A. D. 1652]

THE FINEST BARN IN EUROPE.

49

architect. But the vastness and grandeur of this magnificent portico, superior to any in England, and perhaps in Europe, may be better imagined than described. Of the propriety of affixing a Corinthian portico to a Gothic cathedral, much cannot be said in defence; but it has been supposed that the architect contemplated the rebuilding of the church as a Christian cathedral, like that of St. Peter of Rome, in a similar style with his portico.

THESE works and some unexecuted designs, with other buildings of minor importance, preserved in Kent's before-mentioned collection, show the fertility of Jones's mind, and the skill with which he adapted the best styles of Roman and Italian Architecture to the domestic conveniences of an English family in our variable climate. His church of St. Paul, Covent Garden, which he built for the parsimonious Duke of Bedford, who spent so much money upon his Bloom'sbury mansion, that he had but little left for the house of God, and told his architect, that he wanted a mere barn for his Covent Garden tenants. The artist bowed compliance, but assured his noble patron, that it should be the finest barn in Europe, and well did he redeem his promise; for it proves the skill with which this tasteful and ingenious artist could use the plainest style and the humblest materials. It produced the desired effect, both as to the patron's pocket and the architect's fame. It stands alone as a master-piece of frugal taste, the work surpassing the material. It is the only specimen

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of the true Vitruvian Tuscan ever known to have been

executed.

HERIOT'S Hospital, near Edinburgh, an early work of the artist, before he had matured his taste by foreign travel, and a study of the best models of ancient and modern art, has little to recommend it, except the simplicity and aptitude of the design to its intended

purpose.

JONES's greatest work, is the magnificent palace which he designed for James I., to be built at Whitehall. The Banquetting-house, now used as a military chapel, is the only portion of the grand scheme that was erected. It would have covered an immense plot of ground, extending from Charing Cross on the north to Richmond Buildings, by Parliament Street on the south, and from the River Thames on the east to the parade in St. James's Park on the west, including the site now occupied by the Treasury buildings, Melbourne House, the Horse Guards and the Admiralty offices, etc., as far as Spring Gardens. Four buildings, similar in external design with the Banquetting-house, are in the design, one opposite to it, and the others, one near Scotland Yard, and the other opposite thereto, and were to be used respectively as a banquetting-room, a royal chapel, a throne-room, and a hall of audience. They were to have been connected by a variety of state and domestic apartments, official residences, spacious courts for light and air, and every requisite accommodation fit for a royal palace for the greatest Monarch in Europe. The circular court, surrounded by an

WILLIAM HERBERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE.

51

A. D. 1652 arcade, supported by statues, thence called the Court of Caryatides, is one of the finest ideas that was ever devised by the mind of an architect. The whole design is a perfect school for an architectural student, and would furnish texts for a series of lectures on architectural expression or appropriate character, arrangement, grandeur, internal arrangement and domestic comfort, worthy the talents of the most accomplished architect of the day.

DURING the time employed by Inigo Jones in studying the works of the great masters of his art in Italy, it is probable that he encountered his eminent countryman, Sir Henry Wotton, in Venice, as this tasteful connoisseur and able illustrator of the Vitruvian art was then ambassador from King James to the Doge. The King's brother-in-law, Christian IV. of Denmark, who had heard of Inigo's fame from that city of canals and palaces, introduced him to the British Monarch, who thereupon appointed him his architect.

JONES's style after his return from Italy, bears record to his improvement in taste and purity, in fact, he may be called the reformed Palladio. He visited Italy twice, and enjoyed the friendship and patronage of the celebrated Earl of Pembroke, and of other enlightened and accomplished men, native and foreign.

WILLIAM HERBERT, Earl of Pembroke, a noble poet and a munificent patron of literature and art, employed Inigo to make additions to his family seat at Wilton, the porch of which was the work of Holbein. Jones's classical additions are apparent, and contrast

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