178 EGBERT HOOKE 



Neston, in Northamptonshire, dated 1702, which will be described 

 presently ; Cottesbrooke, in the same county, built in the early 

 part of the eighteenth century ; Kelmarsh, a not very distant 

 neighbour of Cottesbrooke, designed by Gibbs and replacing a 

 picturesque Jacobean house; 1 Seaton Delaval, in Northumber- 

 land, designed by Vanbrugh about 1/20, of which the two 

 wings alone remain in use ; Houghton, in Norfolk, begun in 

 1722 ; Holkham, in the same county, begun in 1734; and Kedle- 

 stone, in Derbyshire, dating from 1761 ; the last three of which 

 will be referred to at greater length in a subsequent chapter. 



Wren was not the only man of science of his time who 

 became an architect ; there was his acquaintance, Robert Hooke, 

 three years his junior, and, like himself, the son of a parson. 

 Hooke was almost as versatile a genius as Wren, but it was as 

 a mathematician that he achieved most reputation. He was 

 connected with the Royal Society at its inception, and was 

 appointed curator of experiments. The great fire of London 

 appears to have turned his attention to architecture ; indeed 

 that event, owing to the necessity it imposed of a vast amount 

 of urgent rebuilding, seems to have led into the paths of 

 architecture men whose previous training, although not archi- 

 tectural, qualified them even slightly for the work. Doubtless 

 Hooke's mathematics pointed him out as being not unsuitable 

 to become a city surveyor, besides which he had submitted a 

 plan to the Royal Society for the rebuilding of London, which 

 received much commendation from the lord mayor and 

 corporation, who asked that it might be submitted to the 

 king. In this direction, however, he had been forestalled by 

 Wren with his fine scheme. In the end nothing came of either 

 of the suggestions. 



Hooke appears to have made a considerable fortune as a 

 surveyor, and he is credited with the design of three important 

 buildings, all of which have disappeared. One of these was 

 Montagu House, in Bloomsbury, for Ralph, Lord Montagu, 

 whose country house at Boughton is presently to be described. 

 Hooke's house did not last long ; it was begun in 1675 and 

 burnt down in 1686, its successor being designed by the French 

 architect, Puget, whom Lord Montagu may have known during 



1 The curious can compare the appearance of the old house with what 

 Gibbs put in its place by referring to the plates in Bridges' " History of 

 Northamptonshire" ; whether the newer design was an improvement, either in 

 appearance or convenience, is open to question. 



