AN 
INQUIRY, &c. 
In obedience to the Royal Commands, “ That I should deliver my 
“ OPINION CONCERNING WHAT STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE WOULD BE MOST 
“ suitable for the Pavillon,” the following Inquiry into the Changes 
which Architecture has undergone in this Country, will not, I hope, be 
found irrelevant. 
Architecture has been classed under two general characters, Gothic 
and Grecian : d these have been jointly and separately discussed and ex- 
plained in volumes without number; yet these discussions have furnished 
no fixed standard for determining the question, of, which Style is most 
applicable to a Palace? for such must always be the Residence of Royalty, 
whether it be large or small, and wherever it be situated. 
Until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the large buildings in this country 
had either been castles for security, or colleges and religious retreats; 
many of these had been converted into palaces, or altered to adapt them 
to Royal residences, by such changes in their original forms, as at length 
introduced that mixed character, called Queen Elizabeth’s, or House 
Gothic; which is in reality the only Gothic Style that can be made per- 
fectly characteristic of a Palace. This assertion is confirmed by the 
numerous attempts to revive the Gothic Style in modern-built houses, 
which evidently shew how inapplicable are these ancient models for the 
present purposes of habitation. 
d The Grecian Style was introduced by Inigo Jones, under the auspices of his Royal Master, James the 
First. 
