396 APPENDIX 



notable event in his life, the conferring of a knighthood upon 

 him by Charles II. 



A year before his marriage he had succeeded to the Ryston 

 estate, and thenceforward he appears to have followed the life 

 of a country gentleman, for we hear no more of him in con- 

 nection with architecture, save that he designed and built him- 

 self a new house at Ryston, which remains to this day, and is 

 the only example of his work left, unless the attribution of 

 Coleshill to Inigo Jones is a mistake. There is no doubt that 

 Roger Pratt had something to do with Coleshill, which was 

 l>uilt by a relative of his, Sir Henry Pratt ; for he says, in con- 

 sidering the proportions of cornices for ceilings, " all wh. 4 last 

 recited proportions have bin made use of by mee at Sr George 

 Pratt's at Colsell." Sir George was the son and successor of 

 Sir Henry. 



Most of the gentry at this time, as John Webb tells us, had 

 some knowledge of the theory of architecture, " but nothing of 

 ye practicque." Roger Pratt bettered his fellows in this respect, 

 for not only had he a wide knowledge of the art, as understood 

 in the seventeenth century of the architecture, that is, of modern 

 Italy and of Palladio in particular but he was familiar with 

 the qualities of materials and the routine of building, not to 

 mention tactful methods of accounting for " extras." 



During his stay in Rome he met John Evelyn, who appears 

 to have acquired and preserved a high regard for him. Twenty 

 years later, in writing to Lord Cornbery on 2Oth January 1665, 

 about his father's mansion of Clarendon House, Evelyn said 

 that Roger Pratt, his old friend and fellow traveller (co-habitant 

 and contemporary at Rome), had " perfectly acquitted himself." 

 The turn of events had brought them together about this time, 

 when both of them became commissioners for the repair of St 

 Paul's Cathedral and for the rebuilding of London after the great 

 fire. 



Pratt's chief works were Horseheath in Cambridgeshire for 

 Lord Allington, and Clarendon House. The former was begun 

 in 1663, and was a magnificent mansion. There are many 

 technical notes relating to it in the note-books, but not much 

 of general interest beyond its dimensions. It was dismantled 

 in 1760, and sold for the value of the materials. 



The notes concerning Clarendon House, which was begun in 

 1664, are more voluminous. They serve to show that Pratt was 

 a practical architect, that he was fully acquainted with the 



