278 BRETTINGHAM AND JAMES PAINE 



us that he designed birthday gowns for two ladies, to 

 which he gave a decidedly architectural turn. He must 

 have spent much time in producing "The Designs of Inigo 

 Jones," and it is not improbable that he was the power be- 

 hind the throne in respect of the architectural efforts of Lord 

 Burlington. 



Brettingham had a certain connection with Kedleston, as 

 he seems to have designed and built one of the wings. He was 

 succeeded by James Paine, to whom the general design is 

 attributed, which followed the lines started by Brettingham. 

 The house was to have had four outlying wings, much after the 

 fashion of Holkham, but only two were carried out. The 

 original plan looks very striking on paper (Fig. 191), but it is one 

 further proof of the way in which comfort was sacrificed to 

 grandeur by the architects of that time. All the principal rooms 

 are noble, those, that is, which were to be used on grand 

 occasions ; the others are quite subordinate. The basement, 

 which contains rooms in daily use, seems overweighted by the 

 superstructure, and is in fact too low to allow the light to 

 penetrate freely to the remoter parts of the entrance. The 

 bedrooms were, in the opinion of Dr Johnson, who visited the 

 house with Boswell in September 1777, "but indifferent rooms." 

 The hall is a lordly apartment with a row of lofty columns 

 down each side (Fig. 192). Some of the columns are monoliths, 

 and one is of alabaster from the locality. Dr Johnson thought 

 the house " would do excellently for a town-hall ; the large room 

 with the pillars would do for the judges to sit in at the 

 assizes ; the circular room for a jury-chamber ; and the room 

 above for prisoners." It is quite true that many of these large 

 houses produce an impression similar to that created by public 

 buildings. 



The situation of the house is in keeping with the ideas pre- 

 valent at the time. It is not, as of old, the centre of a formally 

 disposed lay out, with vistas stretching away from its principal 

 windows. It stands, indeed, askew with all points of view, on 

 a slope of the park, backed by a long range of trees which 

 crowns the summit of the hill ; behind another group of trees 

 lie the stables, connected to the house by a sunk way. A con- 

 temporary bridge in the park, over which the approach is 

 carried, lies in haphazard relation to the house. But this was 



