CHISWICK 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 IL., 
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 r1* 
