1904.) 
relic connected with remarkable events, or 
with the hiftory and manners of paft times, 
exerts a powerful influence upon our minds, 
which, by a law of our nature, is ufually of 
the agreeable kind: the fecond is that of 
novelty, by which we take delight in ob- 
jects become uncommon, and which are 
frequently grand from their mafs, or 
beautiful from their form. With refpect 
to the firft of thefe, it is obvious, that 
when the fuppofed relics are detected to be 
fictitious, an oppofite fenfation of difap- 
pointment and difgut will immediately 
arife; and in proportion to the fuccefs of 
the attempt to deceive us, we fhall feel 
vexation at the miftake into which it hase 
fed us. As to the objects themfelyes, 
confidered as addreffed to the eye, no ad- 
vantage is gained by their being prefented 
in a ruined ftate. uin, of itfelf, is de- 
formity., Whatfoever beauty there is in 
regularity and proportion, in the percep- 
tion of human {kill and power applied to 
accomplifh its purpofe and bring its plans 
to perfection, it is impaired by dilapida- 
tion and decay. Who would think a ve- 
nerable Gothic cathedral, or a palace of 
Grecian architecture, improved by under- 
going the ravages of an earthquake, or 
mouldering in fqualid negle&? We view 
with admiration the ruins of a Palmyra 
and Balbec, becaule no entire monuments 
of equal curiofiy and magnificence fub- 
fift; but we fhould admire them much 
more if preferved in their priftine flate, 
and fhould think it a duty to defend them 
againft the hand of violation. 
I have been led into this train of re- 
flexion, Mr. Editor, by lately viewing, 
what indeed prefents the very caricature 
ef ruin-building, KiNG’s-GaTE, in’ the 
Ifle of Thanet. All your readers who 
have been vifitors of Margate or Ramf{- 
gate, donbtlefs know that this feat of 
Lord Holland confilts of a main building 
of pure and fimple Grecian architeéture, 
placed in a little hollow, clofe to the fea 
fhore, and furrounded with a multitude of 
moi grotefque edifices, reprefenting halt 
ruined convents, caftles, towers, &c. {cat- 
tered over a tract as bleak and naked as 
the fancy canconceive. A ftranger com- 
ing upon the {pet would wonder what 
could poffibly have brought together fuch 
a groupe of ftrange and difcordant ftruc- 
tures in fuch a place, and he would foon 
be convinced that nothing but the hand of 
tafle could have performed fuch a feat. 
The counterfeit is apparent from the mi- 
Nutene’s and oddity of feveral of the 
buildings, which could never have ferved 
Striftures on Ruins—King/eate Counterfeit. 
4 
287 
any real purpofe ; and from the regularity 
of dilapidation vifible in the larger ones, 
which manifeltly fhew that they were 
brought to fuch a ftate by the mafon’s 
trowel, and not by the giant mace of © 
tme. ‘That the correct and claffic Gray 
fhould make this place an objeé& of his 
farcafm is not furprizing, and the follows 
ing verfes paint its appropriate colours, 
‘Here reign the bluftring North and biafting 
Batt, 
No tree is heard to whifper, bird to fing: 
Yet Nature could noc furnifh out the featt, 
Art he invokes new terrors {till to bring. 
Now mouldering fanes and battlements arife, 
Turrets and arches nodding to their fall, 
Unpeopled monaft’ries delude our eyes, 
And mimic defolation covers all. 
Party-rancour, however, muft have joined 
with offended talfte in pointing the fing 
of this lampoon; for Lord Holland, though 
a corrupt itatefman, was by no means @ 
ftera and hard-hearted man. On the con- 
trary, he 3s {aid to have pofeiled a large 
portion of that milk of human kindnefs 
by which his illufrious fon is fo much 
diftinguified. Falfe tafte, and the wan- 
tonnefs of wealth, are therefore alone te 
be charged with this collection of abfur- 
dity. J was forcibly imprefled with the 
idea of what might have been done by a 
more rational employment of all the cof 
and labour expended upon thefe works. 
Nat to {peak of objects of mere utility, 
what a fine fite this frontier of the iflind 
would have been for fome grand monu- 
ment commemorating the national glory, 
or the noble exploits of diflinguifned indi- 
viduals? “There is, indeed, one monu- 
mental column, infcribed to ALDERMAN 
HaRLEY! with the Horatian motto, 
Juftum & tenacem propofiti virum 
Won civium ardor prava Jubentium 
Mente quatit folida : 
a compliment he merited by hia-patriotic 
preference of the folid friendfhip of a mi. 
nilter, to the empty breath of popular ap- 
plaufe—a worthy teflimony from a. pay- 
matter to a contracior! 
The puerilitics of Kingfgate are ftrik- 
ingly contrafted by an edifice which over- 
looks them, the lofry and well-propor- 
tioned tower of the North-Foreland light- 
houfe, in which utility combines with 
grandeur, fo as to give equal fatisfaétion 
to the eye and the underftanding. Upon 
its fummit I ftaod a confider:ble time, 
furveying the coaits of the (wo rival coun- 
tries, 
