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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[August, 



the distance. Tlic external appearance of the Pavilion is picturesque anj 

 fantastic, without any regular style of architecture. The interior consists 

 of three rooms and a kitchen. The I'rincipal apartment is an octagon, 15 feet 

 8 inches by 1j feet 9 inches ; and from the floor to the centre of the vaulted 

 ceiling, 14 feet 11 inches in height. This room opens on each side into another 

 of smaller size, 8 feet 10 inches by 9 feet 7 inches, and 12 feet in height. 



Tlie central room is the octagon; of the eight sides five are occupied by 

 i\"indows and the glazed enlranee ; three o'liers by the doors opening on the 

 two side rooms, and by the fire-place, over which is a large mirror, reflecting 

 the whole. 



The roof rises into a dome, sustained and divided by eight ribs ; and in each 

 compartment is a circular opening, with a a sky background. A rich cornice 

 runs round the room, and below the cornice are ihe'eight lunettes, containing 

 the frescos, by eig ht different painters. Each lunette is 6 feet by 3 feet ; and 

 over each is a tablet, en which is inscribed, in gilt letters, on a brownish-red 

 ground, the particular passage of the poem which has suggested the subject 

 of the painting below. The subject of all these frescoi is Milton's masque of 

 Comtis — a work perfectly adapted to the object m view. Tlie artists selected 

 to try their talent were Stanfield, Uwins, Leslie, Sir William Ross, Eastlake, 

 Maclise, Landseer, and Etty, but the fresco of the last -mentioned gentleman 

 was subsequently removed, and one by Mr. Dyce substituted in its place. 

 Judging from the displaced fresco, which was shown to us afterwards, we 

 cannot wonder at the stern decree which removed such a performance from 

 the walls of the Pavilion. We proceed to notice the eight frescos accord- 

 ing to the order in which they are arranged around the apartment. The 

 lines of course form the text of the painting, extracted as they are, from 

 various parts of the masque.' 



I.-^STANFIELD, R.A. 

 " Yet some there be that by due steps aspire 

 " To lay their just hands on that golden key, 

 •' That opes the palace of E'.ernity. 

 " To such niy errand is." — Comus, v. 12 — 17. 

 Landscape; a forest scene, through which a torrent, broken by rocks and 

 pebbles, flows towards the foreground. The attendant spirit is seen in his 

 shepherd guise, leaning on bis crook, in a meditative anxious attitude ; while, 

 in tlie background, through the glade, we see the rabble rout of Comus en- 

 gaged in their nocturnal revels. The sp:\ndriis represeni, on the right, a 

 cherub weeping; on the left, a fiend exulting. 



II.— T. UWINS, R.A. 

 " This is the place, as well as I may guess, 

 " \1 hence even now the tumult of loud mirth 

 " Was rife."— C'om«s, v. 200—219. 

 Comus and the lady. She is standing " near a huge oak, the centre of the 

 grove," as one meditating. Comus stands half hidden by the foliage, and 

 listening to her soliloquy. In the spandrils a seraph looks down w ith anguish, 

 and a satyr with triumph. 



III.— LESLIE, R.A. 

 " Hence with thy brew'd enchantments, 

 '' Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence 

 " With visor "d falsehood and base forgery ?" 



Comus, V. 696 — 705. 

 The lady, spell-hound in the chair, repels Comus who offers her the enchant- 

 ed goblet. A bacchante reclining and a young satyr are in the foreground. 

 In the spandrils, white antique masks and white flowers. 

 IV.— SIR WILLIAM ROSS, K.A. 

 "What! have you let the false enchanter 'scape? 

 " ye mistook ; ye should have snatch'd his wand, 

 " And bound him fast."— Com«s, v. 812—816. 

 The two brother, with drawn swords, drive out Comus and his crew. The 

 attendant spirit stands in front ; the lady is seated behind. In the spandrils 

 a bacchante and a Diana. 



v.— C. L. EASTLAKE, R.A. 



" If virtue feeble were, 



" Heav'n itself would stoop to her." — Comus, v. 1022. 

 Virtue, ascending to the "sphery chime," faints on the steep and rugged 

 rath. A seraph, with a countenence beaming with tendcrnes and pity, bends, 

 from above to encourage and aid her. Angels on each side, holding the lily, 

 the emblem of purity, are leaning from the clouds to welcome her, while 

 Vice, under the semblance of a serpent, is seen gliding away. In the span- 

 drils are two pensive cherub heads with an expression ot adoration, 

 VI.— DANIEL MACLISE, R.A. 

 " Brightest lady, look on me ; 

 " Thus I sprinkle on thy breast 

 " Drops, that from my fountain pure 

 "I have kept, of precious cure." 



Comus, Y. 910—919. | 



The lady, spell-bound, not only •' in stony fetters fixed, and motionless," 

 but asleep or in a trance, is seated in the marble chair. Sabrina and her at- 

 tendant nympbs are hovering round her. One nymph presents in a shell the 

 water " from the fountain pure." Sabrina, bending over the lady, is about 

 to sprinkle her and to pronounce the "dissevering charm." In front stand 

 the two brothers and the attendant spirit. In the spandrils, two of the de- 

 formed "rabble rout" look down in affright. 



VII.— EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A. 



" Their human countenance, 



" Th' express resemblance of the gods, is changed " 

 '■ Into some bratish form of wolf or bear, 

 " Or ounce or tiger, hog or bearded goat." 



Comus, v. 68 — 71. 



The same subject as No. IV., very differently treated. Comus, surrounded 

 by his crew, is terrified by the approach of the brothers, who appear behind 

 in the act of rushing upon them. A bacchante, «ith a beautiful female form, 

 and the head of a hound, has thrown herself in affright upon the arm of 

 Comus. Other monsters, half brute, half human, in various attitudes of mad 

 revelry — grovelling, bestial insensibilily— conlusion and terror — are seen 

 around him ; the pathetic, the poetical, the horrible, the grotesque, all wildly 

 strangely mingled. In the spandrils are two heads — a grinning ape, and a 

 bear drinking. 



VIII— W. DYCE, A.R.A. 



" Noble lord and lady bright, 



" I have brought ye new delight, J 



" Here behold so goodly grown, 



" Three fair branches of your own." 



Comus, V. S68— 975. 

 The attendant spirit, kneeling, presents the liberated lady and her two 

 brothers to their noble parents, who come forth from their " state" to receive 

 their princely progeny. In the spandrils, two guardian angels present 

 crowns of while roses and myrtle. 



We shall not at present enter into any minute criticism of these works of 

 art. We can only afford to be general. It may, therefore, suffice to say that 

 hardly one of the artists has "come up" to the design of the poet. The 

 various figures of Comus are good ; — that of Mr. Leslie, we deem, the best 

 ideal of the character. " Tbe Lady" is made very little of — a sad burlesque, 

 in most instances, on the high-suuled, virtuous, dignified, creation of Milton, 

 S'r William Ross makes her a young lady of "modern accomplishments" — 

 pale and sentimental — vihilst Mr! Leslie represents her as an innocent girl, 

 hardly arrived at the age ot puberty. W'ith Mr. Eastlake she is a Madonna, 

 and rather stupid looking into the bargain. Perhaps, Mr. Uwins has given 

 the best impersonation of this sublime and noble character. Mr. Maclise's 

 design is that of a very beautiful woman, but frcezngly-colJ and marble- 

 like, far more so than the subject demands. Mr. Landseer's fresco is inimi- 

 table ; and, to our taste and judgment, superior to all the rest. He is quite 

 chez lui, of course, in the depiction of his various "brutish forms," but 

 there is, independently of this, a mind — a creative genius — in the piece. 

 Their heads are truly unique, and the "upright bruin'' is enough to shake 

 one's sides wiih mirth . 



Beneath the lunettes are panels adorned with arabesques, in harmony witU 

 the main subjects. Over each door are winged panthers, in stucco, with a 

 head of Comus, ivy-crowned, between them. The ivy and the vine predomi- 

 nate amid the wreaths of many-coloured flowers and fruits the masks and 

 grotesques, which adorn the panels and friezes. Beneath each window is 

 the cipher of her Majesty and Prince Albert, encircled with flowers. The 

 medallions, in bas-relief, on the pilasters, contain figures and groups from a 

 variety of Milton's poems. 



A richly-carved and gilt door opens from the central apartment into the 

 room on the left, which has been decorated in what may be called the roman- 

 tic style. The subjects are all taken from the novels and poems of Sir Walter 

 Scott. The walls of this room, to the height of 12 feet, are painted in imi- 

 tation of grey marble, with such taste and fidelity as to deceive the most 

 practised eye. Above this vi'ainscotting, which has a very chaste and cool 

 effect, runs a decorated frieze, in 12 compartments, three on each side; of 

 these, the central compartment is formed of a bas-relief, in wliite stucco, on 

 a dark-blue ground ; and to the right and left are festoons of flowers, richly 

 coloured, and surrounding small landscapes, in frames, illustrative of the 

 scenery of the novels. 



The ceiling is covecl, at the summit of which is a square opening repre- 

 senting sky. Small statues of children sustain the spandrils, and stand on 

 brackets decorated with the thistle, which is also introduced in tbe border of 

 the pavement. 



The room on the right of the octagon room is decorated in the Pompeian 

 style ; all the ornaments, friezes, and panels being suggested by, or accurately 

 copied from, existing remains, except the coved ceiling, which is entirely 

 inented by A. Aglio, It is considered a very perfect and genuine example 



