Miscellanies, 169 



to a botanic garden, which is designed to combine ornament with sci- 

 entific utility. The remainder of the enclosure is laid out and plant- 

 ed with a view to picturesque embellishment, and with particular ref- 

 erence to the favorable display of the venerable remains of antiquity 

 which adorn and consecrate the ground. 



The front of the museum extends one hundred and two feet, and 

 was designed by Wm. Wilkins, Esq. R. A. In the centre is a por- 

 tico of four Grecian Doric columns, (three feet six inches in diameter 

 and twenty one feet six inches high,) extending thirty five feet and 

 projecting ten feet, with bold steps all round it. The space on each 

 side of the portico, which is terminated by an antae pilaster, has three 

 windows, ornamented by suitable architraves. A bold massive Gre- 

 cian pediment is supported by the columns, and the entablature con- 

 tinues the whole length of the front, and returns round the ends of 

 this building, which is about twenty four feet wide. These ends 

 have an antae pilaster at each angle, supporting a massive architec- 

 tural screen to the roof, imitated from the choragic monument of 

 Thrasyllus at Athens. The whole of this building is faced with 

 Hackness stone, from the quarries of Sir J. V. B. Johnstone, Bart., 

 the gift of the munificent proprietor, and also the sides of the back 

 buildings which are lower than the front. 



From the portico, the entrance into the building is by spacious 

 folding doors, with a light over them, resembling that over the door 

 of the Pantheon at Rome. 



The internal arrangements were principally founded on a design 

 made by Mr. Sharp in 1825, and subsequently much enlarged and 

 improved. The hall is twenty nine feet six inches by eighteen feet 

 six inches. The floor is formed of scagliola plaster, by Mr. Ellison, 

 in imitation of porphyry. The walls resemble stone ; and the ceil- 

 ing being divided into bold panels, gives the whole a very massive 

 and suitable effect. On the right of the hall is the library, thirty one 

 feet nine inches by eighteen feet six inches : here the books and mis- 

 cellaneous antiquities belonging to the society are deposited. A door 

 on the left of the library leads to the staircase and council-room. Di- 

 rectly opposite the front door, corresponding folding doors lead into 

 the theatre or lecture-room, thirty five feet by forty four feet. This 

 beautiful room is ornamented by six Corinthian columns and four pi- 

 lasters, supporting beams enriched by guilloche ornaments, dividing 

 the ceiling into four principal compartments, in each of which are 

 two rows of deep caisons : those of the two middle divisions are fill-' 



Vol, XXL— No, L 22 



