184-J.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL 



469 



Of good omen in itself, as indicating the spread of architectural study and 

 the increasing interest taken in it, Mr. Loudon's " Magazine " gave such 

 study a favourable impulse, and that in the proper direction. Liberal and 

 enlightened in his views, and perceiving the real interests both of the art and 

 its professors, better than many of the latter seemed to do themselves, he 

 sought to remove the prejudices which had operated as obstacles against a 

 general intelligent appreciation of the former as an aesthetic or fine art. The 

 more, we have heard him say, the public can be brought to understand, and 

 to have a real taste for architecture, the better able they are to reason upon 

 its productions, to enter into their particular merits, and to discriminate 

 between beauties and defects, all the better will it be for architecture itself, 

 and for those who practise it — not, indeed, for all alike individually, but as a 

 class. People would then be disabused of their implicit respect for mere 

 names, they would be better able to recognise talent, and better disposed to 

 encourage it. A taste for architecture should be cultivated by all persons 

 of liberal education, for the sake of the interest and enjoyment it affords ; 

 and the wider such taste spreads itself and becomes that of the many instead 

 of being limited to the very few, all the better must it prove for the art, for 

 public apathy and indifference towards it arises mainly from ignorance of it 

 on the part of the public; and the shallow criticism and one-sided views of it 

 which now pass current with the mass, will no longer impose upon their 

 judgment. 



Subsequent experience has confirmed the correctness of these views, if not 

 in the fullest extent, as far as could be expected within so short a period. 

 And to them we may add, that one very great advantage, although not the 

 main and professed one, attending a journal of such nature, is that attention 

 is kept alive to the subjects treated of by it ; our ideas are not allowed to 

 remain stagnant ; opportunity is afforded for discussion, and for testing the 

 soundness of opinions that have been indolently adopted as matter of course, 

 and allowed to pass current as incontrovertible merely because they have 

 not been controverted, but uniformly looked at from the same one-sided 

 point of view. Another advantage and that not the least of all, is that 

 through the medium of a periodical, valuable matter is frequently elicited 

 from those who, but for the facility of communicating it so afforded, would 

 never have thought of communicating it at all ; in fact, could hardly have 

 brought it before the public in any other shape, it being too little in mere 

 bulk for the substance of a separate volume, while in the shape of a pam- 

 phlet it would appear only to pass unnoticed. It may, indeed, occasionally 

 happen that a similar opportunity is afforded a writer, in a literary journal ; 

 but then it is very rarely, and only under particular circumstances ; those 

 which admit articles of the kind at all, are not open to mere casual corre- 

 spondents ; nay, some of them are so utterly inaccessible, and their editors 

 so thoroughly impracticable, that for any one who is not actually of their 

 own corps and coterie to offer any thing in such quarters, is to incur the most 

 insolent treatment. 2 



But we are now digressing too widely, although what we have been saying 

 shows the essential service which Mr. Loudon rendered architectural study 

 by starting his " Magazine," more especially as he conducted it on liberal 

 principles, allowing all opinions to have a fair hearing, aware that the sound- 

 est are likeliest to prevail in the end, and are rather confirmed than weak- 

 ened by having first to encounter established prejudices and fallacies. 



In the way of personal memoir, little can be expected so very recently 

 after his decease beyond a few facts and dates ; for the authenticity of which 

 we can vouch ; yet even that little will make evident that should adequate 

 materials for the purpose be in existence, the earlier part of Mr. Loudon's 

 life would form an interesting and instructive narrative. 



John Claudius Loudon was born in Lanarkshire, April 8th, 1782, but very 

 soon afterwards the family removed into the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, 

 wdiere his father carried on a respectable farm. The son, however, chose for 

 himself a different pursuit, one, indeed, not wholly out of the same direction, 

 but more congenial to an imaginative mind, — that, namely, of Landscape- 

 gardening, in which nature is contemplated with somewhat more poetic eyes 

 than those of an agriculturist. He was accordingly brought up with a view 

 to his following such profession ; and first commenced it on his own account 

 in 1803, when he came to England furnished with letters of introduction to 

 several of the first landed-proprietors in the country. Yet although he con- 



= We know of one tolerably strong instance of the kind on the part of the 

 editor of the Quarterly Review, who detained a MS upwards of two years 

 and a half, although the party offering it had desired that it might be re- 

 turned at once if not approved, or if retained for further consideration, to be 

 informed to that effect, yet notwithstanding repeated applications in the 

 interval, no tidings could be gained of it, not even a single line, either from 

 the editor or any one in Mr. Murray's establishment j and in this suspense 

 he might have continued as many years longer, had not the intervention of 

 a friend personally known to Lockhart obtained the restoration of his MS, 

 accompanied, not with any explanation as to the reasons for its being re- 

 jected, or with any adequate apology, but with merely the trumpery and 

 evidently shamming excuse that it had been " laid by and forgotten"! After 

 the numerous remembrances he had had in the interim, such an excuse was 

 little short of a direct insult. 



tinued till nearly a twelvemonth before his death to give professional advice 

 in laying out grounds and gardens— those of the new cemetery at Cambridge, 

 were, we believe, the last for which he was consulted— lie did not make land- 

 scape gardening his exclusive practice for any great length of time, for about 

 1809 he took a large farm in Oxfordshire, which seems to have been a not un- 

 profitable concern, nor was it incompatible with professional engagements at 

 different 'places.' Not quite so compatible with farming pursuits was his desire 

 to visit other countries and behold their scenery, which led him to travel 

 through the North of Europe in the memorable years 1813, 1814, and 1815, 

 which he spent in Sweden, Russia, and Poland. He did not, however, pub- 

 lish any account of that residence abroad, although from his protracted stay 

 and his own habits of intelligent and close observation, he would, no doubt 

 have been able to communicate a mass of interesting information, and far 

 more trustworthy than that afforded by the herd of modern tourists. The 

 remark also applies to his travels through Italy, in 1819, and through France 

 and Germany in 1828. These different visits to the Continent probably form 

 no small portion of the seventeen volumes of Journals, which, we understand 

 he has left; yet whether they are recorded sufficiently in detail for any 

 gleanings from them to be given to the public, may be questioned. 



Most assuredly it was not aversion to literary labour which deterred him 

 from writing a narrative of his travels abroad, rather, perhaps, was he hin- 

 dered from so doing by the magnitude of other works he hail undertaken, for 

 immediately after returning from his tour, he set about compiling his 

 " Encyclopedia of Gardening," and subsequently another elaborate work, 

 the " Encyclopedia of Agriculture,'' both containing an immense mass 

 of information ; and whilst so employed he had an attack of rheumatism 

 which ultimately led to the most disastrous consequence. Being advised 

 to try the effect of shampooing, he went the following year to Brighton, 

 and submitted to that process in Mahomet's Baths ; when, in the operation, 

 his right arm was broken near the shoulder, nor did it afterwards properly 

 unite. He nevertheless continued to use his right hand for writing till 1825, 

 when, by another accident, the same arm was again broken in two places, 

 and he was obliged to have it amputated ; nor was this the full extent of the 

 calamity, for he was also obliged to lose two fingers of his only remaining 

 hand. Even in this crippled state, the energy of his mind overcame all ob- 

 stacles, nay he would seem to have been impelled by it to undertake still more 

 laborious tasks, and to engage in more than a single one at a time. Among 

 those of the last ten years of his life were his " Encyclopedia of Cottage and 

 Villa Architecture," " Suburban Gardener," "Arboretum Britannicum," and a 

 popular edition of all "Repton's works on Landscape Gardening,' 'in a closely 

 printed octavo volume, intended to be the first of a series of similar reprints 

 of other authors on the same subjects, besides the "Architectural Magazine," 

 and the " Gardener's Magazine," which last, he carried on till his death. All 

 of them may be said to have been successful : the " Encyclopaedia of Villa 

 Architecture," has already gone through two if not more editions,— yet owing 

 to the immense outlay attending it— not less than fifteen thousand pounds— the 

 " Arboretum," was so far from being a profitable concern that it has not yet 

 paid its expenses by about £2500 which yet remains to be cleared off : and this 

 and more than this, it is to be hoped, will be accomplished within a short time, 

 now that the circumstances of the case are known, for the benefit of his 

 willow and daughter. A work of that kind well merited the patronage of 

 Government, and would no doubt have obtained such patronage in any 

 country where literature and science are at all encouraged by the state. 



DAVID HAMILTON, ARCHITECT. 



" Our obituary," says the Glasgow Citizen, " contains the name of Mr. Ha- 

 milton, the eminent architect. About two years ago he had an attack of para- 

 lysis, from which he never thoroughly recovered ; and for some time past 

 he had been in a declining state of health. His death took place at two 

 o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, 5th Dec. last, to the deep regret of his nu- 

 merous friends. He was in the 76th year of his age, being born in Glasgow, 

 on 11th May, 1768. 



Mr. Hamilton's professional abilities were of the first order ; and in private 

 life he was distinguished for the singular amiability of his character, the un- 

 affected modesty of his disposition, the vivacity of his conversation, enlivened 

 as it often was with anecdotes of the olden time, and for his genuine worth of 

 heart, disinterestedness, and nice sense of honour. With the national sin of 

 " mammon worship," he was in no way tainted. Had he cared more for 

 money he must have died rich. His professional charges were considerably 

 below what his distinguished merits entitled him to claim, and his purse was 

 always open to assist the needy and unfortunate. It is doubtful whether he 

 has left an enemy behind him, or whether indeed he ever had one. Certainly, 

 few men had more attached friends or were more warm in their friendships. 

 By his professional brethren he was much esteemed : and jealousy or un- 

 worthy rivalry had, it is believed, no place in their intercourse. He has 



