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bute this bust at least, to Fanelli, because there are two more in Westminster Abbey which are acknowledged to be of his hand; one of Sir Robert Acton, and the other of Sir Robert Stapylton *.-Two other foreign artists, Francis Anguier, and Ambrose Du Val, obtained likewise (according to D'Argenville) great patronage and credit in England, which they are said to have quitted upon the breaking out of the civil wart.

In the Cathedral at Gloucester is the tomb of Aiderman Blackleach and his wife, in white marble, upon a slab of touch-stone, the figures of which are portraits, scrupulously copied from Vandyck, and very finely finished. At Campden, in that county, are others of similar execution, of Sir Baptist Hickes, and a bust of Lady Penelope Noel. The style of all these is better than any work of N. Stone; and there is reason to suspect that the large sums he received for contracts, of which he has left memoranda, afford no good proof that he was the sculptor of the figures and the superior parts. I am aware that he contracted for the Villiers' monuments, above described, according to his

notes; but he was the contractor only-perhaps the architect; and I am led to this conclusion from the extreme inequality of his known works‡, and that he was ready to avail himself of the aid of these foreigners.

As a general point of discrimination in the monuments which are dated in the early part of the reign. of Charles I. we may notice the universal prevalence of the large table tomb, upon which one or two figures are extended, with the armorial crest carved and placed at the feet. Attached to the sides of the table, are sometimes kneeling effigies of the children, smaller than life, and at the end two large escocheons, containing all the quarterings belonging both to the man and wife. This was an age of great heraldic exactness. Ecclesiastics are usually represented in their canonical habit; and, when not recumbent, as kneeling before an open book, placed upon a desk §. The canopy and arcade were no longer retained. I must not omit to mention a sitting figure in a Roman military costume, upon a circular altar, erected for Francis Holles, a young officer, in Westminster Abbey. The

* These are in a truly classical style, and worthy of the best sculptor of the cinque cento Italian school. Busts were first attached to sepulchral monuments in the early part of the seventeenth century.

Francis Anguier visited Italy; and, upon his return to France, was patronized by Louis XIII. He was employed for many fine sepulchral monuments, among which was that of the last Duke of Montmorency at Molins (1658.) The kneeling figure of the President De Thou, now in the Musée des Monumens Franc. at Paris, is his work. D'Argenville, tom. ii. p. 171.

Ambrose Du Val spent the early part of his life in England, where he was much employed by the Court. He returned to France, being strongly solicited by the Minister Colbert. Le Noir, Monum. Franc. tom. iii. and v.

A greater contrast cannot be seen in the works of any sculptor than in the figure of Lord Dorchester in Westminster Abbey, and of the two sons of Sir T. Lyttelton in the chapel of Magdalene Coll. Oxford. It appears to be impossible that they should have been the work of the same man, yet both are noted down in his book. Yet he, or the sculptor he employed, sometimes deviated into fancy. At Barking, in Essex, Sir Charles Montagu, in a basso-relievo, is represented as sitting in his tent, with his elbow reclining on a desk, on which are his helmet and gauntlets. Two centinels guard the door, and a page holds his horse! At Tavistock, Devon, is the monument of Henry Bourchier, the last Earl of Bath, a sarcophagus supported by four wolves.

Dean Nicholas Wootton at Canterbury. Bishop Bickley, at Chichester.Other examples are very frequent. The monuments of ecclesiastical persons had often a more immediate and striking reference to the semblance of mortality., Dr. Donne (the Satirist Dean) was represented in his winding-sheet, and standing upon an urn carved in white marble, by N. Stone. This monument was destroyed with old St. Paul's Church (see Dugdale); but the figure is still preserved. Skulls and bones were sometimes given in bas-relief, upon the sides of the tomb which supported the figure in full canonicals.

§ This idea was taken from that above mentioned, of the attitude in which Elizabeth Russel is placed. It is repeated at Ross, in Herefordshire, in a military figure of one of the Rudhall family.

singularly

singularly good effect is produced by its being entirely insulated, and without accompaniment.

AtIver*, in Bucks, is a female figure in a shroud, rising from a coffin, intended for Lady Salter, who died in this reign, which is attributed to Stone. He owed the idea (originally French, and which has been since repeated) to one of his foreign assistants. EDWARD and JOSHUA MARSHALL Succeeded him t.

At this period, BERNINI was rising into fame. We have in England one monument only finished by him, of Jane Lady Cheney, in the Church at Chelsea. It is, in respect of design and workmanship, by no means superior to those by resident artists. But his manner, which I shall describe in the progress of this inquiry, having been adopted in France, had a prevailing influence in England during the last century. Before Bernini, two kinds of sepulchral monuments were prevalent in France; the sarcophagus, not formed upon the model, but merely adopting the idea of the antique, with its sides sculptured in bas relief, or with the figure, in repose, upon its top t. M. Angelo first added, to the representation of the individual, others, to demonstrate by allegory, his moral virtues .

Cromwell gave no encouragement to artists of any kind, excepting to Simon, who engraved his money; and Walker, who painted his portrait. No monument of any consequence, as a work of art, was erected during his government of these realms. [To be continued.]

Mr. URBAN,
May 4.
HE Village of Esher, and its
Princely Palace, having from

a late melancholy circumstance, be

come peculiarly memorable; I believe the following short extracts from the elegant "Relique" noticed in your Review, p. 342, may be acceptable to many of your Readers.

"Esher is a small village, 16 miles from Westminster-bridge, on the road from Kingston to Portsmouth; from Kingston, it is about four miles it adjoins to Thames Ditton, on the East; to Cobham, on the West; to the river Mole, on the North and North-west, and to Stoke Davernon, on the South. The Church stands on a small knoll in the village, and is dedicated to St. George; it consists of a nave only, with a chancel at the East end; but on the South, on the outside, the Duke of Newcastle, when owner of Claremont, built a Chamber-pew, opening into the Church. It has been since divided between that house and Esher-place. The chancelwindows were formerly famous for their painted glass, but nothing of it now re

mains. At the West end, is a low tower, surmounted by a wooden pyramidal spire, having three bells, one of which is said to have been brought by Sir Francis Drake.

"Sir John Vanburgh, so well known by his particular style of architecture, bought some land in the parish of Esher, and built a low brick house for his own habitation. The spot he chose was in low ground, without the advantage of prospect. Thomas Holles Pelham, Earl of Clare, bought it of Sir John, and was created Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the 2nd of August, 1715. He made it his habitation, and added a magnificent companies, when he was in administraroom for the entertainment of large tion. He increased the grounds by farther purchases, and by inclosing parts of the adjoining heath; and it now contains about 420 acres. The other part of the estate contains 1600 acres, in several farms. The Duke adorned the park by many plantations, under the

* At Exton, in Rutlandshire, Anne Lady Bruce is pourtrayed in a shroud and coffin. Ob. in puerperio, 1627. And at Cranford, Middlesex, Lady Berkeley is so represented in an alto-relievo of white marble.

† Edward Marshall was the sculptor of a tomb at Tottenham, Middlesex, in 1644, on which were placed the busts of Sir Robert Barkham and his lady, surrounded by the kneeling figures of their eight children as men and women. At Chilham, in Kent, for Sir Dudley Digges, who died in 1688, there is a single Ionic column supporting an urn, and at the sides, the four cardinal Virtues, represented by females, size of life, weeping. The works of the Marshalls are: W. Earl of Devonshire and his Countess, 1628, at Derby; and Anne Lady Cutts at Swavesey, Cambridgeshire.

+ See Millin's Mon. Franc. tom. jii. where several specimens of this particular idea are given, chiefly from the designs and works of Germain Pilon, Jean Gougeon, and their School.

Duppa's Life of M. Angelo, pp. 245, 247, and the splendid series of the Popes' monuments, in the Church of St. Peter at Rome.

direction

direction of Kent. On a mount in the park he erected a building in the shape of a Castle, and called it Claremont, from his own name, by which the place has been known ever since. After the death of the Duke, it was purchased by Lord Clive, the conqueror in India. When setting out on his last voyage, he gave directions to Mr. Browne, so well known for his taste in laying out grounds, but who used to consider himself as of still greater skill in architecture, to build him a house, and model the grounds, without any limitation of expense. He performed the task much to the satisfaction of his Lordship, and the cost is said to have been more than 100,000l. Browne had been often employed to alter houses; but this is said to be the only complete one he ever built. It forms an oblong square of forty-four yards by thirty-six. On the ground-floor are eight spacious rooms, besides the hall of entrance and the great staircase. In the principal front, a flight of thirteen steps leads to the great entrance, under a pediment, supported by Corinthian columns. The situation is well-chosen, commanding various views of the water and plantations in the park. Lord Clive died on the 23d November 1774, after which this estate was sold for perhaps not more

than one-third of what the house and alterations had cost. It was purchased by Viscount Galway, an Irish_peer; of whom it was bought by the Earl of Tyrconnel, also a peer of that kingdom,

who made it his residence till 1802. The

Earl sold it to Charles-Rose Ellis, esq. of whom it was bought, in the summer of 1816, by the Nation, for the residence of the Princess and her illustrious Consort."

In 1750, Claremont was inhabited by the Right Hon. Henry Pelhum, brother to Thomas then Duke of Newcastle, who, by a purchase from the nephew of Mr. Tilson, added an adjoining farm to the already noble domain and to whom Mr. Nicholas Hardinge, being on a visit at Esher, addressed on that occasion an elegant Latin Ode, preserved by the late Mr. Justice Hardinge, in the Collection of his Father's Latin Poems, p. 96, with the following illustrative note:

"Mr. Nicholas Hardinge was then first Clerk of the House of Commons. He loved Mr. Pelham, not only as a kind and generous patron, but as a virtuous minister, and as a good man.

"At Esher, in Portland stone, is a monumental urn, presented (I suppose, to Lady Catharine Pelham) by Mr. John

Roberts, Mr. Pelham's Secretary. The urn is placed upon an altar, which has four tablets, on one of which is a short, but elegant inscription.

"The other three compartments are graced with beautiful and appropriate sculpture. In one of them is a figure of a mourner, embracing an urn, in a reclined position.

"In a second are four figures, admiRound rably conceived and finished. this tablet is engraved, 'Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placen's

uxor.'

Mr. Pelham is taking leave of his wife, and is led by Mercury to Charon.

"In a third is an elderly man, in a peasant's habit, beginning to write, Et in Arcadia ego-""

Perhaps some kind Correspondent may favour you with the " Elegant Inscription." M. GREEN.

Mr. URBAN,

Bayswater-house,
May 12.
T is gratifying to observe the ra-

and Regent's canal, and to contemplate their completion in less than a year from this time. Few improvements are calculated to combine grandeur with public use more completely than these works; and though some parts of the architecture of the street, particularly the whole of what constitutes Waterloo-place, is of the most wretched description, being crowded in the parts, and ornamented, or rather deformed, by columns, which have not even the semblance of use; yet, on the whole, the design and execution of this street may be considered passable under all the circumstances. The improvement on the Opera-house deserves unalloyed praise, and the circuses at the intersection of the new street with Piccadilly and Oxford-street, though they will greatly annoy foot passengers by lengthening the crossings, will be an accommodation for intersecting lines of carriages.

But the street is foreign to my present purpose; which is, to suggest a continuation of the Regent's Canal, or another branch from the Paddington Canal, to Chelsea. I know not whether this has been already suggested; but certain I am, it would be a great public benefit to that quarter, and to every part of the tract through which it would pass. This branch might originate between the

Pad

Paddington and Willesbourne-green bridge, at the spot where the Bayswater brook passes under the canal ; and the vessels, by means of a balance coffer on Mr. Fulton's plan, might be lowered at once to the level of the Serpentine-river, or to about 10 feet under the present surface of that part of Bayswater brook, and probably 80 or 90 feet under the surface of the water of the caual. Eighty feet may be reckoned a good fall or rise for a single lock; but, on the plan proposed, it is of very little consequence whether the fall be 80 or 180: indeed, unless the precipice were 40 or 50 feet bigh, it would hardly be worth while departing from the common form of lock. Here, however, it would be well worth while, both in point of œconomy and expedition in the navigation.

The course of the Canal from this point, I should propose to be that of the brook (avoiding sinuosities, &c.) to where it enters Kensington-gardens opposite this house (Bayswater-house); and thence the vessels to proceed by means of a chain along the centre of the Serpentine-river to about the midIdle of the lower reach in the Park. There I should propose another coffer balance to lower the boats at once to a tunnel on the same level as that of the Thames. This tunnel would have a wharf at Knightsbridge; and the Canal again disappearing without any locks, &c. would come to the day as soon as it entered the most conve nient spot not built upon in the direction thought most eligible between Knightsbridge and Chelsea. It would thence proceed to the most desirable point between Vauxhall and Battersea bridges. To accomplish this plan, it would be necessary to put the two pieces of water composing the Serpentine-river on the same level, by lowering the upper reach 4 feet. Inde pendently altogether of the Canal, this would be a great improvement to the beauty of the gardens, by giving height and dryness to the grounds on each side, and heightening the idea of a river by the continuity produced by removing the head of earth which separatesthe upper from the lower reach, and renders them two anomalous figures, without either natural or artificial character. A light iron bridge, or viaduct, might be thrown over at the site of the present head, for the sake of the

circumferential walk; and as the banks would require some dressing, the spare earth might be applied to the completion of the geometrical surfaces at the Palace; this building having at present a most awkward appearance, from being placed so much below the level of the water in the octagon basin. Earth in sufficient quantity would be thus furnished, to raise the ground on the East and South sides, and do away this deformity, so disagreeable to every stranger. All the disadvantage would be, losing the view from the ground floor.

To return to the Canal. The level of the Serpentine-river, as reduced four feet, would be carried forward in the course of the Bayswater-brook, through the Bishop of London's lands, to the point first mentioned in the Paddington Canal; and, from a rough guess, I think the surface of the water of the Canal would be 10 feet below that of the water of the brook as it now stands. This depth and the requisite width would effect the complete drainage of the Bishop of London's lands on each side, which are at present overflowed with every heavy shower. It would also supersede the necessity of enlarging this brook, so as to render it more eligible as a sewer to carry off what flows from the lesser cloacinæ of Paddington. The brook of Bayswater, from being employed in the capacity of a sewer, is a great nuisance, especially in suminer. There is not a house on its banks that is not infested with damp and dry-rot; and in summer there is a sort of vapour, which may be compared to the Mularia of Italy, which floats on the surface, accompanied by an intolerable stench from two hours before sunset till three hours after sun-rise on the following day. The Canal proposed would completely remove the damp, and in time also the dry-rot, or at least prevent its growth in new erections, while, from the noxious matters of that suburb, still not inaptly called the Padding town, being dissolved in a greater proportion of clear water, the evaporations from the solution would be comparatively simple and

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position, from the circumstance of its passing through Kensington-gardens. But by fixing a line of posts in the centre of the river, and mooring chains to them, and admitting of no towing tract on the shores, the boats would, except during favourable winds, be compelled to feel their way along this cham by the usual means of grapplers; and surely, so situated, boats of no sort could be a nuisance: on the contrary, they would give animation and characier to a part of the gardens which is not in a sufficient state of polish and high keeping to give a strong impression of seclusion and consecration to man, while it is yet too insipid to raise any other expression. In short, this scene as it is, is too coarse for pleasure-ground, and too dull for park-scenery:—by the Canal, a degree

of animation and character could not

fail to be produced, and character too of a new and original kind in England-for where do we see boats plying in the middle of wide artificial rivers-Having said so much on these gardens, in speaking of the proposed Canal, I shall add a remark or two more. The wood should in some places be brought down en masse to the water's edge, particularly in the acute angle of the great bend; the want, and rather opposite tendency to this is monstrous. Why are the masses not thinned? At present, viewing them from the broad walk, or West side, they resemble a giant crop of hemp, naked and shapeless stems, all leaning one way. If some of these are not cut down to

the ground, and the undergrowths allowed to come up; and if others

are not cut half down with the same

view, it requires no great skill to foresee that the whole crop will suddenly fall a sacrifice to decay, if not previously thrown down by some casual storm. Young trees, and especially oaks, should be planted throughout, to ensure a succession of woodiBess; and the elders and common rub. bish behind the green-house, near the palace, should be removed, to display, or at least to disencumber, those antient cedars, hollies, and yews, planted a century ago by London and Wise. One word more, the line of sunk fence separating the Park from the Gardens, is most unfortunate; its direction is calculated to render it every where

visible, and it is in itself too insignificant as an avowed barrier. I believe it is next to impossible for the Ranger or keeper of royal or public parks or gardens to effect any improvement in them of their own motion; otherwise doubtless something would have been done long since, to remove defects and deformities which are generally felt and disliked.

I trust the idea of the Canal from Paddington to Chelsea will be taken up by some fit person; whom, with yourself, Mr. Urban, I entreat to consider this hurried letter as the first crude ideas which have recently struck me on the subject. Yours, &c. J. C. LOUDON.

Mr. URBAN,

May 13.. AM sorry the account of Oxford Degrees, in your Magazine for December, p. 487, is not satisfactory to LL.D. p. 306. It is more than twenty years since I resided in Oxford; and I cannot say what "decree or law" on the subject in question may have been "promulgated" within that period. I quoted the Preface to the Catalogue of Graduates, printed in 1727, which says, statutes and present Constitution have The only degrees in Civil Law." I believe it will be found, in point of custom, therefore, is no novelty; and fact, that no Law degrees have been conferred by the University, but in Civil Law only, for upwards of two centuries. And if LL.D. recollects

66

our

the form of admission to his degree, I have no doubt he was admitted, not to the "Reading of the Justinian Code," and to the "Reading of the Decretals," but to the Justinian Code only, which, if I remember right (for I have not the Statutes at hand to consult) is the Academical form of admission to the Doctorate in CiDecretals is to the same degree in vil Law, as admission to read the

Canon Law.

I am ignorant of any "discovery that M. A. is better Latin than A. M." In my time we used to say, that M. A. was English, "Master of Arts;" and A. M. Latin, "Artium Magister."

P. 328. 1. 2. Sir Richard Sutton, Founder of Brasen Nose College, died in 1524. See Founders of Brasen Nose College, p. 451. Yours, &c. R. C

Mr.

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