A R C H I T 
TttVnated, as will frequently happen in times of public en¬ 
tertainment, fuch as birth-day balls, mafquerades, routs, 
or otlier rejoicings. There fhonld indeed be contrived, in 
the angles of the building, windows fo fituated, as diredlly 
to face the line of doors of communication, that fo the 
view from end to end of every (cries of apartments may 
be frill more extended, by taking in at once, not only the 
rooms, but likewife fuch parts of the gardens, lawns, or 
other profpedts, as enrich the feite of the building. When 
■windows cannot be thus contrived, it is advifeable to place 
mirrors to terminate the view, at the end of each profpedt 
through the line of doors ; or elfe to erefl blind or coun¬ 
terfeit doors, and fill them with large plates of glafs, 
or with failles and fquares of looking-glafs, which by re¬ 
flection multiplies the number of objects, and makes a 
fuite of apartments, though limited or final}, appear to 
confiderable advantage. 
We will now fuppofe it were the wifii of any gentleman 
to eredt a manfion-houfe upon this plan, but in a more Am¬ 
plified and lefs expenfive (tyle ; for this purpofe it will only 
require to omit the colonades, the internal and external en¬ 
richments, the coved ceilings, the circular drawing-room 
and dome, the niches, fbtues, and vafes; by which feve- 
ral thoufand pounds would be faved, and yet a noble man¬ 
fion-houfe might be ered'ted, equally extenfive and com¬ 
modious, and with more accommodations in the attic (lory. 
Should a (fill lefs expenfive edifice be required, but yet 
upon a grand fcale, it is only to contract the plan, by re¬ 
ducing the fize of the hall and (taircafe, and all the fur¬ 
rounding apartments, to any dimenfions that might be 
deemed adequate to the purpofes of the family intending 
to occupy the premifes, and a further very confiderable 
faving would be made, and yet the fame number of rooms 
and the fame conveniences would ftill be retained. Again, 
fuppofe a country-houfe or villa were defired, upon a re- 
fpeCtable but economical plan, requiring accommodations 
and apartments to be erefted, nearly fimilar to the above; 
it would then only be neceffary to omit the arcades in the 
bafement flory, to clofe all the apertures horizontally, to 
contract the whole quadrangle of the building by omitting 
the central apartments, and narrowing the hall and flair- 
cafe, whereby four excellent rooms would be contained in 
the principal flory, to anfwer all the requifites of a common 
breakfaft or fitting room, a large dining-parlour, an ele¬ 
gant withdrawing-room, and a commodious library or flu- 
dv; an apartment that fliould be infeparable from every 
country refidence. The bafement flory would flill be am¬ 
ple for all the family offices, and the attic flory might fur- 
nifli fix capital bed-rooms. A coach-houfe and flables, 
throughout all the gradations of this plan, with fuitable 
lodging-rooms for fervants of that clafs, are fuppofed to 
ftand at a diflance from the manfion, partially obicured by 
plantations and (hrubberies. 
But fuppofe it be required to adapt this plan to a noble¬ 
man’s family, or any other confiding of a large retinue ; 
all that is requifite will be, to retain the original extent of 
the ftruclure, either with, or without, the colonades, and 
other embellilhments, as fancy or inclination might dic¬ 
tate, and to add detached wings to the principal front. By 
this means the bafement flory might furnilh feveral addi¬ 
tional apartments, for the accommodation and convenience 
of the principals in the family ; becaufe the kitchen and 
all the culinary offices would be removed into one of the 
detached wings, whilft the laundry and other domeftic 
conveniences might occupy the other ; and both would 
contribute to fupply lodging-rooms for all the upper and 
inferior orders of fervants, as well as for flrangers and 
tradefmen coming occalionally on bufinefs. And fliould it 
happen, as it frequently does, in buildings of this magni¬ 
tude, or rather, for the accommodation of the noble foun¬ 
der thereof, that a private chapel is required, it would then 
add confiderable magnificence and grandeur to the fabric, 
if detached wings were likewife added to the fouth front, 
facing the pleafure-grounds and lawn ; in one of which a 
very elegant and commodious chapel might be erefted, 
E C T U R E. ns 
and in the other a billiard-room, by way of affording exer- 
cife and amufement to the family in wet and dreary wea¬ 
ther, when excurfions abroad cannot fo well be taken, par¬ 
ticularly by tire ladies. A communication with each of 
thefe wings from the four angles of the manfion-houfe,- 
ought to be by colonades, of fitch extent and altitude as 
as the architect and proprietor of the building ffiall deem 
requifite. The mode of adding thefe communicatiens are 
fet oft upon each angle in the plan ; and the whole defign 
of fuch a ftrufture complete might be feen in the fuperb 
work of the ingenious Mr. Paine, who intended it for the 
fear of the right honourable lord Scarfdale, in the county 
of Derby. 
To the fame eminent architect we are indebted for the 
annexed Plates of a Plan and Elevation of a Chapel, de- 
figned for the private life of a nobleman or gentleman, 
either in a detached wing, as recommended above, or in a 
diftinft building; and it may be fuited to the purpofes of 
any individual in London, Bath, Briftol, or elfewhere, who 
may have it in contemplation to eredt a private chapel in 
an elegant ftyle by fubfeription. We have added thefe 
plans and elevations purpofely to illuftrate and embellifh 
the practical part of modern architecture, the rapid pro- 
grefs of which, in this kingdom, only within the laft fifty 
years, is perhaps without example in any age or country 
(ince the Romans. It is not Only the magnificent ftruc- 
tures of London and Bath that excite our admiration, but 
the vaft number of elegant feats and villas erected in every 
part of the country by the nobility and gentry ; than which 
nothing can more clearly manifeft the refined tafte, good 
fenfe, and opulence, of a people, nor beget in the minds 
of foreigners and flrangers a deeper fenle of veneration 
and regard for the national character. 
The greateft ornaments, and completed models, of mo¬ 
dern architecture in Great Britain, or perhaps in Europe, 
are generally admitted to be, Somerfet-place in the Strand, 
and St. Paul’s cathedral; and, as they might juftly be con- 
fidered national fpecimens of the “ fublime and beautiful 
in building,” we think it incumbent upon us to deferibe 
them here. 
Somcrfet-place is ereited on the feite of old Somerfet- 
houfe, on the banks of the Thames. The front towards 
the Strand is but little more than one hundred and thirty 
feet long ; and all that an architect could do in fo fmall a 
compafs, and all that he feems to have wiffied, was to pro¬ 
duce an objeCt that fliould indicate fomething more confi¬ 
derable within, and excite the fpectator’s curiofity to a 
nearer examination of the whole fabric, of which this is 
only one external part. His ftyle, in confequence, is bold, 
fimple, and regular. It is an attempt to unite the chaftity 
and order of the Venetian matters with the majeflic gran¬ 
deur of the Roman. The parts are few, large, and diftinCt: 
the traniitions hidden, and flrongly marked. No breaks 
are feen in the general courfe of the plan, and little move¬ 
ment in the outline of the elevation ; whence the whole 
ftruCture has acquired an air of confequence, which few 
artifts, in fo narrow a limit, would have given it. This 
front confifts of a ruftic bafement, fupporting columns of 
the Corinthian order, crowned in the centre with an attic, 
and at the extremities with a balluftrade. The bafement 
is compofed of nine large arches, tire three centre ones of 
which, being open, form the principal entrance ; the others 
are filled with Doric windows, ornamented with pilafiers, 
entablatures, and pediments. The key-ftones of the arches- 
are adorned with nine mafks or heads, finely carved in alto 
relievo, deferiptive of the ocean, and the following prin¬ 
cipal rivers of England; Thames, Severn, Humber, Mer- 
fey, Tyne, Medway, Dee, and Tweed ; and to thefe mafks 
are added various emblematical devices, denoting the re- 
fpedtive properties and peculiarities of each ; and, as they 
are executed with much tafte and (kill, they merit a parti¬ 
cular defeription. 
Ocean is placed in the centre, and is reprefented by the 
venerable head of an old man, whofe flowing beard re- 
fembles waves, which are filled with various kinds of fifli. 
A 
