new edition of this celebrated voyage would be acceptable to the public at the present moment, from the desire which prevails to gain an accurate knowledge of these parts of the world; and I flatter myself the trade will be induced to take the hint now offered to them in this respect. The plates, though numerous, would not be expensive; and I really think they are more likely to derive a greater profit from the republication in a plain and neat manner of reputable travels and voyages, than by the reprint ing of such works as Shakspeare, jestbooks, &c.

Before I close this Note, I wish, Mr. Editor, to induce you to call the attention of your readers to the state of Ireland, and to endeavour through the medium of your excellent Work, to let us into some knowledge of that country. If you could manage to give in every other number of your Magazine, an article descriptive of the natural beauties, &c. of Ireland*, you would render an important service to that country, and at the same time promote the circulation of your publication.

Feb. 24, 1816.

A.

M. QUATREMERE DE ROISSY on the SuPERIORITY OF LONDON to PARIS in regard to ARCHITECTURAL MONU

MENTS.

(Concluded from p. 124.)

PRIVATE BUILDINGS.

side, and a garden on the other, form very pleasant residences; but I must nevertheless insist, that in the estimation of connoisseurs in architecture, (who are not more numerous at Paris than elsewhere,) by far the greatest part of the hotels in the Faubourgs St. Germain and St. Honoré are absolutely beneath notice in regard to our present subject.. Some show bad taste in their general plan and in the style of their decorations; others a simplicity that is carried even to nudity; while others again, though of better forms, are reprehensible for their ornaments, which are either absurd, mean, or misplaced. The buildings in question were mostly erected about the end of the reign of Louis XIV. or in the following years; that is, the period of the decline-indeed I might say of the corrup tion of the arts of design in France. This period extended to nearly two-thirds of the 18th century. Since that time edi-. fices have been erected upon better principles and in a better style. Some modern hotels of the Faubourg St. Germain and the Chaussée d'Antin may be adduced in proof of this assertion. Simple structures of still more modern date reflect credit on the architects of Paris.* These large hotels of which I have been speaking have another disadvantage: they are concealed from the view by walls and large gates, almost always in a worse taste than the interior itself.

Let us now turn to London. Here I should have to mention a hundred build

ings of greater or less dimensions, as admirable, or at least deserving of commendation on account of their architectural beauty: but I shall be content with selecting from this number. It is matter of regret that the practice of building with brick and stone is not more common in private habitations. Upon a ground of brick, the elegant members of architecture appear more distinct and more prominent. This mixture of materials exhibits a colour, a variety, and a great appearance of solidity, which never fail to please, as is evinced by several large edifices, such as the Hospital and Military Asylum at Chelsea, Buckingham House, Marlborough House, and a great number of houses which embellish scveral of the squares of London.

At the head of the private edifices, or residences of the nobility, I place Bur

In the quarters of St. Paul and Isle St. Louis are some hotels erected in the 17th century in a very good style, but they are very little known, and are not ornamental to the city. VOL. V.

2 F

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lington House. This little palace consists of three parts: that in the centre, which faces Piccadilly, is not of very large dimensions, but its proportions are so exquisite, and the style of its decorations so beautiful, as to produce an air of grandeur. Upon a high sub-basement of the rustic order is a range of Ionic columns with entablature, terminated by a balustrade. In the intercolumniations are windows with mouldings and pediments. The two extremities of the line form pavilions; each of them is adorned with four Ionic columns which accompany a fine Venetian window. The two other parts, which form wings bordering the court, are in a different style of architecture. Their construction is more appropriate to the habitation; the style is excellent. Porticoes in a very good taste, with Doric columns, harmonize with the construction of the principal entrance and complete the whole. It is fortunate that this important edifice has fallen into hands which are engaged in its reparation: it will be one of the beauties of London when the columns at the outer gate and the brick wall shall be removed.

Let us cross the garden, to view the front of a spacious mansion which occupies the whole space between Burlingtonstreet and Saville-row. It is of stone. Nine Corinthian pilasters, and windows with mouldings and pediments, form the principal decoration: it terminates in an entablature and balustrade. The little portico with four Doric columns, which is in front of the entrance of the house in Burlington-street, is in no respect inferior to this excellent façade.

Marlborough House is in a very good style, and of considerable dimensions. It is of brick and stone, but wants those important members which constitute the beauty of architecture.*

A small edifice which leaves nothing to be desired is the house of Lord Spencer, which overlooks the Green Park. It is so conspicuous, and so striking, that I have no need to describe it. A lateral front, in which is the principal entrance, is of not less admirable architecture. This beautiful structure seems to be cotemporary with the Treasury, which I have already noticed; indeed I take it to be the work of the same architect. If this be not the case, one of them has been imitated from the other.

Lansdown House is likewise entirely of This observation applies only to the front which looks into the Park, as I have not seen the interior façade.

[April 1,

stone and very simple: but this noble simplicity itself and its beautiful proportions produce a grand effect. Its ornaments consist of four columns of the Ionic order, with entablature and pediment.

Montagu House, of brick and stone, is upon a more extensive scale. Its appearance is handsome, but less pleasing than that of Lansdown House. Both these edifices contribute to the embellishment of the squares to which they adjom.

Stanhope House is in a fine exposition; with which it corresponds in the general mass of the building, of brick and stone, and especially in the elegant architecture of the main body and of the colonnades which accompany it.

Albany House, also of brick and stone, upon a smaller scale, as far as regards its front, is in a style equally good.

Stratford House, entirely of stone, presents with its columns and pediment a front in a very good taste. The buildings which border the approach to it from Oxford-street are not without elegance.

Cleveland House has nothing remarkable but its portico of the Pæstum order, and is in other respects very naked.

The Ordnance Office, on a much more extensive scale, of brick and stone, is, from its handsome appearance and the good taste of its architecture, one of the two chief ornaments of Pall Mall.

Let us now visit some of the principal squares: but first it may not be amiss to observe, that I have hitherto confined myself, as I shall do hereafter, to the notice of such buildings only as exhibit attention to regularity and symmetry, the first law of architecture. I shall perhaps be charged with having omitted in my enumeration important edifices, built of stone and of showy exterior. My answer is, that reasons of taste forbade the mention of them.

St. James's Square.

Here five houses are particularly conspicuous. The first is at the south-west corner on the left as vou come from Pall Mall: it is of brick and stone, and of a very handsome appearance: a flight of steps under a portico of Ionic columns leads to the entrance. The second adjoins to the preceding: it is of stone, adorned with fluted Corinthian pilasters, surmounted with an entablature and balustrade. The third, also of stone, with fluted Corinthian columns, pediment, and other members of architecture, formis a whole in the purest style. The fourth is

1816.]

likewise faced with stone, and has two rows of windows with mouldings. The fifth, close to John-street, built of brick, upon a much more extensive plan, displays the decorative members of architecture in stone.

Berkeley Square.

I shall call the attention of the reader to two houses only in this square. One is large, built of stone, having two rows of windows with mouldings, upon a high rustic basement: it has two entrances in a good taste, and placed with symmetry. The other house, close to it, is small, and built of brick and stone in a very good style.

Grosvenor Square.

This square, though one of the most fashionable, has but a very small number of houses without irregularities offensive to the eye of taste. At the corner of Grosvenor-street is an edifice of brick and stone, having in front two rows of five windows with mouldings: a handsome cornice runs along it, and is surmounted by an attic story. The entrance, judiciously placed, is adorned with two columns of the Ionic order.

On the same side of the square is a large mansion, which appears to be built of stone: it is in a good style, with cornice, attic, and a portico decorated with Ionic columns.

The finest house in this square is also one of the handsomest in London, and one of the most conspicuous. It is adorned with six large stone columns of the Corinthian order, surmounted with an entablature and a balustrade. These columns, and the other members of architecture, project from a ground of brick. The whole of this decoration, in the best taste, is supported by a large sub-basement of stone, wrought in rustic and formed into arches, the centre one of which is occupied by the entrance. The two buildings, likewise of brick and stone, which accompany this beautiful structure, are in the same style; and the whole proves what effect elegant architecture in brick and stone is capable of producing.

Two sinall houses on the same side of the square, also of brick and stone, with Ionic pilasters, are remarkable for their regularity and good style.

In this square there is another spacious new or new-fronted house, of brick only, which attracts notice for its beautiful stone portico with columns of the Doric order. I shall take the liberty to remark, that this portico, improperly placed at a corner of the edifice, is too large and

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On entering this square by Hollesstreet, the eye is struck with the grand and beautiful appearance of two houses, which stand together and form counterparts to one another. Their fronts are of stone. They combine every requisite for architectural beauty: a high-subbasement, Corinthian columns, pediment, low roof, windows with mouldings, and doors judiciously placed and in a good taste. The two houses of brick and stone, which are contiguous to these two little palaces, deserve to rank with them for the good taste of their architecture. Here we again find the two kinds of construction employed conjointly. One of these two houses forms the corner of Harley-street, and has its entrance in that street, under one of the richest, most elegant, and considerable of the porticos adapted to private houses. It consists of columns and pilasters of the Doric order, support ing an entablature and balustrade.

Portman Square.

This square is certainly handsome and neatly built; but I find in it only one single house that can be noticed, agreeably to the principles which I have followed in this paper. That house, of brick and stone, is distinguished by stone pilasters of the Ionic order. I have already mentioned Montagu House, at the north-west corner of this square.

Houses in various Streets. Pall-Mall, besides its two principal buildings, of which I have already spoken, presents a house apparently of stone, having two rows of windows with mouldings, surmounted by a balustrade. The whole is well proportioned, and the entrance tastefully decorated with a portico of four Doric columns.

Among the houses with which the west end of Piccadilly is generally ornamented, I shall distinguish two, the fronts of which are entirely of stone. The one at the corner of Engine-street is well proportioned, has two ranges of windows with mouldings above five semicircular arches, in which are four windows with the door in the centre.

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This little edifice is finished by a balustrade above a handsome cornice. The other, close to White Horse-street, though of larger dimensions, is in the same style of construction and decoration. The entrance, judiciously placed, is, as well as the upper centre window, in a good style of decoration. A pediment crowns this house, which may be held up as a model of simple and elegant architecture.

Dover-street has at the corner of Hay-hill, a house with a front of brick and stone, of a handsome appearance, and in a good style of decoration. Its entrance is adorned with a Doric portico. At the other corner is a house entirely of brick, which is one of the largest in Loadon. I mention it here solely for the purpose of commending its entrance, which is raised several steps from the street, and very tastefully adorned with two Doric columns of stone, surmounted with an entablature.

In Albemarle-street is a small house with a stone front, having two rows of windows above three semicircular arches, in one of which is the door. It is in that style of construction and decoration upon which we have undertaken to remark.

I forgot to observe, that in Arlington street there are several old houses of bick and stone, constructed with taste:, but as they are partly screened, I shall mention only the smallest of their dependent buildings. It is of stone, serves for an entrance, and nothing can be better in its kind.

King-street, Covent-garden, contains a house of brick and stone in the style of those which we have mentioned with commendation. I notice it only on account of a kind of balcony of stone, which is in front of it, and under which is the entrance. Nothing can be more perfect than this ornament.

In Chancery-lane, the passenger cannot help remarking an edifice, one front of which faces that street, and the other looks towards Stone-buildings. It is entirely of stone, of a handsome construction, and in a very good style. Its appendages of brick do not disfigure this

[April 1,

city of that order. The general appear ance, however, of this structure, is in my opinion rather heavy; and I am much mistaken, if it be not designed by the same artist as the portico of Coventgarden Theatre.

At the corner of Edward and Chandosstreets, very near Cavendish-square, are two houses with stone fronts, either of which taken separately, has not in the manner in which the door is placed, that regularity and symmetry which we require, but these two houses adjoining to one another, appear at a very little distance as counterparts, and when viewed together, the irregularity is not perceived, for which reason I mention them here. They are in the best style of building and ornament, and embrace the elegant members of architecture.

We will finish this descriptive excur sion in the finest street in LondonPortland-place. Some houses in brick and stone, adorned with pilasters, above semicircular arches, in which is the entrance, are in our opinion the best, and in a good style. They have a very different appearance from those which have been coated with a cement, that is become black, and the ornaments of which are mere gewgaws. The two new white houses, in the prolongation of the street, the windows of which are adorned with mouldings, and the entrances with peristyles, are in that good taste of which I have quoted such numerous examples. Before I conclude, I cannot help repeating my regret, that the prac tice of building with stone and brick is not more common; brick, when skil fully matched, being such an advantageous ground for the beautiful members of architecture.

Recapitulation.

Paris surpasses London in those grand and magnificent structures which are called palaces. It does not surpass, but may be considered equal in its churches and religious edifices.

But how far superior is London to Paris in its military hospitals, its civil hospitals, its prisous, and other public buildings, including its bridges; lastly, in the very great number of its handsome private houses!

I cannot therefore but think, from the survey which I have taken, the developements which I have given, and the details into which I have thought it necessary to enter, in order to support an opinion which was never before expressed, that the title which I have prefixed to this paper is fully justified.

1816.]

more.

The handsomest of the entrances to London, is indisputably by Westminster-bridge, Parliament-street, Whitehall, and Charing Cross, where the inquisitive stranger meets with the first statue that falls under his notice upon his arrival. But in what a state is the spot which immediately surrounds it? The approach is, as it were, interdicted by carts, or by materials which incessantly blockade it, and by filth of the most disgusting kind that covers the pavement. A very simple method to give to this little place, and the monument which adorns it, that importance which they ought to have, would be to prevent carts from taking their station there; it would then be easy to keep it in a due state of cleanliness. This indeed becomes absolutely necessary at a time when improvements, repairs, and embellishments, are going forward at once in every part of the capital.

The court before the principal entrance to St. Paul's, without being large, possesses an air of grandeur. A colossal statue or a group of figures cannot be otherwise than judiciously placed there; it cannot fail to attract notice. But the eye is shocked if it perceives that such statues are mutilated in the face; if, for instance, the nose is broken off. Such is precisely the state in which the statue of Queen Anne, as well as the figures that accompany her pedestal, now appear. The remedy is easy: let this group be removed, and let the chisel of Flaxman produce a demi-colossal statue in marble of the same queen; or if preferred, it might be of bronze, or inerely of stone.

QUATREMERE DE ROISSY. London, Jan. 1816.

MR. EDITOR,

Having noticed the admission into your useful miscellany, of accounts from the Missionaries in Africa, &c. for promoting Christianity, I have long wished to have some difficulties solved, that have passed my mind when reading the "Fundamental Principle" of the Missionary Society; which I hope, some of your intelligent correspondents will be able to clear, not only to my satisfaction, but to that of others, who entertain similar doubts with myself.

There are, I am informed, three missionary societies in London; the Mis

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sionary Society, formed about 1796 or sooner, the Church Missionary Society, and the Baptist Missionary Society.

There is very little difference in the two former, as to their views of religious truth; each promotes its own opinions of church government and of baptism: but the latter maintains what the society calls a "Fundamental Principle." They say 66 our design is not to send Presbyterianism, Independency, Episcopacy (about which there may be difference of opinion among serious persons), but the glorious gospel of the blessed God to the Heathen: and that it shall be left (as it ought to be left) to the minds of the persons, whom God may call into the fellowship of his Son, from among them, to assume for themselves, such form of church government, as to them shall appear most agreeable to the word of God."

To the latter part of this “fundamental principle" no one can object, to leaving the choice of that form of church government, the heathen converts may see fit to chuse, to his own election: though it seems by this adinission, that the society suppose the converts will form them selves into a Christian society called a church; and it is to be supposed some form of church order and government will be fixed, as near as the convert imagines or believes to be revealed in the Scriptures. Whether the society thinks the missionary should state all the views Christians u aintain on this point, or relate only to the poor hea then the missionary's own views on the subject, the declaration of the sety does not point out,

But a difficulty arises as to the former part of the "Fundamental Principle," which perhaps may want clearing, that is, why so little stress, in fact, why so much indifference is shewn to a preference being given to any form of church government? as little, as if none was commanded in the scriptures. form of worship is practised by Christians of all denominations in Europe, how comes it about that none whatever is worthy of recommendation in the dark regions of Africa and the South Seas?

Some

At home the directors and members of this society profess Presbyterianism, Independency, Episcopacy, &c. &c. they belong to societies called churches of these denominations; but abroad how different !—they do not wish to promote what they themselves believe to be consistent with the scripture revelation. If Presbyterians and Independents think