Let any wight, (if such a wight there be,)
To whom thy lofty towers unknown remain,
Direct his steps, fair Hampton Court, to thee,
And view thy splendid halls: then turn again
To visit each proud dome by science praised,
"For kings the rest," (he'd say,) " but thou for gods wert raised."
J. P. ANDREWS, after GROTIUS.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, like many other ambitious men, hastened his own downfall by making too obtrusive a show of the power and wealth which his ambition had acquired for him. York Place, (since known as Whitehall,) and Hampton Court Palace, were instances of this uncontrolled love of splendour. Both belonged to the Cardinal, both were fitted up with almost unprecedented splendour, and both passed from the hands of this miscalculating man to those of the wily monarch from whom he had obtained all his power and wealth.

Soon after the Cardinal came into possession of Hampton Court Palace, it is said that he fitted up no less than two hundred and eighty silken beds, with suitable hangings, for the accommodation of visitors. In 1526 Wolsey thought it expedient to present the palace to Henry the Eighth; and that monarch resided in it occasionally, especially towards the end of his reign. Edward the Sixth was born in the palace; and the subsequent sovereigns, Mary and Elizabeth, frequently visited it. At the commencement of the reign of James the First the conference was held at Hampton Court, from which resulted the new translation of the Bible, and certain alterations in the Litany. Charles the First occasionally resided at Hampton, but rather as a prisoner than as a free monarch. Cromwell made it one of his residences, and the scene of his daughter Elizabeth's VOL. XIX.

marriage with Lord Falconberg. Charles the Second, and James the Second, passed a portion of their time in the palace; and William rebuilt the state apartments and some other parts of the edifice. From that time the palace has not been occupied as a royal residence, except for a short time by the Prince of Orange, to whom the use of it was granted in 1795 as an asylum, after he had been compelled to quit his own dominions. The principal domestic parts of Hampton Court are now occupied by different private families, on whom grants for life have been conferred by the Crown.

It appears probable that the original plan of Hampton Court Palace comprised five open courts or quadrangles, all surrounded by buildings; but after the alterations which it has since undergone, it is now composed of but three. The approach to the house is from the west, which side contains ranges of subordinate apartments and offices; the entrance to these is by a plain gateway, and at each extremity of the west front is an octangular brick turret. Within this outer portal is the first court, about a hundred and seventy feet by a hundred and forty, surrounded on all four sides by buildings of more or less elegance; among which is the west end of the Great Hall, presenting, with its large rich window, the impressive resemblance of a venerable chapel. The passage to the middle quadrangle is by a groined archway, finely ornamented. This court, which is somewhat smaller than the outer one, is bounded on the west by a range of buildings in which is the reverse front of the portal leading from the first court; on the east by another range in which is a fine oriel window, and a very rich portal flanked by turrets; on the south by a colonnade

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of the Ionic order, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, but scarcely harmonising with the rest of the building; and the north by the Great Hall, one end of which is seen in

the outer court.

The Great Hall is more than a hundred feet long, by forty wide, with an elegant gable window at each end. The sides are lighted by seven lofty windows, placed at a considerable height from the ground, as was customary in old halls, to afford space for the tapestried hangings beneath. At the upper end of the Hall is a dais or platform, and on one side of it a window of most exquisite workmanship, on one pane of which the Earl of Surrey wrote, with a diamond, some lines to the "fair Geraldine." The roofing of the Hall, which is of oak, is open-worked, and so exquisitely carved as to produce a general splendour of effect that almost approaches to sublimity.

It is impossible to visit this Hall without carrying the imagination back to the time when Cardinal Wolsey held here his more than regal banquets. Mr. Jesse tells us, on the authority of the chroniclers of those days, that Wolsey's household consisted of one thousand persons, and that the arrangements of the palace were consistent with the due and even luxurious accommodation of this large number. In the Hall there were three boards or tables, presided over by three officers, one a steward (a priest,) another a treasurer, (a knight,) and the other a comptroller, (an esquire;) also a confessor, a doctor, three marshals, three ushers of the hall, and two almoners and grooms. The officers of the Hall kitchen, of the private kitchen, and of the state apartments, were so numerous, and classified in such an exact manner, that we cannot attempt to enumerate them; suffice it to say that all these were daily fed in the Hall; one table being for lords of the household, another for gentlemen, and others for the inferior degrees.

Cavendish, Stow, and the other chroniclers of past time, have dwelt with minute wonder on the magnificent entertaiments given by Wolsey in this Hall. One in particular, given to the French ambassadors sent over at the conclusion of a peace in 1528, was specially noted: the lord mayor entertained them in London; the king feasted them at Greenwich and at Richmond; but Wolsey's banquet at Hampton far exceeded the others. The rich hangings of arras, the massive silver and gold plate, the regiments of tall yeomen in gay liveries that waited upon the guests, the glare of the torches, the costliness and excellence of the wines, the savour of the meats, and the superabundance of everything, are all descanted on by Stowe with great minuteness. The Cardinal, we are told, did not enter the Hall till the end of the first course, (perhaps to show his importance,) but after he had welcomed the guests, and taken his seat, the banquet proceeded.

Anone came up the second course, with so many dishes, subtleties, and devices, above a hundred in number, which were of so goodly proportion and costlie, that I think the Frenchmen never saw the like. The wonder was no less than it was worthie indeed. There were castles, with images the same as in St. Paul's Church for the quantity, as well counterfeited as the painter should have painted it on a cloth or wall. There were beasts, birds, and personages, most lively-made and counterfeited, some fighting with swords, some with guns and cross-bowes, some vaulting and leaping, some dancing with ladies, some on horses in complete harnesse, jousting with long and sharp speares, with many more devices. Among all other was a chessboard, made of spiced plate, with men thereof the same; and for the good proportion, and because the Frenchmen be yerie expert in that play, my Lord Cardinall gave the same to a gentleman of France, commanding there should be made a goodlie case for the preservation thereof in all haste, that he might convey the same into his country. Then took my lord a boule of gold filled with ippocrass, and putting off his cappe, said, "I drink to the king my sovereign lord, and next unto the king your master," and therewith drank a good draught. And when he had done,

he desired the grand master to pledge him, cup and all, the which was well worth five hundred marks, and so caused all the lords to pledge these two royal princes. Then went the cups so merriely about, that many of the Frenchmen were fain to be led to their beds.

But we must leave the Hall and its festivities. The

third quadrangle of which the palace consists, usually called, from the fountain in the area, the Fountain Court, consists chiefly of buildings constructed by Sir Christopher Wren in the reign of King William the Third, at the time when the south and east sides of the old palace were taken down, and the present state apartments The north and west sides in those divisions erected. were left standing, but were externally renovated to corThe court measures respond with the new buildings. more than a hundred feet in each direction; and on each side is a beautiful colonnade of the Ionic order, with duplicated columns.

On the northern side of the Fountain Court is the Chapel. It is paved with black and white marble, and fitted up with oak, elaborately carved in many parts by the celebrated Gibbons. The roof is of a Gothic pattern, with elaborately-worked pendant ornaments. Before the civil war this chapel was ornamented with stained glass and pictures: but at that disturbed period,

we are told that

Sir Robert Harlow gave order (according to the ordinance of Parliament,) for the putting down and demolishing of the popish and superstitious pictures in Hampton Court, where the altar was taken down, and the table brought out into the body of the church, the rails pulled down, and the steps levelled, and the popish pictures and superstitious images that were in the glass windows were also demolished, and order given for the new-glazing of them with plain glass; and, among the rest, there was pulled down the picture of Christ nailed to the cross, which was placed right over the altar, and the pictures of Mary Magdalen and others, weeping by the foot of the Cross; and some other such idolatrous pictures were pulled down and demolished.

The east and south fronts of the palace, comprising the state apartments, form two extensive piles. The eastern, three hundred and thirty feet in length, is chiefly built of bright red bricks, but with decorations of stone; the central compartment, in which is the state entrance to the palace, is of stone, and highly embellished. The south front is about the same length as the eastern, and has, like it, a central compartment of stone, but is not so highly embellished; looks over the gardens; and the ground was here sunk ten feet, for the purpose of obtaining a view from the lower apartments. The numerous state apartments are of magnificent dimensions; and they, as well as other apartments in the palace, are splendidly fitted up, and adorned with pictures by the first masters.

The most valuable treasures of art in the palace are unquestionably the Cartoons of Raffaelle, which are known, at least by name, to most readers. They were and drawings (cartoons) intended as copies for tapestry; done by Raffaelle, rather more than three centuries ago. When they were sent to Arras, in order that tapestries might be worked from them, the weavers cut each of them perpendicularly into six or seven slips, in order to work more conveniently. The tapestries thus produced mable patterns or cartoons lay in oblivion in a cellar at were admired and exhibited at Rome; while the inesti Arras for a whole century. At length Charles the First, at the suggestion of Rubens, sought them out; when it was found that several of them were torn to fragments or otherwise destroyed; there being only the slips of seven of them remaining in an entire state. this, William the Third caused seven stretching-frames Some years after to be made, secured the slips carefully in their respective places to form the original pictures, and built a room for their reception at Hampton Court Palace, where they still remain. Propositions have at some periods been made to remove them to London, where they could be

more seen and appreciated: but it is feared that the effect of the metropolitan atmosphere on the watercolours, in which they are painted, would be unfavourable, while the Cartoon Gallery is allowed to be welladapted for their reception. The subjects of these cartoons are as follow:-1. The Death of Ananias. 2. Elymas the Sorcerer struck blind by St. Paul. 3. The Lame Man restored by Saint Peter and Saint Paul. 4. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. 5. Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas at Lystra. 6. Saint Paul preaching at Athens. 7. The last charge to Peter. We may remark, that, on the sale of the collection formed by Charles the First, the cartoons were secured at the price of 300%. by Cromwell, whose known determination to possess them prevented competition; but not long afterwards he obtained a loan of 50,000l. on them from Holland, which sufficiently indicates the estimation in which they were held.

Of the very large collection of pictures by distinguished masters, contained in different apartments of the palace, we have not room here to speak; but we must give a passing notice of some singular tapestries in a room called Wolsey's withdrawing-room. This room is entered by a doorway from the centre of the dais in the Hall. It is about sixty feet long, thirty wide, and twenty high. The ceiling is decorated with pendent ornaments, between which are fleurs-de-lis, roses, portcullises, coats-of-arms, &c. The ribs are of oak, and were formerly elaborately painted and gilt; they are divided into compartments, and from them small pendants descend as at the intersections. Around the room are a series of tapestries worked by Flemish artists, and placed in their present position by Cardinal Wolsey. Of these tapestries Mr. Jesse remarks:

THE ECONOMY OF MARINE LIFE.

APART from the local advantages to such people as those of the Channel Islands-who use it as fuel and as manure—of stranded sea-weed, there is a principle, connected with the fact of its coming ashore, which it is necessary to understand before one can examine the sea with due knowledge of the economy of that extraordinary element. It is a fact, palpable to any one's observation, that all the coasts of the land, composed of mineral substances, or of dead shells, or other animal productions, or vegetable ones in which life is extinct, are habitually wetted by the ocean waters, to the full extent that these waters act upon them. It is also a fact, well known to those acquainted with the ecoin those who do not attend to the principle of things, nomy of nature, but not so palpable to common observation that no living production of the sea, or any other water, is wetted by that water while it remains in the living state. This is known to be the case in all waters, however soft and limpid they may be, or however mixed with saline and other active substances; and it is also known that the more such substances exist in the composition of any water, pletely are the living inhabitants of that water, animal or vegewhether of the sea or of any other collection, the more comtable, protected against its action upon the surface of their bodies. The substance which nature employs for this purpose is a mucous or slimy matter, of some description or other, in which the surface of the living being is habitually bathed, and by which it is completely protected from that macerating and decomposing influence, which the water, whether salt or fresh, would otherwise exert upon it, and in so far operate its destruction; in the same manner as water very speedily decomposes the greater number of organized substances after they are dead.

The pleasure grounds attached to the palace are laid out in the formal Dutch taste; and in a garden called the private garden is the celebrated grape-vine, a hundred and ten feet long. This vine was planted more than seventy years ago; and it has been known to yield in one season two thousand two hundred bunches of grapes weighing on an average one pound each. A park, nearly five miles in circumference, is situated near the river; and in it is a canal half a mile in length bordered with fine lime-trees. A labyrinth or maze, on the opposite side of the palace, is one of the objects which, taken in conjunction with the various other attractions of the place, make Hampton Court one of the pleasantest jaunts to the visitor which the "banks of the Thames" can afford. At this part of our noble river the scenery on both banks has always been celebrated for its beauty.

of

Children we are all

one great Father, in whatever clime Nature or chance hath cast the seeds of life, All tongues, all colours: neither after death Shall we be sorted into languages

And tints, white, black, and tawny, Greek and Goth,
Northmen, and offspring of hot Africa;

The All-Father, He in whom we live and move,
He, the indifferent Judge of all, regards
Nations, and hues, and dialects alike;
According to their works shall they be judged,
When even-handed Justice in the scale
Their good and evil weighs.-SOUTHEY.

The most remarkable and important relation between the waters of the sea and the dead and living inhabitants of that element, is not, however, the circumstance of the living productions and inhabitants elaborating a mucous or slimy production, by which the wetting is prevented, and which applies not only to aquatic plants and animals the porcelain shells, which, when living, are invested with a kind of membrane, often of extreme tenuity, which possesses the same quality. The curious part of the matter is, the difference of their relation in the sea to a substance which can be wetted by its waters, and to one which cannot be so wetted. The wettable substance finds its way to the wettable shore by an obscure but by a very certain and constant kind of attraction; and the substance which the water of the sea cannot wet has no such tendency to come on shore, but remains to perform its functions in the water. No matter whether it is marine plant, marine animal of any kind whatsoever, or aquatic bird which frequents the waters without habitually living in their volume; for if the plant or the animal is fitted by nature for living in the sea, there is no surface-action of the sea upon it as long as it is in the living state; and it consequently has no But when either tendency whatever toward the shore. plant or animal dies, and ceases to perform its functions, including the production of the water-repelling mucus among the rest, it is immediately subjected to the economy of the waters, just as if it were a dead thing; and then the action of the sea casts it on the shore, as having no longer connexion with the energy and economy of living nature there. This is the cause of the vast accumulations of shells with which we meet on various shores, and on some of the shores of the Channel Islands among the rest; and it is also the reason why that sea-weed, which is so valuable to the Channel Islanders, comes ashore in considerable quantities, after those violent disturbances of the ocean waters which have torn it from its natural situation as a living vegetable, and transferred it over to those dead products which the sea invariably casts upon the strand, as being no longer useful in its very varied economy.

If the people of the Channel Islands were fully aware of this peculiar property of dead sea-weed, it might save them no small portion of their labour at those times of the year when the time arrives to cut and carry this weed as a very necessary article of their provision, both domestic and agricultural. If they were simply to cut it down-that is, to sever it from the tentacula or roots by which it adheres to the rocks without deriving any nourishment from them -then it would not go out to sea, but would be collected in the bays in the creeks to probably the same extent as now, and with a great reduction of labour to those whor is valuable as an article of domestic economy.-MUDIF

BRUNELLESCHI,

AND

THE CATHEDRAL OF S. MARIA DEL FIORE, AT FLORENCE.

IF we date from the death of Justinian the entire disappearance of the system of, and the taste for, the architecture of Greece and Rome; and if we pass over the long and gloomy period wherein the fairest works of antique art were a prey to the ravages of the Northmen, we shall find that Italy prepared the way for the restoration of good taste, and that Filippo Brunelleschi was the first to prepare the way for its reception. This illustrious Italian, born in 1375, was descended from an ancient Florentine family: his father was a notary, to which profession young Filippo was destined. He received a good education, but his father observed with some dissatisfaction that his son was more attached to the ingenuities of the hand than to the culture of the head; and in despair of making him excel in literature and law, he placed him with a goldsmith, an art which was then in great repute, since it was intimately connected with the finest of the arts of design, which the ornamental taste of the Roman Catholic religion fully developed and encouraged.

Our young artist became captivated with the charms of sculpture, which taste was encouraged by an acquaintance with the afterwards celebrated sculptor Donatello. Filippo also studied with great assiduity the sciences of geometry, optics, and mechanics; and his young and ardent fancy looked forward to architecture, as the subject on which his genius was to display its full power; so that, when Donatello was about to visit Rome for the purpose of studying sculpture, Brunelleschi determined to accompany him to gaze upon the architectural monuments of antiquity, which at that time were not only forgotten in Rome, the place of their birth but the principles upon which they were structed were unknown to the whole world.

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It is one of the grand properties of genius to see clearly that which to other eyes is obscure. Many of the professors of art and science, in their numerous important and extensive departments, are undoubtedly men of great and exalted talent; they follow in the path of their predecessors, and simplify and improve our knowledge; but the man of genius does more than this; he penetrates deep into the mysteries of nature, removes the veil which prevents other men from seeing farther, opens new fields of research, discovers hidden principles which are new, or explains and brings out into the light of day such as have long been lost.

When Brunelleschi arrived at Rome he was lost in surprise and admiration at the sight of so many architectural wonders, which in his day existed in a better state than at present. The world is five centuries older than when our young architect first sat down among the ruins of imperial Rome. His wonder seems to have bewildered him; so that it required a long time before he could acquire that sober state of mind necessary for the study of these wonderful models. Even then he is said to have forgotten the commonest offices of life, the hours of repast and of sleep. He was constantly constructing plans, measuring antique edifices, obtaining exact proportions, and endeavouring to establish the true characters of the three orders, so as to arrive at that system of reason, intelligence and harmony which was to re-establish and perpetuate the authority of his principles. The ambition of becoming the restorer of ancient architecture sustained his courage and excited his ardour; his pecuniary resources were exhausted, but his profession of goldsmith supplied him with daily bread: his enthusiasm in the cause of architecture was genuine :-it was not of that weak and flimsy nature which wears itself out in protestations of what it will do:➡his was the "deep stream which

bubbles not:"-it sources were concealed within himself, and they were not communicated even to his intimate friend Donatello, who returned to Florence, leaving Brunelleschi at Rome amid the ruins of past grandeur.

We come now to notice the work upon which the fame of Brunelleschi chiefly rests. The grand Basilica or the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore at Florence was commenced by Arnolfo di Lapo, about the year 1295, a few years before his death. It appears that Arnolfo, in the conception of a vast plan, intended to cover the spacious octangular area between the four branches of the cross with an immense vault. This, however, is only conjecture; since the architect did not leave behind him any plan for inclosing this enormous space. He and his contemporaries had no knowledge of the resources of Greek and Roman architecture; and the knowledge and skill of the time did not warrant such an undertaking as this gigantic dome. The only person who at all favoured the practicability of such a scheme was Brunelleschi, whose secret ambition when at Rome, was to erect this great work without any centering, or internal support from carpentry work, but, taking as a point of departure, the summit of the nave, to build his vault in stone, and to make its elevation proportionate to the rest of the edifice. At that time such a project as this was thought to be wild and visionary.

Brunelleschi wanted only a little more knowledge in the art of construction. He again applied himself, and interrogated the monuments of antiquity: he looked into these works for the reasons of their solidity; the means whereby they were executed; the relations of their masses; the processes whereby the materials were worked; the secrets of their union and of their transport and position; the mechanical laws whereby to calculate forces and resistances; the boundary line, in short, between boldness and temerity.

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In 1407 Brunelleschi returned to Florence. In this year the most eminent architects and engineers were convened from all parts to deliberate on the best means for completing the cathedral. Many formidable difficulties were opposed to the construction of a single vault, and there was no existing building which could be taken as a precedent. The dome of Sancta Sophia was somewhat smaller in diameter than the one now proposed: this one, together with that of St. Mark's at Venice and the cathedral at Pisa, was constructed under such very ferent circumstances as to afford little practical informa tion to bring to the construction of the new dome. Brunelleschi, however, had solved the difficulty. He appeared at the meeting, and with great sagacity and self-restraint, revealed a part only of his plan. He foresaw that the exposition of the whole of it would have the effect of placing those weapons in the hands of another which he felt himself destined to yield. He advised, therefore, that the substructure of the future cupola should be commenced, and certain other precautionary measures used, until the final decision of the meeting should be made. This advice was agreed to, and the plan recommended by him was put into practice.

Delighted thus to have imparted the first impulse to this great work, he devoted many months to the construction of his models. A second meeting of architects and engineers was convoked, in order to arrive at a final decision, when Brunelleschi suddenly quitted Florence and went to Rome.

And here is another remarkable feature in the mind of this extraordinary man. He calculated weakness of human nature: knowing that men often seek eagerly after that which is afar off, and as it were inaccessible, but which, if close at hand, and easily obtainable, they too often despise, he calculated that his services would be the more appreciated in Florence, when they must be sought after in Rome. Nor was he deceived, for scarcely had he departed when his absence

from the meeting was severely felt. The judges recalled to mind the superiority of his arguments and of his knowledge, and the ascendancy which he had assumed and maintained in the first conference over all his competitors. They sent to him, and told him that the fate of the enterprise depended on him, and begged him to hasten his return. Brunelleschi did return: he appeared again before this assembly, and saw that it was composed of men made timid rather by the feeling of their own inexperience and insufficiency for the task than by their knowledge of its difficulties. The time was wasted in vain discussions and timid propositions. Brunelleschi sought neither to augment their fears, nor too much to diminish them. He spoke to them as follows:

I will not conceal from you the magnitude of the difficulties belonging to the project which occupies our attention. It is the peculiarity of great things to be difficult. I think I see, even now, obstacles greater in character and in number than you perhaps have imagined. I doubt whether the ancients would ever have dared to construct a vault of such

tremendous magnitude as the one we now propose to raise. I have long meditated on the means for so adapting both the internal and external construction of it as to insure success; but the peculiar form and the great height of the edifice scare me. If our vault were circular I would resort to the method adopted by the ancients in the Pantheon or Rotunda. But here we have eight facets, and consequently eight upright courses of stones to elevate, which we must unite with the rest of the structure; thus the affair becomes more difficult, and no one can be better assured of the difficulty than

myself. God forbid, however, that I should despair. Who can doubt that the Great Author of all science, to whose honour this magnificent temple is erected, will not confer strength, intelligence, and genius on him who shall be missioned to this work, how can I be useful to you? If the selected for this undertaking? As for me, who am not commatter rested on me alone I confess that I should feel courage, and doubt not of finding the means of success, without encountering so many difficulties. But how can I reveal to you these means, since you have as yet decided on nothing? My advice is, that if you wish determinedly to proceed with the execution of this grand design, you be not content with what I may propose, but that you assemble here from all parts of Europe the most skilful masters of the art, submit to their searching deliberation all the points of difficulty, and then decide finally in favour of him who shall propose the most simple and effectual plans, and announce them with the greatest rectitude of mind and judgment.

Thus artfully did Brunelleschi argue. His advice was adopted, but he refused to show his model. Clever as a tactician, as well as profoundly skilful as an architect, he sought by concealing himself from curiosity to excite it the more. He pleaded business at Rome, and thus eluded the premature offers made to him. He set out on this third expedition, in order to gain a fresh accession of strength among the models of antiquity for the great trial which he himself had provoked. Here we must leave him, and conclude the subject of this notice in a future article.