1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



411 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 



FASCICULUS LIV. 



" I must have liberty 

 ■Witli.il, as lar^e a charter as the winds, 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. Why anonymous criticism should be a whit more odious or more 

 indefensible upon architectural topics than any other, it is difficult to 

 understand ; yet so it seems to be considered by some folks— who 

 would probably be for abolishing criticism altogether, being conscious 

 of having very little favour to expect from it. Admitting the system 

 of anonymousness to be ever so reprehensible — what then ? It was not 

 architectural writers that brought it up ; they found it already 

 established, and that so far from being considered disgraceful, it was 

 one which our most eminent writers had supported by their talents. 

 Anonymous criticism may be stupid, but then censure its stupidity, 

 not its anonvmousness. At any rate it does not attempt to bias the 

 reader's judgment by the prestige of a name, and so far its stupidity 

 is honest and is harmless. 



After all, top, is anonymous criticism invariably so dreadful as some 

 would have us believe ? Has Barry had any cause to complain of its 

 severity or its unfairness ? or has it never done justice to the produc- 

 tions of others in the profession? Aye! but then, it will be said, that 

 it is because it pays deference to names, and takes its cue from 

 popular opinion. Does it? Egad ! John Nash and Robert Smirke 

 would tell quite a different tale; they would say that it pays no 

 respect to names — at least not to theirs, which it has treated very 

 unceremoniously. We must have either anonymous or milk-and- 

 water criticism, unless we choose to resort to the only other alterna- 

 tive, of having none at all — the last, no doubt, a consummation de- 

 voutlv to be wished for, in the opinion of those excellent people whom 

 criticism never praises, and never instructs or warns. 



II. We are congratulating ourselves upon having reached a new 

 epoch in art, at having entered upon the Victorian era of it, when it 

 is to blaze with a lustre yet unknown. Fudge! What if a "morning 

 star," as Pugin calls it, be rising at Westminster, all is Cimmerian 

 darkness at Bloomsbury, where Smirkean night- or knight-hood is 

 suffered to reign supreme. Most certainly all the proceedings con- 

 nected with the Museum buildings have, up to the present moment, 

 been kept shrouded in impenetrable mist, mistiness, and mystery. 

 Not even a single one of the enlightened and vigilant guardians of 

 art, or of those who compose Fine Art Commissions, has thought fit 

 to bestir himself on the occasion, and drag the matter formally before 

 the public, in spite of Peel and his prophecy. It might be thought 

 that Peel has had a sufficient dose of Smirke at Drayton Manor ; or if 

 he is really satisfied with that as a specimen of architectural genius, 

 his opinion in matters of architecture ought to pass for nothing. 

 Nevertheless, all seem to stand in awe of the prime minister and his 

 pet: and, strange to say, even the great John Britton himself, who 

 has always caught at every opportunity of thrusting himself before 

 the public in propria persona, has not come forward with an " Jlddress" 

 to any one, individual or body, on the subject of the British Museum ! 



III. It is impossible for any one to say of Sir Robert Smirke, that 

 he is a tempurizing or time-serving man, since, instead of at all bending 

 to the spirit of the present times, or complying with its humour, he 

 stands out resolutely against it, and shows himself a staunch conser- 

 vative in maintaining that system of monopoly and irresponsibility 

 under which he has flourished. The public is to him just the same 

 ignoramus, insignificant public as it was some thirty years ago; 

 whether it brays forth its approbation or its censure is to him matter 

 of utter indifference. Very likely, therefore, he smiles with contempt 

 at those — and some there are — who would fain coax him into show- 

 ing some kind of deference to public opinion. Most sulkily serene, 

 Sir Robert pays no attention either to such cajolery or to reproach. 

 Why should he now be called upon, for the first time, to satisfy 

 beforehand the prying curiosity of an impertinently inquisitive public, 

 after having erected so many public edifices without being subjected 



to any such ordeal or surveillance ? Reasons, however, there may be, 

 although they are not obvious to himself, and one of them is, because 

 such matters have begun to be put upon a somewhat different and 

 more liberal footing than formerly ; nor has the confidence reposed in 

 the public hitherto thwarted schemes of improvement, for the public 

 has generally urged them forward and encouraged them. Another 

 reason wherefore the architect of the British Museum should be called 

 to give some pledge that that edifice will, when completed, be both 

 satisfactory and creditable to the country, is that no such assurance is 

 afforded by any or all of the buildings he has hitherto executed ; since, 

 so far from serving as testimonials of superior talent, they rather 

 amount to a positive disqualification on an occasion like the present, 

 one of unusual importance, and all the more important because no 

 similar one can occur. It is true other museums may be founded in 

 different parts of the country, and some of them may be, if less ex- 

 tensive, nobler works of architecture ; yet they will not be The British 

 Museum; and however gratifying it may be in itself to behold such 

 structures, it must at the same time be not a little mortifying to find 

 that the metropolitan and national one is quite eclipsed bv them in 

 architectural style and design. There are some who might still avert 

 the mischief, but they evidently do not care to interfere, fearful, per- 

 haps, of giving umbrage to another Sir Robert who stands as sponsor 

 to Smirke's museum. What are the royal and noble patrons of art 

 about, that not one of tbem can spare a moment to bestow a thought 

 on the unfortunate edifice in Bloomsbury? Is there not one of them 

 all to come to the rescue, and to avert from that structure the sad 

 inglorious fate of being duubly Bobbyflid. 



IV. And what says that very respectable old gentlewoman, Dame 

 Sylvana Urban, on this occasion ? What is the old lady's opinion as 

 to the goings-on at the British Museum? Ah! Dame Urban is a 

 cautious body, and she therefore does not care to risk giving umbrage 

 to any powers that be : so that, if her opinion be worth having, we 

 may guess, from her very discreet silence, of what kind it would be ; 

 for could she squeeze it out of her conscience to take the part of 

 Smirke's handywork in Bloomsbury, what a cackling about it there 

 would be ! However, if intolerable as a specimen of any other, the 

 British Museum will, no doubt, prove a very respectable sample of the 

 Milk-and-water style, yet as such superfluous, as we have quite 

 samples enow of that already. 



V. Even royal taste is sometimes grievously at fault, and what is 

 more, is grievously found fault with. Thus was it with the Albert 

 military hat, which the gentlemen of the army protested against as a vile 

 deformity. And if princes can err in matters of taste, a fortiori, so also 

 may prime ministers, consequently Sir Robert Peel's recommendation 

 of another Sir Robert's design, according to him the very ne plus ultra 

 of architecture, ought to stand for nothing. Sir Robert Peel may be a 

 very good cabinet-maker, Sir Robert Smirke an excellent warehouse- 

 builder; but let them stick to those trades, and not foist upon the 

 country such a dowdy design as the one concocted for the British 

 Museum out of the Post Office and the Custom House. Any Pecksniff 

 would have produced something as good, and just as "respectable," — 

 for some, it seems, have expressed themselves ready to be satisfied 

 if what ought to be rendered a magnificent national work, can be 

 patched up into something "respectable," in other words, be made a 

 tidyish sort of a job — so much for the March of Art in England! 



VI. One of the most extraordinary excuses ever put forth on any 

 occasion, is that which has been assigned on the part of Sir Jeffry 

 Wyatville, for the entire omission of auy plates of the interior in his 

 " Illustrations of Windsor Castle," for the reason that that part of the 

 fabric may undergo considerable alteration in the course of time : a 

 very strong reason, one would imagine, for such illustrations being 

 given, not merely as present studies, but as faithful records of his own 

 work, should it at any future period be destroyed, whether by being 

 changed into something else, or by being burnt down. Would the il- 

 lustrations he has given us, lose at all in interest or value, were a con- 

 flagration to sweep away the whole of the pile? How many buildings 

 there are, in respect to which nothing, or comparatively nothing, can 

 now be learnt, because authentic and sufficient memorials, taken at 



