740 he pursued his studies 

 at the University of Glasgow. Being designed for the Church of 

 England, he left Glasgow, and proceeded as an exhibitioner on 

 Snell's foundation to Balliol College, Oxford, where he spent seven 

 years. Mathematics and natural philosophy, with ancient and modern 

 languages, were his favourite studies at this University. Having 

 abandoned the idea of taking orders, he returned to Scotland ; and in 

 1748 went to reside at Edinburgh, where, for the next three years, he 

 read lectures on rhetoric and belles-lettres, under the patronage of 

 Lord Kames. In 1751 he was elected professor of logic in the 

 university of Glasgow ; and in the following year was appointed to the 

 chair of moral philosophy, which he filled for the next thirteen years. 

 The third division of his lectures included various subjects, which he 

 subsequently so ably treated in the ' Wealth of Nations.' His talents 

 in the chair have been highly praised, and his lectures were generally 

 delivered extempore. During his residence at Glasgow, he published 

 his ' Theory of Moral Sentiments ; ' the first edition appeared in 1759 ; 

 and the sixth, which contains considerable additions, shortly before 

 the author's death. The fundamental principle of this work is, that 

 sympathy forms the foundation of morals ; that " the primary objects 

 of our moral perceptions are the actions of other men ; and that our 

 moral judgments with respect to our "own conduct are only applica- 

 tions to ourselves of decisions which we have already passed on the 

 conduct of our neighbours." (Dugald Stewart.) This theory being 

 now little thought of, it is unnecessary to enter into further details. 

 To the second edition of the above work was prefixed a dissertation on 

 the origin of languages, which was afterwards published separately, 

 under the title of Considerations concerning the First Formation of 

 Languages, and the Different Genius of Original and Compounded 

 Languages.' It is praised rather for its ingenuity than the soundness 

 of its conclusions. 



In 1763 Mr. Smith resigned the professorship, in consequence of an 

 invitation to accompany the Duke of Buccleugh on his travels. The 

 University of Glasgow conferred upon him the honorary degree of 

 LL.D., a title which he never assumed in private life. He left London 

 with his noble pupil in January, 1764, and proceeded to Toulouse, 

 where they resided eighteen months. They next visited various parts 

 of the South of France, spent two months at Geneva, and proceeded 

 to Paris at the end of 1765, where they remained ten months; and 

 after an absence of nearly three years, returned to England. At Paris 

 Mr. Smith became intimately acquainted with Turgot, Quesnay, 

 Necker, D'Alembert, Helvetius, Marmontel, and other distinguished 

 persons. Had Quesnay lived, it is said that the ' Wealth of Nations ' 

 would have been dedicated to him. Soon after his return to England, 

 Smith proceeded to Kirkaldy, where, with the exception of occasional 

 visits to Edinburgh and London, he resided until 1776, engaged in 

 his great work. He mixed with the best literary society of both 

 capitals, and was on terms of intimate friendship with Hume. When 

 Johnson visited Scotland, he and Smith met, and behaved towards 

 each other with marked rudeness. The ' Wealth of Nations ' 

 appeared early in 1776. To the third edition (1784) the author made 

 several additions; but the fourth edition (1789) contained no altera- 

 tions of any kind. The two following years after the first appearance 

 of the work were spent in London. In 1788, through the influence of 

 the Duke of Buccleugh, Mr. Smith was appoiuted one of the com- 

 missioners of customs for Scotland, on which he removed to Edin- 

 burgh, where he spent the remaining thirteen years of his life. When 

 this appointment took place, he was in his fifty-fifth year ; and it has 

 frequently been regretted that his time was not devoted to more 

 profitable labours, for though the duties of bis office were not onerous, 

 they were sufficient to distract his attention. He had collected 

 materials for publication, which, with the exception of some detached 

 essays published by his executors, were destroyed by his orders a few 

 days before his death, as he had never found time to arrange them for 



