184 



THE CIA'IL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June, 



curiosities which it is curious that any man of sense should think of 

 giving house-room to, except in a lumber garret. Returning into the 

 little passage, p, we advance to the right and turn into the gallery, 

 which certainly comes upon us quite unexpectedly, and is all the more 

 striking by contrast with what has just been passed through. So far 

 this is exceedingly well contrived, though the credit of it ought 

 rather, perhaps, to be attributed to accident and necessity : here we 

 have not the anticlimax of a spacious gallery, presenting itself to view 

 before any of the other rooTis, and thereby causing them to disappoint 

 us, as not keeping the premise made by the approach to them. Here 

 the fault lies rather on the quite contrary side, there being no tole- 

 rably decent approach to the gallery itself, which cannot be reached 

 at all, except through a very confined and poking passage, that has a 

 sort of suspicious look about it, for it looks as if it led to some very 

 private closet to be visited only on occasions of necessity. We should 

 therefore like to be allovped to poke about and pull about here a 

 iittle — to widen it by taking about three feet out of the adjoining 

 chamber, and extend it by taking in the space marked r in the plan, 

 aad converting that addition into a shrine-like recess, viewed through 

 an open arch or screen where the window now is, and lighted above 

 through a concealed window of merely coloured or Claude-tinted 

 glass, so as to diffuse a rich mellowing glow over the whole recess, 

 which would thus become a miniature cabinet, wherein many articles 

 of r'irlii might not only be deposited but displaved to very great 

 etfect. What is now a very awkward and paltry passage, considering 

 where it leads to, might thus easily be rendered a very striking 

 passage — an attractive episode in the general architectural composition 

 and plan — a highly pictorial bit, because at all events there would be 

 a powerful effect of concentrated light opposed to the dim obscurity of 

 the rest. On entering such architectural corridor, we should behold a 

 picture before us, inviting onwards, and distinctly enough announcing 

 that we might expect something of more or less importance beyond it. 

 Neither would such corridor or lesser gallery at all interfere with or 

 diminish the impression made on first entering the larger gallery. On 

 the contrary, there would still be quite enough of contrast, without 

 any of that harsh and offensive discord that now rather disturbs our 

 impressions, the plan being now completely dislocated, as it were, and 

 its parts scattered from each other, without any proper connecting 

 links, uniting them into one series. Were our pen a magician's wandi 

 we should here work many transformations with it. 



The Gallery, sometimes called, we know not why, the Great Gallery, 

 there being no other, and its dimensions being only 56 by 15 ft., and 

 19 high, does certainly take us by surprise, and may be called spa- 

 cious, in comparison with those parts of the house which precede it. 

 It certainly manifests considerable improvement in Walpole's interior 

 architecture. ]ts groined ceiling, in imitation of that of the side- 

 aisles of Henry's VIl's chapel, and of which the mouldings are gilt, 

 gives a certain air of richness to the whole apartment; but most 

 unfortunately, and perversely also, it is greatly marred by the five 

 * pendant and projecting canopies to the compartments and recesses on 

 the side facing the windows, while there are no corresponding ones on 

 the other, though they might there have had window draperies 

 attached to them. Thus, instead of that degree of symmetry being 

 attempted to be kept up between the opposite sides which is looked 

 for almost as a matter of course in a gallery, it is here altogether 

 destroyed, a defect that most assuredly is not at all helped by the 

 extreme shallowness of the windows, which, instead of forming em- 

 brasures, are merely let into the wall a few inches deep, and conse- 

 quently contrast very offensively with the recesses on the opposite wall. 

 Therefore, taking our wand, we should take the liberty of transforming 

 these into semi-hexagonal bays, of the same size as the larger recesses, 

 or if not all five, at least the three middle ones. This would certainly be 

 an improvement internally, and externally the throwing out such bays 

 could not be an alteration for the worse, the outside of the building 

 being already so detestably bad, that making it worse is almost next 

 to an impossibility. We would also conjure up a door, or rather the 

 vision of one, at the east end of the gallery ; that is, a sham door with 

 panels filled with looking-glass, so as to give an appearance of greater 



extent, and form a feature at that end of the room corresponding with 

 the door at the other, but would have both in better design and taste 

 than the present one. In fact, nearly all the present fittings-up 

 requires correction, and to be brought into harmony, for want of which 

 there is now too much of the "scrap-book" character. 



Lady Morgan speaks of the " Round Room which leads to the 

 sanctum sanctomm of the edifice, the Tribune," but, as the plan very 

 plainly shows, there is no such room between the Tribune (G) and the 

 Gallery ; and the Round Drawing-room (F) leads nowhere. This last 

 is to us by far the most pleasing and unexceptionable room in the 

 whole house : it has an air of simple elegance, comfort, and cheerful- 

 ness, with a quiet effect of light and shade. Yet even here there is 

 one very sad fault — capable, however, of being easily corrected — 

 namely, the pointed-arch door. Not only is such form inconvenient 

 for room doors, but here more especially, because upon a curved sur- 

 face ; and so far from such acute form being required in order to accord 

 with the rest of the design, it is positively at variance with it, the bay 

 window not being arched at all, and the ceiling being jlat; and as if 

 with the intention of adding inconsistency to inconsistency, this door 

 is painted white, with trumpery gilt mouldings. A white door is, as 

 Goethe says, at the best a solecism in taste ; but in Gothic, or any 

 style of old English architecture, quite intolerable, and one would as 

 soon think of painting a fine timber open roof of that colour. In con- 

 sequence of its being so painted, the door here produces a glaring 

 spot, and the ugliness of its design is rendered all the more conspicuous. 



As we do not pretend to speak of the contents of any of the rooms, 

 of the Tribune we shall say very little. It is far better in its plan and 

 general form as to section, than in its details and the style of its fittings- 

 up. As to the north or great Bedchamber (H), there is notliing in it 

 that calls for architectural remark at all. One thing, however, to 

 which we would call attention, as a happy point or accident in the 

 plan, is the vista obtained from the same spot at the upper end of the 

 gallery — northwards into the Tribune, and in the other direction into 

 the Drawing-room and its bay. Thus that room, the Tribune, and 

 the Gallery itself, form a charming and pleasingly diversifieil archi- 

 tectural group ; one so fraught with scenic effect, that, however much 

 there may be to condemn elsewhere, there here is something worth 

 studying at Strawberry. Therefore, ere we cool upon this compliment, 

 we will dismiss our pen at once — as, in fact, it is time to do; merely 

 adding, by way of epilogue or moral, that there is a far greater 

 curiosity than any in the whole collection, or than the whole collection 

 itself, namely, the highly curious circumstance, that after being assem- 

 bled by one W, it should be scattered by another W ; and that it should 

 have passed from the witty, n>/«-loving Walpole to the witless and 

 vulgar-minded Waldegrave. 



References to Plan. 



A, Armoury. I, Beauclerk closet. 



B, Library, over Dining-room. K, Breakfast room. 



C, Star room. L, Blue closet. 



D, Holbein chamber. M, Bedchamber. 



E, Gallery, over Great Cloister. N, Ditto. 



F, Round Drawing-room, -2 ft. e, Entrance, pn the ground floor 



diameter. plan. 



G, Tribune. p, Passage. 

 H, Great or north Bedchamber. 



ARTESiA>f Well in London.- -The sinking of the Artesian well in Picca- 

 dilly has, we believe, been attended with the most perfect success, and there 

 is now every probability of an inexhaustible supply of the purest water. 

 After boring to a depth of 240 feet water was arrived at, which immediately 

 rose to within 80 feet from the surface. Over the well a handsome iron 

 pump is in progress of erection, and the inhabitants may now reckon 

 upon a certain and plentiful supply of line spring water. The expense of this 

 useful work is estimated at COO/. Such has been the success of the under- 

 taking, and so many the advantages, that it is said to be in contemplation to 

 carry out the plan in St. George's parish, by causing Artesian wells to be 

 sunk in different localities, best calculated to contribute to the convenience 

 of the parishioners. 



