By the Rev. Canon J. B. Jackson, F.S.A. 25 



Selvatico, nothing is known, either as to his having- been an architect, 

 or of his having visited England, or his knowledge of music, a chief 

 service for which, according to the letters patent, our " John de 

 Padua " was paid. 



Our choice, then, seems rather to lie between the other two persons 

 of the same name and family : John Padovani, of Verona, the maker 

 of sun-dials, &c, and player on the organ ; but of whose skill in 

 architecture we know nothing : and John Maria Padovani, of Venice, 

 who was architect enough to embellish with sculptured ornaments, 

 and probably to build a royal mausoleum in Poland : and who was 

 a very celebrated musical composer, especially of f ' ballate " and 

 entertainments of a lighter sort, suited to amuse a court. 



The reader is at full liberty to choose which of the two he thinks 

 the more likely to have been our " John of Padua/' He will, perhaps, 

 be glad to shelter himself under Mr. Dames Barrington's opinion : 

 viz., " That John of Padua had most likely come from Italy as a 

 performer on some instrument, and by accident only was employed 

 by Henry VIII. as an architect." 



II. — The Second point I proposed to deal with in this paper was, 

 What probability is there that John of Padua — and this applies to 

 either of the two Padovani above named — had anything to do with 

 the building of Longleat ? 



" Longleat " [says Mr. Digby Wyatt *] " scarcely answers one's 

 expectation o£ what a regularly-educated Italian architect's work was 

 likely to have been/' But this may easily be explained. Longleat 

 was commenced just at the time when Classical feelings began to 

 revive in England. English architects went to Italy to study 

 Classical style : and Longleat appears to be one of the earliest, if 

 not the very earliest, example of a house designed, either by an 

 Italian desirous of combining Italian with English, or, vice versa, 

 an Englishman combining English with Italian, architecture. The 

 large windows of many lights, with mullions and transoms, cannot 

 be called Italian, being very rarely to be met with there : whilst, on 



1 In page 234 of the " Essay, &c," above referred to. 



