IX 



of the Roman triumphal archway. The screen opposite leading into 

 Hyde Park, though showing quite as much elegance, is more original, 

 and like some of the park lodges which he erected at the same time, 

 evinces a mastery of the elements of design in the classical styles that 

 has rarely been surpassed. 



Shortly after this (1827) the Atheneeum Club was erected from his 

 designs, and this, considering that it was one of the first of its class, 

 and that a very small sum only was placed at his disposal, may be 

 considered as one of his most successful works. The entrance hall 

 and staircase are not surpassed for dignity of design by anything in 

 any club in London, and the drawing-room, both in its proportions 

 and details, is one of the most beautiful rooms, of its class, anywhere 

 to be seen. 



Before these works were completed he received a retainer from 

 Mr. James Ward to lay out and design the villas and buildings of 

 Caiverley Park, Tunbridge Wells. This occupied his time almost 

 entirely for the next few years, and after that he seems to have been 

 no longer ambitious of public employment, but to have been content 

 with the practice of his profession among a numerous body of con- 

 stituents who kept him fully and profitably employed in a far more 

 agreeable manner than in the struggle for what are considered the 

 great prizes of the profession. All his works consequently in which 

 the public feel much interest were erected daring the first ten years 

 of his professional career. During the remaining forty, till his retire- 

 ment in 1869, he erected and altered innumerable houses, and espe- 

 cially horticultural edifices for the Dukes of Devonshire and Northum- 

 berland, and other noblemen and gentlemen, by all of whom he was 

 treated more as a friend than as a professional adviser. The extreme 

 amiability of his character, and his thoroughly gentlemanly conduct 

 in all his business arrangements, endeared him to all with whom he 

 came in contact. He v> lected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 

 1832. 



In no instance was Mr. Burton ever suspected of sacrificing the 

 interest of a client for his own glorification, or for the indulgence of 

 his own individual fancies. Having placed at his client's disposal all the 

 resources of his long experience, and sound practical sense, and good 

 taste, he set at once loyally to carry out the wishes of his employer 

 with an amount of self -negation rare in the profession. Few men 

 have consequently gone through a long professional career witb a 

 more numerous body of friends and fewer enemies. 



Though declining to compete for any of the great works at the dis- 

 posal of Government, Mr. Burton never ceased to be connected with 

 Her Majesty's Board of Works. All the buildings in Kew Gardens 

 were erected from his designs and under his superintendence. So 

 were those in the Phoenix Park, Dublin ; and the Embassy in Paris 



