Notes 241 



Earl of Warwick. Warwick Castle, added to the entrance. 

 Lord Cobham. Stowe, several of the buildings in the garden. 

 Lord Clifford. Ugbrooke, a new house. 



To this list Mr. Holland added : " I cannot be indifferent 

 to the fame and character of so great a genius, and am only 

 afraid lest, in giving the annexed account, I should not do him 

 justice. No man that I ever met with understood so well 

 what was necessary for the habitation of all ranks and degrees 

 of society ; no one disposed his offices so well, set his build- 

 ings on such good levels, designed such good rooms, or so well 

 provided for the approach, for the drainage, and for the com- 

 fort and conveniences of every part of a place he was con- 

 cerned in. This he did without ever having had one single 

 difference or dispute with any of his employers. He left them 

 pleased, and they remained so as long as he lived ; and when he 

 died, his friend. Lord Coventry, for whom he had done so 

 much, raised a monument at Croome to his memory." 



Such is the testimony of one of the most eminent and ex- 

 perienced architects of the present time ; and in a letter to me 

 from the Earl of Coventry, written at Spring Hill, his lordship 

 thus mentions Mr. Brown : 



" I certainly held him very high as an artist, and esteemed 

 him as a most sincere friend. In spite of detraction, his works 

 will ever speak for him. I write from a house which he built 

 for me, which, without any pretension to architecture, is, per- 

 haps, a model for every internal and domestic convenience. 

 I may be partial to my place at Croome, which was entirely 

 his creation, and, I believe, originally, as hopeless a spot as 

 any in the island." 



I will conclude this tribute to the memory of my prede- 

 cessor, by transcribing the last stanza of his epitaph, written 

 by Mr. Mason, and which records, with more truth than most 

 epitaphs, the private character of this truly great man : 



" But know that more than genius slumbers here : 



Virtues were his which art's best powers transcend ; 

 Come, ye superior train, who these revere. 



And weep the Christian, husband, father, friend." 



