rounded with volcanic hills, composed chiefly of lava. On the east side is a columuar basalt-hill, called the Devil's cliff. The columns have four to seven sides, and consist of black lava.

In the districts of Bergamo and Brescia are many ancient volcanoes; and in the former are huge masses of black and red lava, the latter so entirely resembling porphyry in all respects, that the most profound and experienced mineralogist could detect no difference; and north of Verona, on the river Adige, near Neumark, are mountains of spotted black and red porphyry, which as strongly resemble some of the lavas of Vesuvius. These porphyries moreover are either split into columns like basaltes, or show a strong tendency to assume determined forms.

The collective volcanoes in all the Venetian States, are too numerous to particularize. Most of those near Vi. cenza, Verona, and Padua, exhibit basalt - lava on one side, and rude masses of compact lava on the other; and it may be remarked generally of the volcanoes in the Vicentine and Veronese Alps, that their eruptions have burst through the calcareous mountains, while the Euganean volcanoes near Padua are isolated cones of the regular volcanic configuration, and have risen out of the plain between Padua and the Alps.

Of the 54 volcanoes above described, the first 42, which extend through Apennine Italy, belong more immediately to the object of this sketch; and of these it is especially remarkable in the first place, that, excepting Spoleto and Traverso, which are high in the Apennines, they all rise from the lower hills and plains on the Mediterranean or western side of the Apennine chain, while on the lower levels east of these mountains, no ancient volcanoes have yet been discovered. It is probable, however, that many summits of the hitherto imperfectly explored Apennines, near the Adriatic, may exhibit volcanic formations.

Secondly, that of these 42 volcanoes, three only remain in effective action, and emit fire and lava.

Thirdly, that in three of the exhausted craters, Spoleto, Sienna, and Bolsena, are towns of great antiquity;

that the numerous volcanoes in central and northern Italy are unnoticed by the oldest historians; and that some of them exhibit obvious tokens of submarine origin in the petrified seashells and fishes with which they abound.

Fourthly, that the declivities of the Apennines are more abrupt and precipitous on the western or volcanic side, than on the Adriatic; that the originally horizontal strata of these calcareous mountains, which were formed under the primitive ocean, and probably by the deposition of marine sediment, have been apparently raised by some internal power above the surface of the water. This convulsion has lifted, inclined, doubled, and broken the horizontal strata into innumerable varieties of position and form; and that this expansive power was volcanic, may be inferred from the lavas and other volcanic productions forced upward into the numerous clefts and cavities occasioned by this paroxysm of nature, during which the expansive vapours formed vents or craters for the emission of lava on the lower hills, where the repressive weight was not so great as in the mountains. It has been conjectured by Italian and German naturalists that an immense accumulation of volcanic matter exists under the western hills and plains of Calabria Ultra, which have been subject to dreadful earthquakes from time immemorial. There is no immediate vent, but the obvious connection between these convulsions and the adjacent volcanoes of Ætna and Stromboli, indicates that their craters are the safety-valves which preserve Calabria Ultra from entire destruction. During the memorable earthquakes of 1783, Nature was here detected in the very act of raising calcareous hills by subterraneous expansion. Many hills of considerable elevation arose out of the level plain, and near Seminara a new mountain rose to the height of more than 600 feet, carrying up uninjured the trees which had grown on the plain.

The application of the phenomena of volcanic power to a general theory of the earth, was first attempted 2,000 years since by the Greeks, to whom this hypothesis was doubtless suggested by the formation of new islands in the Egæan Sea by the great submarine volcano near the isle of Santo

rin, mentioned by Pliny, which threw up two new islands in 1767, and shook the Archipelago in 1772 and 1820. In the seventeenth century Ray in his "Discourses," and Hooke in his "Treatise on Earthquakes," endeavoured to explain the original formation of the earth by the joint agency of the sea and subterranean fire; and the German Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, (who, although somewhat addicted to visionary speculations, was nevertheless a man of powerful mind and encyclopedic knowledge,) after a residence of more than thirty years in Italy, and a careful investigation of its volcanic phenomena, first suggested the notion of a central subterraneous fire, in a curious work entitled "Mundus Subterraneus," published in 1678 at Am

sterdam, in two folio volumes. This hypothesis, long rejected and ridiculed by naturalists, has recently found advocates amongst intelligent modern geologists, and has re-appeared in the "Essai sur la temperature de l'intérieur de la terre," of the ingenious French naturalist Cordier. There is an imposing grandeur and simplicity in this suggestion, which is also the leading idea of Hutton, Playfair, and Scrope; and the facility with which it solves the most difficult phenomena in geology, renders it highly probable that the theory of a central fire will eventually supersede all other systems. Certainly, the obvious sympathy between remote volcanoes, and the extraordinary convulsion of 1st November 1755, which destroyed Lisbon and

many cities in North-Africa, shook great part of Europe, and both sides of the Atlantic, from Iceland to the Equator, and extended over a land and water surface of four millions of square miles, ought to be referred to general rather than partial causes.

In 1740, Antonio Moro, a Venetian, ascribed the formation of the stratified limestone hills to volcanic agency. His system was crude and imperfect; but it attracted the attention of more able naturalists, and was soon succeeded by the more valuable works of Giovanni Arduini and the Italian philosophers, some of whom inferred, from the mixture and alternate strata of

professors of the art from the reign of Henry the Eighth to that of George the Third, it may be safely asserted that they were entirely incapable of appreciating its manifold merits. In the latter reign we hail a new light in the horizon of art. Gray, Warburton, Warton, Walpole, Bentham, Essex, and Mason were residents of the Universities at that time. They had eyes to see, with sensibility to feel, the beauties, the intricacies, the sublimities of King's College Chapel, of Ely Cathedral, and of other such buildings in the eastern parts of England; as well as the Gothic Colleges, Churches, and Cathedral of Oxford, the College of Eton, and the Cathedral of Winchester; and they gave vivid expression to their feelings in various publicatious. Bentham's valuable volume on Ely Cathedral, the architectural part of which was, doubtlessly, improved by the opinions of such men as Essex, Gray, and Walpole, directed the attention of students to the subject. Gray's odes and letters,-Walpole's various essays and correspondence, and his practical, but petty, exemplification of modern Gothic, in his "pasteboard villa," as he calls it himself, at Strawberry Hill, induced men of letters, vertu, and taste, and even the affectors of taste, to talk about, and even to think on the subject. It appeared as a novelty,-it was ridiculed by satirists, was praised by poets, and was diversely commented on by professional and amateur critics. All this tended to its welfare; for it induced men of good sense, and common sense, to look at and inquire into the merits and integral characteristics of those monastic edifices which were referred to as prototypes for Strawberry Hill and for other villas. The contrast and comparison became ludicrous, and "Modern-Gothic" was stigmatized by the professors, and avoided by noblemen and gentlemen who had to erect new houses. The designs of Batty Langley were even worse than the Walpole Gothic, and these had nearly brought the newlyrevived architecture into contempt.

"Wyatt next came before the public and obtained its favour; he was extensively employed in Roman and in "Gothic" designs and restorations: and, though he was much praised and much censured for his works at Durham, Lichfield, and Salisbury Cathedrals, he obtained fame and great profits from his works at Lee Priory, in Kent; Sheffield place, Sussex; Cassiobury, Herts; Windsor Palace; Kew Palace; Fonthill Abbey; the Houses of Parliament; and Ashridge, Hertfordshire. Some of these were great and important buildings and it would gratify me to speak of them in terms of unmixed comGENT. MAG. VOL. VII.

mendation but Mr. Wyatt had been instructed in, and had studied, the Roman school; he was courted and flattered by the great in early life, and became either too indolent or too self-sufficient in later life to study the more difficult and intricate ecclesiastical architecture of his own country. Hence many of his poor and even trifling designs were carried into execution at Cassiobury, Fonthill, Kew, the House of Lords, and even at Windsor. His new house at Ashridge has many fine and some grand features, whilst part of its details are good and even beautiful. That noble mansion, as well as the magnificent palace of Windsor, have been materially and substantially improved by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, who, in these buildings, in the enlargement of Longleat, and in other works, has manifested genius to invent, and judgment to apply, new designs to old and admired works.

"Without adverting further to other instances of executed modern Gothic, I might be accused of want of feeling for, or respect to, the younger men of the profession, who have lately exhibited so many excellent designs for the new Houses of Parliament. In spite of the severe philippics of Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Wilkins, and other writers on this subject, I will venture to assert that the competition thus excited, and the drawings produced, have been advantageous to the profession and honourable to the country. I am sanguine enough to believe, and bold enough to predict, that it constitutes an important and marked era in the history of the art, and will tend more to give it a national character, and to separate the legitimate artist from the artizan, than any circumstance that has ever occurred in our country. It has called into action, and to public notice and admiration, the latent talents of architects before unknown to fame-it has proved that there are many young artists of varied genius and qualifications who only require opportunities to obtain honour for themselves and their country, by a full and free exercise of their professional abilities.

"The new mansion at TODDINGTON is in the style of the monastic edifices of the middle ages, and thence popularly called Gothic. It has been progressively erected during the last twelve years, and being designed and superintended by the proprietor of the manor, Charles Hanbury Tracy, Esq., must be viewed and criticised as the work of an amateur architect. In practising other branches of the fine arts, the non-professional man has much indulgence, and his productions are generally reviewed and commented on with all reasonable allowance and lenity; not so, 2 L

however, in architecture. Still, such men as the late amiable and learned Mr. Hope, and the present Mr. Hanbury Tracy, have a plea and justification in practising on their own houses. Both were partial to architecture, had studied it diligently and minutely, and had made themselves familiar with forms proportions, details, and the other elements of the art. They also felt that by directing and concentrating their attention to their own homes,-to the abode of themselves, their wives, and their families, they were likely to make those homes and those associations more conducive to their own happiness, and to the wants and wishes of their successors. How far these gentlemen have succeeded in carrying their intentions into effect may be seen by the enlarged house of the Deepdene, and the new house at Toddington. I do not intend to applaud all the parts of the former, but there is abundance of beauty, of elegance, and of taste to redeem the errors of judgment in some instances. Of the latter, which is new and original in its whole design, and in its separate parts, we may enter upon a full review and minute analysis.

"Unlike the old manor house of the Tracys, which was placed in the lowest part of the land, on the verge of a rivulet, this is seated on a gentle eminence, with the ground declining to the south and to the west, whilst the eastern side is flanked by a knoll, covered with trees. On this site is a large mass of buildings, consisting of three distinctly marked features, and respectively occupied by the house, by its domestic offices, and by the stables. The first is, properly, the most prominent in size and decoration, whilst the second is a grade below it, and the third still more subordinate. All these are, however, intimately combined and associated by means of buttresses, gables, chim-. ney-shafts, and towers. Their dressings and forms, being all built with a fine stone of a warm tint, constitute a mass so picturesque and imposing from every point of view, that there has been no necessity for planting out or concealing any part. Three sides of the house-the north, south, and western fronts, all opening to a fine lawn, are, however, the principal architectural façades; and each of these is dissimilar to the others, though the whole forms a homogeneous and consistent design. The general elevation displays two stories, each of which contains ornamented windows, with mullions, tracery, and label mouldings, string courses, with bosses and heads, panels, enriched parapets, pinnacles, turrets, &c.; and a square tower, with crocketed pinnacles, forming an apex

to the whole. The southern front is the most elaborate, presenting at the eastern end a projecting wing, with the walls panelled, a large pointed arched window to the chapel, with crocketed pinnacles, all of loftier proportions than the other parts of the building. At the opposite or west end is a boldly projecting embowed or bay window of two stories, the lower to the library, and the upper to a state bedroom, crowned with crocketed turrets of ogee form, and an ornamented parapet. Between these two projections is another of semi-octangular shape, also of two stories, with large mullioned windows, its walls covered with panelling, and its summit terminated with octagonal turrets, pinnacles, and a dressed battlement. The ground-floor apartments in this front are the private library, a vestibule, an octagonal breakfast or morning room, the dining room, and the end of the library.

"The western façade, though not so much enriched as the former, presents an uniform elevation of two semi-octangular bays at the extremities, and a large bay of two stories, in the centre, with intermediate walls and windows. On the ground-floor of this front are the library, the withdrawing, and the music room.

"The north, or entrance front, has two square towers at the ends, two stories in height, finished with decorated parapets and pinnacles, and having bay windows in the second story resting on fan-groined corbels, with niches and statues on each side of those windows. A low screen, of one story, extends between those towers, in the centre of which is a large archway of receding mouldings, with bold buttresses, and several steps, forming the entrance. Behind this entrance and screen is a vestibule and part of the cloister: at the western extremity is the end of the music room; whilst the eastern end is occupied by a billiard room.

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Branching off from the eastern side, but retiring from the north front, just noticed, are the domestic offices; which, excepting in the towers, consist of one floor. Connected with the south-eastern angle of these offices are the stables and coach houses, surrounding an open court, and the whole again surrounded by a covered ride, extending about 500 feet in circuit.

"Such are the general exterior features and parts of Toddington. Of its interior it will only be necessary, on the present occasion, to particularize the apartments on the ground floor, with their dimensions; the first floor being wholly appropriated to bed-rooms. The vestibule is a square apartment of 21 feet, having a ceiling ornamented with bold ribs and bosses, its