THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[January, 



not a connoisseur of architecture himself, and he seems to have 

 trusted to very ill-informed advisers, althou^jh the royal Duke 

 miplit have known how dangerous it is either to trust or to be 

 trusted. 



Thanks to Barry, we arc now {rot out of that humdrum sort of 

 desif^n wliich prevailed during the latter half of the last, and at 

 tlje beginning of the present, century ; — not that no mischief has 

 attended his example, because, to say the truth, many of his fol- 

 lowers, or those who fancy that they are following him, have only 

 caricatured hin. For Mr. Barry himself we do not claim any great 

 originality or inventive power, but exqviisite taste and tact he 

 certainly possesses. There is artistic sensibility and sentiment 

 in whatever lie does, the value of wliich may he best estimated by 

 tlie absence of those qualities in the same style as it is treated by 

 others. 



As is well known, solicitous carefulness of finish is Mr. Barry's 

 forte; which being known, it would seem easy for others to rival 

 him by bestowing etpial attention on the more delicate touches 

 of design — minor ones, perhaps, if ciuisidcred only as so many 

 separate matters of detail, but very im|)ortaiit and influential as 

 regards aggregate effect. Yet, although the means to be pursued 

 seem to be plainly enough prompted, they are not acted upon — at 

 least, not with anything like the same success. In their treat- 

 ment of the same style, Mr. Barry's followers are apt to fidlow him 

 posfiihii.s luiud (Pquin; showing great inecpiality of taste, and ex- 

 hibiting together with carefulness, perhaps, in some respects, care- 

 lessness in others. 



Although like his two clubhouses, an astylar composition — con- 

 sequently deriving character and embellislinient chiefly from fe- 

 nestration — this work of Mr. Barry's has, along with a certain 

 family resemblance to them, many traits in which it differs from 

 them ; some of which are tolerably obvious. In the first place, 

 the ground-floor is not so much raised above the level of the 

 street ; in the next, it is treated as a distinct, rusticated basement, 

 without other dressing to the windows than what results from 

 the articulation and jointing of the masonry, which last is properly 

 expressed, because consistently so : whereas the other mode — now 

 unfortunately too much in vogue^of showing the joints only in 

 one direction, is not only un-Italian, but poor, monotonous, and 

 solecistical, inasmuch as it does not express hand. Among other 

 differences, besides that the principal cornice is here not so 

 pronoiici' as those of the two clubhouses referred to, it does not 

 terminate the elevation, but is surmounted by a balustrade. In- 

 stead of being a la Sansovino — both meagre in design, and so ridi- 

 culously enlarged as to contradict its apparent purpose, and to 

 operate most disadvantageously, it being a scale by which the eye 

 is apt to judge of the dimensions of other parts, the balustrade 

 here is well proportioned, because it does not exceed the height to 

 which a jiarapet is necessarily limited. A balustrade on the top 

 of a building twice as high as those to the windows is a palpable 

 absurdity, because either the former is proportioned only to giants, 

 or the latter only to dwarfs. This may seem to amount to no more 

 than saying tliat Mr. Barry has in that respect avoided an absur- 

 dity ; but wiiy do not others avoid it too.'' The design of the 

 )irincii)al-floor windows may be called axtyhir, in contradistinction 

 from tlic niirrosti/hir decoration of the windows on tliat floor, both 

 in the Travellers' and the Reform Cluliluiuse; yet they are of not 

 less ornate diaracter — in some resjiects even more so, if only on 

 account of the sculpture within their pediments — a touch of em- 

 bellislinient to wliich we are by no means accustomed, and which, 

 though it may he deemed pi'odigal in regard to cost, is chaste in 

 effect, and not at all inconsistent with the elaborate finish and 

 richness of those window compositions. 



We have omitted to mention that the building is intended to 

 form a town residence for the Earl of Ellesmere, and is situated 

 on the cast side of the Green Park, and on the north side of 

 Cleveland-row. The elevation which we have given in Plate I. 

 is that of the south front, abutting on Cleveland-row, and is 

 14-2 ft. Gin. in length, and G8 feet high above the ground-line to 

 the top of the balustrade. The frontage next the Green I'ark is 

 122 feet. The whole of the building forms a square, of the above 

 dimensions, and contains comiilete suites of a]i:irtnients. The 

 ground-floor is 20 feet high, and will be aiqiropriated for the ]ii'i- 

 vate aiKirtmcnts of the noble owner, and the flour above to state 

 rooms. The iiortli end of the mansion will be set apart for a n(d)le 

 gallery, to exhibit the splendid collection of pictures in the pos- 

 session of the Earl. 



CANDIDUS'S NOT E-BOOK, 

 FASCICULUS LXXXIX. 



" I must have liberty 

 Withal, as large a charter as the wlnda. 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. This Fasciculus is dedicated to James Fergusson. Had 

 Candidus obtained — as he has endeavoured to earn — any palm of 

 desert in criticism, he would transfer it to one whom he acknow- 

 ledges his superior in ipsthetic philosophy. As it is, I can only 

 hold out my hand to him in token of sincere admiration and 

 hearty approbation; and by merely doing that, I shall jirobably 

 distinguish myself, mine being likely to be the only hand exlendeil 

 to him in cordial amity — thus publicly at least, for his book* 

 abounds with such awful and fundamental heresies, — attacks 

 stereotype opinions and time-hallowed prejudices so unsparingly, 

 that it can hardly fail to excite a deep and rancorous feeling 

 against it, althougli whether it will meet with a bold and open ad- 

 versary is very doubtful. The writer has, as he himself says, 

 thrown down his glove to all comers; but he must have more than 

 ordinary courage who ventures to pick it up. Yet, whoever does 

 so may be certain of having the good wishes, not to say the 

 earnest prayers, of numbers for his success in the fearful combat 

 — a combat upon the issue of which so ■\ery much would be at 

 stake ; because, should the public champion of established opinions 

 and inveterate prejudices happen to be worsted— to be unsaddled 

 in argument, instead of anything being gained, positive mischief 

 would have been done to "'the good old cause." What, then, is to 

 be done .'' Will the Institute throw lots to decide who is to go 

 forth to encounter the formidable testhetic Goliath, who has 

 started up to disturb their drowsy slumbers? — the arch-heretic, if 

 not the arch-fiend, who speaks of "the monkey styles of modern 

 Europe.''" Monkey styles! — What a universal groan of horror 

 must have responded to that most audaciously libellous charac- 

 terization of our actual phiropean architecture ! Monkey ! — the 

 epithet is really so unendurable, that I venture to propose in 

 amendment of it, that of — asinine. 



II. In no quarter has Mr. Fergusson sought for popularity, or 

 attempted to make himself friends, by flattering existing Jireju- 

 dices, and sparing, if not deferring to, erroneous yet long cherished 

 opinions. His startlingly bold estimate of Roman literature and 

 Roman art, must shock' the classical scholar, and all those who 

 are interested in upholding the present vicious mode of education 

 established at our universities and public schools. — As little has he 

 spared the feelings of the aristocracy, for he gives it as his 

 O])inion, that "there is not, as far as I am aware, one single indi- 

 vidual in the ujijier ranks of society who really knows what art is, 

 or is seriously anxious for its advancement"! Nor has he the grace 

 to qualify such sweeping censure by adding: "the members of the 

 Fine Arts' Commission" alone excepted." At any rate, Mr. Fer- 

 gusson shows himself to be no courtier. — Perhaps he has made 

 friends with the jiaiuters: hardly that, wben he observes that many 

 pictures would rank as works of art, "below a good ,to»JW('/ or a 

 vol-au-vent, where I should certainly class many of the pictures 

 annually exhibited in London"! ! It must be left to Soyer and his 

 fraternity to applaud wliat must scandalise the Royal Academy 

 and all other picture-exhibiting societies. — With antiquaries and 

 archaeologists, Fergusson is not at :ill likely to stand in higher 

 favour than with iiaiutcrs, wjien he talks of "the infamous draw- 

 ing in the old paintings that adorn the walls or windows of our 

 cathedrals;" and adds, in a note, "Among the strange manias to 

 which a false system of art has led us, none is more exqiiisitc/ii 

 absurd tlian the attempts often now made by a set of archaeological 

 artists, to imitate these ancient productions, iVc." Quite contrary, 

 too, to the servile doctrine hitherto inculcated by architectural 

 teachers of every sect and school, he ventures to dedai-e that 

 "freedom and hope are the first true principles of greatness in art, 

 as in everything else; and ser\'ility and despair of doing better 

 than has been done before, must cramp the noblest genius, and 

 hide the highest aim." Noble and inspiring sentiment ! Yet, how 

 fraught is it with scornful reproach to au age wliich piques itscjf 

 upon its talent for the most direct and mechanical copyism, and 

 which preaches up the most abject servility, and the most cowardly 

 despair; "and when, as in modern Europe, art is letrograde, ai:d 

 its fundamental principles retrogressive, either to Greece, or Rome, 

 or to the Middle Ages " __^ 



* "All llisloiical liiquiiy into the Pniitiples ol Beauty in Art, more es| ccially tvitk 

 refereuci to Aichiiecluie." Loudon: Loiibinai), lb4y. 



