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intrinsic merits of his celebrated labours; which will adorn this land as long as they shall be unmutilated by the numerous hosts of prevailing fashionable novelty-mongers: who, under the pretence of restoration, have obtruded their own false ideas of taste, to the destruction of order and of whatever was estimable in the designs of our great countryman. Properly to restore his works, the persons so employed must possess the energies of his mind; a mind like that of Lord Burlington, happily characterized by a noble author, whose writings we have had occasion both to censure and to commend:-"Never was protection and great wealth more generously and more judiciously diffused: his enthusiasm for the works of Inigo Jones was so active, that he repaired the church of Covent Garden because it was the production of that great master."--Speaking of Chiswick House, as an illustration of its then characteristic, the same noble author remarks," the larger court dignified by picturesque Ctdars, and the classic scenery of the small court that unites the old and the new house, are more worth secing than many frog. ments of antient grandeur which our travellers visit under all the dangers attendant on long voyages."The beautiful ap pendage of the small court, worthy of the best times of Imperial Rome for its chastity of design and harmony of propor tions, is alas! no more. The classical ideas of Lord Burlington, which arose in his ennobled mind, enriched by study and matured by experience, have been superseded by a person whose competency and education are made manifest by the operations which he has been suffered to perform.

We turn from such sacrilegious improvements to the memory of a venerable, lamented, admired, yet neglected Architect, the virtuous Revett; whose education was learned and extensive, in Literature as well as in all that regards the culture of the Arts, particularly Architecture, and whose knowlege was not inferior in Science. He was gifted also with many graceful, amiable, and manly accomplishments; his modesty and integrity were only to be exceeded by his intelligence; with his pursuit of know lege, his mind imbibed the purest sentiments towards others; and his pleasing and unaffected manners ensured universal esteem. He may be said to have given, in a great measure, the profits and the fame of his labours to others; of which the publications of the Athenian and lonian Antiquities are memorable examples. These drawings were made from accurate admea. surements, and are performances that have greatly contributed to enrich our stock of information regarding the small remains of Attic structures.-Revett was totally ignorant of those shrewd tricks which are but too successfully practised in corrupt soci ety: he contented himself with saying little and performing much.

Mr. Hoare's statement of Revett's labours is just, but by far too concise. We are of opinion also that the publication of Le Roy, though not worthy of the credit which should be given to several of Revett's admeasurements, deserved to have been mentioned in better terms than Mr. H. is inclined to bestow.-To Robert Adam, on the contrary, we think that he is too indulgent. No man, indeed, knew better than he did. the advantages to be obtained by the introduction of novelty, which in his practice he endeavoured to realize, and he certainly was a man of genius, taste, and ready wit: but, granting that he effected some good in correcting a false and contemptible system, especially in the interior ornamental decorations of our buildings, he also did much harm by opening the door to every innovator, who may be deficient in that edu cation which must qualify a real judge, and in Mr. Adam's powers of application.-Having closed his eulogium on our deliverers from a slavishness of taste in Architecture, Mr. H. thus mentions the name, and in his opinion the humble pretensions of William Kent: Something of a similar kind had been previously attempted by Kent, an artist of great celebrity, under the patronage of the Earl of Burlington, in the reign of George II. but the attempt was at best but feebly executed.'. For this, thanks to Kent's better judgment. To the observation made by Mr. H. in the following sentence,- Taste, however, unchecked by the existence of any great standards of art in this country, deviates hourly into numberless excentric paths, and our modes of building are now nearly as various as the humours of our minds, we call the fixed attention of the real lovers of Architecture; since it contains a confession, the influence which is absolutely necessary to the advancement of the science. To this wise precept, for which we have been advocating throughout the whole of our review, we consider Kent to have been particularly attentive; and for his judicious conduct we cannot withhold our tribute of respect. We see nothing of our modern vagaries in the Architecture of Raphael and of Angelo. We must think, however unfashionable may be the opinion, that the name of Kent should have occupied a more distinguished place in the pages of the volume before us; and that he should have been made a principal actor in the drama, instead of scene-shifter to Robert Adam, or any of Adam's cotemporaries. To the abilities of Kent, they and their country are much indebted for the examples which he left them in every department of the liberal arts; which he so successfully studied in Italy, and practised on his return, under the patronage of the Earl of Burlington. Painting, however, must be excepted, since in this branch we admit that his conceptions were very poor, and his

03.

execution

execution was equally bad. By his regulating standard, he fixed the mark for a sure guidance to others in architecture. and in landscape gardening, of a classical and very high cast; aided by enrichments of sculpture and other works of art, which are requisite combinations to the completion of splendor and magnificence. Kent made his own designs, and his own drawings; his plans were well adapted to their several purposes; and a fitness and an unity pervaded the proportions. of his apartments, which were impressively striking. He practised much in Architecture, and with deserved reputation. Among many o hers of his private buildings, we cannot particularize the façade of Devonshire House (towards Piccadilly) without commending the dignified and unaffected simplicity, and the harmonious proportions of the individual parts, as well as the whole display of the court of approach and offices.

To conclude: we regard Mr. Hoare as intitled to the thanks and commendation of all lovers of the Arts, for the present attempt to excite just attention to them, at a time when he seems to consider that their situation in this country is very critical, and that they are in danger of perishing for ever. Ardently do we wish that his efforts may produce a heneficial effect; and much are we inclined to applaud the salutary hints and cautions which his work occasionally presents. It is with regret, however, that we feel persuaded, and that we have felt ourselves obliged in the course of this long article to endeavour to shew, that the work is not satisfactory nor conclusive; that many of the positions and deductions are merely theoretical; that it is not written with that boldness of impartiality and scrupulous observance of justice, which its title. and its object demanded: but that, on the contrary, it is in too many respects calculated to promote the growth of flattery at the expence of fact; that some names have been placed in too strong a light, and others have been kept too much in the shade, in order to produce stage effect; and that, altogether, the performance is better calculated to please the superficial observer, than to become a sure guide in the investigation which it professes to assist.

An establishment of recent date in our metropolis, called the British Institution, attracts much of Mr. Hoare's notice and of his praise. W should willingly befriend any aid afforded to the ostensible object of this Society: but its arrangements are yet too incomplete and too mutable to be fairly open to decided approbation. The sale of performances already

exhibited is a minor consideration. Let it afford to artists an opportunity of comparison with works that have stood the test of time and criticism, let a fair contention be thus

excited,

excited, and much advancement in the arts may be the result. Mr. Hoare, indeed, mixes with his encomiums some qualifying sentences and some admonitions; and these we seriously recommend to the patrons of the Institution.

ART. XI. History of Great Britain, from the Revolution, 1688, to the Conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens, 802. By William 12 Volumes. 8vo. 51. 83. Boards. R. Phillips.

Belsham.

THE 'HE British Public is no stranger to the general characteristics of Mr. Belsham's History; which, as now before us, forms a regularly progressive work, but of which all the volumes, excepting the 11th and 12th, have been previously printed in detached portions and in irregular chronological order. The same animated and glowing style, and the same popular principles and sentiments, which marked his preceding labors, will probably still attract the approbation of his admirers; while the exceptions which have been made against his prepossessions and his ardour will equally continue to be urged. Ever the friends to freedom both of principle and discussion, but alike the opposers of intemperance either of conduct or of language, we adverted in former articles to an occasional degree of excess in Mr. Belsham's diction, which was little suitable to the dignity of history. In the preface to his 11th volume, he enters into an explanation of this part of his conduct; and speaking of himself in the third person,

Far be from him,' he says, that "frigid philosophy,which, in treating upon subjects the most interesting to the human welfare and happiness, can satisfy itself with that sort of impartiality, or rather of monkish insensibility, which confines its efforts and its object to a simple and naked recital of facts, without adverting to principles, or to the bearings and tendencies of different and opposite systems of action. On the contrary, he has labored, invariably and assiduously, to inculcate such principles and sentiments as have been proved by the reasonings of the ablest political writers, by the practice of the greatest statesmen, and by the uniform tenor of historical evidence, to be in the highest degree beneficial to mankind. For any occasional warmth of language, arising from this source, he trusts that the Public will think an apology very unnecessary: and, on the calmest retrospection of his own views and motives, he has none to offer.'

He admits, however, in the subsequent paragraph, as he had before allowed in a letter which he addressed to us †, that the animadversions were not without foundation:

See Rev. N. S. Vols. xiii. xvii. xxxiv. and xxvii. + Ibid. Vol. xxxvii. N. S. p. 221.

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The critical reader will nevertheless find, that various expres sions, bordering upon anger and asperity, are, in the latest edition of the preceding volumes of this history, altered and modified; and, in those now offered to the Public, the author has been solicitous not to transgress the limits of that freedom' which is the inseparable privilege and characteristic of historical composition.'

In the additional volumes, which now form the only subject of our notice, Mr. B. commences with the Session of Parliament in 1798-9; and here the important event of the Union with Ireland early attracts the notice of the historian. On this topic, he is rather reserved, but on the whole he seems to approve the measure. He is next called to an event, the record of which, according to his detail of it, must indeed be unwelcome to British ears, since in it the honour of Britain is declared to have received a foul and deep stain; we refer to the conduct adopted towards its revolu tionary subjects, by the imbecil and immoral court of Naples, to which the great Lord Nelson was a party. In noticing the memoirs of our naval hero, we have already alluded to these transactions: of which, until we are more fully informed of them, we shall continue to speak in terms of reserve which their nature would not permit us to use, if we were decidedly convinced that the present representations of them admitted of no material correction. We expect shortly to attend to other accounts of this affair, and at present shall no farther advert to it than by quoting a part of Mr. Belsham's statement:

The members of the Neapolitan government had taken possession of the two forts of the capital; viz. Castel Nuovo and Castel del Uovo: as also of the Castell-a-mare, six lengues from Naples. The latter immediately capitulated, on terms of safety to the lives, persons, and property of the garrison, to the English squadron commanded by commodore Foote. The capture of the two former was attended with more difficulty. The patriots, who had at first taken the reso lution of burying themselves under the ruins of their liberty, fought with incredible valor. Feeling, however, on receiving a second summons of surrender, that, deprived of all external succour, their eventual resistance would serve only to increase the misfortunes of their country, they at length decided on a treaty, in concert with citizen Mejan, commander of the fort of St. Elmo, garrisoned by the French; and a joint capitulation was accordingly signed, June 22, pon condition of their being allowed to march out with the honors of war; of security, both to persons and property, for all those in the two forts; and liberty to all, either to remain at Naples, or embark for France on board transports to be provided and equipped by his Neapolitan majesty. The capitulation thus solemnly agreed on was ratified by cardinal Ruffo, vicar-general of the king of the Two Sicilies, by commodore Foote, and by the respective commanders of the Russian and Turkish squadrons, the last of whom affixed his mark

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