3 66 Britioii's Illustrations of Toddington. 



sonably inferred that some of the best features of the building are to be 

 ascribed to him. Its vast range of buildings extends nearly 1000 feet in the 

 north front, including the mansion, orangery, and numerous offices. The 

 depth, or width, at the chapel, is 200 feet ; but in other parts about 150 feet. 

 The principal apartments, on the ground floor, are large and lofty, and com- 

 prise an exterior porch j an entrance hall, 40 by 24, and 52 feet in height ; a 

 grand staircase, 33 by 38, and 84 feet high ; a library, 51 by 26 feet ; a draiving 

 and a dining-voom, each 50 by 30 feet ; an ante-room, between these, 30 by 21 

 feet ; a conservatory, 1 08 by 20, at the ends, and 30 feet in the centre ; and a 

 chapel, with an ante-chapel, 76 by 20 feet. These communicate with several 

 other subordinate rooms, also with the domestic offices, and surround several 

 open courts. The exterior displays windows of varied forms and sizes, an 

 embattled parapet, buttresses, and pinnacles, towers, and a spire to the chapel; 

 whilst the interior is elaborately adorned with paneling, fan and other tracery 

 in the ceilings, galleries, and corridors, niches with statues, painted glass in 

 the windows, and paintings of a high class by Enghsh artists. It is built 

 mostly of the beautiful Tottenhoe stone, with Portland stone dressings. — The 

 furniture and fittings are designed to correspond with the building ; and the 

 whole, with its extensive and diversified park and venerable woods^ forms a 

 seat of real splendour and grandeur. 



" Eaton Hall, Cheshire, the gorgeous seat of the Marquess of Westminster, 

 is a large, elaborate, and costly modern Gothic mansion : it was commenced 

 in 1803 and finished in 1825. Its architect was William Porden, Esq.; who 

 being provided with ample funds by the wealthy proprietor, and being am- 

 bitious to surpass in richness of detail the famed works of his contemporary 

 and rival, Mr. Wyatt, adopted the florid ecclesiastical style and ornaments of 

 the fourteenth century, when ambitious prelates, abbots, and monarchs, erected 

 some of those elegant churches, towers, &c., which still remain to ornament 

 and enrich the country. Not duly considering the unfitness of this elaborate 

 and highly wrought architecture to the wear and tear, and every-day occu- 

 pancy, of a dwelling-house, the architect has produced, both externally and 

 internally, more the appearance of a church or chapel, than of a house for the 

 abode of a family with numerous servants. It is overcharged with ornament ; 

 it appears too light, thin, and fragile. This is more palpable in the window- 

 frames than in other parts. Messrs. Buckler, father and son, the skilful 

 artists, have published an interesting volume illustrative of this mansion, with 

 ground plan, and views of its exterior and interior, with a concise descriptive 

 account. 



" The late John Nash, Esq. designed and erected several houses in Wales, 

 Shropshire, Herefordshire, and other parts of England, in what he called the 

 Gothic style ; but it is to be regretted that there is very little to praise, or 

 even approve, in any of those works. In altering Corshavi House, Wiltshire, 

 he expended a large sum of money, and made great changes to a fine old 

 mansion. In this, however, he not only showed a lamentable want of taste, 

 but an equal lack of good sense and discretion. In the forms, character, and 

 adaptation of the whole design, there was not the least attempt to assimilate 

 them to the south front, which was a fine old elevation, and which was and is 

 preserved in its pristine simplicity and harmony of character. I am aware that 

 the late Mr. Repton claimed this design as having been made by his son, Mr. 

 John Adey Repton, who was at the time engaged in Mr. Nash's office. 



" Downton Castle, Herefordshire, built by the learned R. Payne Knight, Esq., 

 author of the interesting work on ' The Principles of Taste,' is certainly not 

 calculated to reflect much credit either on his own taste in architecture, or 

 sound judgment in such subjects. Large, round, and octagonal towers, with 

 thin and poor machicolated and embattled parapets, are the only features of 

 the castle ; but these seem rather to belong to the scenes of a theatre than to 

 a baronial fortress. Its sash windows are still further out of character. About 

 the time this castle was building, or soon afterwards, R. P. Knight, Uvedale 

 Price, and Humphrey Repton, Esqrs,, were warmly contesting, in different 



