CHISWIGK HOUSE 



its grammar. These rules he can only have studied in Italy, under 

 the guidance of Lord Burlington, who, passionately enamoured of the 

 Palladian, or later Renaissance style, desired above all things to popu- 

 larize it in this country. To this end he trained Kent in his own 

 views, and collected and published at his own expense all the draw- 

 ings by Palladio, Inigo Jones, and others, that he could get hold of. 

 Lord Burlington's building plans had time to mature between 

 the date of his introduction to Kent and the erection of the Chiswick 

 Villa. During that period he expended time and money in re- 

 constructing Burlington House, Piccadilly. When at last, about 

 1730, he began to carry out his cherished schemes at Chiswick, 

 he did not start by the total demolition of the original Jacobean 

 mansion, but retained a part of it as a residence. Had comfort 

 and convenience been his first consideration, the earl would have 

 contented himself with restoring, and perhaps enlarging it, to 

 receive his collections ; but the Italian villa was, at the outset, 

 intended for a museum in which to enshrine and display the precious 

 works of art that he had lovingly collected ; and devoted as he 

 was to the style of the late Renaissance, he determined to satisfy 

 his own taste by following it in the construction of the new build- 

 ing. The result was that Gay's line in his " Trivia," on " How 

 to walk the Streets of London " 



" Beauty within, without proportion reigns " 



was equally applicable to Chiswick House and to Burlington 

 House. The central portion of the villa, for which the Earl was 

 responsible comprising the portico and principal saloon, are, 

 indeed, of splendid " proportion," and they remain in their pristine 

 condition ; fortunately the two wings since added by the architect 

 Wyatt, are completely in harmony with it. The house was origin- 

 ally built more to be looked at than to be lived in ; therefore the 

 famous gibe of Lord Hervey, Vice-Chamberlain to George II., 

 to the effect that " the Earl of Burlington had built a house too 

 small to live in, and too great to hang on one's watch-chain " 

 a witticism suggested by the eighteenth century beau's fob and 

 heavy seals, lost its point. The laugh was on the side of the Earl, 

 not of the courtier, when a member of a distinguished party of 

 visitors to the villa in 1732, reported that " both within and without 

 it is a fine bijou, and much beyond anything I have seen in my life." 



163 II* 



