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PREFACE. 


THE  following  "  Personal  and  Professional  Recol- 
lections" were  commenced  by  my  father  many  years 
ago.  They  were  designed  originally  for  the  infor- 
mation of  his  family,  but  as  the  work  progressed 
the  scope  of  it  became  enlarged.  In  1873  my 
father  drew  up  directions  for  its  publication  in  the 
event  of  his  decease,  and  his  instructions  upon  the 
subject  are  precise.  "  I  feel  it  due,"  he  writes,  "  to 
myself  that  the  statement  of  my  professional  life 
should  go  before  the  public  in  a  fair  and  unpreju- 
diced form ;  and  the  more  so  as  I  have  been  one 
of  the  leading  actors  in  the  greatest  architectural 
movement  which  has  occurred  since  the  Classic 
renaissance.  I  only  seek  to  be  placed  before  the 
public  fairly  and  honourably,  as  I  trust  I  deserve ; 
and  I  commit  this  especially  to  those  whose  duty 
it  is  to  do  it,  begging  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God 
upon  their  exertions."  The  manuscript,  naturally 
enough,  contains  much  that  is  unsuited  to  publica- 
tion, and  which  my  father,  had  he  lived  to  revise  it 
for  the  press,  would  undoubtedly  have  modified 
or  erased.  With  such  matter  I  have  endeavoured, 

A   2 


iv  Preface. 

aided  by  the  advice  of  others,  to  deal  as  it  may  be 
conceived  that  its  author  would  have  dealt,  had 
opportunity  served.  There  is  also  much  relating  to 
purely  domestic  concerns  in  which  the  public  could 
not  be  expected  to  take  interest.  The  greater 
part  of  this  has  been  omitted.  So  much  only  is 
left  as  appeared  necessary  to  the  completeness 
of  the  story,  and  valuable  as  an  indication  of  cha- 
racter. I  trust  it  may  not  be  thought  that  too  little 
has  here  been  expunged,  and  that  something  may 
be  allowed  to  the  partiality  of  a  son. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  the  Very  Reverend  the 
Dean  of  Chichester  who,  with  equal  willingness  and 
kindness,  undertook  to  contribute  the  Introduction, 
and  who  has  further  given  valuable  aid  and  advice 
in  the  revision,  throughout,  of  the  proofs.  I  have 
also  to  thank  the  Very  Reverend  the  Dean  of 
Westminster  for  the  permission  to  reprint  the  ser- 
mon preached  by  him  on  the  occasion  of  my  father's 
interment ;  Mr.  Edward  M.  Barry,  R.A.,  for  a  simi- 
lar permission  in  respect  of  a  portion  of  a  recent 
lecture  delivered  in  the  chair  of  Architecture  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  in  reference  to  my  father's  career ; 
to  Mr.  E.  A.  Freeman,  who  was  at  much  pains  to 
recover  a  passage  in  one  of  his  early  pamphlets  to 
which  my  father  in  his  manuscript  had  referred, 
but  of  which  he  has  given  no  very  accurate  indica- 
tion; and  to  Mr.  George  Richmond,  R.A.,  for  kind 
assistance  in  regard  to  the  engraving  from  his 
drawing,  which  he  has  allowed  me  to  place  as  a 
frontispiece  to  this  work. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION  BY  THE  DEAN  OF  CHICHESTER. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Birth  and  parentage,  i.  Native  village,  4.  The  early  "  Evan- 
gelicals," 9.  The  "high  and  dry"  clergy,  12.  Village 
characters,  16.  The  Drawing  Master,  24.  Rev.  Thomas 
Scott,  the  "Commentator,"  27.  Visit  to  Margate,  33.  John 
Wesley,  36.  William  Gilbert,  37.  Stowe,  38.  Hillesden 
Church,  42.  Residence  at  Latimers,  48. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Gawcott  Church,  53.  Articled  to  Mr.  Edmeston,  55.  St. 
Saviour's,  Southwark,  59.  Death  of  his  brother,  65.  The 
Oldrid  family,  66.  Messrs.  Grissell  and  Peto,  71.  Fish- 
mongers' Hall,  73.  Death  of  his  father,  77.  Poor  Law 
work,  78.  Marriage,  85.  Erects  his  first  church,  85. 
Augustus  Welby  Pugin,  88.  The  Martyrs'  Memorial,  89. 
The  Infant  Orphan  Asylum,  91.  Camberwell  Church,  92. 
St.  Mary's,  Stafford,  97.  Chapel  on  Wakefield  Bridge,  101. 
The  Cambridge  Camden  Society,  103. 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Gothic  Revival  in  1844,  107.  St.  Nicholas,  Hamburg, 
113.  First  Visit  to  Germany,  ib.  Visits  Hamburg,  117. 
The  Competition  for  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  118.  Journey  to 
Hamburg  and  Holland,  127.  Dissolution  of  Partnership, 
130.  Apology  for  undertaking  the  erection  of  a  Lutheran 


vi  Contents. 

Church,  135.  Appointed  architect  to  Ely  Cathedral,  146. 
Important  works  (1845 — 1862),  147.  Paper  on  Truthful 
Restoration,  149.  Becomes  architect  to  Westminster  Abbey, 
151.  Bradfield  Church,  155.  Tour  in  Italy,  157.  The 
Great  Exhibition  (1851),  164.  The  Architectural  Museum, 
165.  St.  George's,  Doncaster,  170.  The  Rath-haus  at 
Hamburg,  174.  Elected  an  A. R.  A.,  175. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Treatise  on  Domestic  Architecture,  177.  Competition  for  the 
New  Government  Offices,  178.  Is  appointed  to  this  work, 
181.  Change  of  Government,  185.  Is  directed  to  prepare 
an  Italian  design,  192.  Is  elected  a  Royal  Academician, 
199. 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Gothic  Revival  (1845 — 1864),  202.  Progress  of  the 
subsidiary  arts,  Carving,  214.  Metal  work,  216.  Stained 
glass,  ib.  The  Gothic  Revivalists,  225. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Death  of  his  mother,  230 ;  and  of  two  sisters,  234 — 236  ;  of 
his  third  son,  ib. ;  of  his  brother,  Samuel  King  Scott,  241. 
Illness  at  Chester,  247.  A  "haunted"  house,  252.  Moves 
to  Ham,  254 ;  thence  to  Rook's-nest,  256.  Death  of  Mrs. 
Scott,  ib, 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Prince  Consort  Memorial,  262.  Reply  to  criticisms  on 
this  design,  267.  The  Midland  Railway  Terminus,  271. 
Glasgow  University  buildings,  272.  Decoration  of  the 
Wolsey  Chapel,  Windsor,  ib*  Competition  for  the  New 
Law  Courts,  273.  Design  for  the  Albert  Hail,  279.  Pro- 
fessor of  Architecture  at  the  Royal  Academy,  280.  Works 
at  Ely  Cathedral,  ib.  Westminster  Abbey,  284.  Hereford 
Cathedral,  288.  Lichfield  Cathedral,  291.  Peterborough 
Cathedral,  298.  Salisbury  Cathedral,  300.  Chichester 
Cathedral,  309.  St.  David's  Cathedral,  311.  Bangor 


Contents.  vii 

Cathedral,   316.     St    Asaph    Cathedral,   318.     St.   Albans 
Abbey,  320. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Is  knighted,  327.  Tour  in  Switzerland  and  Italy,  329.  Works 
at  Chester  Cathedral,  330.  Gloucester  Cathedral,  336. 
Ripon  Cathedral,  339.  Worcester  Cathedral,  342.  Exeter 
Cathedral,  345.  Rochester  Cathedral,  349.  Winchester 
Cathedral,  352.  Durham  Cathedral,  ib.  St.  Albans,  re- 
sumed, 353. 

-  CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Anti-Restoration  Movement,  358.  The  Queen  Anne 
Style,  372. 


APPENDIX  A. 

An  Account  of  Sir  Gilbert's  last  days,  and  of  his  death  and 
funeral,  377. 

APPENDIX  B. 
Funeral  Sermon  by  Dr.  Stanley,  Dean  of  Westminster,  387. 

APPENDIX  C. 
Papers  on  the  subject  of  Restoration  referred  to  in  p.  367,398. 


INTRODUCTION 

BY 

THE   DEAN   OF   CHICHESTER. 

INVITED  to  contribute  an  Introductory  Chapter 
to  Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  "  Recollections,"  I  willingly 
undertake  the  task ;  yet  have  I  little  to  offer 
beyond  the  expression  of  my  personal  regard  for 
the  man,  my  hearty  admiration  of  the  great  work 
which  he  lived  long  enough  to  accomplish. 

(i.)  It  is  impossible  to  survey  the  revival  which 
has  taken  place  in  the  knowledge  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture within  the  last  forty  years  without  astonish- 
ment. Not  that  our  actual  achievements  as  yet 
are  calculated  to  produce  excessive  self-congratu- 
lation :  but  when  it  is  considered  out  of  what  a 
state  of  childish  ignorance  we  have  so  lately 
emerged,  it  is  surely  in  a  high  degree  encouraging 
to  review  our  present  position.  And  to  Sir  Gilbert 
Scott,  more  than  to  any  other  individual,  we  are 
indebted  for  what  has  been  effected.  He  in- 
genuously acknowledges  his  obligations  to  others : 
tells  us  at  what  altar  he  first  kindled  his  torch : 
arrogates  to  himself  no  claim  to  have  been  facile 
princeps  in  his  art.  On  the  contrary,  he  frankly 
recalls  his  own  failures ;  and  recounts  the  steps, 


x  Introduction. 

slow  and  painful,  by  which  he  himself  struggled 
out  of  the  universal  darkness,  with  a  truthfulness 
which  is  even  perplexing.  Yet  has  he  been  un- 
questionably the  great  teacher  of  his  generation ; 
and  by  the  conservative  character  of  his  genius  he 
has  proved  a  prime  benefactor  to  his  country  also. 
To  his  influence  and  example  we  are  chiefly  in- 
debted for  the  preservation  of  not  a  few  of  our 
national  monuments — our  cathedral  and  parochial 
churches.  And  (it  must  in  faithfulness  to  his 
memory  be  added)  a  vast  deal  more  would  have 
been  spared  of  what  has  now  hopelessly  perished 
had  his  counsels  always  prevailed — above  all,  had 
his  method  been  more  generally  adopted. 

(2.)  In  the  "  Recollections"  which  follow  (would 
that  they  were  less  fragmentary !)  Sir  Gilbert  has 
chiefly — all  but  exclusively,  in  fact — dwelt  upon 
the  great  Cathedral  restorations  which  were  con- 
ducted under  his  auspices.  His  remarks  will  be 
read  with  profound  interest,  and  will  become  local 
memorials  of  the  most  precious  class,  as  the  au- 
thentic private  jottings  (for  they  do  not  pretend  to 
be  more)  of  the  great  architect  himself.  But  one 
desiderates  besides  an  enumeration  of  the  many 
dilapidated  parochial  Churches  on  which  he  was 
employed ;  and  one  would  have  been  glad  at  the 
same  time  to  be  reminded  by  himself  of  the 
eloquent  plea  which  was  ever  on  his  lips  for  deal- 
ing in  a  far  more  conservative  spirit  with  those 
precious  relics  of  antiquity.  Let  me  be  allowed  in 
this  place  to  say  a  few  plain  words  on  a  subject  very 
near  to  my  heart — as  I  know  it  was  very  near  to 
his :  a  subject  concerning  which  those  who  have  a 


Introduction.  xi 

right  to  be  heard,  and  who  ought  to  have  spoken 
long  ago,  have  either  practised  reticence  or  else 
spoken  ineffectually  until,  I  fear,  it  is  too  late  for 
any  one  to  speak  with  the  possibility  of  much 
good  resulting  from  what  he  says.  I  allude  to 
the  ruthless  work  of  destruction  which  for  the 
last  thirty  years  has  been  going  on  in  almost 
every  parish  in  England  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  our  architects,  and  with  the  sanction 
of  our  parochial  clergy.  Verily,  it  is  not  too  much 
to  declare  that  with  the  best  intentions  and  at  an 
immense  outlay,  more  havoc  has  been  made,  more 
irreparable  mischief  wrought  throughout  the  land 
within  those  thirty  years,  than  any  invasion  of  a 
barbarous  horde  could  have  effected.  We  have 
severed  ourselves,  on  every  side,  from  antiquity, — 
have  effectually  broken  the  thousand  links  which 
used  to  connect  us  with  the  historic  Past. 

(3.)  At  the  beginning  of  the  period  referred  to, 
to  seek  out  and  to  study  the  village  churches  of 
England  was  almost  part  of  the  education  of  an 
English  gentleman.  In  the  case  of  one  of  culti- 
vated taste,  whatever  was  remarkable  in  their 
structure  or  in  their  decorations, — from  the  primi- 
tive window  or  singular  font  or  rude  bas-relief 
above  the  doorway,  down  to  the  fragments  of 
stained  glass,  specimens  of  wrought  iron,  or 
vestiges  of  fresco  on  the  walls, — nothing  came 
amiss.  The  ancient  altar-stone  degraded  to  the 
pavement ;  the  curiously-carved  finials ;  the  dila- 
pidated stand  for  the  preacher's  hour-glass  ;  all 
found  in  him  an  appreciating  patron.  That  the 
edifice  itself  was  as  a  rule  in  a  most  discreditable 


x  i  i  Introdwtion . 

plight,  is  undeniable.  The  green  walls,  low  plas- 
tered ceiling,  chimney  thrust  through  the  window, 
—the  ponderous  gallery  above  and  the  tall  pews 
beneath, — all  were  sordid  and  unworthy.  But  for 
all  that,  the  great  fact  remained  that  our  village 
churches  were  objects  of  surprising  interest ;  full 
of  beauty,  full  of  instruction.  There  is  no  telling 
what  a  privilege  it  was  to  pass  a  day  with  one's 
pencil  among  the  many  relics  which  they  invariably 
contained  ;  and  from  every  part  of  the  edifice  to 
learn  something.  Externally,  enough  remained 
at  all  events  to  tell  the  story  of  the  structure  : 
within,  comfortable  it  was  to  reflect  that  nothing 
after  all  was  so  much  needed  as  the  removal  of 
pews,  galleries,  whitewash :  the  re-opening  of 
windows :  the  careful  repair  of  what,  through 
tract  of  time,  had  vanished  :  the  restoration  of 
what  had  been  barbarously  mutilated.  Nothing 
in  short  was  required  but  what  a  refined  taste 
and  strong  conservative  instinct  might  reasonably 
hope  to  see  some  day  effected. 

(4.)  And  now,  what  has  been  the  actual 
result  of  thirty  years  of  church  "  Restoration  "  ? 
Briefly  this, — that  in  by  far  the  greater  number 
of  our  lesser  country  churches  there  scarcely  sur- 
vives a  single  point  of  interest.  In  the  case  of 
our  more  considerable  structures — with  a  few  bright 
exceptions — the  merest  wreck  remains  of  what 
did  once  so  much  delight  and  interest  the  be- 
holder. The  door  of  entrance  has  been  ''restored," 
but  not  on  the  old  lines  :  three  other  doors — in 
order  to  obtain  additional  sittings,  to  exclude 
draughts,  and  to  save  expense — have  been  so 


Introduction.  xiii 

blocked  up  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  discover 
what  they  were.  The  curious  Norman  chancel- 
arch  has  been  "  enlarged :"  the  ancient  font  and 
pulpit  have  been  supplanted  :  the  screen  has  either 
been  painted  over  or  else  removed  entirely.  The 
windows  (furnished  with  stained  glass  of  the  kind 
which  it  gives  the  beholder  a  sharp  pain  across 
the  chest  to  be  forced  to  contemplate)  are  wholly 
new,  and  do  not  assort  with  the  edifice  :  a  huge 
east  window  in  particular  (bad  luck  to  the  author 
of  it !)  has  effectually  obliterated  the  record  of 
what  stood  there  before  it.  The  venerable  tomb 
of  the  founder  (on  the  ground,  under  a  mural 
arch)  has  been  built  over  with  seats.  Another 
mutilated  recumbent  figure  of  an  ancient  lord  of 
the  soil  has  been  buried, — inscription  and  all. 
Sedilia,  piscina,  aumbry,  niche, — ruthless  hands 
have  rendered  every  one  of  them  uninteresting 
and  unintelligible.  Some  exquisite  tracery  has 
been  chiselled  away  within  and  without  the 
building.  A  specimen  of  the  ancient  oak  seats 
has  disappeared,  and  a  forest  of  rush-bottomed 
chairs  covers  the  floor.  There  were  once  traces 
of  curious  fresco  painting  on  the  walls  ;  but  they 
also  have  been  obliterated.  After  repeated  inquiry 
I  find  that  the  sepulchral  slabs,  of  which  there 
used  to  be  several,  are  at  the  present  hour  either 
(a)  buried,  or  (b)  lying  in  the  churchyard,  or  (c) 
ingeniously  plastered  into  the  wall  of  the  tower 
where  they  cannot  be  seen  and  where  they  cease 
to  be  of  the  least  interest,  or  else  (a)  destroyed. 
A  prime  object  seems  to  have  been  to  assimilate 
the  tint  of  the  walls  to  that  of  a  cup  of 
coffee :  also  to  procure  a  surface  of  unbroken 


xiv  Introduction. 

colour.  Another  leading  principle  has  evidently 
been  to  introduce  a  quantity  of  varnished  deal 
furniture.  A  third,  to  overlay  the  floor  in  every 
direction  with  "  Minton's  tiles  "  —except  where  the 
perforations  for  the  "  heating  apparatus "  have 
established  a  stronger  claim.  The  result  is  that 
there  is  no  longer  discoverable  a  single  inscribed 
stone — certainly  not  in  situ — from  one  end  of  the 
church  to  the  other.  When  will  architects  and 
country  parsons  learn  that  the  most  unmeaning, 
most  commonplace,  most  vulgar  thing  with  which 
the  floor  of  an  ancient  church  can  be  covered  is  an 
assortment  of  black  and  red  tiles  ?  Is  it  not  per- 
ceived at  a  glance  that  they  must  needs  be  unin- 
teresting, disappointing,  and  when  they  have  pro- 
cured the  ejectment  of  ancient  sepulchral  stones, 
downright  offensive  ?  Has  the  parish  then  no 
history?  It  had  one — a  history  which  thirty  years 
ago  was  to  be  seen  written  on  the  walls  and  on  the 
floor  of  the  parish  church.  Is  it  tolerable  that  on 
the  plea  of  "  restoration "  these  local  records 
should  all  have  been  obliterated  ?  How  about  the 
men  who  ministered  to  the  many  generations  who 
once  worshipped  within  these  walls  ?  Behold, 
they  have  (all  but  one)  departed.  And  have  they 
then,  like  a  long  line  of  shadows,  left  no  material 
trace  of  their  occupancy  behind  them  ?  The 
answer  is  obvious.  Certain  of  them  sleep  in  dust, 
side  by  side,  in  front  of  the  altar  which  they  served 
in  their  lifetime;  and  a  row  of  sepulchral  slabs  until 
yesterday  acquainted  the  beholder  at  least  with 
their  names,  dates,  ages.  Am  I  to  be  told  that 
yonder  assortment  of  parti-coloured  tiles  (which 
are  to  be  bought  by  the  yard  by  anybody,  any  day, 


Introduction.  xv 

anywhere)  are  so  much  more  interesting  than 
those  memorials  of  the  past,  that  it  is  reasonable 
they  should  cause  their  unceremonious  ejectment  ? 
....  I  have  said  nothing  about  the  architectural 
Vandalism  of  these  last  days,  being  without  pro- 
fessional knowledge ;  but  I  have  the  best  reason 
for  knowing  that  the  author  of  the  ensuing  "  Re- 
collections "  would  have  endorsed  every  word 
which  has  gone  before.  O,  that  what  has  been 
written  might  avail,  if  it  were  but  in  one  quarter, 
to  arrest  the  work  of  ruin  which  is  still  steadily 
going  forward  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land ! 

(5.)  I  recall  with  interest  an  opportunity  I  once 
enjoyed  (1869-70)  of  acquainting  myself  with  Sir 
Gilbert's  skill  and  conscientiousness  in  superin- 
tending a  work  of  no  great  magnitude.  The  beau- 
tiful church  of  Houghton  Conquest,  in  Bedford- 
shire, had  fallen  into  a  state  of  exceeding  de- 
cadence ;  and  the  rector  (the  late  Archdeacon 
Rose)  having  been  encouraged  to  invoke  the 
assistance  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  the  architect  paid 
us  a  visit.  (I  say  us,  because  Houghton  Rectory 
was  the  happy  home  of  all  my  long  vacations.) 
Sir  Gilbert  fully  shared  our  concern  at  the  entire 
destruction  of  the  large  east  window,  which  had 
been  half  blocked  up,  half  replaced  by  a  wooden 
frame  containing  three  vile  mullions  of  wood. 
After  conducting  him  round,  the  Archdeacon  and 
I  took  our  seats  by  his  side  on  the  leads  of  the 
nave,  while  he  took  a  leisurely  survey  of  the  roof 
of  the  structure.  "What  is  that?"  he  inquired, 
directing  his  glass  to  the  summit  of  the  eastern 


xvi  Introduction. 

gable.  I  volunteered  the  statement  that  it  was  a 
ruined  fragment  of  the  former  cross,  for  such  it 
seemed.  "  That  was  never  part  of  a  cross,"  he  at 
last  said  thoughtfully  ;  "  it  is  part  of  the  tracery 
of  a  window.  I  can  see  the  cavity  for  the  inser- 
tion of  the  glass."  To  be  brief,  it  proved  to  be, 
as  he  at  once  suspected,  the  one  necessary  clue 
to  the  restoration  of  the  east  window.  On  the 
window-sill,  which  was  honeycombed  with  decay, 
his  practised  eye  had  already  distinguished  traces 
oifour  mullions.  I  need  not  go  on.  A  few  more 
fragments  were  found  built  into  the  wall,  and  the 
entire  window  for  the  architect's  purpose  was 
recovered.  He  preserved  everything  for  us,  from 
the  dilapidated  screen  to  the  old  hour-glass  stand. 
Several  specimens  of  fresco  were  revealed  on  the 
walls  ;  a  curious  coat-of-arms  in  stained  glass  was 
detected  in  the  tower  ;  two  windows  which  had 
been  closed  were  opened ;  the  grave- stones  were 
left  in  their  places ;  the  very  reckoning  of  the 
parson  with  certain  members  of  the  Conquest 
family,  scratched  with  the  point  of  a  knife  (I  sup- 
pose in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth)  inside  the 
arch  of  the  vestry  door,  was  ordered  to  be  reli- 
giously preserved.  On  the  other  hand,  a  por- 
tentous Georgian  pulpit,  furnished  with  a  for- 
midable sounding-board  above,  and  a  species  of 
pen  for  the  accommodation  of  the  clerk  beneath, 
were  banished.  The  sordid  porch  and  plastered 
ceiling  of  the  chancel  were  supplanted  by  objects 
exquisite  in  their  respective  ways. 

(6.)   I    have    said    nothing    hitherto    about    Sir 
Gilbert's     personal      characteristics,     disposition, 


Introduction*  xvii 

habits  of  mind.  It  will  be  found  that  these 
emerge  with  tolerable  distinctness  from  the 
autobiography  which  follows.  His  indomitable 
energy  and  unflagging  zeal,  as  well  as  the  en- 
lightened spirit  in  which  he  pursued  his  lofty 
calling :  his  enthusiasm  for  the  great  cause  to 
which  he  devoted  himself  to  the  very  close  of  his 
earthly  life :  these  lie  on  the  surface  of  his  narra- 
tive. And  here  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the 
entire  absence  of  any  expression  of  professional 
jealousy  from  first  to  last;  and  indeed  the  absence 
of  depreciatory  language  concerning  others, — 
although  the  man  who  worked  after  Wyatt  in  the 
last  century,  after  Blore  in  the  present,  might  have 
been  excused  if  he  had  testified  both  surprise  and 
annoyance  at  what  he  was  daily  constrained  to  en- 
counter.— A  stranger,  I  suspect,  would  have  been 
chiefly  impressed  by  the  exceeding  modesty  and 
unassumingness  of  his  manner, — "  his  beautiful 
modesty,"  as  one  who  knew  him  most  intimately 
has  well  phrased  it ;  adding  a  tribute  to  "  his  per- 
fect breeding  and  courtesy, — not  so  much  finish  of 
manner  as  genuine  inbred  politeness."  Such 
"  graces  of  character,"  writes  another  friend  of  his, 
"  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  by  those  who  knew 
him,  however  slightly."  Obvious  as  it  always  was 
that  he  entertained  a  decided  opinion  on  the  point 
under  discussion,  he  yet  bore  with  the  crude 
remarks  of  persons  who  really  knew  nothing  at  all 
about  the  matter  in  hand  to  an  extent  which  used 
to  astonish  me.  Even  when  conversing  with  those 
who  were  submissive  and  really  only  wished  to  learn, 
there  was  no  appearance  of  dictation  or  dogmatism. 
His  affability  was  extraordinary.  While  on  this 


xviii  Introduction. 

head  let  me  not  fail  to  acknowledge  his  wondrous 
patience  and  kindness  in  matters  of  detail. 

I  must  needs  also  again  advert  to  the  conserva- 
tive character  of  his  genius.  When  I  became  Vicar 
of  St.  Mary-the- Virgin's,  Oxford  (1863),  I  found 
to  my  distress  that  Laud's  porch  was  doomed. 
The  parishioners  willingly  listened  to  my  recom- 
mendation, and  it  was  spared.  I  confessed  what 
I  had  done  to  Scott,  and  asked  for  his  forgiveness 
if  I  had  counselled  amiss :  but  he  commended  me 
highly.  A  few  feet  in  advance  of  the  porch  how- 
ever, are  two  plain  piers,  erected  in  the  last 
century, — either  of  them  surmounted  by  a  strange 
kind  of  dilapidated  urn.  Were  they  also  to 
stand  ?  I  presumed  that  the  architect  who  had 
already  removed  the  high  wall  which  used  to 
enclose  the  north  side  of  the  churchyard,  and 
substituted  for  it  the  present  elegant  erection, 
would  have  been  for  their  removal :  and  certainly 
I  was  not  prepared  to  offer  any  resistance  had  I 
discovered  that  such  was  actually  his  view.  But 
no.  After  a  careful  survey,  he  recommended  that 
they  should  be  retained,  and  gave  me  his  reasons 
for  retaining  them.  It  was  truly  edifying  and 
interesting  to  hear  his  remarks  on  such  occasions. 
The  thing  was  "  historical ;  " — or  at  least  it  was 
"  good  of  its  kind  ;  " — or  it  "  had  a  certain  cha- 
racter about  it ;  " — or  "  I  don't  altogether  dislike 
it."  In  short — for  whatever  reason — the  end  of 
the  matter  commonly  was  that  "  I  think  we  had 
better  let  it  alone." 

(7.)   Notwithstanding  all  that  has  gone  before, 


Introduction.  xix 

were  I  called  upon  to  state  my  private  estimate  of 
the  man,  I  should  avow  that  in  my  account,  second 
to  no  other  personal  characteristic  was  the  ardour 
of  his  domestic  affections  :  first,  his  love  for  his 
parents,  brothers,  sisters ;  then  his  entire  devotion 
to  his  wife  and  his  children.  There  is  many  a 
passage  in  the  ensuing  autobiography  which  bears 
me  out  in  this  estimate.  I  well  remember  the 
exceeding  distress  which  the  death  of  his  son  in 
1865  at  Exeter  College  occasioned  him  ;  an  event 
on  which  he  had  freely  dilated  with  his  pen,  but 
which  it  is  thought  was  of  too  private  a  nature  to 
find  here  so  extended  a  record.  I  should  also 
think  it  right  to  declare  that  in  my  account  a  deep 
undercurrent  of  Religion,  as  it  was  the  secret  of 
his  strength  and  of  his  life,  so  was  it  also  the  secret 
of  his  heart's  affections  :  the  fountain-head  too,  by 
the  way,  of  a  certain  playful  joyousness  of  disposi- 
tion which  came  to  the  surface  continually,  and 
never  forsook  him  to  the  last.  His  general  man- 
ner, however,  was  grave  and  thoughtful ;  and  his 
piety  of  that  quiet  and  even  reserved  kind  which 
only  occasionally  comes  to  the  surface,  and  easily 
escapes  observation  altogether.  No  one  about 
him,  in  fact,  not  even  his  sons,  knew  the  strength 
and  ardour  of  those  religious  convictions  which 
were  with  him  an  inheritance;  for  (as  the  reader 
will  be  presently  reminded)  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Scott,  of  Aston  Sandford,  the  commentator,  was 
his  grandfather.  To  his  faithful  valet,  who  had 
repeatedly  asked  him  to  tell  him  (but  had  been  in- 
variably put  off  with  some  evasive  reply)  how  it 
happened  that  the  lower  side  of  his  arms  looked 
galled  and  sore,  had  in  fact  a  leprous  appearance,  he 


xx  Introduction. 

one  day  avowed  as  follows  :  "  When  I  am  praying, 
especially  for  my  sons,  I  feel  I  cannot  do  enough. 
I  feel  kneeling  to  be  but  little,  and  I  prostrate  my- 
self on  the  floor.  I  suppose  that  my  arms  from 
this  may  have  become  a  little  galled." — He  never 
syllabled  his  wife's  name  in  conversation  with  his 
sons  without  a  silent  prayer  for  her  repose  ;  and 
when  out  of  doors,  he  would  always  raise  his  hat 
(the  token  of  how  he  was  mentally  engaged)  at 
the  mention  of  her  cherished  name. — I  trust  it  is 
not  wrong  to  reveal  such  matters.  One  must 
either  practise  reticence,  and  so  conceal  the  cha- 
racter which  one  professes  to  exhibit  faithfully : 
or  else  risk  offending  the  very  persons  probably 
whose  good  opinion  one  would  chiefly  be  glad  to 
conciliate. 


JOHN  W.  BURGON. 


THE  DEANERY,  CHICHESTER, 
May  iTth,  1879. 


SIR    GILBERT    SCOTT. 


PERSONAL  AND  PROFESSIONAL  RECOLLECTIONS,  1864. 


CHAPTER    I. 

MY  motive  in  jotting  down  the  following  mis- 
cellaneous recollections  is  this: — that  a  man's 
children  have  no  means  whatever  of  getting  at  the 
particulars  of  his  life  up  to  the  time  when  their 
own  observation  and  memory  begin  to  avail  them, 
and  that  they  are  peculiarly  apt  to  receive  mis- 
taken impressions.  It  is  consequently,  as  it  ap- 
pears to  me,  the  duty  of  every  one  who  has 
appeared  much  before  the  public  to  supply  this 
defect  from  his  own  memory,  and  thus  to  prevent 
misapprehension. 

I  was  born  at  the  parsonage-house  at  Gawcott, 
near  Buckingham,  on  July  i3th,  181 1.  Though  my 
father,  like  myself,  was  born  in  Bucks,  I  hardly  feel 
that  I  have  in  reality  any  very  direct  connection 
with  that  county,  clergymen  being  so  much  birds 
of  passage,  that  the  place  of  their  children's  birth 
seems  little  more  than  a  matter  of  chance. 

My  grandfather,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  so 
well  known  by  his  commentary  on  the  Bible 
and  other  works,  was  a  native  of  Lincolnshire, 
'««.  B 


2  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

where  his  father  was  a  considerable  agriculturist. 
I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  whether  the 
latter  was  a  native  of  that  county,  but  as  his 
eldest  son  J  took  some  pains  to  disclaim  connec- 
tion with  families  of  the  same  name  in  his  neigh- 
bourhood, I  infer  that  such  was  not  the  case. 
He  (the  father  of  my  grandfather)  was  born 
in  the  time  of  William  III.  (1701),  and  was 
connected  by  marriage  with  the  Kelsalls  of  Kel- 
sall  in  Cheshire,  the  representative  of  which 
family  was  about  that  time  vicar  of  Boston.2 
His  wife  was  one  of  the  Wayets,3  a  very  respec- 
table county  family.  From  the  arms  made  use  of 
by  my  grandfather's  family,  I  gather  that  they  must 
have  sprung  from  the  Scotts  of  Scott's  Hall  in 
Kent,  who  left  Scotland  in  the  thirteenth  century.4 

My  mother's  family  were  West  Indians.  Of 
the  family  of  her  father,  Dr.  Lynch  of  the  island 
of  Antigua,  I  know  but  little,  but  her  maternal 
grandfather  was  the  possessor,  at  that  time,  of  a 
valuable  estate  known  as  "  Gilbert's  Estate." 

This  family  settled  at  a  very  early  date  in 
Antigua,  previous  to  which  they  had  resided  in 
Devonshire,  one  of  their  representatives  being 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  half-brother  and  com- 
panion-in-arms of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 

1  William  Scott,  of  Grimblethorpe  Hall,  near  Louth. — ED. 

2  Edward  Kelsall,  Vicar  of  Boston,  1702 — 1719.     See  Mac- 
kenzie's edition  of  Guillim's  "  Display  of  Heraldry,"  p.  68. 

3  He  married  Mary  Wayet  of  Boston.     One  of  her  sisters 
was  married  to  Lancelot  Brown,  "  the  omnipotent  magician 
Brown  "  of  Cowper's  "Task,"  Bk.  III.     The  family  of  Wayet 
was  also  settled  at  Tumby  in  Bain,  in  the  same  county. — ED. 

*  One  branch  of  this  Kentish  family  was  settled  at  Rotherham, 
in  Yorkshire,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I V. — ED. 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  3 

My  great-grandfather,  Nathaniel  Gilbert,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  most  excellent  man.  Living 
in  a  century  of  extreme  deadness  in  religious 
matters,  he  was  roused  to  a  sense  of  the  short- 
comings of  his  age  in  this  respect  either  by  the 
preaching  or  by  the  writings  of  Wesley.  He 
consequently  joined  the  Wesleyans  at  a  time 
when  they  were  not  considered  as  severed  from 
the  Church  of  England.  At  his  request  Wesley 
sent  over  to  Antigua  some  ministers  of  his  society 
to  instruct  the  negroes  and  others,  but  though 
the  whole  family  joined  the  new  society,  it  is 
clear  that  Mr.  Gilbert  did  not  consider  himself 
otherwise  than  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, for  he  brought  up  his  eldest  son  as  a  clergy- 
man. Nor  do  I  recollect  even  a  hint  of  those 
members  of  the  family  who  were  living  during 
my  childhood  (including  my  grandmother  and  a 
great-aunt,  Miss  Elizabeth  Gilbert,)  being  other 
than  Church  people,  although  the  last  named 
treasured  up  most  affectionately  her  personal 
recollections  of  John  Wesley  himself,  and  retained 
through  life  a  strong  sympathy  with  his  followers. 
This  family  was  indirectly  connected  with  several 
good  families  in  England,  among  others  with  that 
of  Lord  Northampton,  with  the  Abdy's,  and  with 
the  Gordons  of  Stocks.  Sir  Edward  Colebrooke 
once  told  me  that  he  was  connected  with  the 
Gilberts,  arid  Sir  Denis  Le  Marchant  also  through 
his  marriage,  as  also  Lady  Seymour,  wife  of  canon 
Sir  John  Seymour,  and  Sir  George  Grey. 

My  father,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  was  the 
second  son  of  the  well-known  commentator.  He 
was  born  at  Weston- Underwood  in  Bucks,  during 

B  2 


4  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  short  period  of  my  grandfather's  residence 
as  curate  of  that  village  in  1 780.  My  grandfather, 
about  that  time,  served  several  churches  in  that 
district.  The  next  year  he  removed  to  Olney, 
the  former  curate  of  which,  John  Newton,  was 
his  intimate  friend;  where  he  was  brought  a  good 
deal  in  contact  with  the  poet  Cowper,  who  was 
his  next-door  neighbour.  I  well  recollect  an  old 
man  occasionally  calling  on  us  at  Gawcott,  who 
had  known  my  grandfather  at  that  early  period 
of  his  clerical  life. 

MY  NATIVE  VILLAGE. 

The  following  notice  of  my  native  village,  and 
of  some  of  its  inhabitants,  its  customs,  &c.,  I  give 
merely  as  a  memento  of  times  in  which,  though 
not  long  gone  by,  there  remained  much  more 
of  old  manners  than  has  survived  to  the  present 
day. 

Gawcott  is  a  hamlet  of,  and  situated  a  mile  and 
a  half  from,  Buckingham.  It  had  had  a  chapel 
in  former  times,  as  is  proved  by  a  field  retaining 
the  name  of  "  chapel  close,"  and  showing  marks 
of  ancient  building.  How  long  this  had  ceased 
to  exist  I  do  not  know,  probably  for  some  cen- 
turies. The  absence  of  a  church  had  its  natural 
consequences,  producing  a  partly  heathenish  and 
partly  dissenting  population.  The  former  of  these 
evils,  and  perhaps  to  some  degree  the  latter,  was 
so  much  felt  by  one  of  its  inhabitants  that  he 
determined  on  refounding  a  church  in  his  native 
village.  This  excellent  person,  one  John  West, 
was  a  man  of  humble  origin,  who  had  made  what 
to  him  was  a  considerable  fortune  by  the  trade 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  5 

of  a  lace-buyer,  that  is  to  say,  by  acting  as 
middle-man  between  the  poor  lace-maker  and  the 
trader.  The  difficulties  he  met  with  in  carrying 
out  his  generous  project  were  considerable.  I 
have  often  heard  my  father  say  that  after  the 
church  was  built  he  had  the  greatest  difficulty 
in  getting  it  consecrated,  and  that  he  at  last 
sent  a  message  to  the  bishop  (Tomline  of 
Lincoln)  in  these  words : — "  Tell  the  bishop 
that  if  he  won't  consecrate  it  I'll  give  it  to  the 
dissenters," — a  message  which  had  the  desired 
effect.  This  church  or  chapel,  erected  during 
the  first  years  of  the  present  century,  was  perhaps 
as  absurdly  unecclesiastical  a  structure  as  could 
be  conceived.  Enclosed  between  four  walls 
forming  a  short  wide  oblong,  it  had  a  roof 
sloping  all  ways,  crowned  by  a  belfry  such  as  one 
sees  over  the  stables  of  a  country  house.  The 
pulpit  occupied  the  middle  of  the  south  side,  the 
pews  facing  it  from  the  north,  the  east,  and  the 
west,  and  a  gallery  occupying  the  north  side,  in 
the  centre  of  which  were  perched  the  singers  and 
the  band  of  clarionets,  bass-viols,  &c.,  by  which 
their  performances  were  accompanied.  The  font, 
I  well  recollect,  was  a  washhand-stand  with  a 
white  basin !  The  advowson  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  five  trustees,  all  being  incumbents  of 
parishes  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  belonging  to 
the  then  very  scarce  Evangelical  party.  My 
father  was  the  first  "  Perpetual  Curate."  There 
was  at  first  no  parsonage,  and  he  lived  for  a  time 
in  the  vicarage  at  Buckingham  (the  vicar  being 
non-resident),  where  my  two  eldest  brothers  (and 
one  who  died  in  infancy)  were  born.  He  soon, 


6  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

however,  raised  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  par- 
sonage, which,  as  he  had  a  fancy  for  planning, 
he  designed  himself, — and  I  must  not  find  fault 
with  my  native  house.  It  was  close  to  the 
church. 

My  earliest  recollections  of  the  church  bear 
upon  the  digging  of  the  vault  for  the  founder  and 
my  sitting  in  the  gallery  at  his  funeral,  and  seeing 
it  pass  the  opposite  windows.  This  was  in  1814, 
so  that  it  is  a  pretty  youthful  reminiscence,  yet 
though  it  is  my  earliest,  it  does  not  come  to  me 
otherwise  than  any  other,  and  does  not  seem  by 
any  means  like  a  beginning,  showing  that  though 
we  forget  what  happened  in  our  early  childhood, 
we  nevertheless  have  no  feeling  of  being  incapa- 
ble of  observing  and  remembering  it.  Here,  for 
instance,  I  can  recollect  who  dug  the  vault,  and 
who  took  me  to  church,  and  I  have  a  full  sense 
of  being  conscious  of  who  they  said  Mr.  West 
was,  and  of  the  house  he  had  lived  in,  though  I 
was  but  three  years  old. 

The  inhabitants  of  Gawcott  were  a  very  quaint 
race.  I  recollect  my  father  saying  that  when  he 
first  went  there  to  reconnoitre,  he  found  the  road 
to  it  rendered  impassable  by  a  large  hole  dug 
across  it,  in  which  the  inhabitants  were  engaged 
in  baiting  a  badger,  a  promising  prelude  to  an 
evangelical  ministry  among  them.  However  he 
succeeded  in  bringing  the  place  in  due  time  into 
a  more  seemly  state  as  to  externals,  though  the 
old  leaven  remained,  and  a  certain  amount  of 
poaching  and  other  forms  of  rural  blackguardism 
still  .prevailed.  There  grew  up  amongst  all  this, 
however,  a  good  proportion  of  really  excellent 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  j 

people,  some  of  whom  had  at  one  time  belonged 
to  the  previously  more  normal  type. 

The  neighbourhood  of  Buckingham  is  by  no 
means  picturesque.  It  is  situated  geologically  at 
the  junction  of  the  Oxford  clay  with  the  lower 
oolite,  and  though  in  other  districts  the  latter 
rises  into  high  and  picturesque  hills,  such  is  not 
the  case  with  this  portion  of  its  course.  It  is  a 
plain,  slightly  undulated,  agricultural  country, 
partly  arable,  but  mainly  devoted  to  dairy  farming, 
butter  being  the  only  produce  for  which  it  is 
famous.  It  is  (or  rather  was)  here  and  there 
well  wooded  with  oak,  is  everywhere  enclosed, 
with  a  good  deal  of  hedge-row  timber,  sadly  dis- 
figured by  lopping,  and  there  is  usually  some 
more  ornamental  timber  round  the  villages.  The 
latter,  as  a  rule,  retained  some  traces  of  the  "Great 
House  "  the  residence  of  the  old  proprietor  who 
had  in  most  instances  succumbed  to  the  all- 
absorbing  influence  of  a  single  family,  originally 
one  of  their  own — the  squire-race,  but  then 
become  the  Marquises  and  subsequently  the 
Dukes  of  Buckingham,  who  from  their  semi-regal 
seat  of  Stowe,  some  four  miles  from  my  own 
humble  village,  lorded  it  over  the  county.  An 
unpicturesque  country,  denuded  of  its  natural 
aristocracy,  is  no  doubt  very  dull  and  unattractive, 
yet  it  possesses  some  interest  in  the  natural  and 
quaint  character  of  its  inhabitants  and  in  its  reten- 
tiveness  of  old  customs.  I  have  never  met  with  so 
many  odd  eccentric  characters  as  in  my  native  vil- 
lage, nor  do  I  suppose  that  there  were,  even  then, 
many  districts  in  which  old  customs  were  better 
kept  up.  Whether  they  are  so  still,  I  know  not. 


8  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

The  cottages  were  usually  of  the  old  thatched 
type,  built  of  rough  stone,  or  of  timber  and  plaster. 
The  one  sitting-room  known  as  "  the  house  "  had 
the  old-fashioned  chimney-corner,  in  the  sides  of 
which  the  master  and  mistress  of  the  family  sat, 
with  the  wood  fire,  placed  upon  bars  and  bricks, 
on  the  floor  between  them.  In  the  ample  chimney 
over  their  heads  hung  the  bacon,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  smoke,  and  below  it  all  sorts  of  utensils 
for  which  dryness  was  to  be  desired,  and  high 
overhead  as  they  sat  there  the  occupants  could 
see  the  sky  through  the  vertical  smoke-shaft. 
The  room  was  paved  with  unshapen  slabs  of  stone 
from  the  neighbouring  quarry  or  "stone-pit"  and 
the  oaken  floor  timbers  showed  overhead,  though 
hardly  sufficiently  so  for  a  tall  man  to  feel  his 
head  to  be  safe.  Between  one  of  these  timbers 
and  the  floor  there  was  placed  (where  babies  were 
to  be  found)  a  vertical  post,  which  revolved  on  its 
central  axis  and  from  which  projected  an  arm  of 
wood  with  a  circular  ring  or  hoop  at  its  end,  so 
contrived  as  to  open  and  shut.  By  passing  this 
about  the  baby's  body  the  little  thing  could  run 
round  and  round  at  will,  while  its  mother  was 
busied  at  her  household  work  or  at  the  lace- 
pillow.  The  bedroom  arrangements  I  do  not 
recollect,  but  I  do  not  think  they  were  so  defective 
as  those  we  now  so  often  hear  of,  and  the  gene- 
rality of  cottages  had  a  pretty  ample  garden. 

The  farmers  did  not  live  very  differently  as  to 
general  forms  from  the  cottagers,  the  difference 
lying  chiefly  in  the  very  substantial  distinction  be- 
tween abundance  and  scantiness  of  fare.  They 
usually  lived  in  the  "  house "  or  kitchen,  though 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  9 

they  (and  indeed  some  of  the  cottagers)  had 
"  parlours  "  which  were  only  used  when  they  had 
company.  In  a.  corner  of  the  "parlour"  was 
usually  a  smart  cupboard  called  a  "  bofette." 

I  have  heard  my  father  say  that  Mr.  West,  the 
founder  of  the  church,  lived  in  the  same  room 
with  his  servants,  all  helping  themselves  at  dinner 
from  a  common  dish  placed  in  the  middle  of  the 
round  table. 

In  the  midst  of  this  funny  population  we  lived 
almost  as  a  stranger  colony.  My  father  was  by 
education  a  Londoner,  and  my  mother  too,  though 
a  West- Indian  by  birth,  had  been  educated  in 
London,  as  were  also  my  grandmother  and  my 
great-aunt,  who  resided  with  us,  while  our  isola- 
tion was  rather  increased,  than  otherwise,  by  my 
father  taking  seven  or  eight  pupils  who  came  from 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  by  our  mixing  very 
little  indeed  in  local  society,  though  we  had 
numerous  friends  at  a  distance,  who  occasionally 
visited  us.  Our  few  local  friends  lived  in  the 
neighbouring  town  of  Buckingham,  and  now  and 
then  a  clergyman  was  admitted  to  our  ac- 
quaintance :  most  of  them,  however,  shunned  us 
as  evangelicals,  or  as  they  were  then  called 
"  methodists." 

My  recollections  of  the  period  of  my  youth  are 
indeed  very  curious  in  this  respect,  I  mean  as  to 
the  relations  which  at  that  time  (up  to  1830  and 
later)  subsisted  between  an  evangelical  clergyman 
and  his  family,  and  the  other  clerical  families 
around  them. 

Now  be  it  remembered  that  my  father  was  in 
his  way  very  much  of  a  man  of  the  world. 


io  Sir  Gilder  I  Scoff. 

Having  been  brought  up  in  town,  he  had  seen 
a  good  deal  of  life  in  one  way  or  another.  He 
was  the  farthest  possible  from  being  a  sanctimo- 
nious man,  and,  though  he  made  religion  his  pri- 
mary object  and  guide,  he  did  not  bring  it  to  the 
front  or  parade  it  in  the  least  degree  so  as  to  give 
offence  to  others.  He  was,  in  addition  to  this,  a 
peculiarly  gentlemanly  man,  ready  and  well  fitted 
for  any  society,  and  as  much  at  home  with  men  of 
rank  as  with  his  equals  or  inferiors.  He  was  also 
a  man  of  especially  popular  manners,  more  so  than 
almost  any  man  I  recollect,  thoroughly  genial, 
merry,  and  courteous  in  all  companies  and  to  all 
comers. 

My  mother  too  was  a  particularly  ladylike  per- 
son, a  hater  of  all  vulgarity,  an  absolute  detester 
of  all  low  and  unworthy  motives,  and  ready  to 
sacrifice  any  advantage  rather  than  risk  any,  even 
the  most  punctilious,  point  of  honour  or  high  feel- 
ing. She  was  well-born,  of  a  good  old  family 
called  on  the  monument  of  one  of  them 5  (a  stranger 
to  us)  in  Petersham  church,  "  generosa  et  peran- 
tiqua  familia." 

She  was  related  to  persons  of  good  position : 
her  grandfather  and  uncle  were  West  India 
planters,  (the  former,  President  of  the  Assembly 
in  his  island),  whose  family  had  intermarried  with 
baronets,  and  in  one  case  with  a  marquis,  so  that 
there  was  no  social  or  personal  reason  for  our  not 
being  familiar  with  our  neighbours,  but  the  reverse. 

6  Thomas  Gilbert.  He  was,  says  his  epitaph,  "  Integer, 
probus,  severe  Justus,  fidus  ad  amicos,  ad  omnes,  ad  Deum  ; 
sine  promissis,  sine  dissimulatione,  sine  superstitione,  firmus, 
benevolus,  pius."  He  died  in  1766. — ED. 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  1 1 

Yet  how  many  of  the  neighbouring  incumbents 
ever  called  on  us  or  we  on  them  ?  I  may  almost 
say  not  one.  I  have  no  recollection  of  knowing 
the  wife,  son,  or  daughter,  of  any  clergyman  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  none  ever  appeared  at 
our  table,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  curates 
who  had  slightly  evangelical  tendencies.  I  do  not 
know  whether  this  arose  most  from  the  exclusive- 
ness  of  the  "evangelicals,"  or  from  the  repugnance 
felt  toward  them  by  other  clergymen,  perhaps 
from  both.  I  recollect  one  highly  eccentric  rector 
hard  by,  a  master  of  a  college  at  Oxford,  who 
had  assisted  the  son  of  a  farmer,  who  showed 
literary  talent,  to  enter  the  church,  and  had  signed 
his  testimonials  for  deacons'  orders,  refusing  to  do 
the  same  for  him  when  he  went  up  for  priests' 
orders,  because  he  had  once  taken  duty  for  my 
father  .in  his  absence.  Of  this  rector  I  used  to 
hear  that  when  once  led,  the  worse  for  his  cups, 
through  the  quadrangle  of  his  college,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  All  this  I  do  to  purge  my  college  from 
the  stain  of  methodism  !  "  (Wesley  had  been  of 
his  college).  This,  however,  was  of  course  an 
extreme  case,  and  the  man  both  eccentric  and 
disreputable.  The  ordinary  incumbents  contented 
themselves  with  taking  no  more  notice  of  us  than 
if  we  did  not  exist.  Even  common  civilities  were 
so  rare,  that  I  recollect  the  pleasure  which  my 
father  expressed  when  he  met  with  any.  There 
were  a  few  exceptions,  and  my  father  in  one  or 
two  cases  was  in  the  habit  of  helping  a  neighbour, 
but  as  a  rule  no  incumbents  ever  appeared  at  our 
table,  nor  any  of  us  at  theirs,  nor  indeed  did  we 
know  more  than  two  or  three,  even  by  sight, 


1 2  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

much  less  to  speak  to.  I  remember  that  my 
father  used  to  speak  with  great  respect  of  Mr. 
Palmer,  the  father  of  the  present  Lord  Selborne, 
but  no  acquaintance  existed  between  them. 

Now  let  it  not  be  for  a  moment  imagined  that 
it  was  because  these  clerical  neighbours  held  what 
are  now  called  "  High  Church  views."  Not  a  bit 
of  it.  No  such  notions  existed  among,  or  would 
as  a  rule  have  been  understood  by  them.  The 
greater  part  of  them  preached  mere  moral  essays, 
which  would  have  come  almost  as  naturally  from 
a  respectable  pagan.  What  most  of  them  hated 
was  the  name  of  "  methodist,"  while  some  of 
them  resented  the  essential  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  religion,  such  as  the  Atonement,  and 
the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  went 
among  them  by  the  name  of  "  enthusiasm," '  and 
among  the  best  of  those  who  did  not  exactly 
define  their  objections,  there  was  one  sentiment 
in  which  they  all  concurred,  that  "  as  concerning 
this  sect,  we  know  that  everywhere  it  is  spoken 
against." 

Nor  was  there  less  feeling  on  our  own  side.  My 
father  and  mother  would  not  have  allowed  us  to 
associate  with  what  they  termed  "worldly  peo- 
ple," nor  would  they  themselves  be  intimate  with 
clergymen  whom  they  considered  "  not  to  preach 
the  gospel,"  so  that  as  the  result  of  these  two 
influences  we  were  absolutely  isolated. 

It  is  a  curious  question  what  the  rank  and  file 
of  these  old  "  high-and-dry  "  men  really  were.  I 
cannot  see  any  resemblance  between  them  and  the 

8  The  old  toast  of  "Prosperity  to  the  establishment  and 
confusion  to  enthusiasm  "  illustrates  this  state  of  feeling. — ED. 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  13 

present  high  churchmen  ;  though,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  fact  remains  that  the  high  churchmen 
have  naturally  succeeded  to  them,  and  they  have 
lapsed  into  the  high  church  party.  Nevertheless 
I  do  not  imagine  that  they  held  any  doctrine 
in  common  with  their  successors,  unless  it  be  bap- 
tismal regeneration,  which  the  old  men  possibly 
held ;  not  indeed  actively,  but  just  as  a  safeguard 
against  the  "  methodistical  "  doctrine  of  "  conver- 
sion." They  held,  I  suppose,  that  the  wicked 
suffer  future  punishment ;  but  any  severe  pres- 
sure of  that  doctrine  they  practically  repudiated. 
They  were,  I  think,  theoretically  believers,  but 
practically  or  passively  disbelievers,  in  the  prin- 
cipal doctrines  of  Christianity.  They  did  not  hate 
evangelicals  so  much  from  differing  with  them  on 
specific  points,  as  because  they  pressed  religion 
and  piety  as  the  chief  aim  of  their  teaching, 
whereas  the  high-and-dry  men  did  not  care,  or 
take  the  trouble  to  do  so,  the  fact  being  that  they 
were  not  religious  men. 

They  seem  to  me  to  have  been  practically 
Pelagians,  though  they  knew  nothing  and  cared 
nothing  about  what  they  were,  being  content  with 
the  consciousness  that  they  were  neither  "  me- 
thodists  "  nor  "  enthusiasts  "  and  that  they  detested 
both.  This,  however,  does  not  apply  to  the  lead- 
ing men  of  the  party,  many  of  whom  were  ex- 
cellent, as  they  were  undoubtedly  learned,  men ; 
who  held,  in  the  main,  a  good  and  orthodox  code 
of  doctrine — so  much  so,  that  when  the  evan- 
gelicals came  to  compare  notes  carefully  with 
them,  they  did  not  find  very  much  difference,  ex- 
cepting that  these  made  more  of  sacraments  and 


1 4  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

less  of  conversion,  of  original  sin,  and  of  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  they  repudiated 
co-operation  with  dissenters  in  any  matter  what- 
ever (e.  g.  in  the  Bible  Society),  while  the  evan- 
gelicals did  not  object  to  anything  which  they 
thought  would  promote  earnest  religion. 

Many  of  the  bishops  who  belonged  to  this 
better  stratum  of  the  old  high-and-dry  party  hated 
the  evangelicals  even  worse  than  the  less  moral 
of  their  opponents  did.  I  remember  one  of  them 
at  a  visitation,  publicly  rebuking  a  most  pious  and 
zealous  evangelical  for  some  irregular  act,  such  as 
preaching  in  the  open  air,  or  something  of  that 
kind,  and  afterwards  taking  wine  at  the  visitation 
dinner  writh  a  clergyman  so  noted  for  his  immo- 
rality that  he  subsequently  had  to  be  chass&ed 
altogether. 

My  father  and  mother  were  among  the  most 
admirable  people  I  have  ever  met  with,  and  the 
most  affectionate  of  couples.  Their  marriage 
was  purely  a  love-match,  though  strengthened  by 
the  ties  of  earnest  piety.  They  had  become 
acquainted  shortly  after  my  grandfather  had  taken 
the  living  of  Aston  Sandford,  near  to  which  is  the 
semi-romantic  village  of  Bledlow,  on  the  edge  of 
the  Chilterns,  of  which  my  mother's  uncle,  the 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Gilbert,  was  rector.  My  mother, 
having  lost  her  father  at  a  very  early  age,  had 
been  brought  by  her  mother  and  aunt  to  England, 
and  had  been  educated  in  London,  as  also  had  my 
father,  though  they  did  not  become  acquainted  till 
they  met  in  Buckinghamshire,  at  one  of  the  neigh- 
bouring rectories.  They  were  married  in  the 
beautiful  church  of  Bledlow,  and  such  was  the 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  15 

simplicity  of  manners  in  that  county  and  time  that 
— "  tell  it  not  in  Gath  " — my  father  took  his  wife 
home  seated  on  a  pillion,  and  that  from  the  house 
of  the  proprietor  of  a  considerable  West  Indian 
estate,  a  man  of  no  mean  connexions,  and  a  Buck- 
inghamshire rector !  This  simplicity,  however, 
suited  their  means,  which  were  very  slender.  My 
parents,  as  I  have  said,  were  both  of  them  what 
may  be  called  "  well-bred,"  both  by  nature  and 
training  "gentlefolk."  I  have  often  witnessed, 
with  admiring  wonder,  my  father's  gentlemanly 
address  when  he  met  with  persons  of  a  higher 
station,  so  superior  to  what  we  young  villagers 
could  ever  hope  to  attain  to.  He  was  a  man  of 
popular  and  winning  manner,  and  of  a  remark- 
ably commanding  aspect,  so  that,  while  he  felt  at 
home  with  persons  of  any  rank,  he  could  at  once 
quell,  almost  with  his  eye,  the  most  obstreperous 
parishioner,  and  even  insane  persons,  under  the 
most  violent  paroxysms,  would  yield  to  him  with- 
out resistance. 

My  mother  had  been  beautiful  in  her  youth, 
and,  when  I  first  remember  her,  was  a  very  noble 
and  stately  person,  somewhat  taller  than  my  father, 
with  an  aquiline  nose,  piercing,  though  soft,  dark, 
hazel  eyes,  and  black  hair.  She  was  indeed  a 
commanding  woman,  though  of  an  intensely  affec- 
tionate disposition,  and  devoted  to  her  husband, 
her  family,  and  the  parish.  Were  it  not  for  such 
parents,  and  for  our  having  been  kept  aloof  from 
the  rough  society  of  the  place,  and  brought  in 
contact  with  strangers,  owing  to  my  father  taking 
pupils,  I  cannot  conceive  to  what  degree  of  rus- 
ticity we  should  have  fallen  !  As  it  was,  we  all 


1 6  Sir  Gilder t  Scott. 

came  out  into  the  world,  certainly  somewhat 
ungarnished,  but  rather  plain  than  rustic.  Our 
parents  always  tried  to  impress  upon  us  the 
feelings  of  gentlemen,  in  a  degree  only  second 
to  their  endeavours  to  train  us  up  religiously. 

Our  village,  as  I  have  already  said,  was  full  of 
odd,  quaint  characters.  I  will  describe  a  few  of 
them. 

To  begin  with  the  farmers  : — Our  great  farmer 
was  Mr.  Law.  He  cultivated  two  large  farms, 
one  which  he  rented,  and  the  other  his  own  free- 
hold. We  held  him,  and  I  believe  rightly,  to  be 
very  rich.  He  was  nephew  and  executor  to  the 
founder  of  the  church,  and  from  him  my  father 
received  the  scanty  endowment.  He  was  a  short, 
burly  man,  of  no  great  talent,  but  a  very  worthy, 
good-natured  person  ;  he  was  perpetual  church- 
warden, and  always  lined  the  plate  he  held  at  the 
church  doors  after  charity  sermons  with  a  one- 
pound  note,  with  which  now  obsolete  form  of 
money  (called,  from  its  greasiness,  "  filthy  lucre  ") 
his  breeches-pockets  were  always  well  filled. 

Then  there  was  old  Zachery  Meads,  a  sulky, 
obtuse  old  giant,  who  was  never  seen  at  church, 
or  ever  expected  to  do  anything  good. 

Next  there  was  Benjamin  Warr,  a  splendid  old 
yeoman,  who,  with  his  sturdy  wife  and  a  family  of 
twenty  children  (most  of  the  sons  six  feet  high), 
made  a  fair  show  in  one  of  our  square  pews. 

Then,  again,  John  Walker  (of  Lenborough,  an 
allied  hamlet),  a  downright,  thoroughly  excellent 
specimen  of  an  English  farmer — a  man  of  sterling 
sense,  honour,  and  excellence  in  every  way.  (By- 
the-bye,  he  is  but  just  dead,  and  I  saw  his  mourn- 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  17 

ing-card  but  yesterday.)7  He  has,  since  our  day, 
been  more  than  once  mayor  of  Buckingham.  He 
was  our  best  singer,  our  best  yeomanry  cavalier, 
our  best  dairy  farmer,  our  most  strong-headed  and 
right-minded  parishioner,  and  withal  a  really 
Christian  man. 

The  other  farmers  had  nothing  very  marked 
which  merits  notice.  They  used  to  dress  much 
more  in  the  true  John  Bull  style  than  is  now  the 
fashion.  Their  costume  was  a  long  frock  coat,  a 
very  long  waistcoat,  divided  at  the  bottom  below 
the  buttons,  and  reaching  over  the  hips,  corduroy 
knee-breeches,  and,  when  not  top-booted,  shoes 
with  large  buckles.  They  usually  carried  a  gun, 
and  were  accompanied  by  a  sporting  dog. 

Among  the  labourers  we  had  many  very  excel- 
lent men,  men  of  real  piety  and  worth,  though  I 
need  not  describe  them  individually.  I  may  men- 
tion that,  so  far  as  I  can  recollect,  these  men  were 
all  decently  educated,  though  how  this  came  about 
I  do  not  know.  Indeed,  oddly  enough  it  seems 
to  me  that  inability  to  read  was  less  frequent  forty 
years  ago  among  these  rustic  labourers  than  it  is 
now  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  London. 
In  our  time  we  had  Sunday-schools,  and  there  was 
a  village  schoolmaster  who  kept  school  on  his 
own  account,  but  we  had  no  parish  school,  beyond 
a  national  school  at  Buckingham.  The  females 
were  all  employed  in  lace-making,  which  was  com- 
menced so  early  in  life  as  to  leave  little  time  for 
schooling,  yet  I  fancy  they  could  very  generally 
read,  and  they  were  by  no  means  ignorant  of  Bible 
history  and  of  general  religious  knowledge. 
7  January,  1864. 

C 


1 8  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Among  the  more  eccentric  inhabitants  of  our 
village  I  may  mention  a  man  of  the  name  of 
Walker,  surnamed  "  Tom  O'  Gawcott,"  a  super- 
annuated prize-fighter,  whose  great  boast  was 
that  he  would  never  "  darken  the  doors  of  Jack 
West's  church  ; "  but  in  his  old  age  he  relented, 
and  he  died  a  truly  religious  man. 

One  of  our  village  characters  was  a  Mrs.  Warr, 
who  kept  a  shop  for  "  tea,  coffee,  tobacco,  and 
snuff,"  opposite  to  the  churchyard.  As  in  our 
childish  days  we  were  not  allowed  to  go  into  the 
village  alone,  "  Mother  Warr,"  as  we  used  to  call 
her,  carried  on  a  great  trade  with  us  in  lollypops, 
&c.,  by  answering  our  call  across  the  road  from 
the  churchyard  ;  a  brook  ran  through  the  village 
street,  and  she  or  her  old  husband  had  placed 
stepping-stones  to  aid  her  passage  to  and  fro.  It 
was  quite  a  picture  to  see  her  in  her  quaint,  old- 
fashioned  dress  rise  at  our  call  from  her  lace- 
pillow,  and  step  nimbly  across  the  brook  with  her 
sweet  wares.  She  wore  a  high  cap,  with  her  hair 
brushed  vertically  from  her  forehead,  her  stay- 
laces  showed  in  front,  and  her  gown,  divided  at 
the  waist  and  gathered  up  in  a  bundle  behind, 
exposed  to  view  a  stiff  glazed  blue  petticoat;  she 
had  short  sleeves  hanging  loosely  from  her  elbows, 
and  large  buckles  to  her  shoes,  and  on  Sundays 
she  added  long  silk  gloves,  a  black  mantilla 
edged  with  lace  and  a  bonnet  of  antique  cut. 
Personally  she  was  tall  and  dignified,  as  became 
her  costume,  and  in  mind  as  strong  as  you  please, 
and  by  no  means  disposed  to  be  trifled  with, 
though  generally  condescending  and  benignant. 
Her  husband,  surnamed  "Old  Baccy,"  was  equally 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  19 

antique,  though  by  no  means  her  equal  in  other 
ways. 

The  village  was  as  eccentric  in  its  diseases  as 
in  its  other  conditions.  Two  of  its  inhabitants, 
both  named  Warr,  suffered  from  the  strangest 
form  of  madness,  and  poor  old  Molly,  "  Mother 
Warr's"  sister-in-law,  was  one  of  them.  I  have 
heard  that  she  and  two  others,  while  girls,  had 
been  seized  with  "St.  Vitus'  dance,"  and  were 
kept  shut  up  together  in  the  same  room,  where 
at  certain  hours,  when  St.  Vitus  was  rampant, 
they  commenced  dancing  till  the  room  was  not 
high  enough  for  their  capers.  At  this  particular 
stage  in  their  disorder  the  charming  influence 
of  the  fiddle,  played  by  a  boy,  was  prescribed, 
which  had  the  effect  of  reducing  the  more  active 
form  of  the  attack,  but  in  the  case  of  poor  Molly, 
left  matters  not  much  the  better,  for  ever  after- 
wards she  had  two  fits  of  raving  madness  in  the 
twenty-four  hours — at  noon  and  at  midnight. 
During  eleven  hours  she  was  quiet  and  inoffen- 
sive, though  the  subject  to  her  neighbours  of  a 
strange  mysterious  awe,  which  was  perhaps  one 
of  the  hindrances  to  our  venturing  to  the  shop 
for  our  lollypops,  for  when  we  did  so  she  occa- 
sionally served  us  herself,  to  our  intensest  horror, 
for  our  dread  of  her,  even  during  her  lucid 
intervals,  was  beyond  description. 

One  of  the  two  other  sufferers  from  St.  Vitus' 
dance  was  known  amongst  us  as  "Nanny  White;" 
the  success  of  the  boy  fiddler  had  in  her  case  been 
perfect,  and  she  had  attained  a  good  old  age,  not 
in  strong  health,  for  she  was,  poor  old  lady, 
tremulous  through  a  tendency  to  palsy.  I  call 

C    2 


2O  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

her  a  lady  advisedly,  because  she  was  what  one 
may  term  a  peasant-lady.  She  was  a  person  of 
earnest  piety  and  of  admirable  conduct, — an  aris- 
tocrat among  the  peasantry.  Her  income  was 
3O/.  a  year,  but  she  lived  almost  in  state.  We 
went  as  children  once  a  year  to  drink  tea  with 
her  (which  was  more  than  we  were  allowed  to  do 
with  any  of  the  farmers,  but  good  John  Walker), 
when  she  received  us  with  great  dignity,  dressed 
in  her  best  old-fashioned  clothes.  The  good  little 
old  lady  sat  smiling  and  shaking  in  her  arm-chair, 
while  her  waiting-maid  handed  about  the  tea  and 
cake ;  we  all  sat  round  on  old  high-backed  chairs 
with  twisted  pillars  and  cane  backs,  which,  by-the- 
bye,  she  had  bought  at  a  sale  of  the  furniture  of  the 
latest  despoiled  of  the  neighbouring  great  houses 
(that  at  Hillesden,  which  I  shall  mention  anon). 
We  sat  on  that  occasion,  for  the  nonce,  in  her 
"  parlour,"  while  in  the  "  house  "  through  which  it 
was  approached  was  the  old  dresser,  under  which 
was  a  series  of  copper  cauldrons  of  gradually 
diminishing  sizes,  presenting  their  highly  polished 
interiors  to  the  spectator.  This  good  old  woman 
some  years  after,  when  my  father  had  to  rebuild 
his  church,  made  out  of  her  savings  a  really  hand- 
some subscription  as  "  a  friend,"  no  one  but  my 
father  and  mother  knowing  whence  it  came  till 
after  her  death.  I  recollect  that  she  had  at  one 
time  for  her  maid  and  companion  a  young  person 
named  "  Betsy  Scott."  I  wish  I  knew  enough 
of  her  to  sketch  her  character.  She  was  a  "  lusus 
naturae,"  both  in  intellect  and  piety,  and  after  her 
death  (of  consumption)  my  father  wrote  a  memoir 
of  her,  embodying  many  letters  and  papers  of  her 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  21 

writing,  some  I  think  in  poetry.     I  well  recollect 
his  applying  to  her  the  quotation  from  Gray  : — 

"  Full  many  a  gem  of  purest  ray  serene 

The  dark  unfathom'd  caves  of  ocean  bear ; 
Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

Two  of  our  favourite  village  characters  were  a 
half-cracked  man,  and  a  semi-simpleton  ;  the  one 
known  as  "  Cracky  Meads,"  and  the  other  as 
"  Tailor  King."  The  former  had  been  a  soldier, 
and  on  his  return  from  campaigning  had  found 
that  his  elder  brother  had  inflicted  upon  him  a  very 
base  injury,  which  drove  the  poor  fellow  out  of 
his  mind.  After  this  his  great  desire  was  to 
build  himself  a  house  with  his  own  unaided  hands 
on  a  piece  of  waste  ground  by  a  road  side.  He 
made  many  beginnings,  but  what  he  built  in  the 
day  the  young  men  of  the  village  pulled  down 
at  night.  At  length,  however,  his  perseverance 
and  active  defence  of  his  work  prevailed,  and  he 
succeeded  in  completing  a  very  tolerable  bachelor's 
cottage.  He  enclosed  a  long  piece  of  waste  as  a 
garden,  which  he  successfully  cultivated,  and  with 
the  help  of  his  pension  lived  pretty  comfortably. 
He  was,  when  unexcited,  quiet,  sullen,  and  in- 
offensive ;  but  it  took  only  a  little  skilfully  directed 
conversation  to  stir  him  up  tremendously  in  dif- 
ferent ways.  His  most  interesting  excitement 
was  that  of  warlike  reminiscence,  when  he  would 
tell  endless  tales  of  his  personal  experiences, 
sometimes  enacting  them  with  the  bayonet,  which 
he  kept  under  his  bed,  with  a  vigour  hardly  con- 
sistent with  the  safety  of  his  audience.  His  most 
terrible  movements,  however,  were  against  his 


22  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

brother,  upon  whom  his  imprecations  were  as 
fearful  as  they  were  deserved.  He  was  popular 
among  my  father's  pupils,  both  for  these  displays, 
and  for  his  services  in  getting  them  eggs,  and 
boiling  or  frying  them  in  his  cottage,  and  for 
allowing  occasionally  a  little  indulgence  in  the 
form  of  a  pipe  of  tobacco. 

Poor  "  Tailor  King"  was  a  very  different  but 
equally  amusing  character.  He  was  blessed  with 
but  a  scanty  store  of  sense,  but  had  a  double 
supply  of  instinct.  His  intincts  were  wholly  de- 
voted to  sporting  matters.  He  was  always  pre*- 
sent  in  the  hunting-field,  knew  of  course  where 
every  meet  would  take  place,  and  by  long  practice 
in  the  ways  of  the  fox,  could  so  surely  prejudge 
his  course,  as  by  wary  cuts  to  keep  up  with  the 
hunters.  The  time  lost  to  his  trade  by  these 
digressions  was  made  up  for  by  the  rewards 
received  for  .occasional  aid,  taking  home  a  lame 
dog,  assisting  a  fallen  rider  or  a  damaged  horse, 
and  so  he  made  his  hunting  pay.  He  could 
sometimes  tell  the  very  hole  in  the  hedge  through 
which  the  fox  would  emerge  from  the  wood.  He 
was  an  uncouth  figure,  his  neck  all  on  one  side 
from  catching  it  in  a  forked  bough  while  leaping 
a  hedge.  He  hunted  in  a  light  green  coat,  knee 
breeches,  and  low  shoes.  We  were  often  sent 
by  my  mother,  if  she  wanted  a  hare,  to  Mr.  Law 
to  ask  if  he  would  shoot  one  for  her,  and  his 
constant  reply  was,  "  I'll  go  and  ask  the  tailor," 
or  as  he  pronounced  it  "tyahlor."  We  then 
went  together  to  the  tailor's  shop,  where  he  was 
sitting  cross-legged  at  his  window.  "  D'ye  know 
where  there's  ever  a  hare  (yahr)  sittin',  tyahler  ?" 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  23 

was  the  constant  question,  and  the  tailor  could 
always  tell  or  show  where  to  find  one.  His  con- 
versation was  a  mixture  of  ludicrous  simplicity 
with  instructive  cunning,  and  by  the  amusement 
of  his  talk  and  the  general  character  of  his  in- 
stincts, he  became  a  great  favourite  among  us 
boys. 

Another  favourite  was  old  "  Warr  of  the  Wood- 
house,"  a  clever  skilled  old  woodman ;  but  I  am 
ashamed  to  say  that  we  only  cared  for  him  when 
he  was  drunk,  or  "market-merry"  as  he  called 
it,  which  took  place  once  a  week  on  market-day. 
When  he  died,  after  my  leaving  home,  poor  old 
"  Mother  Warr "  and  her  husband  retired  from 
their  shop  to  the  said  woodhouse,  where  they 
ended  their  days.  My  wife  saw  the  old  woman 
there  in  her  old  age,  later  than  I  did  myself,  and 
says  that  she  never  saw  so  picturesque  a  figure ; 
tall,  straight,  and  dignified  still,  in  her  last-century 
dress,  sitting  at  her  door  in  the  wood  plying  her 
spinning-wheel. 

These  are  a  few  specimens,  but  the  whole  place 
was  full  of  character,  even  where  there  are  no  very 
salient  points  to  depict.  The  old  women  seem 
to  my  recollection  to  belong  to  another  age,  and 
the  sturdy  worthiness  of  many  of  the  men,  with 
their  funny  old-fashioned  way  of  expressing  them- 
selves, formed  a  most  agreeable  contrast  to  the 
contemporary  tendency  to  pauperism,  which  was 
silently  making  way  among  the  less  estimable 
part  of  the  population,  who,  like  spotted  sheep,  in 
time  infected  the  flock. 

Our  own  family  was  a  large  and  rapidly  in- 
creasing one.  My  eldest  brother  was  a  youth  of 


24  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

remarkable  talent  and  was  viewed  as  a  little  god 
by  his  brothers  and  even  by  his  parents.  This 
had  a  bad  effect  on  me.  He  was  looked  on  as  a 
representative  person,  and  all  efforts  were  con- 
centrated upon  him.  His  next  brother  got  a 
little  attention  at  second  hand,  and  being  a  boy  of 
steady  industry  and  good  ability,  he  got  on  ;  but  I, 
the  third,  was  too  far  removed  to  pick  up  even 
the  crumbs,  and  not  having  a  natural  love  of 
books  and  nothing  occurring  to  make  me  love 
them,  I  came  off  but  badly.  I  was  also  under 
the  disadvantage  of  having  no  boys  of  my  own 
age  to  work  with ;  indeed  with  all  my  faults  I  was 
forwarder  than  any  who  were  at  all  of  my  own 
standing,  so  that  at  twelve  or  thirteen,  I  had  to 
be  classed  with  idle  fellows  of  eighteen  or  more  ; 
a  desultory  way  of  going  on  which  was  very  in- 
jurious. I  ought  certainly  to  have  gone  to  school, 
but  this  was  out  of  the  question.  My  father  was 
poor,  and  as  he  took  pupils  himself,  he  was  too 
busy  with  the  older  ones,  often  men  of  from  twenty 
to  twenty-five  or  more,  to  give  me  much  of  his 
personal  attention,  so  that  I  slipped  through  be- 
tween wind  and  water.  I  do  believe,  however, 
that  if  encouraged  and  helped,  I  should  have 
done  well,  and  in  mathematics  I  did  get  on  fairly. 
My  great  relief  from  this  life  of  heedlessness 
and  rough  handling  was  the  visit  of  the  drawing- 
master.  Though  I  never  acquired  any  very  high 
powers  of  drawing  under  him,  I  can  never  be  too 
grateful  for  his  help  and  kind  encouragement. 
He  was  a  Mr.  Jones,  of  Buckingham,  who  had 
been  in  his  youth  patronized  by  some  of  the 
Stowe  family,  and  had  been  sent  to  London,  where 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  25 

he  became  a  student  at  the  Royal  Academy,  and 
was  much  noticed  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  of 
whom  he  entertained  an  affectionate  remembrance. 
Foolishly,  however,  he  returned  to  his  native 
town,  and  had  consequently  failed  of  reaching  the 
eminence  for  which  nature  had  fitted  him.  He 
supported  himself  as  a  drawing-master,  and  occa- 
sional portrait-painter.  His  visits  twice  a  week 
were  the  very  joy  of  my  life.  I  remember,  as  if 
it  were  yesterday,  and  almost  feel  again  while 
thinking  of  it,  my  anxiety  when  he  was  a  little 
late  in  coming,  my  frequent  glances  towards  the 
path  by  which  he  reached  our  garden,  and  my 
heart-felt  joy  when  I  saw  his  loose  drab  gaiters 
through  the  bushes.  Mr.  Jones  was  a  mild,  be- 
nignant, and  humble-minded  old  man,  and  though 
he  had  not  attained  eminence,  he  was  thoroughly 
grounded  in  his  art.  His  knowledge  of  anatomy 
and  of  perspective  was  perfect,  as  was  his  ac- 
quaintance with  the  principles  of  colouring, 
whether  in  oil  or  water-colour,  and  his  powers  of 
drawing  were  remarkable.  Yet  his  training  had 
stopped  short  of  bringing  his  powers  to  bear  upon 
actual  high-class  work  of  his  own.  I  often  wish 
I  had  some  of  his  drawings,  I  am  sure  they  must 
evince  the  elements  of  genius,  though  unmatured, 
and  consistently  enough  with  this,  he  instilled  into 
my  mind  an  intense  love  for  the  subject  without 
any  ripened  knowledge  or  skill.  While,  however, 
depreciating  myself  on  this  and  other  subjects,  it 
is  fair  to  mention  that  my  home  schooling  termi- 
nated when  I  was  only  about  fourteen  and  a  half 
years  old.  The  little  I  learned  of  French  my 
mother  taught  me,  and  I  might,  had  I  worked 


26  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

hard,  have  learned  it  well,  as  she  understood  it 
perfectly,  and  spoke  it  with  ease.  My  eldest 
brother  had  also  a  good  French  master,  in  whose 
instruction  unhappily  I  did  not  participate. 

How  infinitely  important  it  is  for  boys  to  feel 
the  duty  and  necessity  for  exertion.  Though  I 
have  reason  to  be  most  thankful  for  my  success  in 
life,  the  defects  of  my  education  have  been  like  a 
millstone  about  my  neck,  and  have  made  me 
almost  dread  superior  society.  A  very  little  extra 
attention  would  have  obviated  this,  for  if  with 
the  same  means  of  education  my  brother  carried 
off  in  his  freshman's  year  one  of  the  highest  univer- 
sity classical  scholarships,  why  should  not  I  have 
been  a  fair  classic  ?  It  is  one  of  the  greatest 
wonders  of  my  life  to  witness  the  way  in  which 
young  men  deliberately  throw  away  their  chances 
of  eminence  and  seem  satisfied  with  the  bare 
prospect  of  getting  a  living ;  as  if  man  was  born, 
not  to  do  the  very  utmost  in  his  day  and  genera- 
tion which  the  talents  committed  to  him  render 
attainable,  but  merely  to  exist.  Old  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  as  I  was  told  by  his  son,  used  to  say  that  if 
any  youth  of  ordinary  ability  made  up  his  mind 
as  to  his  object  in  life  and  bent  all  his  energies  to 
its  attainment,  he  would  be  almost  certain  of  success, 
and  this  led  the  son  of  Sir  Robert  to  determine, 
when  a  child,  that  he  would  be  prime  minister,  and 
to  persevere  till  he  became  so. 

Being  younger  than  most  of  my  father's  pupils 
(who,  in  fact,  were  many  of  them  matured  men, 
who  had  determined  late  in  life  to  read  for  the 
church),  I  had  very  little  companionship,  and  I 
became  a  solitary  wanderer  in  woods  and  fields, 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  27 

and  about  the  old  churches,  &c.,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

I  have  a  tolerably  distinct  recollection  of  my 
grandfather,  the  author  of  the  Commentary  on 
the  holy  scriptures.  We  used  to  visit  him  en 
masse  about  once  a  year ;  it  was  a  time  of  great 
joy  and  excitement  when  it  came  round.  The 
post-chaise  was  ordered  from  Buckingham,  and 
usually  was  made  to  carry  seven.  My  father  and 
mother  occupied  the  seat,  three  small  children 
stood  in  front,  and  two  sat  on  the  "  dickey,"  while 
the  fat  old  postboy  rode  as  postillion.  It  was 
some  twenty-five  miles  to  Aston  Sandford,  and  I 
think  I  could  find  my  way  now  by  my  recollections 
of  that  date.  My  grandfather  was,  as  I  remember 
him,  a  thin,  tottering  old  man,  very  grave  and 
dignified.  Being  perfectly  bald,  he  wore  a  black 
velvet  cap,  excepting  when  he  went  to  church, 
when  he  assumed  a  venerable  wig.  He  wore 
knee-breeches,  with  silver  buckles,  and  black  silk 
stockings,  and  a  regular  shovel  hat.  His  amuse- 
ment was  gardening,  but  he  was  almost  constantly 
at  work  in  his  study.  At  meals,  when  I  chiefly 
saw  him,  he  was  rather  silent,  owing  to  his  deaf- 
ness, which  rendered  it  difficult  to  him  to  join  in 
general  conversation.  I  well  remember,  when 
any  joke  had  excited  laughter  at  the  table,  that  he 
would  beg  to  be  informed  what  it  was,  and  when 
brought  to  understand  it,  he  would  only  deign  to 
utter  a  single  word — "  Pshaw  !  "  One  day,  as  we 
sat  at  dinner,  a  very  old  apple-tree,  loaded  with 
fruit,  suddenly  gave  way  and  fell  to  the  ground, 
to  the  surprise  of  our  party,  and  I  remember  my 
grandfather  remarking  that  he  wished  that  might 


28  Sir  Gilder  I  Scott. 

be  his  own  end,  to  break  down  in  his  old  age 
under  the  weight  of  good  fruit.  Family  prayers 
at  Aston  Rectory  were  formidable,  particularly  to 
a  child.  They  lasted  a  full  hour,  several  persons 
from  the  village  usually  attending.  I  can  picture 
to  my  mind  my  grandfather  walking  to  church  in 
his  gown  and  cassock,  his  long  curled  wig,  and 
shovel  hat.8  He  had  a  most  venerable  look,  and 
I  felt  a  sort  of  dread  at  it.  On  Sundays  he  had 
a  constant  guest  at  his  table — the  barber,  to  whom 
he  was  beholden  for  his  wig.  Those  who  are  not 
acquainted  with  the  evangelical  party  in  its  earlier 
days  can  hardly  understand  the  way  in  which 
community  of  religious  feeling  was  allowed  to 
over-ride  difference  of  worldly  position.  I  recol- 
lect the  same  at  Gawcott,  where,  though  not 
allowed  to  associate  even  with  our  wealthiest 
farmer,  we  ever  welcomed  to  our  table  a  very  poor 
brother  of  his,  in  position  scarcely  above  a  labourer, 
who  was  a  man  of  piety,  and  came  many  miles  on 
sunday  to  attend  our  church.  The  same  was  the 

8  My  father's  recollections  upon  the  subject  of  clerical  dress 
may  be  of  interest.  He  has  often  told  me  that  in  the  earliest 
period  to  which  his  memory  extended,  the  clergy  habitually 
wore  their  cassock,  gown,  and  shovel  hat,  and  that  when  this 
custom  went  out,  a  sort  of  interregnum  ensued  during  which 
all  distinction  of  dress  was  abandoned  and  clerics  followed 
lay  fashions.  This  is  the  period  which  Jane  Austen's  novels 
illustrate.  Her  clergymen  are  singularly  free  from  any  trace 
of  the  ecclesiastical  character.  Later  on,  the  clergy  adopted 
the  suit  of  black,  and  the  white  necktie,  which  had  all  along 
been  the  dress  of  professional  men,  lawyers,  doctors,  architects, 
and  even  surveyors,  of  men,  in  short,  whose  business  it  was  to 
advise.  Of  the  modern  developements  which  this  lay-pro- 
fessional dress  has  received  at  the  hands  of  clerical  tailors,  it 
is  unnecessary  to  say  anything.— ED. 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  29 

case  with  the  barber  at  Great  Risborough.  He 
was  a  pious  man,  and  he  walked  over  every  sun- 
day  to  hear  my  grandfather  preach,  and  a  place 
was  kept  for  him  at  the  dinner- table.  He  was, 
however,  a  superior  man,  and  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  get  his  two  sons  into  the  church. 
Some  time  after  he  had  settled  at  Risborough  he 
found  that  there  was  an  old  bequest  for  the  educa- 
tion (for  the  church)  of  any  one  of  his  name  living 
at  Risborough,  which  he  at  once  claimed  and 
obtained  for  his  son.  The  other  boy,  having  a 
good  voice,  was  placed  in  the  choir  at  Magdalen 
college,  Oxford,  when  in  due  time  he  was  admitted 
into  the  college,  and  finally  into  the  church. 

Near  Aston  lived  my  uncle,  the  Rev.  Samuel 
King.  He  was  son  of  an  excellent  man,  George 
King,  a  large  wine  merchant  in  the  city  ;  and 
being  a  pupil  of  my  grandfather's,  he  formed  an 
attachment  to  his  only  daughter  Elizabeth,  and 
married  her  before  or  during  his  residence  at  the 
university  of  Cambridge.  After  they  left  Cam- 
bridge, he  took  the  curacy  of  Hartwell,  near 
Aylesbury,  where  was  the  seat  of  Sir  George  Lee, 
at  that  time  occupied  by  Louis  XVIII.  and  the 
ex-royal  family  of  France.  Subsequently,  or  at 
the  same  time,  he  was  curate  of  Stone,  close  by 
Hartwell,  where  I  first  recollect  visiting  him,  after 
which  he  removed  to  Haddenham,  nearer  to  my 
grandfather's,  so  that  our  visits  were  jointly  to  my 
grandfather  and  to  him.  My  aunt  was  a  gifted 
and  lovely  woman,  and  at  that  time  she  used 
to  aid  my  grandfather  in  the  correction  of  a 
new  edition  of  his  commentary,  as  did  also  a 
young  man  who  then  resided  with  him,  Mr. 


30  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

W.  R.  Dawes,  since  well  known  as.  an  astronomer, 
and  who  in  his  old  age  returned  to  Haddenham 
and  built  himself  a  residence  there.  I  well  re- 
member my  puzzlement  at  hearing  that  certain 
printed  sheets,  which  came  every  morning  by  post, 
and  seemed  to  be  viewed  with  great  consideration, 
were  "  proofs  of  the  bible."  I  connected  them  in 
idea  with  the  evidences  of  Christianity. 

The  whole  household  of  my  grandfather  seemed 
imbued  with  religious  sentiment.  Old  Betty,  the 
cook,  and  Lizzy,  the  waiting-maid,  and  old  Betty 
Moulder,  an  infirm  inmate,  taken  in  on  account  of 
her  excellence  and  helplessness,  were  all  patterns 
of  goodness,  and  even  poor  John  Brangwin,  the 
serving-man,  partook  of  the  general  effect  of  the 
atmosphere  of  the  rectory.  Poor  old  fellow !  I 
visited  him  last  spring,  with  three  of  my  sons  at 
an  almshouse  at  Cheynies,  when  he  poured  forth 
his  recollections  of  my  grandfather  for  half  an 
hour  together.  It  was  Sunday,  and  we  found  him 
reading  in  the  copy  of  the  commentary  which  my 
grandfather  had  left  him  in  his  will ;  and  he  told 
us  he  had  just  had  a  cold  dinner.  "He  never 
had  anything  cooked  o'  sabbath  day ;  Muster 
Scott  never  had  anything  cooked  o'  sabbath 
days  " — a  precept  he  had  followed  for  more  than 
forty  years.  I  regret  that  my  recollections  of  my 
grandfather  himself  are  so  very  scanty,  while  my 
memory  of  the  place,  and  of  its  less  important 
inhabitants,  and  of  its  trifling  incidents,  is  as 
perfect  as  though  it  were  of  last  year. 

Some  five  miles  beyond  Aston  Sandford  runs 
the  range  of  the  Chiltern  Hills,  the  "delectable 
mountains "  of  my  youth,  always  forming  our 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  3 1 

horizon,  though  very  rarely  reached  by  us.  They 
divided  the  county  into  two  parts,  as  different  as 
possible  in  their  character ;  the  northern,  where 
we  lived,  homely  and  picturesque,  the  southern 
hilly  and  delightful.  Once  only  in  these  early 
days  I  saw  this  beautiful  part  of  my  county,  when 
I  went  to  visit  my  aunt  (the  widow  of  the  Rev.  N. 
Gilbert),  at  Woburn,  near  Wycombe,  and  I  well 
remember  the  pleasure  I  experienced.  I  re- 
member our  all  walking  up  Stokenchurch  hill,  a 
coach-load  of  passengers  forming  a  long  procession 
before  us. 

After  my  grandfather's  death  my  uncle  King 
was  presented  to  the  living  of  Latimers,  in  this 
southern  division  of  Bucks,  our  visits  to  which 
place  were  the  brightest  spots  in  my  early  life. 
My  uncle  was  a  most  lively  and  amusing  man, 
who,  having  no  family  of  his  own,  devoted  him- 
self, when  thrown  in  the  way  of  children,  very 
extensively  to  their  amusement.  He  was  a  man 
of  multifarious  resources,  an  excellent  astrono- 
mer, and  perhaps  the  best  amateur  ornamental 
turner  in  the  kingdom.  He  was  a  glass-painter, 
a  brass-founder,  and  a  devotee  to  natural  science 
in  many  forms.  My  aunt  was  a  literary  person. 
She  had  received  the  same  education  with  her 
brothers,  instead  of  learning  feminine  accomplish- 
ments. She  was  one  of  those  "  ladies  of  talent " 
one  occasionally  meets  with,  whose  company  is 
courted  on  account  of  their  superior  knowledge 
and  conversational  powers.  I  have  every  reason 
for  gratitude  to  them  both,  as  I  shall  afterwards 
show. 

My  maternal  grandmother  and  her  sister  (as 


32  Sir  Gilbert  Scoff. 

before-mentioned)  lived  with  us  at  Gawcott.  The 
former  was  a  very  excellent,  quiet,  unobtrusive 
little  woman.  I  rarely  heard  anything  of  her 
husband,  Dr.  Lynch.  He  died  early,  leaving  her 
with  a  young  family,  and  I  fancy  but  slenderly 
provided  for,  for  the  only  thing  I  ever  heard  of 
him  was,  that  he  impoverished  himself  by  being 
so  easy-going,  that  he  could  not  refuse  any  one 
who  asked  money  of  him.  His  eldest  son  was, 
during  my  childhood,  a  medical  man  at  Dunmow 
in  Essex,  where  he  also  died  early,  leaving  a  large 
family.  My  aunt  Gilbert  had  accompanied  my 
grandmother  and  her  family  to  England,  or  possi- 
bly was  here  already,  as  her  English  recollections 
reached  to  a  much  earlier  date.  This  must  have 
been  about  1790,  as  nearly  as  I  can  tell,  my 
mother  being  at  that  time  about  four  years  old. 
They  resided  in  Great  Ormond  street,  Queen's 
square,  which  then  bordered  upon  the  fields. 
My  aunt  was  a  person  of  considerable  talent, 
of  great  piety,  and  of  an  extraordinarily  affec- 
tionate disposition,  and  withal  wonderfully  simple- 
hearted  and  forbearing.  She  devoted  herself  to 
my  mother  during  her  childhood,  with  an  intensity 
of  affection,  exceeding  probably  what  a  child  would 
always  find  agreeable. 

She  and  my  grandmother  were  provided  for  by 
annuities  upon  their  father's  estate,  then  pretty 
good,  but  ever  diminishing  with  the  decline  of 
West  India  property.  My  mother  went  to  a 
very  good  school  (I  think  in  London)  kept  by  a 
Miss  Cox,  who  was  afterwards  married  to  a 
Mr.  WoodrofFe,  a  clergyman  in  Gloucestershire, 
and  my  mother  always  kept  up  an  affectionate 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  33 

correspondence  with  her,  and  they  mutually  visited 
from  time  to  time.  She  was  author  of  a  reli- 
gious novel  entitled,  "  Shades  of  Character,  or  the 
Little  Pilgrim,"  and  of  "  Michael  Kemp."  When 
my  mother  married,  my  aunt  came  to  live  with 
her  (my  grandmother  living  for  a  time  near  her 
son  at  Dunmow).  When  I  made  my  appearance 
on  the  tapis,  my  aunt  pitched  upon  my  unworthy 
person  as  her  pet,  and  ever  afterwards  followed  me 
up  with  an  assiduity  of  affection  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  exaggerate.  This  was  probably  enhanced 
(though  my  conduct  was  not  calculated  to  produce 
that  effect)  by  her  having  had  the  charge  of  me, 
when  five  years  old,  for  some  months,  while  I  made 
a  stay  on  account  of  some  casual  disorder  at 
Margate.  This  was  in  1816,  and  as  it  was  the 
landmark  of  my  childhood,  I  will  give  a  few 
reminiscences  of  it. 

Of  the  coach  journey  to  London,  I  have  hardly  a 
glimmer  of  recollection.  On  our  arrival,  however, 
we  transferred  ourselves  to  the  house  of  a  sort  of 
"  Gaius  mine  host,"  who  dwelt  hard  by  the  coach- 
office  where  we  alighted.  This  was  a  Mr. 
Broughton,  of  Swan-yard,  Holborn  bridge,  who 
kept  a  boarding-house  for  travellers,  with  a  pre- 
ference for  those  of  the  evangelical  party,  and  a 
still  more  particular  preference  for  missionaries, 
and  most  especially  for  missionaries  to  New  Zea- 
land. This,  his  most  powerful  preference,  was 
rendered  manifest  to  the  eye  by  his  rooms 
being  hung  with  patoo-patoos,  war-rugs,  and 
all  the  marvels  of  a  New  Zealand  museum ; 
and  occasionally  a  tattooed  chief  or  two,  to 
his  intense  joy,  took  up  their  quarters  under 

D 


34  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

his  roof.  All  this,  however,  I  gathered  at 
subsequent  visits. 

Mr.  Broughton  showed  his  special  regard  for 
the  commentator,  my  grandfather,  by  opening  his 
house  to  his  descendants  at  all  times  gratuitously 
— indeed  he  demanded  their  acceptance  of  his 
hospitality  as  a  right.  Swan-yard,  which  has 
perished  in  the  extension  of  Farringdon  street, 
was  opposite  to  the  then  Fleet  market.  It  was  a 
waggon-yard,  devoted  to  broad-wheeled  waggons 
and  straw,  and  the  house  was  far  from  lively.  At 
the  time  of  our  visit  Mrs.  Broughton,  who  was 
enormously  corpulent,  was  laid  up  with  the  gout, 
and  I  was  forthwith  conducted  by  my  aunt  to  the 
good  lady's  bedroom.  Here  I  was  so  terrified  at 
the  sight  of  her  vast  person,  enveloped  in  volumes 
of  dimity,  and  her  legs  swaddled  in  a  stupendous 
gouty  stocking  of  white-and-pink  lamb's  wool, 
that  I  at  once  proclaimed  a  mutiny,  and  refused 
to  stop  in  the  house,  in  which  I  so  resolutely  per- 
sisted, that  my  good  aunt  actually  yielded  to  me, 
and  transferred  me  to  the  cabin  of  the  Margate 
sailing-packet,  which  was  to  start  in  the  morning. 

Here  we  met  a  number  of  Buckingham  friends, 
who  were  to  join  us  in  our  lodgings  at  Margate. 
My  impression  of  the  cabin  is  very  vivid.  It  was 
full  of  passengers,  and  I  well  recollect  a  lively  and 
lengthened  argument,  in  which  my  aunt  was  a 
warm  disputant,  as  to  whether  in  dealing  with 
savages  we  ought  to  aim  at  civilizing  before  chris- 
tianizing or  vice  versa,  a  point  on  which  the  cabin 
was  about  equally  divided.  As  the  night  drew 
on,  the  ladies  and  children  retired  to  the  berths 
which  lined  the  sides,  while  the  gentlemen  retained 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  35 

their  chairs.  I  well  recollect  peeping  out  from 
between  my  curtains,  and  seeing  gentlemen,  who 
had  lately  been  warm  in  argument,  sitting  quietly 
asleep  round  tables,  on  which  their  heads  and 
elbows  were  deposited. 

Of  the  next  day  my  leading  recollection  is  the 
sweeping  of  the  boom  across  the  deck  as  we 
tacked,  and  the  havoc  it  always  threatened 
amongst  the  crowded  passengers.  Arrived  at 
Margate  we  took  lodgings  on  "  the  Fort,"  at  the 
house  of  one,  Captain  Bourne  ;  my  aunt  and  I, 
and  our  Buckinghamshire  friends  all  living  to- 
gether as  one  family.  There  was  already  a 
steamer  to  Margate  ;  but  it  was  such  a  new  thing 
that  the  visitors  and  inhabitants  crowded  to  the 
pier  to  see  it  come  in.  I  well  remember  the  ex- 
citement of  seeing  its  approach.  One  of  my  most 
vivid  recollections  of  Margate  was  our  going  with 
some  of  our  friends  to  a  Quakers'  meeting  at  a 
place  called  Drapers,  and  hearing  several  ladies 
preach.  I  also  recollect  seeing  a  fleet  of  thirty- 
two  East  Indiamen  pass  in  a  row,  probably  under 
convoy,  as  the  war  was  but  recently  over.  While 
at  Margate  I  lost  an  infant  sister  named  Elizabeth. 

After  leaving  Margate  we  visited  my  uncle 
Lynch  at  Dunmow,  and  in  passing  through  Lon- 
don, my  aunt  stayed  with  an  old  Wesleyan  friend, 
Mr.  Jones,  of  Finsbury  square.  I  remember 
their  showing  me,  from  his  windows,  gas-lamps 
as  great  curiosities.  We  also  went  to  see  another 
Miss  Gilbert,  a  cousin  of  my  aunt's,  (we  called 
her  "Cousin  Harriet.")  She  was  a  wild,  eccentric 
person,  and  while  we  were  there,  went  into  a  fright- 
ful fit  of  hysterics,  owing  to  her  having  visited 

D  2 


36  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  grave  of  a  near  relation,  who  had  been  her 
sole  companion.  I  have  preserved  two  coins 
which  this  old  cousin  gave  me  that  day.  I  will 
not,  however,  increase  frivolous  reminiscences.  It 
is  vexatious  to  think  of  the  perversity  of  children's 
memories.  I  recollect  the  funeral  of  Mr.  West  in 
1814,  and  this  digression  from  my  village  home 
in  1816,  as  well  almost  as  if  they  had  happened 
last  year.  Yet  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  which 
occurred  in  the  intervening  year,  I  have  not  even 
the  slightest  recollection. 

My  aunt  Gilbert  was  most  interesting  in  her 
reminiscences.  John  Wesley  was  the  great  saint 
of  her  memory.  I  remember  her  telling  me 
of  his  having  kissed  her,  which  she  esteemed  a 
great  privilege.  She  had  been  an  intimate  ally 
of  Mrs.  Fletcher  of  Madeley,  who,  after  her 
husband's  death,  became  a  sort  of  female  evan- 
gelist "  All  round  the  Wrekin."  This  hill  was 
familiar  to  my  childish  ideas  from  my  aunt  having 
lived  so  long  under  its  shadow.  The  date  of  this 
I  know  not,  but  it  was  during  the  days  of  Mrs. 
Fletcher  and  of  Lady  Dorothea  Whitmore.  Who 
the  latter  was,  I  do  not  know,  but  the  family  I 
find  still  resides  in  the  neighbourhood.  One  of 
my  aunt's  sisters  had  married  a  Mr.  Yate  of 
Madeley.  Her  son,  the  Rev.  George  Yate,  was 
rector  of  Wrockwardine.  I  remember  another 
son,  a  naval  officer,  bringing  to  Gawcott  a  flag 
which  he  had  taken  in  the  American  war ;  and  a 
daughter,  Anne  Yate,  used  to  visit  us,  (by  the  way 
it  was  she  who  took  me  to  Mr.  West's  funeral). 
She  died  of  consumption  some  few  years  later, 
"  poor  cousin  Anne." 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  37 

My  aunt  kept  up  a  very  extensive  correspon- 
dence, and  had  done  so  all  her  life.  One  of  her 
great  correspondents  was  her  brother  William, 
who  lived  in  America.  His  was  a  very  re- 
markable character.  He  was  a  barrister,  and  a 
man  of  acute  genius,  and  was  just  rising  into 
fame  when  his  mind  gave  way.  His  insanity 
took  a  political  line,  and,  the  first  rage  of  the 
French  Revolution  being  rampant  at  the  time,  he 
went  to  France  to  ally  himself  with  Robespierre 
and  the  rest,  but  took  fright,  I  fancy,  when  he 
got  nearer,  and  returned.  He  subsequently  went 
to  America,  as  the  only  country  with  the  govern- 
ment of  which  he  could  feel  satisfied.  He  was  a 
friend  of  Southey  and  Coleridge  during  their  early 
days.  Southey  remarks  of  him  in  his  life  of 
Wesley  :9  "  .  .  .  .  Mr.  Gilbert  published,  in  the 
year  1 796,  '  The  Hurricane,  a  Theosophical  and 
Western  Eclogue/  and  shortly  afterwards  pla^ 
carded  the  walls  in  London  with  the  largest  bills 
that  had  at  that  time  been  seen,  announcing  •  The 
Law  of  Fire.'  I  knew  him  well,  and  look  back 
with  a  melancholy  pleasure  to  the  hours  which  I 
have  passed  in  his  society  when  his  mind  was  in 
ruins.  His  madness  was  of  the  most  incom- 
prehensible kind,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  notes 
to  the  '  Hurricane ;'  but  the  poem  contains  pas- 
sages of  exquisite  beauty.  They  who  remember 
him  (as  some  of  my  readers  will)  will  not  be 
displeased  at  seeing  him  thus  mentioned  with  the 
respect  and  regret  which  are  due  to  the  wreck 
of  a  noble  mind." 

Another  constant  correspondent  was  a  cousin. 
9  Vol.  ii.  chap.  28,  foot  note. 


38  Sir  Gilbert  Scot  I. 

Poor  man,  he  corresponded  till  the  last,  and  then 
came  the  news  that  he  had  shot  himself.  I  re- 
member one  of  my  aunt's  last  letters  to  him, 
which  was  evidently  intended  to  keep  him  from 
religious  despair,  for  she  quoted  the  passage : 
"  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
white  as  snow,"  &c.  Let  us  hope  that  he  was 
insane.  Another  correspondent  was  a  Lady 
Abdy,  also  a  cousin. 

My  aunt's  object  in  all  these  cases  was  a 
religious  one,  this  being  the  main  subject  of  her 
thoughts.  My  aunt  was  a  poetess,  she  wrote  a 
good  deal,  and  not  badly.  She  was  in  great 
requisition  for  epitaphs,  &c.  I  wish  I  could  get 
some  of  her  longer  productions.  She  was  an 
admirable  woman,  and  in  my  view  quite  an  his- 
torical person.  She  had  a  large  chest  filled  with 
selected  letters  from  her  correspondents,  from 
John  Wesley  downwards ;  but  this  most  valuable 
collection  was  indiscriminately  destroyed  after 
her  death,  which  happened  I  think  in  1832.  A 
grievous  error !  She  lies  buried  a  little  to  the 
south  of  the  church  of  Gawcott.  My  grand- 
mother lived  a  few  years  longer,  and  was  buried 
at  Wappenham.  Both  were,  eighty  or  upwards 
at  their  death. 

STOWE. 

We  lived  within  about  four  miles  of  Stowe,  then 
in  its  greatest  glory.  The  Marquis  (afterwards 
Duke)  of  Buckingham  was  the  puissant  potentate 
of  the  district,  and  Stowe  was  its  seat  of  govern- 
ment. It  was  to  us  of  great  advantage,  to  have 
this  centre  of  art  and  princely  splendour  to  refer 
to  when  we  pleased.  It  was  a  set-off  against  the 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  39 

otherwise  almost  unmitigated  rusticity  of  the 
neighbourhood. 

To  Stowe  we  all  made  an  annual  pilgrimage. 
This  was  the  great  day  of  our  year.  It  took  place 
in  early  June,  that  we  might  enjoy  the  glories  of  the 
lilacs  and  laburnums.  The  journey  was  somewhat 
grotesque.  My  father  rode  his  old  horse  "  Jack," 
or  subsequently  "Tripod."  The  older  boys  walked, 
while  my  mother,  my  eldest  sister,  and  the  children 
performed  the  journey  in  the  baker's  cart,  a  tilted 
but  unspringed  vehicle,  furnished  with  chairs  for 
the  occasion,  and  further  with  a  large  basket 
of  provisions  which  were  conveyed  by  our  serving- 
man  William  to  "  The  Temple  of  Concord  and 
Victory,"  our  traditional  lunching  place.  I  well 
recollect  the  gratification  afforded  by  the  hard- 
boiled  eggs,  &c.,  eaten  beneath  the  unwonted 
shade  of  a  classic  temple. 

Stowe  was  really  a  very  fine  place.  It  was 
most  extensive  and  well  wooded ;  indeed  the 
park  with  its  woods  merged  gradually  off  into 
the  forest  of  Whittlebury.  It  was  approached 
from  Buckingham  by  a  perfectly  straight  road 
some  three  miles  long,  and  bordered  by  a  wide 
grass  drive  and  an  avenue  on  either  side,  and 
leading  to  a  triumphal  arch  known  as  the  "  Corin- 
thian Arch."  From  several  other  directions  it 
was  somewhat  similarly  approached,  so  that  from 
the  Buckingham  lodges  to  those  in  the  direction 
of  Towcester  could  hardly  be  less  than  eight 
miles.  The  house  had  (and  has)  a  frontage  of 
nearly  1000  feet,  though  it  is  fair  to  mention  that 
its  extreme  wings  hardly  form  a  part  of  its  archi- 
tecture. It  is  entered,  properly  speaking,  from 


4O  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

behind,  where  it  assumes  the  form  of  a  convex 
semicircle.  To  us,  however,  the  approach  was 
from  the  garden  front,  which  is  the  great  archi- 
tectural facade  and  looks  south.  Here  the  en- 
trance is  by  an  octastyle  Corinthian  portico,  ap- 
proached by  a  lofty  flight  of  steps  rising  the  height 
of  a  basement  storey.  I  well  remember  the  kind 
of  awe  with  which  this  stately  approach  inspired 
me,  and  how  vast  it  appeared  to  my  young  ima- 
gination, We  were  welcomed  under  the  portico 
by  an  almost  equally  stately  groom  of  the  cham- 
bers, Mr.  Broadway,  a  man  of  portentous  aspect 
and  intense  dignity  of  demeanour.  He  paid 
special  attention  to  us  from  his  respect  for  my 
father,  and  devoted  much  pains  to  showing  and 
explaining  the  pictures,  &c.  I  can  fancy  that 
I  hear  now  the  dignified  and  measured  words  in 
which  he  introduced  the  pictures  to  our  youthful 
inspection  :  "  The  Burgomeister  Sichs,  by  Rem- 
brandt;" <(The  portrait  of  the  elder,  by  the  younger 
Rembrandt,"  &c.  His  tone  gave  us  a  reverence 
for  the  old  masters  beyond  what  our  discrimina- 
tion would  have  alone  inspired,  It  was  really  a 
^very  fine  collection,  and  being  the  only  one  I  had 
seen,  I  feel  thankful  to  think  that  I  had  the 
opportunity  through  it  of  seeing  noble  art  so 
early.  The  sculpture  was  also  fine,  containing 
a  great  number  of  antiques,  which  were  mostly 
ranged  round  a  large  elliptical  saloon,  entered 
directly  from  the  garden  portico.  My  veneration 
was  greatly  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  one  vast 
room  was  wholly  devoted  to  the  collection  of 
engravings,  classified  in  an  infinite  number  of 
portfolios,  and  another  to  similarly-arranged  music, 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  41 

and  that  the  library  was  so  extensive  as  to  demand 
the  services  of  a  man  of  learning  and  position  (a 
dignified  Roman  Catholic  priest,  Dr.  O'Connor)  as 
the  librarian.  One  modern  picture,  the  "  Destruc- 
tion of  Herculaneum"  (by  Martin),  used  to  fill  us 
with  wonder,  as  did  a  magnificent  astronomical 
clock,  giving  the  true  motions  and  positions  of 
the  planets,  and  only  wound  up,  as  we  were  told, 
once  in  four  years,  i.  e.  on  the  29th  of  February. 

The  house  was  in  point  of  fact  a  "  palace  of 
delights,"  a  wilderness  of  art,  vertu,  and  magnifi- 
cence, of  which  upon  the  whole  I  have  not  seen 
an  equal,  and  it  is  beyond  measure  aggravating  to 
think  of  its  glorious  contents  having  been  dis- 
persed through  the  folly  of  its  possessor. 

The  duke  of  my  childhood  was  the  grandfather 
to  the  present  one.  He  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able ability  and  attainments  and  of  portentous 
ambition  and  pride.  I  believe  that  the  downfall 
of  the  family  was  fully  as  much  owing  to  him  as 
to  his  son.  He  literally  came  under  the  woe 
pronounced  upon  those  -'  that  lay  field  to  field, 
till  there  be  no  place,  that  they  may  be  placed 
alone  in  the  midst  of  the  earth,"  for  he  nearly 
ruined  the  family  by  purchasing  estates  with 
borrowed  money,  the  interest  on  which  exceeded 
the  rental. 

We  made,  by-the-bye,  two  annual  peregrinations 
thither,  for  once  a  year  we  went  over  to  the 
review  of  the  yeomanry  cavalry,  of  which  the 
Marquis  of  Chandos  (the  late  Duke)  was  lieu- 
tenant-colonel. It  makes  me  feel  very  antique 
to  remember  that  I  was  present  at  the  festivities 
which  celebrated  the  baptism  of  the  present  duke, 


42  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

and  very  magnificent  they  were.  The  fireworks 
were,  I  suppose,  as  fine  as  that  time  could  produce. 
I  recollect  on  that  day,  while  sitting  on  a  bench 
so  placed  as  to  overlook  a  very  large  piece  of 
water  surrounded  by  beech  plantations,  hearing 
the  remarks  of  two  old  women.  "  Lawk,  how 
unkid,"  said  one,  "you  can  see  nothin'  but  water!" 
"  Oh,  bless  you,"  replied  her  more  knowing  com- 
panion, "  why,  the  sea's  twice  as  big  as  that." 

Of  the  architecture  of  Stowe  I  cannot  say  much 
from  memory,  nor  is  it  necessary,  as  it  remains,  I 
believe,  intact. 

As  Stowe  was  my  introduction  to  classic  archi- 
tecture and  high  art,  so  was  my  liking  for  gothic 
architecture  due  to  the  old  churches  in  my  own 
neighbourhood.  The  district  is  not  famed  for  its 
ancient  churches,  yet  it  possesses  several  of  con- 
siderable merit.  Our  own  village  was  utterly 
devoid  of  early  remains,  though  I  venerated  the 
old  "  Chapel  Close,"  where  its  ancient  church  or 
chapel  had  once  stood.  In  the  same  way 
Buckingham  had  lost  its  old  church,  a  very  fine 
edifice,  which  fell  in  1776.  My  drawing-master, 
Mr.  Jones,  remembered  its  fall,  and  told  me  that 
it  had  an  aisle  called  the  Gawcott  Aisle.  The 
old  churchyard  remains,  though  the  church  now 
stands  on  the  Castle  Hill,  and  a  very  ungainly 
edifice  it  is.1  There  is  only  one  really  ancient 
building  in  Buckingham,  the  chapel  of  St.  Thomas 
of  Canterbury,  now  a  grammar  school. 

The  building  which  first  directed  my  attention 
to  gothic  architecture  was  the  church  of  Hillesden, 

1  Its  reconstruction,  under  my  father's  direction,  was  in 
progress  at  the  time  of  his  death. — ED. 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  43 

situated  two  miles  to  the  south  of  Gawcott.  This 
is  a  church  of  late  date,  but  of  remarkable  beauty. 
It  was  our  great  lion,  and  every  new  comer  was 
taken  to  see  it  on  the  earliest  possible  opportunity, 
and  was  appraised  by  me  in  proportion  to  his 
appreciation  of  its  beauties. 

I  always  looked  upon  Hillesden  with  the  most 
romantic  feelings.  It  was  a  beautiful  spot  as 
compared  with  our  neighbourhood  in  general  ; 
it  was  situated  on  a  considerable  elevation,  sur- 
rounded by  fine  old  plantations  and  avenues  of 
lofty  trees  conspicuous  throughout  the  district. 
Near  the  church  stood  the  "  Great  House,"  a 
deserted  mansion  of  the  time,  I  believe,  of  Charles 
II.  The  place  had,  from  early  in  the  i6th  century, 
belonged  to  the  family  of  Denton.  They  were 
staunch  Royalists,  and  had  suffered  severely  during 
the  Great  Rebellion.  We  used  to  be  told  that 
Sir  Alexander  Denton,  the  then  proprietor,  after 
a  vigorous  defence  of  his  mansion,  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  after  being  conducted  for  some 
distance  from  his  home,  was  made  to  look  back  to 
see  his  residence  in  flames.  He  died  in  prison. 
The  family  in  the  direct  line  had  become  extinct, 
and  its  last  member,  having  married  Mr.  Coke  of 
Holkham,  became  the  mother  of  the  celebrated 
Mr.  Thomas  William  Coke,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Leicester.  He  was  the  proprietor  of  Hillesden 
in  my  early  days,  and  I  recollect  going  to  the 
house  of  a  farmer  whose  wife  boasted  that  they 
had  been  playfellows  when  children.  The  house 
had  been  much  reduced  in  size,  but  what  re- 
mained, though  uninhabited,  retained  its  old  furni- 
ture. I  particularly  remember  the  bedrooms,  the 


44  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

beds  being  placed  in  odd  recesses  between  two 
closets  partitioned  off  on  either  side,  through 
which  you  would  have  to  pass,  to  get  into  bed,  by 
doors  in  their  sides.  The  grounds  still  retained 
their  old  form  with  terraces  and  a  large  fish-pond. 
There  were  also  the  stables,  of  earlier  date,  proba- 
bly of  Edward  the  Sixth's  time,  and  a  rather  ele- 
gant octagonal  dove-cote  of  brick.  Mr.  Coke  had 
repeatedly  refused  to  sell  the  Hillesden  estate  to 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  but  at  length  it  was 
purchased  by  Mr.  Farquhar  of  Font  Hill,  who 
immediately  afterwards  sold  it  to  the  duke.  This 
was  a  sorrowful  event  to  me,  as  the  duke  was  in 
my  eyes  the  great  enemy  of  local  history.  He 
soon  destroyed  the  old  house,  and  carried  off  the 
curious  old  sentry-box,  in  the  form  of  a  brick  gate- 
pier,  to  Stowe,  while  timber  began  to  disappear, 
and  keepers  destroyed  the  liberty  of  the  woods, 
and  the  little  glory  which  had  remained  departed. 

The  church,  however,  was  there  after  all,  and 
to  it  I  made  my  frequent  pilgrimages,  and  a  little 
later  dear  old  Mr.  Jones  used  to  meet  me  there 
to  teach  me  how  to  sketch.  These  were,  perhaps, 
the  happiest  occasions  of  my  youth,  and  I  look 
back  upon  them  now  with  a  glow  of  delight. 

Hillesden  Church  is,  as  I  have  said  of  late  date. 
The  tower  is  humbler  in  its  pretensions  than  the 
rest  of  the  church,  and  is  of  rather  early  and  simple 
"  perpendicular  "  work.  The  church  itself  was 
begun  in  1493,  by  the  monks  of  Nutley,  to  whom 
the  rectorial  tithes  belonged.  It  is  a  very  ex- 
quisite specimen  of  this  latest  phase  of  Gothic 
architecture,  and  possesses  all  the  refinement  of 
its  best  examples,  such  as  the  royal  chapels  at 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  45 

Westminster  and  Windsor.  Indeed,  I  have  seen 
no  detail  of  that  period  to  surpass  those  of  this 
church.  In  plan  it  consists  of  a  nave  with  aisles 
and  quasi-transepts,  a  large  chancel  with  north 
aisle,  a  sacristy  of  two  stories  at  the  north-east 
angle  of  the  chancel  aisle,  the  upper  story  of 
which  is  approached  by  a  very  large  newel  stair 
at  the  extreme  north-eastern  angle.  This  stair- 
turret  is  a  very  exquisite  and  striking  feature, 
being  finished  with  a  sort  of  crown  of  flying 
buttresses  and  pinnacles,  of  which  I  have  seen 
no  other  instance,  indeed  it  is  one  of  the  most 
beautifully-designed  features  I  know.2  The  upper 
sacristy  has  a  series  of  radiating  loop-holes  look- 
ing into  the  church.  The  walls  of  the  chancel 
are  ornamented  by  stone  panelling.  The  ceilings 
throughout  had  panels  of  plaster,  with  wood 
mouldings.  I  have  since  seen  some  which  had 
unhappily  been  taken  down,  and  found  the  plaster 
to  be  in  thick  and  very  hard  slabs,  on  which  were 
set  out  curious  geometric  figures,  drawn  with  the 
compasses,  as  if  to  form  the  guides  for  painted 
decorations.  The  rood  screen  was  perfect,  and  of 
exquisite  beauty.  The  fittings  were  nearly  all  of 
the  original  date,  and  very  good,  though,  of  course, 
of  very  late  character.  The  chief  exception  was 
the  great  square  pew  of  the  Dentons,  a  somewhat 
dignified  work  of  Charles  the  Second's  reign, 
furnished  with  great  high-backed  chairs. 

The  monuments  of  the  Dentons  were,  of  course, 
of  very  varied  date,  from  Edward  the  Sixth's  time, 
or  thereabouts,  downwards.  There  is,  by  the  way, 

2  Its  design  was  reproduced  by  my  father  in  the  angle  turret 
of  the  new  buildings  at  King's  College,  Cambridge. — ED. 


46  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

a  fine  monument  to  one  of  the  earliest  of  the 
family  (after  Hillesden  had  come  into  their  hands) 
in  Hereford  Cathedral,  which  I  have  lately  had 
the  pleasure  of  reinstating,  after  it  had  been  lying 
in  pieces  for  twenty  years.3  The  north  porch  is  a 
very  charming  structure,  of  exquisite  design  and 
finish.  The  churchyard  cross  appears  to  be  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  I  greatly  hope  to  have  a 
hand  in  the  restoration  of  the  church  to  which  I  owe 
so  much  as  my  initiator  into  Gothic  architecture.4 
I  fear  it  is  in  a  very  damaged  state.  I  should  men- 
tion the  remains  of  painted  glass  which  it  contains. 
They  are  beautiful  fragments,  in  the  style  of 
those  in  King's  College  chapel,  though  more  deli- 
cate in  finish.  The  principal  remains  illustrate 
the  life  of  the  patron,  St.  Nicholas.  In  other 
windows,  where  most  of  the  glass  is  gone,  frag- 
ments remain  in  the  heads,  containing  charming 
representations  of  mediaeval  cities,  such  as  one 
sees  in  the  background  of  Van  Eyck's  pictures. 

I  recollect  my  father  writing  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  to  urge  his  repairing  this  church. 
The  result  was  that  his  Grace  whitewashed  the 
exterior  of  the  tower  ! 

Maids  Morton  church,  the  second  in  rank  in 
our  district,  is  also  of  "  perpendicular "  date,  but 
earlier.  Its  tower  is  of  admirable  and  unique 
design.  It,  at  that  time,  retained  its  old  seats, 
with  fleur-de-lis  poppy-heads ;  also  a  beautiful 
stoup  by  the  doorway,  all  which  have  since  been 
ruthlessly  destroyed. 

Tingewick  Church  was  the  nearest  to  Gawcott 

3  Cf.  infra,  p.  294. 

4  This  wish  was  realized  in  1874  and  1875. — ED. 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections,  47 

of  our  mediaeval  structures.  It  was  a  good  church, 
containing  norman  arcades  and  a  few  fragments  in 
the  south  wall  of  the  same  date  ;  the  rest,  I  think, 
all  "  perpendicular."  The  tower  was  attributed 
to  William  of  Wykeham.  It  has  since  undergone 
strange  transmogrifications.  The  south  wall  has 
been  rebuilt,  I  think,  twice,  and  much  good  and 
interesting  old  work  destroyed.  My  father,  at 
different  times,  took  the  curacies  of  Hillesden  and 
Tingewick  in  combination  with  Gawcott. 

The  only  other  church  I  will  mention  as  con- 
nected with  my  youthful  days  is  Chetwood.  I 
was  never  more  astonished  than  when  I  first  saw 
this  church,  never  having  before  seen  or  heard  of 
"  early  english  "  architecture.  It  is  a  fragment  of 
a  small  monastic  church,  and  its  east  window  con- 
sists of  five  noble  lancets,  with,  externally,  plain 
but  bold  detail.  On  either  side  are  fine  triplets. 
Never  having  before  seen  such  windows,  I  was 
greatly  perplexed  at  them,  and,  failing  to  get  the 
key,  and  being  reduced  to  peeping  through  the 
keyhole  of  the  west  door,  I  was  astonished  and 
puzzled  to  find  that  the  east  windows  had  shafts 
with  foliated  capitals,  a  thing  I  had  never  seen 
and  could  not  understand.  I  remember  continuing 

o 

all  day  in  a  state  of  morbid  excitement  on  the 
subject,  and  having  no  access  to  architectural 
books,  it  was  very  long  ere  I  solved  the  mystery. 
My  taking  in  this  way  to  old  churches  first  led 
my  father  to  think  of  my  becoming  an  architect, 
and,  after  consulting  with  my  uncle  King  on  the 
subject,  this  became  a  fixed  arrangement.  I  was 
then  about  fourteen  years  old,  and  shortly  after- 
wards my  uncle  very  kindly  offered  to  take  me 


48  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

under  his  own  charge,  and  to  superintend  me  in 
studies  having  a  tendency  in  that  direction.  I 
accordingly  took  up  my  residence  at  Latimer's,  in 
1826.  I  had,  two  years  before,  made  a  trip  to 
London,  where  my  eyes  were  opened  to  much 
which  I  had  never  thought  of  before.  West- 
minster Abbey,  I  need  not  say,  I  was  charmed 
with  ;  it  was  the  only  gothic  minster  I  had  seen  ; 
nor  did  I  see  any  other,  excepting  St.  Albans  and 
Ely,  till  after  my  articles  had  expired,  in  1830! 
I  recollect  that  when  I  saw  Westminster  Abbey, 
in  1824,  they  were  putting  up  the  present  reredos, 
or  rather  "  restoring  "  in  "  artificial  stone  "  the  old 
one.5 

My  uncle's  instruction  was  mainly  in  mathe- 
matics ;  he  carried  me  on  through  trigonometry 
and  mechanics,  in  which  I  took  great  pleasure. 
He  also  gave  me  direct  instruction  in  architecture, 
of  which  he  possessed  a  very  fair  knowledge.  I 
was  by  him  initiated  into  classic  architecture,  both 
Greek  and  Roman  ;  and  a  friend  of  his  (the  Rev. 
H.  Foyster),  who  had  been  once  intended  for  our 
profession,  having  lent  me  a  copy  of  Sir  William 
Chambers'  work,  and  some  one  else  a  portion  of 
Stewart's  Athens,  I  was  able  to  follow  up  architec- 
tural drawing,  as  then  taught,  pretty  systematically, 
and  by  the  time  I  was  articled  I  had  already  been 
put  through  my  facings  to  a  certain  reasonable 
extent.  I  think  I  also  had  access  to  Rickman,  as  I 
certainly  got  to  know  the  ordinary  facts  as  to  the 
different  periods  of  mediaeval  architecture.  The 
only  treatise  I  had  before  seen  on  this  subject  had 

5  This  was  restored  anew  in  alabaster  and  marble  in  1866. — 
ED. 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  49 

been  an  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  of 
which  I  remember  little  but  the  illustrations,  more 
especially  a  west  elevation  of  Rheims  Cathedral, 
in  which  I  took,  when  quite  a  child,  the  greatest 
delight.  I  stayed,  I  suppose,  with  my  uncle  about 
a  twelvemonth,  on  and  off.  Though  a  somewhat 
solitary  life,  it  was  one  of  very  great  pleasure  and 
enjoyment.  The  country  there  is  peculiarly 
charming,  and  so  wholly  different  from  my  own 
home  as  to  be  like  a  new  world.  My  love  of 
woodland  was  here  transferred  from  oak-woods, 
choked  up  with  hazel  and  blackthorn,  to  beech- 
woods,  through  which  you  may  wander  without 
obstruction.  The  very  wild-flowers  and  wild 
fruits  were  different,  while  the  search  for  chalce- 
donies and  fossils,  among  the  flints  with  which  the 
woods  were  bestrewed,  afforded  amusement  to  my 
solitary  wanderings  and  pleasure  in  showing  upon 
my  return  what  I  had  found.  My  uncle  was  a 
man  of  infinite  resources.  Turning,  carried  to  a 
perfection  probably  never  surpassed,  mechanical 
pursuits  of  other  kinds,  practical  astronomy  and 
other  branches  of  science,  occupied  his  leisure 
hours,  while  his  conversation  was  always  lively 
and  instructive.  My  aunt,  too,  was  a  person  of 
great  talent  and  attainments ;  and  they  had  occa- 
sionally at  their  table  persons  of  extensive  infor- 
mation, while  they  themselves  visited  at  the  aris- 
tocratic houses  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  their 
company  was  sought  after,  as  of  persons  of  talent 
and  varied  information. 

The  twin  villages  of  Isenhampstead  Latimers 
and  Isenhampstead  Cheynies  (commonly  called 
Latimers  and  Cheynies)  are  situated  within  a  mile 

E 


5O  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

of  one  another,  and  are  rivals  in  beauty  of  situa- 
tion. They  both  overlook  the  charming  valley  of 
the  little  Chiltern  trout-stream,  the  "  Chess,"  which 
rises  five  miles  off,  at  Chesham,  and  falls  into  the 
Colne,  near  Watford.  This  little  valley  is  not 
much  known  to  the  world  at  large,  though  of 
exquisite  beauty,  and  now,  or  formerly,  containing 
the  dwelling-places  of  some  noble  families.  Chey- 
nies  was  the  old  residence  of  the  family  of 
Cheyney,  and  later  of  the  Russells,  whose  original 
seat  there  is  still  in  existence  (though  now  but 
a  farmhouse),  and  whose  mortal  remains  are  still 
brought  here  from  the  more  lordly  abbey  of 
Woburn,  and  here  deposited  in  their  final  resting- 
place.  Latimers  (now,  by  the  dictum  of  its  pro- 
prietor, called  Latimer)  is  one  of  the  residences  of 
the  Cavendish  family.  It  belonged,  at  the  time 
I  am  speaking  of,  to  old  Lord  George  Cavendish, 
afterwards  created  Earl  of  Burlington.  He  was 
brother  to  a  former  Duke  of  Devonshire,  uncle  to 
the  then  duke,  and  grandfather  of  the  present 
duke.  He  was  a  noted  patron  of  "  the  turf,"  and 
had  another  seat  at  Holkar  in  Furness.  His 
eldest  son,  the  father  of  the  present  duke,  was 
dead,  and  his  next  son,  Mr.  Charles  Cavendish 
(the  late  Lord  Chesham)  was  the  expectant  heir 
of  Latimers. 

The  two  "  great  houses "  were  both  probably 
of  the  age  of  Henry  VII.  or  Henry  VIII. 
(Latimers  perhaps  a  little  later),  and  both  were 
chiefly  famous  for  their  chimneys.  Latimers  had 
been  spoiled  in  the  Strawberry  Hill  style,  with 
the  exception  of  its  beautiful  stacks  of  tall  octa- 
gonal chimney-shafts,  in  charming  proportions 


CHAP,  i.]  Recollections.  51 

and  profile,  but  all  alike.  Cheynies  had  been  so 
dismantled  that  its  chief  glory  was  also  in  these 
its  upper  regions,  but  unlike  those  at  Latimers  they 
were  nearly  all  different  in  design,  the  shafts  being 
decorated  with  varied  and  admirably  executed 
pattern-work  in  brick. 

Both  still  remain,  though  those  at  Cheynies 
have  their  caps  reconstructed  and  spoiled.  The 
house  at  Latimers  has  been  rebuilt  by  Blore  all 
but  its  chimneys.  Latimers  is  charmingly  situated, 
and  I  think  my  uncle's  rectory  was  even  better 
placed  than  the  great  house.  The  church  was 
modern  and  vile,  but  the  village  which  was  in 
two  parts,  one  on  the  hill  and  the  other  below, 
was  very  picturesque,  with  old  timber  houses, 
and  a  glorious  old  elm  tree  of  towering  height 
on  the  little  green.  The  upper  village  is  now 
destroyed,  and  the  whole  merged  into  the 
"  grounds,"  perhaps  to  the  increase  of  the  beauty, 
but  certainly  to  the  diminution  of  the  interest 
of  the  place.  Latimers  is  a  sort  of  hamlet  of  the 
little  town  of  Chesham,  five  miles  up  the  valley, 
where  my  brother  John  (now  Rector  of  Tyd  St. 
Giles-'  in  Cambridgeshire,6)  was  at  the  time  articled 
to  a  medical  man,  Mr.  Rumsey.  This  was  an 
increase  to  my  happiness,  as  I  could  occasionally 
walk  over  and  see  him.  My  recollection  of  the 
whole  district  is  as  of  a  little  paradise.  The  hills, 
valley,  river,  trees,  flowers,  fruits,  fossils,  &c.,  all 
seem  encircled  in  a  kind  of  imaginary  halo.  I 
fancy  I  never  saw  such  wild  flowers  or  ate  such 
cherries  or  such  trout  as  there.  There  I  ter- 

6  Since  preferred  to  the  living  of  Wisbech  and  to  an  honorary 
canonry  of  Ely. 

E    2 


52  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

minated  my  childhood,  and  thence  I  emerged  into 
the  wide  world,  in  the  prosaic  turmoil  of  which 
I  have  ever  since  been  immersed. 

Here,  then,  let  me  bid  good-bye  to  my  childish 
years,  strange,  half-mythic  days,  full  of  quaint, 
rough  interest,  full  of  faults  and  regrets,  yet  of 
pleasure,  of  thankfulness,  and  of  affection.  Oh ! 
that  I  had  availed  myself  of  the  many  privileges 
of  those  my  early  days,  of  their  religious  oppor- 
tunities, and  of  their  means  of  intellectual  im- 
provement !  But  regrets  are  unavailing.  Let  me 
rather  thank  God  for  my  pious  and  excellent 
parents  and  for  the  many  blessings  of  my  life, 
and  crave  His  forgiveness  for  my  negligence  and 
shortcomings. 


CHAPTER  II. 

WHILE  I  was  under  the  direction  and  tuition  of 
my  uncle  King,  he  and  his  father,  Thomas  King 
of  London,  were  on  the  look-out  for  an  architect 
to  whom  to  article  me.  It  was  a  sine-qua-non 
that  he  should  be  a  religious  man,  and  it  was 
necessary  that  his  terms  should  be  moderate. 
They  happened  to  inquire  of  Mr.  Charles  Dudley, 
travelling  agent  to  the  Bible  Society,  who,  after 
telling  them  that  there  was  scarcely  a  religious 
architect  in  London,  recommended  Mr.  Edmes- 
ton,  better  known  as  a  poet  than  as  an  architect, 
and  it  was  finally  settled  that  I  was  to  go  to  him 
on  or  about  Lady  Day,  1827. 

About  this  time  I  may  mention,  by  the  way, 
that  old  John  West's  church  had  shown  signs  of 
falling  to  pieces,  and  my  father,  after  the  first 
perplexity  was  over,  set  vigorously  to  work  to 
raise  subscriptions  for  rebuilding  it.  He  was 
wonderfully  supported  by  religious  friends  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  raised,  I  think,  I4oo/.,  or 

I  5<DO/. 

Among  the  large  subscribers  I  recollect  Mr. 
Broadley  Wilson,  Mr.  Joseph  Wilson,  and  Mr. 
Deacon,  all  men  of  note  in  the  city,  also  Mrs. 
Lawrence,  of  Studley  Park,  Yorkshire.  It  was 


54  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

unlucky  that  the  rebuilding  of  the  church  should 
have  been  necessary  at  perhaps  the  darkest 
period,  or  nearly  so,  of  church  architecture 
(though  not  quite  so  bad  as  that  of  old  Mr.  West, 
to  be  sure). 

My  father  was  again  his  own  architect,  made 
his  own  working  drawings,  and  contracted  with 
his  builder  at  Buckingham,  Mr.  Will  more.  I 
cannot  say  much  about  either  design  or  execu- 
tion ;  but  these  were  days  to  be  winked  at,  as  no 
one  knew  anything  whatever  of  the  subject.  It 
did,  however,  exceed  the  old  church,  in  having  a 
western  tower  and  an  eastern  apse,  and  is  more 
reasonable  in  arrangement,  though  not  much 
more  ecclesiastical. 

I  often  wish  we  had  it  now  to  build.  I 
recollect  one  day,  when  its  foundations  were 
being  put  in,  our  friend  Mr.  Thomas  Bartlett 
coming  to  see  the  work,  and  my  father  telling 
him  that  he  was  about  to  place  me  with  an 
architect;  Mr.  Bartlett  congratulated  me  upon  it, 
and  added,  "  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  rise  to  the 
head  of  your  profession,"  when  my  father  at  once 
replied,  "  Oh  no,  his  abilities  are  not  sufficient 
for  that."  I  hardly  knew  which  to  believe.  It 
would  have  been  conceited  to  hold  with  the 
one,  but  I  could  not  quite  knock  under  to  the 
other. 

The  new  church  was  commenced,  I  fancy, 
when  I  was  living  at  Latimers,  but  I  saw  a  little 
of  the  work  at  intervals.  It  was  my  first 
initiation  into  practical  building,  though  the 
lessons  learned  were  not  of  the  best,  as  Mr.  Will- 
more  was  far  from  being  a  good  builder.  It  was 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  55 

built  of  the  rough  bluish  limestone  of  our  Gaw- 
cott  Pits,  with  dressings  of  a  freestone  from  Cos- 
grove,  near  Stoney  Stratford. 

During  my  stay  at  home  before  leaving  for 
London,  my  brother  Melville  was  born,  just 
twenty  years  after  the  birth  of  my  oldest  brother, 
who  was  then  at  Cambridge. 

My  father  took  me  to  London  and  placed  me 
with  Mr.  Edmeston,  with  whom  I  lived  at  his 
house  at  Homerton,  his  office  being  at  Salvador 
House,  in  Bishopsgate  Street.  The  first  remark 
of  my  new  master  which  I  recollect  was  to  the 
effect,  that  the  cost  of  gothic  architecture  was  so 
great  as  to  be  almost  prohibitory ;  that  he  had 
tried  it  once  at  a  dissenting  chapel  he  had  built  at 
Leytonstone,  and  that  the  very  cementing  of  the 
exterior  had  amounted  to  a  sum  which  he  named 
with  evident  dismay. 

I  had  no  idea  beforehand  of  the  line  of  practice 
followed  by  my  future  initiator  into  the  mysteries 
of  my  profession  ;  I  went  to  him  with  a  mythic 
veneration  for  his  supposed  skill  and  for  his 
imaginary  works,  though  without  an  idea  of  what 
they  might  be.  The  morning  after  I  was  de- 
posited at  his  house,  he  invited  me  to  walk  out 
and  see  some  of  his  works — when — oh,  horrors  ! 
the  bubble  burst,  and  the  fond  dream  of  my 
youthful  imagination  was  realized  in  the  form 
of  a  few  second-rate  brick  houses,  with  cemented 
porticoes  of  two  ungainly  columns  each  !  I  shall 
never  forget  the  sudden  letting  down  of  my  aspi- 
rations. A  somewhat  romantic  youth,  assigned 
to  follow  the  noble  art  of  architecture  for  the  love 
he  had  formed  for  it  from  the  ancient  churches 


56  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

of  his  neighbourhood,  condemned  to  indulge  his 
taste  by  building  houses  at  Hackney  in  the  debased 
style  of  1827!  I  am  not  sure,  however,  that  I 
was  any  very  serious  loser  from  this.  Mr. 
Edmeston's  practice  was  a  mere  blank-sheet  as  to 
matters  of  taste,  and  left  me  quite  open  to  indulge 
in  private  my  old  preferences,  or  to  choose  in 
future  what  course  I  pleased. 

I  learned,  too,  in  his  office  a  great  deal  which 
I  might  have  missed  in  a  better  one.  I  learned 
all  the  common  routine  of  building,  specifying,  &c., 
so  far  as  was  practised  by  him,  and  I  had  a  good 
deal  of  time  for  reading  and  drawing  on  my  own 
account.  Still,  however,  I  confess  it  had  a  lower- 
ing and  deadening  effect,  and  it  failed  to  inspire 
me  with  that  high  artistic  sentiment  which  ought 
to  be  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  every  young 
architect. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edmeston  were  very  kindly  per- 
sons, and  as  they  had  a  good  library,  which  was 
my  evening  sitting-room,  I  had  excellent  oppor- 
tunities of  that  kind  for  self-improvement,  and  I 
think  I  took  very  fair  advantage  of  them.  I  read 
much  and  drew  much,  made  myself  acquainted 
with  classic  architecture  from  books,  such  as 
Stewart's  "  Athens,"  the  works  of  the  Dilettante 
society,  Vitruvius,  &c.,  and  with  gothic,  so  far 
as  the  scanty  means  went.  I  thoroughly  taught 
myself  perspective  in  one  fortnight,  from  Joshua 
Kirby,  so  much  so  that  I  have  never  had  to  look 
at  a  book  on  it  again  ;  indeed,  I  used  to  set  myself 
the  most  difficult  problems,  and  invent  new 
ways  of  solving  them.  I  had  liberal  holidays  at 
midsummer  and  christmas,  when  I  went  home,  to 


CHAP.  ii. J  Recollections.  57 

my  intense  delight.  In  my  summer  holidays,  I 
devoted  most  of  my  time  to  measuring  and 
sketching  at  Hillesden,  Maid's  Morton,  &c.,  and 
on  my  return  I  devoted  my  evenings  for  a  long 
time  to  making  drawings  of  what  I  had  measured, 
most  elaborately  tinting  them  in  indian  ink,  which 
was  sponged  nearly  out  twice  over,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  day.  I  remember  indulging  my 
rural  yearnings,  by  designing  a  farm-yard  and  its 
buildings  in  true  rustic  style.  I  think  it  was  on 
this  occasion  that  Mr.  Edmeston  wrote  seriously 
to  my  father,  warning  him  that  I  was  employ- 
ing my  leisure  hours  on  matters  which  could 
never  by  any  possibility  be  of  any  practical  use 
to  me. 

I  had  at  first  only  one  fellow-pupil,  one  Enoch 
Hodgkinson  Springbett.  He  was  a  very  good 
sort  of  fellow,  but  without  an  aspiration  beyond 
the  class  of  practice  he  had  been  trained  to ;  I 
used  to  try  to  get  him  to  work  in  his  evenings 
without  avail.  His  great  pride  was  in  his  cards, 
on  which  he  styled  himself  "  Architect  and  Sur- 
veyor," and  in  mentioning  certain  gentlemen  as 
his  "  clients."  He  was,  however,  well  skilled  in 
reducing  the  plans  and  elevations  of  Mr.  Edmes- 
ton's  houses  to  a  very  small  scale,  and  drawing 
them  with  sparkling  neatness  in  the  margin  of  the 
sheet  of  drawing-paper  on  which  the  specification 
was  written  out  in  diamond  text  for  the  builder  to 
sign  as  his  contract.  Thus  I  went  on  without  a 
companion  of  my  own  taste,  indeed  for  a  long 
time  without  knowing  a  single  student  of  architec- 
ture but  Mr.  Springbett.  It  is  right,  however,  to 
mention  that  he  used  occasionallv  to  take  lessons 


58  Sir  Gilder ~t  Scott. 

at  the  drawing-school  of  Mr.  Grayson,  nor  would 
it  be  right  to  allow  it  to  be  supposed  that  Mr. 
Edmeston's  taste  in  the  abstract  was  proportioned 
to  the  nature  of  his  practice.  He  really  took 
much  pleasure  in,  and  appreciated  fine  works, 
whether  ancient  or  modern,  and  being  a  man  of 
literary  tastes,  his  feelings  and  views  were  by  no 
means  in  unison  with  his  practice.  He  was,  in 
point  of  fact,  a  most  agreeable  companion,  and 
a  man  of  liberal  and  refined  mind,  thoroughly 
well-informed  and  well-read,  in  fact  a  most  supe- 
rior man  in  everything  but  his  own  direct  profes- 
sional work,  viewed  in  its  artistic  aspect.  He 
had,  too,  a  strong  appreciation  of  artistic  drawing, 
and  recommended  me  to  take  lessons  of  Mr. 
Maddox,  an  architectural  drawing-master  of  great 
talent.  I  delayed  this  very  long,  fearing  to  bur- 
den my  father  unduly.  I  greatly  regret  this ;  I 
certainly  ought  to  have  followed  up  this  extra 
tuition  during  the  whole  period  of  my  pupilage. 
As  it  was,  I  did  so  only  for  a  little  more  than  the 
last  year  of  the  four  of  my  articles. 

Mr.  Maddox  was  certainly  a  man  of  real 
ability,  with  a  wonderful  power  of  drawing,  and 
a  high  appreciation  of  art.  He  was,  however, 
far  from  being  an  estimable  man  in  other  ways. 
He  was  an  infidel,  and  his  conversation  on  such 
subjects  was  "  truly  appalling.  My  lessons  with 
him  were  much  disturbed  by  my  catching  the 
smallpox,  and  by  a  very  mournful  occurrence 
of  another  kind,  which  led  to  a  rather  long 
absence  ;  but  I  gained  great  advantage  from 
his  instruction,  and  only  wish  I  had  had  more  of 
it.  Among  my  fellow-pupils  was  Edwin  Nash, 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  59 

who  became  my  staunch  friend.  Morton  Peto, 
who  had  just  left  Decimus  Burton,  and  Thomas 
Henry  Wyatt  occasionally  attended. 

The  scanty  holidays  I  obtained,  in  addition  to 
the  prolonged  ones  already  mentioned,  I  used  to 
devote  to  walking  out  to  see  old  buildings  within 
reach  of  London,  and  in  my  evenings  in  the 
summer,  I  searched  out  objects  of  architectural 
interest  in  London  itself,  so  that  what  with  books 
and  with  sketching,  I  obtained  a  very  fair  know- 
ledge of  gothic  architecture,  by  the  time  I  was 
twenty  years  old,  though  I  had  hardly  a  thought 
of  ever  making  use  of  it.  Amongst  the  longer 
tours  which  helped  me  in  my  studies,  I  may  name 
a  pedestrian  journey  home,  by  way  of  St.  Albans, 
a  visit  to  my  eldest  brother  at  Cambridge,  whence 
we  walked  over  to  Ely,  and  a  journey  to  Northamp- 
ton and  Geddington,  to  sketch  the  crosses.  I  had 
twice  visited  Waltham  cross,  so  that  I  thoroughly 
knew,  and  had  sketched  in  detail  all  of  the  three 
Eleanor  crosses  by  the  time  I  was  nineteen  years 
old. 

I  well  recollect  the  ardour  with  which  I  looked 
forward  to  seeing  St.  Albans.  I  wrote  to  my 
brother  John  at  Chesham  to  ask  him  to  go  with 
me,  or  meet  me  there,  and  he  came  to  London  to 
accompany  me.  I  had  not,  however,  allowed  my- 
self time  to  sketch.  We  went  on  to  Dunstable, 
and  I  visited  Leigh  ton  Buzzard,  and  Stewkley,  on 
my  way  home. 

When  I  was  in  my  articles  old  London  Bridge 
was  standing,  though  the  present  one  was  in 
course  of  erection.  St.  Saviour's,  Southwark,  was 
then  in  a  certain  sense  complete.  The  choir  was 


60  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

about  that  time,  or  just  before,  restored  by  old 
George  Gwilt,  while  the  nave,  transepts  and  Lady 
chapel  were  untouched,  though  in  a  strange  state 
externally,  being  faced  with  brick.  Their  interiors 
were,  however,  nearly  perfect,  but  encumbered  like 
other  old  churches  with  pews  and  galleries.  The 
nave  was  a  magnificent  thing.  There  was  a  vast 
early-english  double  doorway,  of  great  height  and 
depth  on  the  south  side,  and  at  the  west  was  the 
fine  early  perpendicular  doorway,  which  is  given 
by  the  elder  Pugin  in  his  "  Specimens,"  and  the 
destruction  of  which  is  celebrated  by  his  son  in  the 
"  Contrasts."  The  Lady-chapel  was  almost  a 
ruin,  with  unglazed  windows  boarded  up  :  to  the 
east  of  it  projected  a  seventeenth-century  chapel, 
containing  the  tomb  of  Bishop  Andrewes.  To  the 
north  of  the  church  was  a  large  vacant  space,  where 
the  cloisters,  &c.,  had  stood,  on  the  eastern  side 
of  which  there  still  remained  some  remnants  of 
the  monastic  buildings.  There  was  also  a  late 
archway,  to  the  north  of  the  west  front,  leading 
into  the  open  vacant  ground.  There  was  a  fine 
late  norman  doorway  on  the  north  of  the  nave 
formerly  leading  into  the  cloisters. 

The  fate  of  this  noble  church  is  melancholy  but 
instructive.  Old  George  Gwilt  had  restored  the 
choir,  and,  with  his  son,  had  devoted  to  the  work 
the  most  anxious  and  praiseworthy  study.  The 
style  being  by  no  means  then  understood,  he  had 
taken  the  utmost  pains  in  studying  it  wherever  he 
had  the  opportunity,  and  to  whatever  criticisms 
his  work  may  be  open,  the  result  was  on  the  whole 
highly  to  his  credit. 

This  anxious  painstaking  did  not,  however,  suit 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  61 

the  parishoners,  and  when  the  transept  was  to  be 
proceeded  with,  they  placed  it  in  the  hands  of 
another  architect,  Mr.  Wallace,  who  knew  little  or 
nothing  of  gothic  architecture,  and  made  but  a  poor 
affair  of  it.  About  this  time,  a  parish  squabble  arose 
on  the  subject  of  the  Lady  chapel,  and  happily 
Gwilt  offered,  if  funds  could  be  raised,  to  give  his 
services  gratuitously,  and  we  see  the  happy  result. 
A  few  years  later  Mr.  Wallace  was  deputed  to 
report  on  the  state  of  the  roof  of  the  nave,  and 
with  that  perverse  thoughtlessness  which  even  in 
our  own  day  characterizes  such  reports,  he  con- 
demned it  at  once  as  unsafe,  the  ends  of  the 
beams  being  decayed. 

Now  about  the  same  period  a  well-known 
architect  had  done  the  same  at  St.  Albans,  and 
had  his  report  been  followed  out  to  its  natural  con- 
sequences we  might  have  to  deplore  that  glorious 
nave  as  a  thing  of  the  past ;  but  another  architect, 
Mr.  Cottingham  (let  us  give  him  all  praise  for  the 
act),  offered  to  guarantee  the  safety  of  the  roof, 
and  to  give  his  services  gratuitously  to  save  it, 
which  he  effected  by  inserting  cast-iron  shoes  to 
the  decayed  beam  ends.  At  St.  Saviour's  no 
such  happy  interposition  took  place,  the  con- 
demned roof  was  taken  down  in  haste  before 
arrangements  were  made  for  a  new  one.  Parish 
squabbles,  spreading  over  several  years,  caused 
the  nave  to  remain  a  ruin,  exposed  to  the  ravages 
of  the  elements,  till  at  length  another  surveyor 
was  found  to  condemn  it  in  toto,  and  to  erect  in 
its  stead  the  contemptible  structure  now  existing. 
Thus  did  London  lose  for  ever  one  of  the  most 
valued  of  her  ancient  edifices. 


62  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Hard  by  St.  Saviour's  were,  and  I  fancy  are 
now,  the  ruins  of  the  Hall  of  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester's palace,  with  its  beautiful  round  window. 
The  latter  still  exists,  though  immured  in  a  ware- 
house wall. 

Crosby  Hall,  which  was  close  by  our  office,  was 
then  a  packer's  warehouse,  and  was  divided  into 
three  stories,  an  arrangement  not  so  conducive  to 
the  appreciation  of  its  beauty,  as  to  the  close 
inspection  of  its  roof. 

Austin  Friars  Church  was  much  as  it  is  at 
present  (or  rather  was  until  the  late  fire),  barring 
the  external  cementing,  which  was  not  yet 
done. 

Winchester  House,  close  to  Austin  Friars,  was 
also  then  standing,  an  Elizabethan  mansion 
erected  by  the  Lord  Winchester,  to  whom  most 
of  the  property  of  this  religious  house  had  been 
granted. 

St.  Bartholomew's,  in  Smithfield,  possessed 
somewhat  more  of  its  accompaniments  than  it 
now  retains  ;  one  side  of  the  cloister  existing,  and 
a  good  deal  of  the  south  transept,  though  in  ruins. 
A  great  fire  occurred  there  in  1830,  by  which 
some  parts  were  lost ;  but  I  recollect  that  it 
brought  to  light  the  lower  part  of  the  walls 
of  the  Chapter-house,  with  fine  early  arcaded 
stalls. 

The  ancient  bridge  over  the  Lea  at  Bow,  may 
also  be  mentioned  amongst  the  remnants  of  an- 
tiquity I  then  knew,  but  which  have  since 
perished.  Waltham  Cross  was  then  unrestored, 
or  rather  unspoiled. 

The  monotony  of  my  life  was  from  time  to  time 


CHAP.  IL]  Recollections.  63 

relieved  by  short  visits  from  my  eldest  brother, 
on  his  journeys  to  and  from  Cambridge.  He  was 
a  most  amusing  companion,  and  his  little  visits 
filled  me  with  delight.  My  father,  too,  occasion- 
ally came  to  town,  as  did  others  of  my  family.  I 
had  at  first  no  friend  that  I  cared  for  but  Robert 
Rumsey,  the  son  of  the  medical  man  at  Chesham, 
with  whom  my  brother  John  was  placed  ;  he  had 
been  a  pupil  of  my  father's,  and  was  articled  to 
Messrs.  Longman,  the  publishers.  We  were  very 
great  friends.  He  subsequently  gave  up  the  busi- 
ness for  which  he  had  been  intended,  and  became 
a  stipendiary  magistrate  in  the  West  Indies, 
where,  I  fancy,  he  still  continues. 

Later,  however,  a  great  change  came  to  me  as 
to  companionship,  through  my  brother  John 
coming  to  London  to  attend  the  hospitals.  This 
was  a  very  great  relief  and  pleasure,  and  we 
almost  lived  together,  always  meeting  to  dine 
together  at  an  eating-house  in  Bucklersbury. 

Mr.  Edmeston  was  a  dissenter  at  that  time, 
though  I  think  he  subsequently  joined  the  church; 
and  I  alternately  attended  service  at  the  episcopal 
chapel  at  Homerton,  known  as  "  Ram's  chapel," 
and  at  the  "  Jews'  chapel,"  Bethnal  Green,  of 
which  my  old  friend  and  kind  patron,  Mr.  King 
(my  uncle's  father),  was  perpetual  warden.  On 
those  alternate  Sundays  I  dined  and  spent  the 
day  at  Mr.  King's  house  in  London  Fields, 
Hackney,  and  I  shall  never  be  sufficiently  grate- 
ful for  the  kindness  both  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  King, 
which  was  continued  by  the  latter  after  her  hus- 
band's death. 

The  incumbent  of  the  "  Jews'  chapel,"  was  Mr. 


64  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Hawtrey,  a  very  gentlemanly  person,  and  the 
curate  was  a  noble  old  gentleman  of  the  name  of 
Fancourt.  There  was  a  tendency  amongst  the 
congregation  to  those  views  known  at  the  time  as 
"  New  Lights,"  and  which  subsequently  culminated 
in  Irvingism.  I  was  one  day  startled  at  hearing 
thanksgivings  offered  up  in  the  name  of  Miss  Fan- 
court,  the  curate's  daughter,  for  a  miraculous  reco- 
very from  a  long  illness.  The  miracle  had  been 
performed  through  the  agency  of  the  Rev.  Pierre- 
point  Grieves,  an  Oxfordshire  clergyman.  It 
created  much  excitement  at  the  time,  and  was 
unquestionably  a  very  marvellous  circumstance, 
though  doubtless  capable  of  being  explained  by 
natural  causes.  Mr.  (afterwards  Bishop)  Alex- 
ander was  a  frequent  preacher  there,  and  Dr. 
Wolf  was  worshipped  as  a  sort  of  demi-god, 
though  not  without  a  full  appreciation  of  his 
eccentricity. 

My  last  year  was  ushered  in  by  a  great 
pleasure,  followed  up  by  the  greatest  affliction 
I  had  ever  experienced.  My  next  brother, 
Nathaniel  Gilbert,  three  years  my  junior,  had, 
since  I  left  home,  grown  up  into  a  very  charming 
and  noble-minded  youth,  of  excellent  ability,  most 
amiable  and  genial  disposition,  and  with  a  fine 
vein  of  semi-humourous,  semi-romantic  sentiment, 
which  gave  interest  and  expression  to  all  he  said. 
Early  in  1830  he  was  articled  to  Messrs.  Bridges 
and  Mason,  of  Red  Lion  Square,  who  most  gene- 
rously offered  to  forego  their  premium,  out  of  con- 
sideration to  my  father.  He  took  well  to  his  new 
occupation,  and  promised  great  success.  My 
delight  at  having  him  in  London  was  more 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  65 

than  I  can  express,  for  I  loved  him  as  my  own 
soul. 

My  very  office-work  was  gilded  by  the  prospect 
of  meeting  him  in  the  evening,  which  was 
managed  by  mutual  arrangement.  One  evening 
after  he  had  been  in  town  a  month,  he  told  me  he 
had  a  bad  headache.  I  did  not  think  much  of 
that,  as  he  had  been  rather  subject  to  them ;  but 
the  next  evening  he  failed  to  meet  me,  and  on 
calling  where  he  lived  (the  house  of  my  excellent 
friend,  Mrs.  Boyes,  then  of  Charterhouse  Square), 
I  found  that  he  was  ill. 

The  illness  increased  day  by  day,  and  my  poor 
mother  was  hurried  up  to  attend  him.  It  was  soon 
evident  that  it  was  a  case  of  brain-fever.  And 
one  evening,  when  I  had  hurried  from  the  office  to 
see  how  he  was,  I  was  bluntly  told  by  the  servant 
boy,  that  he  was  dead  !  I  shall  never  forget  the 
stunning  effect  of  the  announcement ;  my  legs  gave 
way  beneath  me,  while  incoherent  sounds  were 
involuntarily  uttered,  and  I  was  with  difficulty 
helped  upstairs  by  my  two  brothers,  Tom  and 
John,  who  had  hastened  down  to  break  the  mourn- 
ful news  to  me.  It  was  my  first  introduction  to 
sorrow,  and  deep,  deep  it  was.  My  health  suffered 
much  from  it  for  some  time. 

My  poor  brother  Nat  was  but  sixteen  years 
old,  but  a  fine  well-developed  fellow,  of  a  noble 
countenance,  and  a  fine  bold  disposition.  I  recol- 
lect some  time  earlier  that  he,  and  a  pupil  of  my 
father's  of  the  same  standing,  apprehended  and 
secured  a  man  who  had  been  committing  a  robbery. 
And  about  the  same  time,  when  the  inhabitants  of 
Otmoor  in  Oxfordshire  rose  against  the  carrying 

F 


66  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

out  of  an  enclosure  act,  and  the  Bucks  yeomanry 
were  called  out,  he  jumped  on  to  one  of  the 
cannons  as  they  passed  through  our  village,  and 
rode  fourteen  miles  on  it  to  see  the  fight. 

He  lies  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Botolph's, 
Aldersgate,  where  in  1841  I  erected  a  monument 
to  his  memory,  with  an  inscription  which  my  father 
had  given  me  some  years  earlier. 

I  will,  however,  turn  to  more  cheerful  topics. 

My  father's  first  cousin,  the  daughter  of  his 
eldest  uncle,  William,  had  married  Mr.  Oldrid  of 
Boston,  and  when  I  was,  as  I  suppose,  about 
eleven,  had  brought  her  son,  John  Henry,1  to 
Gawcott  as  a  pupil.  She  had  three  daughters,  the 
eldest  of  whom,  Fanny,  had  once  in  these  early 
days  accompanied  her  to  Gawcott,  when  it  was 
supposed  that  my  eldest  brother  was  attracted  by 
her.  Some  years  later  she  and  her  two  sisters  went 
to  school  at  Chesham,  and  on  two  occasions  they 
spent  their  Christmas  holidays  at  Gawcott,  and  an 
infinitely  merry  time  it  was.  It  was  during  these 
visits  that  my  feelings  towards  my  present  dear 
wife,2  the  youngest  of  these  cousins,  grew  up. 
My  brother  Nat  was  then  at  home,  and  the  mer- 
riness  of  our  party  was  perfect.  I  was  not, 
however,  aware  that  I  was  wounded,  till  the 
pain  of  parting  began  to  be  felt.  But  more  of 
this  anon. 

I  must  of  necessity  wind  up  the  account  of  my 
pupilage  with  the  narration  of  two  circumstances. 
One  was  that  during  the  latter  period  of  it, 

1  Sometime  lecturer  at  St.  Botolph's,  Boston,  and  since  then 
Vicar  of  Alford. — ED. 

4  She  departed  this  life  February  24th,  1872.  — ED. 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  67 

Mr.  Edmeston  very  kindly  appointed  me  and 
Springbett,  joint  clerks  of  the  works  to  a  small 
building,  a  proprietary  school.  We  attended  on 
alternate  days,  and  to  my  no  small  advantage, 
though  perhaps  not  to  that  of  the  building.  The 
other  circumstance  was  one  which  had  a  very 
strong  influence  on  my  subsequent  life,  though 
whether  more  for  good  or  ill  it  is  not  easy  to  say. 
Certain,  however,  it  is,  that  it  was  attended  with 
many  advantages,  but  also  with  much  vexation 
of  spirit. 

The  circumstance  was  this. 

A  builder  named  Moffatt,  having  taken  a  con- 
tract under  Mr.  Edmeston,  induced  him  to 
receive  his  son,  then  about  sixteen,  as  a  pupil. 
Young  Moffatt  was  a  remarkably  intelligent,  though 
uneducated  boy,  a  native  of  Cornwall.  I  remember 
before  I  saw  him,  Mr.  Edmeston  describing  him 
to  me  with  great  satisfaction  on  the  score  of  his 
bright  intelligent  appearance.  It  devolved  upon 
me  to  help  him  through  our  office  text-book, 
"  Peter  Nicholson's,"  and  I  found  him  ready  in  the 
extreme.  He  had  been  brought  up  at  the  bench, 
which  was  then  always  the  case  with  a  young 
builder,  and  was  in  theory  held  to  be  a  good  thing 
for  an  architect.  He  could  do  anything  and  every- 
thing which  wood  and  tools  could  produce,  from  a 
four-panel  door  to  the  finest  piece  of  cabinet  work, 
and  knew  all  the  practical  lore  of  the  timber 
merchant,  the  builder,  and  the  mechanic,  a  class  of 
knowledge  which  I  perhaps  almost  unduly  appre- 
ciated, and  which  with  the  brightness  of  his 
uncultivated  parts  won  for  him  in  my  mind  a  sort 
of  regretful  respect. 

F  2 


68  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

He  was  subject  to  lameness,  the  result  of  a 
fever,  and  soon  becoming  unable  to  go  to  town, 
and  Mr.  Edmeston  having  established  a  branch 
office  at  Hackney,  near  where  Moffatt  lived,  it  was 
arranged  that  he  should  be  placed  there,  and  I 
used  to  go  in  the  mornings  to  instruct  him  in 
architectural  drawing,  Euclid,  practical  Geometry, 
and  I  think  perspective,  in  all  of  which  he  got  on 
remarkably  well,  so  long  as  I  continued  at  Mr. 
Edmeston's.  I  also  persuaded  him  subsequently 
to  take  lessons  of  Mr.  Maddox. 

After  I  left,  he  continued  at  Mr.  Edmeston's 
city  office  for  some  time,  till  getting  sick  of  having 
next  to  nothing  to  do,  he  rebelled,  and  refused 
further  attendance  ;  but  I  shall  have  plenty  to  say 
of  his  subsequent  progress  before  I  have  done. 

On  leaving  Mr.  Edmeston's  about  Lady  Day 
1831,  I  went  for  a  month  to  visit  my  uncle  and 
aunt  King  at  Latimers,  where  I  again  saw  my 
merry  cousin,  Carry  Oldrid.  My  uncle  met  with 
a  serious  accident  while  I  was  there,  by  the  break- 
ing of  a  ladder,  by  which  we  were  getting  to  the 
roof  of  the  house,  the  ladder  breaking  between  his 
feet  and  my  hands,  so  that  he  fell  to  the  ground 
while  I  escaped.  Happily  he  was  not  very 
seriously  hurt,  though  he  long  felt  the  effects  of  it. 
This  threw  me  all  the  more  into  the  society  of  my 
favourite  cousin,  and  fanned  the  spark  already 
kindled. 

I  may  note  here  as  an  archaeological  memoran- 
dum, that  during  this  visit  I  walked  over  to 
King's  Langley,  where  I  found  a  farmer,  on  whose 
ground  was  the  site  of  the  ancient  monastic  estab- 
lishment, digging  up  the  foundations  of  the  church  ; 


CHAP.  n.J  Recollections.  69 

many  of  the  bases  were  exposed  to  view,  exhibit- 
ing the  plan  of  a  cross  church  of  the  first  order.  I 
compared  it  at  the  time  to  Westminster  Abbey. 
I  recollect  that  the  bases  were  of  purbeck  marble, 
and  belonged  to  columns  surrounded  by  eight 
detached  shafts,  with  larger  piers  at  the  crossings. 

The  farmer  was  taking  a  plan  of  it  before  the 
removal  of  the  bases.  I  mention  this  because  it 
is  not  generally  known.  I  fear  the  plan  can 
hardly  now  be  extant. 

This  visit  to  Latimers  was  one  of  peculiar 
delight.  The  April  of  1831  was  as  bright  and 
genial  as  the  May  was  severe,  and  both  in  one 
respect  symbolized  my  own  feelings.  The 
Latimers  country  was  charming  that  April.  The 
tender  green  of  the  beechwoods,  luxuriant  before 
its  wonted  time,  and  relieved  at  all  points  by  the 
blossom  of  the  wild  cherry  ;  the  snowy  splendour 
of  the  cherry  orchards  ;  the  hedgerows  and  woods 
gemmed  with  wild  flowers,  and  all  nature  rejoicing 
in  the  all  too  early  spring,  offered  enjoyments  almost 
intoxicating  to  one  who  had  not  seen  the  country 
at  this  season  for  four  years,  and  now  saw  it  in  an 
unusually  exquisite  spot,  and  at  an  antedated 
season  ;  but  this  was  accompanied  by  something 
much  more  fascinating,  the  society  of  my  cousin, 
who  was  the  constant  companion  of  my  walks. 

On  my  proceeding  at  the  end  of  this  enchanted 
sojourn,  to  Gawcott,  oh  how  plain  and  homely 
everything  looked!  My  dear  sister,  Euphemia,was 
quite  hurt  at  my  admiring  nothing.  The  very 
primroses  were  pale  and  colourless  compared  with 
those  at  Latimers.  The  plain  homely  Oxford 
clay  district,  with  its  lopped  hedgerow  timber  and 


70  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

its  oakwoods,  looked  sadly  prosaic  after  the  beauties 
of  the  Chiltern  land.  My  sister  suspected  a  deeper 
cause,  and  privately  suggested  it  to  my  mother, 
who,  with  the  decision  and  commanding  force  which 
were  her  characteristics,  at  once  brought  me  to 
book,  and  absolutely  prohibited  any  further  indul- 
gence of  such  sentiments,  partly  on  account  of  my, 
for  long  years  to  come,  dependent  position. 

I  really  had  not  indulged  specific  and  acknow- 
ledged intentions,  though  certainly  harbouring 
warm  sentiments,  but  this  lecture  determined  me 
to  resist  them  for  the  present  at  least,  and  my 
state  of  mind  was  aptly  symbolized  by  the  deep 
snow  and  sharp  frost,  by  which  May  was  ushered 
in,  which  killed  and  blackened  the  precocious 
growths  of  the  too  early  spring  to  a  degree  which 
I  have  never  witnessed  since,  and  which  was  said 
by  the  knowing  ones,  but  mistakenly,  to  be  beyond 
the  powers  of  summer  to  restore. 

I  spent  a  couple  of  months  at  home  sketching, 
making  sundry  drawings,  &c.,  and  then  paid  a  visit 
to  my  eldest  brother,  who  was  settled  at  Goring 
on  the  Thames,  a  charming  spot,  where  I  also 
sketched  a  little  among  the  old  churches,  &c.,  and 
indulged  a  few  thoughts  of  my  cousin  Carry,  who 
had  recently  been  there.  Shortly  afterwards  I  set 
out  on  the  longest  journey  I  had  yet  taken,  a  visit 
to  my  uncle  at  Hull. 

On  this  journey  I  sketched  a  good  deal,  and 
saw  much  which  delighted  me.  I  went  to  Peter- 
borough, Stamford,  Grantham,  Newark,  Lincoln, 
Howden,  Selby,  York,  Bridlington,  Beverly, 
Boston,  Tattershall,  &c.  I  also  had  a  pleasant 
coasting  trip  to  Scarborough  and  Flam  borough 


CHAP.  IL]  Recollections.  71 

Head.  My  visit  to  Hull,  too,  was  a  very  merry 
one,  and  I  formed  a  more  intimate  friendship  with 
my  cousin  John,3  which  has  lasted  ever  since. 
On  my  return  I  saw  my  cousin  Carry  again,  but 
followed  the  prudential  counsels  of  my  mother,  as 
closely  as  I  could. 

This  journey  was  a  very  great  advantage  to 
me ;  it  opened  out  and  extended  greatly  my 
knowledge  of  gothic  architecture,  and  tended  to 
reduce  my  shy,  taciturn,  and  somewhat  gauche 
manner,  a  point  in  which  I  was  by  nature  at  a 
great  disadvantage. 

I  now  entered  upon  the  second  stage  of  my 
professional  life.  Returning  to  London,  I  ob- 
tained many  introductions  to  architects  and  others, 
several  of  whom  gave  me  good  advice,  varying 
with  their  particular  practice  or  antecedents.  I 
think  it  was  Mr.  Waller,  a  well-known  surveyor, 
who  advised  me  to  put  myself  with  a  builder; 
and,  obtaining  an  introduction  to  Mr.  (now  Sir 
Samuel  Morton)  Peto,  I  placed  myself  with  him 
and  Mr.  Grissell,  his  partner,  giving  such  ser- 
vices as  I  could  offer,  in  return  for  having  the 
run  of  their  workshops,  and  of  their  London 
works. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  exaggerate  the  ad- 
vantages of  this  arrangement  in  giving  me  an 
insight  into  every  description  of  practical  work ; 
and  that  on  a  scale  and  of  kinds  greatly  differing 
from  what  I  had  been  accustomed  to.  I  was 
specially  stationed  at  the  Hungerford  Market, 
then  in  progress  of  erection  under  Mr.  Fowler,  to 

3  Afterwards  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Hull.  He  died  in  1865. 
—ED. 


72  Sir  Gilbert  Scot  I. 

whose  very  talented  and  excellent  Clerk  of  the 
Works  (the  late  Mr.  Colling)  I  was  under  very 
great  obligations  for  kind  and  continued  aid  in 
my  pursuit  of  practical  information.  The  work 
was  constructed  on  principles  then  new.  Iron 
girders,  Yorkshire  landings,  roofs  and  platforms 
of  tiles  in  cement,  and  columns  of  granite  being 
its  leading  elements. 

I  got  much  information,  too,  in  the  joiner's  shop, 
from  the  foreman,  from  the  clerks  in  the  office, 
and  especially  from  assisting  in  measuring  up 
work,  usually  with  the  foreman.  I  had  at  one 
time  to  assist  two  surveyors  of  eminence,  Mr. 
Roper  and  Mr.  Higgins,  in  measuring  up  all  the 
work  in  a  row  of  houses  in  which  Mr.  Peto  and 
Mr.  Grissell  lived,  in  furtherance  of  some  arrange- 
ment under  the  will  of  the  late  Mr.  Peto,  and  a 
most  valuable  lesson  it  was. 

I  ought,  too,  to  mention  the  advantage  of  con- 
stant reference  to  Mr.  Fowler's  working  drawings, 
some  of  the  best  and  most  perspicuous  I  have 
ever  seen,  and  of  selecting  from  Messrs.  G.  and 
P.'s  office  copies  of  specifications  by  different 
architects,  which  I  was  kindly  allowed  to  take  to 
my  lodgings,  and  make  copious  extracts  from. 

I  may  mention  that  my  brother  John  and  I 
lodged  together  during  a  part  of  this  time  in 
Warwick  Court,  Holborn,  where  I  continued  to 
live  long  after  he  had  left  town,  and  where  my 
stay  was  from  time  to  time  enlivened  by  visits 
from  my  cousin  John  from  Hull,  and  sometimes 
from  my  father  and  my  uncle  John,  and  now  and 
then  by  my  eldest  brother  taking  for  some  weeks 
together  the  duty  of  his  rector,  who  held  a 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  73 

plurality,  being  incumbent  of  one  of  Barry's 
Islington  churches. 

My  stay  with  Grissell  and  Peto,  though  I  seem 
to  have  made  much  of  it,  was  not  of  long  con- 
tinuance. It  became  necessary  that  I  should  be 
doing  something  for  my  living  ;  and  Mr.  Peto  did 
not  quite  relish  my  prying  so  closely  as  I  was 
wont,  into  the  foundations  of  the  prices  of  work 
and  materials,  though  both  he  and  Mr.  Grissell 
were  most  kind  towards  me.  I  accordingly  some 
time  in  1833  entered  the  office  of  my  very 
excellent  friend,  Mr.  Henry  Roberts,  who  had 
recently  obtained  by  competition  the  appointment 
of  architect  to  the  new  Fishmongers'  Hall,  at  the 
foot  of  new  London  Bridge. 

Mr.  Roberts  had,  subsequently  to  his  original 
period  of  pupilage,  been  for  a  considerable  time  in 
the  office  of  Sir  Robert  Smirke,  whose  tastes, 
habits,  modes  of  construction,  and  method  of 
making  working  drawings,  he  had  thoroughly 
imbibed.  He  had  subsequently  made  the  length- 
ened continental  tour  customary  in  those  days, 
and  had  not,  I  think,  very  long  been  in  practice 
since  his  return.  He  was  in  independent  circum- 
stances, and  was  a  gentlemanly,  religious,  precise, 
and  quiet  man.  I  was  the  only  clerk  in  the  office 
at  the  time,  though  he  subsequently  took  a  pupil, 
so  that  I  had  the  advantage  of  making  all  the 
working  drawings  of  this  considerable  public 
building,  from  the  foundation  to  the  finish  ;  and  of 
helping  in  measuring  up  the  extras  and  omissions, 
as  well  as  of  constantly  seeing  the  work  during  its 
progress. 

This  engagement  lasted  two  years,  and  though 


74  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

most  beneficial  to  me,  it  seems  almost  a  blank  in 
my  memory,  from  its  even  and  uneventful  cha- 
racter. I  recollect  that  during  that  time  I  once 
ventured  into  a  public  competition  for  the  gram- 
mar school  at  Birmingham.  I  also  got  a  picture 
one  year  (I  don't  recollect  trying  again)  into  the 
exhibition,  and  attended  a  course  of  Sir  John 
Soane's  lectures,  at  the  Royal  Academy.  I  often 
contemplated  becoming  a  student  there,  and 
chalked  out  Gothic  designs,  but  I  never  followed 
it  up.  I  do  not  think  I  did  much  in  sketching 
at  this  time,  Smirkism  and  practical  work  having 
for  a  time  chilled  my  own  tastes ;  nor  had  I  any 
advantages  of  artistic  study.  It  was  a  dull,  blank 
period,  and  I  think  I  was  to  blame  for  it. 

I  have  little  recollection  of  my  visits  home 
during  this  time,  though  in  the  course  of  it  I  lost 
my  aunt  Gilbert.  I  remember,  however,  one  visit. 
My  father  being  presented  by  the  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln (Kaye)  to  the  living  of  Wappenham,  North- 
amptonshire, eleven  miles  north  of  Gawcott,  I 
went  with  him  to  reconnoitre,  and,  having  to  build 
a  new  house  there,  I  supplied  him  with  a  very 
ugly  design,  founded  on  one  of  Mr.  Roberts' 
plans,  which  his  old  builder,  Mr.  Willmore,  took 
care  to  spoil  and  slight,  as  much  as  he  thought 
necessary  for  his  own  purposes.  About  this 
time,  also,  I  was  requested  by  my  friend,  Henry 
Rumsey,  who  had  succeeded  to  his  father's 
practice  at  Chesham,  to  plan  him  a  house  there. 
My  taste  seemed  under  a  cold  spell,  and  the 
design,  though  convenient  enough,  was  wholly 
devoid  of  any  attempt  at  architectural  character. 
He  wanted  to  employ  several  local  tradesmen 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  75 

and  I  named  my  old  fellow-pupil  Moffatt  as  clerk 
of  the  works,  who  was  also  to  get  a  good  deal  of 
the  joiner's  work  done  in  London  under  his  father. 
Thus  was  recommenced  an  acquaintance  productive 
of  such  marked  influence  on  my  future  career. 
Moffatt  performed  his  duties  most  efficiently  and 
cleverly,  but  with  so  little  tact  as  to  make  an 
enemy  of  his  employer  for  the  very  acts  by  which 
he  was  best  promoting  his  interests,  while  I  lost  in 
my  friend's  esteem  by  defending  my  representative. 

In  the  spring  of  1834,  Mr.  Roberts  kindly  gave 
me  the  appointment  of  clerk  of  the  works  to  a 
small  work  at  Camberwell,  which  I  superintended 
throughout  its  erection,  which  was  very  rapid, 
and  was  completed  in  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year.  My  conscience  tells  me  that  this  arrange- 
ment was  much  more  beneficial  to  myself  than  to 
the  building. 

I  now  made  up  my  mind  to  attempt  to  get  into 
practice,  but  previous  to  doing  so,  I  took  three 
months'  holiday,  which,  foreign  travel  being  out 
of  the  question,  I  spent  partly  at  Wappenham, 
and  on  visits  to  my  uncle  King  and  my  eldest 
brother,  and  partly  in  a  sketching  tour,  on  which 
I  was  accompanied  by  my  friend  Edwin  Nash. 
I  sketched  a  good  deal  during  this  interval,  and 
did  something  towards  recovering  my  old  but 
dormant  tastes.  My  stay  at  my  father's  new 
home  was  very  delightful  to  me,  but  how  much 
more  precious  had  I  known  that  it  was  my  last 
visit  to  him.  His  health  had  evidently  much 
failed  him  of  late,  and  I  heard  whispers  of  deadly 
maladies,  but  they  seemed  as  idle  tales  to  my 
sanguine  mind. 


76  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Alas !  how  soon  they  proved  Far  otherwise. 

While  we  were  on  this  tour  we  heard  the 
news  of  the  destruction  of  the  Houses  of  Par- 
liament. 

I  remember  with  great  interest  the  many  even- 
ings spent  in  hearing  the  debates  within  the  walls 
of  old  St.  Stephen's,  where  I  was  familiar  with 
the  eloquence  of  Peel,  Stanley  (afterwards  Lord 
Derby),  O'Connell,  Lord  John  Russell,  and  others, 
with  the  early  efforts  of  the  then  youthful  and 
blooming  Gladstone,  and  the  quaint  absurdities  of 
old  Cobbett. 

The  old  St.  Stephen's  resembled  a  rather  sump- 
tuous methodist  chapel,  all  its  real  architecture 
being  concealed  by  wainscotting  and  round-topped 
windows,  denying  every  hint  of  the  real  ones. 
When  I  saw  it  on  my  return  to  London,  how 
changed  was  its  aspect !  It  seemed  as  if  the 
subject  of  an  enchanter's  spell,  and  converted 
suddenly  from  a  mean  conventicle  into  a  Gothic 
ruin  of  unrivalled  beauty,  glowing  with  the 
scorched  but  quite  intelligible  remnants  of  its 
gorgeous  decorative  colouring.  The  destruction 
of  this  precious  architectural  relic  is  the  single 
blot  upon  the  fair  shield  of  Sir  Charles  Barry. 

About  this  time  the  new  Poor-law  Act  had 
come  into  operation,  and  my  friend  Kempthorne, 
just  returned  home  from  his  continental  tour,  had, 
through  the  interest  of  the  Chief  Commissioner, 
who  was  a  friend  of  his  father's,  been  employed  to 
prepare  normal  designs  for  the  proposed  Union 
workhouses. 

Being  inexperienced,  he,  in  an  unhappy  moment, 
called  in  the  aid  of  his  old  master,  Mr.  Voysey, 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections*  77 

who,  though  a  clever  and  ingenious  practical 
man,  had  not  one  spark  of  taste,  and  took  a  very 
exaggerated  view  of  the  necessity  for  economy. 
The  assistant  commissioners  were  instructed  to 
press  upon  the  newly-formed  boards  of  guardians 
the  desirableness  of  employing  Mr.  Kempthorne, 
the  commissioners'  architect ;  and  thus  poor 
Kempthorne  was  placed  under  the  real  dis- 
advantage (though  seeming  advantage)  of  having 
a  vast  practice  thrust  upon  him  before  his  expe- 
rience had  fitted  him  to  conduct  it,  while  he 
embarked  with  a  set  of  ready-made  designs  of 
the  meanest  possible  character,  and  very  defective 
in  other  particulars. 

While  visiting  my  brother  at  Goring  about 
Christmas,  1834,  I  received  a  letter  from  Kemp- 
thorne, telling  me  that  a  set  of  chambers  next  to 
his  own,  in  Carlton  Chambers,  Regent  Street,  was 
vacant,  and  that  if  I  liked  to  take  them,  he  could 
find  employment  for  my  leisure  time,  in  assisting 
him  with  his  Union  Workhouses.  I  closed  with 
this  and  was  soon  ensconced  in  my  new  chambers 
and  busied  on  work  even  more  mean  than  that  of 
my  pupilage.  This  had  not,  however,  continued 
more  than  a  few  weeks,  when  one  morning  Kemp- 
thorne entered  my  room  with  an  expression  on  his 
countenance  which  soon  showed  me  that  he  was 
the  bearer  of  heavy  tidings.  He  soon  broke  to 
me,  kindly  and  gently,  for  he  was  a  good,  kind 
fellow,  the  sad  intelligence  of  the  sudden  death  of 
my  father. 

Here  was  a  stunning  blow,  of  which  I  had 
experienced  no  parallel !  I  will  not  go  into  our 
family  grief,  my  poor  widowed  mother's  prostra- 


78  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

tion,  nor  the  sudden  break-up  of  our  happy  home. 
After  the  first  flood  of  grief  was  passed,  and  my 
father's  honoured  remains  were  deposited  along- 
side of  those  of  old  John  West,  in  the  church  at 
Gawcott,  action  and  decision  became  the  necessi- 
ties of  our  position.  My  two  eldest  brothers  were 
fairly  on  their  own  hands,  and  my  eldest  sister  was 
married  to  my  cousin,  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Oldrid,  who 
had  succeeded  my  father  at  Gawcott.  I  was  the 
eldest  of  six  still  unsettled  in  life,  and  I  must 
adopt  my  course  with  promptitude,  or  my  chances 
in  life  were  gone. 

The  two  steps  I  took  were,  first  to  write  a  kind 
of  circular  to  every  influential  friend  of  my 
father's  I  could  think  of,  informing  them  that  I  had 
commenced  practice,  and  begging  their  patronage, 
and  secondly,  to  quit  Kempthorne,  and  to  use  my 
interest  to  obtain  the  appointment  of  architect  to 
the  Union  Workhouses  in  the  district  where  my 
father  had  been  known.  Both  steps  were  happily 
attended  with  success.  Several  friends  placed 
small  works  in  my  hands,  and  I  succeeded  by  a 
strenuous  canvass  of  every  guardian  in  obtaining 
appointments  to  four  unions  in  our  immediate 
district. 

This  was  a  success  for  which  I  have  to  thank  a 
gracious  Providence,  and  without  which  I  really  do 
not  know  what  course  I  could  have  taken.  Now, 
however,  I  found  myself  in  a  few  months  in  what 
was  to  me  good  practice,  though  for  a  time  unpro- 
ductive, and  involving  considerable  outlay,  in 
which  I  was  helped  by  my  mother  out  of  her 
scanty  means,  and — it  would  be  contemptible  if  I 
allowed  pride  to  lead  me  to  ignore  it — by  my  share 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  79 

in  a  fund,  which  was,  wholly  unasked,  subscribed 
as  a  testimonial  to,  and  a  help  to  the  descendants 
of,  the  Commentator,  my  grandfather. 

If  the  three  previous  years  come  back  to  my 
memory  as  a  mere  blank,  those  which  succeeded 
seem  an  era  of  turmoil,  of  violent  activity  and 
exertion.  For  weeks  I  almost  lived  on  horseback, 
canvassing  newly  formed  unions.  Then  alternated 
periods  of  close,  hard  work  in  my  little  office  at 
Carlton  Chambers,  with  coach  journeys,  chiefly  by 
night,  followed  by  meetings  of  guardians,  search- 
ing out  of  materials,  and  hurrying  from  union  to 
union,  often  riding  across  unknown  bits  of  country 
after  dark,  sudden  sweet  peeps  in  at  my  poor 
mother's  new  home,  (a  nice  old  house  at  Wappen- 
ham,  where  my  brother  had,  by  Bishop  Kaye's 
kindness,  succeeded  my  father  at  the  rectory,)  with 
flying  visits  to  Gawcott  and  elsewhere,  as  occasion 
served. 

I  employed  one  clerk,  and  had  invited  Moffatt 
to  come  to  help  me  in  preparing  my  early  work- 
ing drawings,  which  he  did  with  the  utmost  dili- 
gence and  efficiency,  and  on  the  works  of  one 
union  commencing,  and  those  of  others  within 
reach  being  about  to  commence,  I  recommended 
him  as  resident  superintendent  of  a  little  circuit  of 
buildings  within  a  few  miles  of  one  another.  He 
accordingly  took  up  his  residence  at  one  of  those 
places  whence  he  was  to  ride  the  round  of  the 
others. 

By  some  strange  coincidence  of  circumstances 
an  influential  magistrate  in  Wiltshire  had  become 
acquainted  withx  and.  taken  a  fancy  to  Moffatt, 
and  had  invited  him'  down  there,  promising  to  use 


8o  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

his  influence  in  getting  him  appointed  architect  to 
the  Amesbury  Union  House.  He  went  accord- 
ingly and  succeeded,  and  we  made  the  plans  and 
working  drawings  at  my  office. 

An  anomalous  state  of  things  was  thus  set  up. 
I  was  architect  to  four  union  workhouses  in  one 
district,  to  which  Moffatt  was  clerk  of  the  works, 
while  he  was  architect  to  one  in  a  distant  part 
of  the  country,  the  drawings  for  which  were 
made  at  my  office.  This  led  him  to  come  and 
make  a  formal  proposal  to  me.  I  agreed  to  this 
proposal,  and  it  became  the  foundation  of  our 
future  partnership.  I  will  here  stop  these  hard, 
dull  incidents,  and  speak  of  a  circumstance  of  a 
very  different  and  more  interesting  character. 

Early  in  the  period  which  I  have  been  describ- 
ing, during  one  of  my  visits  to  Wappenham,  my 
mother  had  told  me  that  my  cousin  Carry  Oldrid 
had  just  come  on  a  visit  to  Gawcott,  and  that  if 
my  old  feelings  continued  towards  her,  she  did 
not  desire  me  to  be  influenced  by  what,  three 
or  four  years  previously,  she  had  said.  I  met 
my  cousin  at  Buckingham,  and,  thus  set  free, 
my  old  sentiments  came  back  upon  me  like  a 
flood.  I  spent  a  day  or  two  at  Gawcott  in  her 
society,  and  I  soon  found  myself  over  head  and 
ears  in  love.  In  a  few  months  we  were  engaged, 
though  without  any  near  prospect  of  marriage. 
This  afforded  a  softening  and  beneficial  relief  to 
the  too  hard,  unsentimental  pursuits  which  at  this 
time  almost  overwhelmed  me,  and  to  which  I 
must  now  return. 

The  effect  of  Moffatt's  new  arrangement  was 
magical.  He  followed  up  union-hunting  into 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  81 

Devonshire  and  Cornwall  with  almost  uniform 
success,  and  my  poor  little  quartette  of  works 
round  my  old  home  soon  became  as  nothing, 
when  compared  with  the  engagements  which 
flowed  in  upon  us  as  partners.  Moffatt's  own 
exertions  were  almost  superhuman,  and  when  I 
recollect  that  no  railways  came  to  his  help,  I  feel 
perfectly  amazed  to  think  of  what  he  effected. 

When  I  first  set  about  this  poor-law  work,  I 
considered  the  look  of  the  buildings  as  wholly  out 
of  the  question,  and  felt  myself  bound  in  a  great 
degree  to  the  arrangements  laid  down  by  the 
published  plans  of  the  commissioners,  though  I 
attempted  better  construction  than  they  prescribed. 
I  recollect  a  competitor,  Mr.  Plowman  of  Oxford, 
who  was  both  a  builder  and  an  architect,  saying 
of  one  of  my  earliest  specifications,  that  it  was 
one  of  the  best  he  had  ever  seen,  but  impossible 
to  be  carried  out  in  a  workhouse  on  account  of  the 
cost.  This  I  found  to  be  true,  for  Kempthorne's 
plans  and  specifications,  in  which  everything  had 
been  cut  down  to  the  very  quick,  had  given  the 
scale  of  estimate  which  the  commissioners  led 
the  guardians  to  expect,  so  that  for  a  long  time 
it  was  unsafe  to  venture  beyond  it.  Architecture 
and  good  finish,  or  even  any  great  improvements 
in  arrangement,  were  at  the  time  hopeless,  and 
one  was  driven  to  the  wretched  necessity  of  view- 
ing one's  profession,  as  represented  by  one's  chief 
works,  merely  as  a  means  of  getting  a  living,  ex- 
cepting that  when  competitions  became  frequent, 
there  was  an  excitement  and  speculation  about 
them,  which  added  a  certain  kind  of  interest  to 
otherwise  most  uninteresting  work.  Competition 


82  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

soon,  however,  produced  other  effects.  Variety 
became  necessary,  or  where  was  the  ground-work 
for  competition  ?  Thus  improved  arrangements 
began  to  be  aimed  at.  Perspective  views  were 
naturally  regarded  as  attractive  elements  in  a 
competition,  and  to  give  them  any  interest  there 
must  be  something  to  show,  so  that  external 
appearance  began  timidly  to  be  thought  of,  and 
estimates  stealthily  to  creep  upwards,  and  many 
a  row  and  uproar  did  this  produce,  to  the  joy 
of  the  disappointed  competitors. 

The  competitions  for  union  workhouses  were 
conducted  on  principles  quite  peculiar  to  them- 
selves, They  were  open  in  every  sense,  and 
each  of  the  competitors  was  at  liberty  to  take  any 
step  he  thought  good.  They  used  first  to  go 
down  and  call  on  the  clerk,  the  chairman,  and  any 
of  the  guardians  who  were  supposed  to  have  any 
ideas  of  their  own,  and  after  the  designs  were  sent 
in,  no  harm  was  thought  of  repeating  those  calls 
as  often  as  the  competitor  pleased,  and  advocating 
the  merits,  each  man  of  his  own  arrangement.  On 
the  day  on  which  the  designs  were  to  be  examined 
the  competitors  were  usually  waiting  in  the  ante- 
room, and  were  called  in  one  by  one  to  give  per- 
sonal explanations,  and  the  decision  was  often 
announced  then  and  there  to  the  assembled  can- 
didates. Moffatt  was  most  successful  in  this  kind 
of  fighting,  having  an  instinctive  perception  of 
which  men  to  aim  at  pleasing,  and  of  how  to  meet 
their  views  and  to  address  himself  successfully  to 
their  particular  temperaments.  The  pains  he  took 
in  improving  the  arrangements  were  enormous, 
communicating  constantly  with  the  most  experi- 


CHAP.  IL]  Recollections.  83 

enced  governors  of  workhouses,  and  gathering 
ideas  wherever  he  went.  He  was  always  on  the 
move.  We  went  every  week  to  Peele's  coffee- 
house to  see  the  country  papers,  and  to  find  adver- 
tisements of  pending  competitions.  Moffatt  then 
ran  down  to  the  place  to  get  up  information.  On 
his  return,  we  set  to  work,  with  violence,  to  make 
the  design,  and  to  prepare  the  competition  draw- 
ings, often  working  all  night  as  well  as  all  day. 
He  would  then  start  off  by  the  mail,  travel  all  night, 
meet  the  board  of  guardians,  and  perhaps  win 
the  competition,  and  return  during  the  next  night 
to  set  to  work  on  another  design.  I  have  known 
him  travel  four  nights  running,  and  to  work  hard 
throughout  the  intervening  days,  a  habit  facilitated 
by  his  power  of  sleeping  whenever  he  chose.  He 
used  to  say  that  he  snored  so  loud  on  the  box  of 
the  mail  as  to  keep  the  inside  passengers  awake. 
He  was  the  best  arranger  of  a  plan,  the  hardest 
worker,  and  the  best  hand  at  advocating  the  merits 
of  what  he  had  to  propose,  I  ever  met  with ;  and 
I  think  that  he  thoroughly  deserved  his  success, 
though  it  naturally  won  him  a  host  of  enemies 
and  traducers. 

I  meanwhile  carried  on  my  own  private  poor-law 
practice  through  Northamptonshire  and  Lincoln- 
shire, which  was  viewed  by  us  as  my  privileged 
ground.  I  built,  I  think,  at  that  time  two  union- 
houses  in  Bucks,  five  in  Northamptonshire,  and 
four  in  Lincolnshire,  in  which  I  stood  alone.  I 
also  had  a  certain  amount  of  practice  of  other 
kinds.  I  lived,  like  Moffatt,  in  a  constant  turmoil, 
though  less  so  than  he.  The  way  in  which  we 
used  to  rush  to  the  Post  Office,  or  to  the  Angel  at 

G  2 


84  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Islington,  at  the  last  moment,  to  send  off  designs  and 
working  drawings,  or  to  set  off  for  our  nocturnal 
journeys,  was  most  exciting,  and  one  wonders,  in 
these  self-indulgent  days,  how  we  could  stand  the 
travelling  all  night  outside  coaches  in  the  depth  of 
winter,  and  in  all  weathers.  The  life  we  led  was 
certainly  as  arduous  and  exciting  as  anything  one 
can  fancy  in  work,  which  in  its  own  nature  was  so 
dull  as  our  business  in  the  abstract  was,  but  one's 
mind  seems  to  shape  itself  to  its  day,  and  I  believe 
I  really  enjoyed  the  labour  and  turmoil  in  which  I 
spent  my  time. 

These  were  the  last  days  of  the  integrity  of  the 
old  coaching  system,  and  splendid  was  its  dying 
perfection  !  It  was  a  merry  thing  to  leave  the 
Post  Office  yard  on  the  box-seat  of  a  mail,  and 
drive  out  amidst  the  mob  of  porters,  passengers,  and 
gazers.  As  far  as  Barnet  on  the  north  road  seven 
mails  ran  together  with  their  choicest  trotting  teams 
passing  and  repassing  one  another,  the  horns  blow- 
ing merrily,  every  one  in  a  good  humour,  and 
proud  of  what  they  were  doing.  Then  the  hasty 
cup  of  coffee  at  midnight,  and  the  hurried  break- 
fast had  joys  about  them  which  I  seem  even  now 
to  feel  again.  One  coach  I  travelled  by — "  the 
Manchester  Telegraph  " — cleared  eleven  miles  an 
hour  all  the  way  down,  stoppings  included.  It 
was  a  splendid  perfection  of  machinery,  but  its 
fate  was  sealed,  the  great  lines  of  railway  being  in 
rapid  progress.  Our  shorter  journeyings  we  did 
by  gig  and  on  horseback,  though  they  often  ex- 
tended through  the  length  and  breadth  of  a 
county. 

I  had  in  the  midst  of  all  this  confusion  made 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  85 

myself  decently  acquainted  with  geology,  which, 
with  my  old  church-hunting  tendencies,  added 
greatly  to  the  interest  of  my  journeys.  I  was  in 
fact  an  enthusiast  on  this  subject ;  and  though  I 
had  not  time  to  follow  it  scientifically,  I  obtained  a 
very  good  practical  knowledge  of  the  stratification 
and  geological  productions  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  country.  My  sketching  of  gothic  architecture 
was  at  the  time  but  scanty  ;  having  to  fight  for 
bare  existence,  I  directed  my  efforts  mainly  to  the 
matter  before  me. 

In  1838  (June  4th)  I  was  married  to  my  dear 
cousin  Caroline.  We  took  apartments  until  we 
could  find  a  house,  and  about  the  end  of  the  year 
we  settled  down  at  No.  20  (now  31),  Spring 
Gardens,  where  my  two  eldest  sons  were  born  in 
1839  and  1841.  From  this  date  my  practice 
began  to  take  a  more  legitimate  and  less  abnormal 
line  ;  and  though  I  soon  afterwards  became  actual 
partner  with  Mr.  Moffatt,  this  partnership  was  not 
of  permanent  duration. 

In  1838,  shortly  after  my  marriage,  I  competed 
for  a  church  with  success.  This  was  at  Lincoln, 
and  I  cannot  say  anything  in  its  favour,  excepting 
that  it  was  better  than  many  then  erected. 
Church  architecture  was  then  perhaps  at  its 
lowest  level.  The  era  of  the  "  million  "  churches 
of  the  commissioners  had  long  past,  and  Barry's 
four  churches  at  Islington,  which  were  really 
respectable  and  well  intentioned,  and  liberal  in 
their  cost,  had  been  succeeded  by  an  abject  fry, 
the  products  of  the  "  Cheap  Church  "  mania,  in 
which  all  decency  of  architectural  finish  and  con- 
struction was  ground  down  to  the  very  dust,  to 


86  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

meet  an  idolized  tariff  of  so  many  shillings  a 
sitting.4  My  first  church  (except  one  poor  barn 
designed  for  my  uncle  King)  dates  from  the  same 
year  with  the  foundation  of  the  Cambridge  Cam- 
den  Society,  to  whom  the  honour  of  our  recovery 
from  the  odious  bathos  is  mainly  due.  I  only 
wish  I  had  known  its  founders  at  the  time.  As  it 
was,  no  idea  of  ecclesiastical  arrangement,  or  ritual 
propriety,  had  then  even  crossed  my  mind. 

Unfortunately  everything  I  did  at  that  time  fell 
into  the  wholesale  form  ;  and  before  I  had  time  to 
discover  the  defects  of  my  first  design,  its  general 
form  and  its  radical  errors  were  repeated  in  no 
less  than  six  other  churches,5  and  which  followed 
in  such  rapid  succession  as  to  leave  no  time  for 
improvement,  all  being  planned,  I  fancy,  in  1839, 
or  early  in  the  succeeding  year. 

The  designs  for  these  churches  were  by  no 
means  similar,  but  they  all  agreed  in  two  points — 
the  use  of  a  transept  of  the  minor  kind,6  which 
happened  to  be  suggested  to  me  by  those  at 
Pinner  and  Harrow,  and  the  absence  of  any 
regular  and  proper  chancel,  my  grave  idea  being 
that  this  feature  was  obsolete.  They  all  agreed 

4  This  tariff  system  is  not  yet  closed.    A  district  of  so  many 
thousand  souls  is  still  held  to  require  a  church  of  so  many 
hundred  "  sittings  "  at  the  cost  of  so  much  a-piece.     The  pro- 
portion— grotesque  as  it  sounds — of  "  sittings  "  to  souls  has  to 
be  adjusted,  and  the  area  of  each  laid  down  in  square  feet 
and  inches. — ED. 

5  At  Birmingham,  Lincoln,  Shaftesbury,  Hanwell,  Turnham 
Bridlington  Quay,  and  Norbiton. 

6  Curiously  enough,  an  old  English  tradition,  derived  from 
Saxon  times,  and  prevalent  in  England  and  Ireland  all  through 
the  middle  ages. — ED. 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  87 

too  in  the  meagreness  of  their  construction,  in  the 
contemptible  character  of  their  fittings,  in  most 
of  them  being  begalleried  to  the  very  eyes,  and  in 
the  use  of  plaster  for  internal  mouldings,  even  for 
the  pillars. 

This  latter  meanness  had  been  forced  upon  me, 
for  at  first  I  aimed  at  avoiding  it,  but  the  cheap- 
church  rage  overcame  me,  and  as  I  had  not  then 
awaked  to  the  viciousness  of  shams,  I  was  uncon- 
cious  of  the  abyss  into  which  I  had  fallen.  These 
days  of  abject  degradation  only  lasted  for  about 
two  years  or  little  more,  but,  alas  !  what  a  mass  of 
horrors  was  perpetrated  during  that  short  interval ! 
Often,  and  that  within  a  few  months  of  this  period, 
have  I  been  wicked  enough  to  wish  my  works 
burnt  down  again.  Yet  they  were  but  part  of  the 
base  art-history  of  their  day.  In  1841  I  was  em- 
ployed by  Mr.  Minton  to  design  him  a  church,  the 
first  to  which  I  put  a  regular  chancel,  but  in  some 
other  respects,  hardly  an  advance  on  the  others, 
though  before  its  completion  I  had  awakened  to  a 
truer  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the  subject. 

This  awakening  arose,  I  think,  from  two  causes 
operating  almost  simultaneously :  my  first  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Cambridge  Camden  Society, 
and  my  reading  Pugin's  articles  in  the  "  Dublin 
Review."  I  may  be  in  error  as  to  their  coincidence 
of  date.  The  first  took  place  in  this  manner.  I 
saw  somewhere  an  article  by  Mr.  Webb,  the  secre- 
tary to  the  Camden  Society,  which  greatly  excited 
my  sympathy.  Just  at  the  same  time  I  had  become 
exceedingly  irate  at  the  projected  destruction  by 
Mr.  Barry  of  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  and  I  wrote 
to  Mr.  Webb  and  subsequently  saw  him  on  the 


88  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

subject.  I  was  introduced,  I  believe,  by  Edward 
Boyce.  Mr.  Webb  took  advantage  of  the  occasion 
to  lecture  me  on  church  architecture  in  general, 
on  the  necessity  of  chancels,  &c.,  &c.  I  at  once 
saw  that  he  was  right,  and  became  a  reader  of  the 
"  Ecclesiologist."  Pugin's  articles  excited  me  al- 
most to  fury,  and  I  suddenly  found  myself  like  a 
person  awakened  from  a  long  feverish  dream,  which 
had  rendered  him  unconscious  of  what  was  going 
on  about  him. 

Being  thus  morally  awakened,  my  physical 
dreams  followed  the  subject  of  my  waking  thoughts. 
I  used  fondly  to  dream  of  making  Pugin's  acquain- 
tance and  to  awake,  perhaps,  while  on  a  night 
journey  in  high  excitement,  at  the  imagined  inter- 
view. I  had  heard  of  Pugin  as  a  boy,  ten  or  eleven 
years  before,  at  Maddox's.  I  had  again  heard  of 
him  and  his  "  Contrasts  "  from  my  ardent  and  ex- 
cellent friend  Charles  Bailey,  who  had  often  helped 
me  with  my  drawings,  and  I  had  more  recently  got 
to  know  more  of  him  in  this  way.  I  had  under- 
taken in  1838  (or  thereabouts)  a  large  workhouse 
at  Loughborough.  The  contractor  for  a  part  of 
the  work  was  a  strange  rough  mason  from  Hull, 
named  Myers.  While  engaged  under  me  at 
Loughborough,  he  competed  with  success  for  the 
erection  of  a  Roman  Catholic  Church  at  Derby, 
nearly  the  first  which  Pugin  built.7 

Myers  was  a  native  of  Beverly,  and  had  been  ap- 
prenticed to  the  mason  to  the  minster,  from  which 
he  had  acquired  an  ardent  love  of  Gothic  architec- 
ture, and  this  now  dormant  tendency  was  roused 
into  energy  by  his  being  brought  into  contact  with 
7  St  Mary's,  a  really  beautiful  work. — ED. 


CHAP.  IL]  Recollections.  89 

Pugin.  Eternal  friendship  was  sworn  between 
them,  and  Myers  was  the  builder  of  nearly  every 
subsequent  work  of  Pugin's. 

I  made  my  crusade  in  favour  of  St.  Stephen's 
an  excuse  for  writing  to  Pugin,  and  to  my  almost 
tremulous  delight,  I  was  invited  to  call.  He  was 
tremendously  jolly,  and  showed  almost  too  much 
bonhomie  to  accord  with  my  romantic  expecta- 
tions. I  very  rarely  saw  him  again,  though  I  be- 
came a  devoted  reader  of  his  written,  and  visitor 
of  his  erected  works,  and  a  greedy  recipient  of 
every  ta1e  about  him,  and  report  of  what  he  said 
or  did.  A  new  phase  had  come  over  me,  tho- 
roughly en  rapport  with  my  early  taste,  but  in 
utter  discord  with  the  "fitful  fever"  of  my  poor- 
law  activity.  I  was  in  fact  a  new  man,  though 
that  man  was,  according  to  the  trite  saying,  the 
true  son  of  my  boyhood. 

It  was,  I  suppose,  while  the  awakening  was 
commencing,  that  I  was  invited  to  compete  with 
a  small  number  of  architects  for  the  erection  of 
the  Martyrs'  Memorial  at  Oxford.  This  was  in 
1 840,  and  it  seems  strange  that  one  so  unknown 
in  matters  of  taste,  should  have  been  named  on  a 
select  list  for  a  work  like  this.  I  owed  it,  I  fancy, 
to  the  kind  influence  of  my  friends,  Mr.  Stowe 
and  Major  Macdonald,  with  two  members  of  the 
committee,  and  to  a  third  member,  Dr.  Macbride, 
having  been  a  friend  of  my  father  and  of  my  grand- 
father :  when  I  received  the  invitation  I  threw 
myself  into  the  design  with  all  the  ardour  I 
possessed.  My  early  study,  full  ten  years  before, 
of  the  Eleanor  crosses  was  a  good  preparation. 
I  obtained  every  drawing  of  old  crosses  I  could 


9O  Sir  Gilbert  Scott.  [  1 840 

lay  hand  on,  and  devoted  my  best  endeavours  to 
producing  a  design  suited  to  the  object.  I  suc- 
ceeded. That  this  was  before  my  awakening  to  a 
true  feeling  for  church  architecture,  is  proved  by 
the  defects  of  the  accompanying  addition  to  St. 
Mary  Magdalene's  church  ;  but  I  fancy  the  cross 
itself  was  better  than  any  one  but  Pugin  would 
then  have  produced. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  at,  I  believe,  my 
first  interview  with  the  committee.  I  found  them 
in  disagreement  as  to  the  best  stone  for  the  monu- 
ment. The  commissioners  for  selecting  stone  for 
the  Houses  of  Parliament,  had  not  long  before 
made  their  report  in  favour  of  the  purely  mythic 
stone  of  Bolsover  Moor.  One  party  favoured 
this  imaginary  stone,  for  its  warm  colour  ;  another, 
the  white  variety  of  magnesian  limestone  from 
Roche  Abbey,  on  account  of  its  fine  grain.  I 
ventured  on  the  suggestion,  that  by  visiting  the 
district,  it  might  be  possible  to  find  a  stone  unit- 
ing these  qualities,  when  Dr.  Buckland  snubbed 
me  with  great  scorn,  saying  that  such  a  sug- 
gestion might  have  been  made  in  years  gone 
by,  when  little  was  known  of  the  geological 
productions  of  the  country,  but  that  now, 
when  every  variety  of  stone  was  so  well  known, 
it  was  hopeless  to  look  out  for  new  ones.  I 
happened,  however,  though  without  scientific 
knowledge,  to  have  nearly  as  practical  an  acquain- 
tance with  stone  quarries  as  Dr.  Buckland,  and 
I  did  not  see  the  force  of  the  argument.  I  there- 
fore started  off  with  Moffatt  for  the  magnesio- 
calcareous  district.  The  first  quarry  we  went  to 
was  that  at  Mansfield  Wocdhouse,  which,  on  the 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  91 

discovery  of  the  Bolsover  delusion,  had  been  re- 
opened for  the  Houses  of  Parliament ;  this  stone 
did  not  meet  my  wishes,  being  too  coarse  in  grain, 
and  not  pure  enough  in  colour.  On  describing, 
however,  to  the  foreman  of  the  quarry  what  I  was 
seeking  for,  he  at  once  told  me  he  could  show  me 
what  I  wanted ;  and,  taking  a  hammer  and  walk- 
ing with  us  across  a  few  fields,  he  brought  us  to 
an  ancient  and  long-disused  quarry,  grown  over 
with  brushwood,  and  on  striking  off  a  fragment 
from  the  rock,  presented  to  me  the  very  stone 
which  my  imagination  had  pourtrayed !  My  de- 
light was  excessive.  The  committee  at  once, 
though  at  a  great  increase  of  cost,  adopted  it,  and 
in  their  next  report  attributed  the  happy  dis- 
covery to  the  pre-eminent  geological  skill  of  Dr. 
Buckland. 

The  stone  is  perhaps  the  finest  in  the  kingdom, 
though  it  is  not  to  be  obtained  in  large  blocks, 
and  is  very  costly  in  the  quarrying.  The  rock 
is  still  known  by  the  name  of  "  The  Memorial 
Quarry." 

About  this  time,  or  shortly  afterwards,  two 
important  works  came  into  our  hands  by  public 
competition  :  the  Infant  Orphan  Asylum  at  Wan- 
stead,  and  the  Church  of  St.  Giles,  Camberwell. 

The  former  of  these  works  is  a  magnificent 
institution  :  one  of  the  many  which  own  the  well- 
known  Dr.  Andrew  Reed  as  the  founder. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  energy  with  which 
Moffatt  threw  himself  into  this  competition,  the 
most  important  by  far  into  which  we  had  then 
entered,  nor  the  pains  he  took  in  thoroughly  master- 
ing its  practical  requirements.  The  planning  was 


92  Sir  Gilbert  Scott, 

chiefly  his,  the  external  design,  which  was  Eliza- 
bethan, mine.  We  succeeded.  The  first  stone 
was  laid  in  great  state  by  Prince  Albert,  and  the 
building  opened  by  Leopold,  the  King  of  the 
Belgians. 

The  old  Church  of  St.  Giles,  Camberwell,  was 
burnt  down  in  1840,  and  there  was  a  public  com- 
petition for  designs  for  its  re-erection.  We  com- 
peted, sending  in  a  very  ambitious  design,  groined 
throughout  with  terra-cotta.  No  one  had  an  idea 
whose  our  plans  were.  The  competition  being 
close,  we  adhered  scrupulously  to  its  regulations. 
Mr.  Blore  acted  as  assessor,  and  reported  in  our 
favour.  Tenders  were  received  for  our  design, 
and  came  in,  I  think,  pretty  favourably,  but  a 
parish  opposition  being  excited,  and  a  poll  called 
for,  a  compromise  was  at  length  made,  and  we 
were  commissioned  to  prepare  a  less  costly  design, 
which  resulted  in  the  present  structure. 

My  conversion  to  the  exclusive  use  of  real 
material  came  to  its  climax  during  the  progress  of 
this  work,  and  much  which  was  at  first  shown  as 
of  plaster  was  afterwards  converted  into  stone, 
the  builder  promising  to  accept  some  other  change 
as  a  compensation.  He  died  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  work,  and  his  executors  ignoring 
this  promise,  a  good  deal  of  dissatisfaction  ensued, 
though,  I  must  say,  they  had  a  very  cheap  build- 
ing, and  the  best  church  by  far  which  had  then 
been  erected.  The  pains  which  I  took  over  this 
church  were  only  equalled  by  the  terror  with 
which  I  attended  the  meetings  of  the  committee, 
though,  I  think,  they  nearly  all  continued  my  very 
good  friends,  and  were  very  proud  indeed  of  their 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  93 

building.  The  then  incumbent  was  the  Rev. 
J.  G.  Storie,  a  remarkable  person.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  talent,  and  personal  and  moral 
prowess,  the  most  masterly  hand  at  coping  with  a 
turbulent  parish  vestry  I  ever  saw.  His  only 
great  fault  was  that  he  was  a  clergyman,  instead 
of,  as  nature  intended,  a  soldier  or  a  barrister ; 
but  this  was  the  fault  of  his  parents  or  guardians, 
not  his  own.  He  was  a  thorough  man  of  the 
world,  and  immersed  in  the  society  of  men  of  his 
own  taste.  I  greatly  admired,  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  respected,  while  I  feared  him, -for  he  was  a 
man  whose  very  look  would  almost  make  one 
tremble,  when  his  wrath  was  stirred.  He  was 
determined  to  have  a  good  church,  and  so  far  as 
his  day  permitted,  he  got  it,  and  after  all  the  little 
rubs  we  had,  I  view  his  memory  with  respect  and 
friendship.  His  expensive  habits  led  him  to  sell 
the  advowson,  which  was  his  own,  with  a  covenant 
for  immediate  resignation.  The  sale  was  effected, 
and  the  covenant  performed  before  the  purchase- 
money  was  paid,  and  those  who  wish  to  know  the 
rest  may  inquire  for  themselves.  However  this 
may  be,  poor  Mr.  Storie  was  reduced  to  poverty, 
from  which  he  never  recovered. 

By  a  strange  coincidence,  a  triple  announce- 
ment was  one  Sunday  made  in  the  new  church. 
The  choir  had  struck,  the  bellows  of  the  organ 
had  burst,  and  the  vicar  had  resigned. 

Our  great  mistake  in  the  church  was  the  use  of 
the  Caen  stone,  an  error  fallen  into  by  many  at 
that  time  and  later.  It  reminds  me  of  a  funny 
incident  relating  to  the  Oxford  Memorial.  The 
Chapter  of  Canterbury  had  presented  three  fine 


94  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

blocks  of  Caen  stone  for  the  statues  of  the  three 
bishops.  I  much  desired  to  sketch  carefully,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  monument,  the  details  of  the 
noble  tomb  of  Archbishop  Peckham,  and  took 
occasion  to  stop  at  Canterbury  for  the  purpose. 
The  verger,  however,  soon  told  me  that  no  sketch- 
ing could  be  permitted  without  an  order.  The 
Dean  (Bishop  Bagot),  was  away  at  his  See. 
Canon  Peel  had  gone  out,  Archdeacon  Croft, 
whom  I  knew,  was  not  to  be  found,  and  my  last 
resource  was  Dr.  Spry.  I  called  at  his  house 
and  sent  in  my  name,  with  full  particulars  of  my 
mission  and  its  objects.  The  Reverend  Doctor 
was  at  his  luncheon,  I  heard  the  "  knives  and 
forks  rattling,"  no  "  sweet  music  to  me,"  and  after 
more  than  one  attempt,  was  sent  off  with  a 
peremptory  refusal. 

One  of  our  great  works  at  this  time  was  Read- 
ing gaol,  and  few  brought  me  greater  annoyance, 
I  think  unjustly.  Our  design  was  chosen  by  the 
Inspector  of  Prisons,  Mr.  Russell,  though  he  made 
great  alteration  in  its  arrangement. 

Like  the  Poor-Law  Commissioners,  he  was 
interested  in  not  frightening  the  magistrates  by  a 
high  estimate,  and  he  almost  pledged  himself  to 
us,  that  from  his  experience,  he  knew  we  might 
safely  name  a  particular  sum. 

Had  the  usual  course  of  a  builder's  estimate 
been  followed,  the  error  would  have  been  dis- 
covered in  time,  but  the  Inspector  further  pre- 
scribed a  course  which  prevented  this.  He  advised 
the  magistrates  to  contract  only  for  a  schedule  of 
prices,  and  to  have  the  work  measured  up  when 
completed.  Thus  the  work  went  on,  and  we  did 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  95 

everything  as  well  as  possible,  making  a  capital 
work  of  it,  but  when  measured  up  the  result  may 
be  imagined  !  The  Inspector  of  course  made  us 
the  scape-goats,  which  perhaps  served  us  right  for 
being  so  easily  gulled.  I  doubt,  however,  whether 
it  was  more  costly  than  other  prisons,  and  it  is 
unquestionably  a  first-rate  building. 

I  must  in  fairness  confess  that  cost  was  our 
weak  point.  This  was  not  intentional,  but  re- 
sulted from  a  combination  of  circumstances.  The 
turmoil  of  competitions,  crowding  one  upon  another, 
left  little  time  for  more  than  the  roughest  esti- 
mates, though  we  did  employ  a  regular  surveyor 
upon  them.  Then  the  degradation  of  feeling  as 
to  cost,  from  which  the  public  was  just  emerging, 
and  our  own  ardent  and  sanguine  ambition  for 
improvement,  all  tended  in  the  same  direction ; 
yet  I  must  confess  to  a  certain  carelessness  on 
this  point,  which  was  decidedly  reprehensible. 
Where  there  is  no  competition,  an  architect  can 
gradually  raise  the  ideas  of  his  clients,  from  the 
undue  lowness  which  so  generally  characterizes 
them,  but  in  the  case  of  a  competition  there  is  no 
chance  of  this,  and  this  is  one  reason  why,  as 
soon  as  I  was  able,  I  was  rejoiced  to  kick  down 
the  ladder  which  had  raised,  but  at  the  same  time 
endangered,  me. 

From  about  the  time  of  my  marriage,  I  had 
resumed  my  Gothic  sketching  to  as  great  an 
extent  as  my  hurried  life  permitted,  and  the 
subject  of  restoration  soon  forced  itself  upon  my 
attention.  I  think  the  first  work  I  had  to  do 
with  of  this  kind  was  the  refitting  of  Chesterfield 
church,  and  here  I  cannot  say  much  for  my  sue- 


96  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

cess.  Galleries  were  forced  upon  me,  contrary  to 
the  wish  of  the  Incumbent,  Mr.  (afterwards  Arch- 
deacon) Hill.  I  found  the  rood  screen  to  have 
been  pulled  down  and  sold,  but  we  protested,  and 
it  was  recovered.8  I  recollect  that  there  existed 
in  the  church,  as  I  found  it,  a  curious  and  beautiful 
family  pew  or  chapel,  enclosed  by  screen- work,  to 
the  west  of  one  of  the  piers  of  the  central  tower. 
There  are  two  such  chapels  now  in  St.  Mary's 
church,  Beverly.9  This  was  called  the  Fol- 
jambe  Chapel,  and  was  a  beautiful  work  of  Henry 
VIIL's  time.  What  to  do  with  it  I  did  not  know, 
it  was  right  in  the  way  of  the  arrangements,  and 
could  not  but  have  been  removed.1  I  at  last  deter- 
mined to  use  its  screen  work  to  form  a  reredos,  and 
if  I  remember  rightly,  it  did  very  well.  I  mention 
these  unimportant  matters  merely  for  the  sake  of 
adding  that  the  "  Ecclesiologist,"  in  alluding  to  this 
work  some  years  afterwards,  when  they  had  begun 
somewhat  to  run  me  down,  for  purposes  of  their  own, 
coolly  stated  that  I  had  had  the  rood  screen  sold, 
and  that  it  had  only  been  recovered  by  the  exertions 
of  the  parishioners  ;  and  that  I  had  converted  the 
material  of  a  Jacobean  screen  into  a  reredos,  a 
fair  specimen  of  their  criticisms,  when  they  had 
an  object  in  view.  My  real  initiation,  however, 
into  the  various  considerations  affecting  the  sub- 
ject of  restoration  was  the  work  undertaken  at 

8  There  is  no  such  screen  now  in  Chesterfield  Church. — 
ED. 

9  They  have  also  disappeared. — ED. 

1  This  is  a  good  typical  example  of  what  is  misnamed  "  re- 
storation." The  removal  of  ancient  remains  to  make  way  for 
"  necessary "  modern  arrangements,  would  be  more  naturally 
termed  "  innovation." — ED. 


CHAP.  IL]  Recollections.  97 

St.  Mary's,  Stafford.  The  circumstances  attend- 
ing the  commencement  of  this  work  were  so  re- 
markable that  I  will  briefly  detail  them. 

I  had,  about  1838,  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Stevens,  then  assistant  poor-law 
commissioner  for  the  counties  of  Stafford  and 
Derby.  Mr.  Stevens  was  the  only  son  of  the 
rector  and  squire  of  Bradfield,  near  Reading,  and 
as  chairman  to  the  union  there,  had  so  successfully 
taken  up  poor-law  work,  that  he  was  persuaded  to 
join  the  commission.  He  was  a  thorough  man  of 
business,  a  sound  churchman,  and  a  lover  of  Gothic 
architecture.  His  head-quarters  were  at  Lichfield, 
where  he  attended  daily  service  at  the  cathedral, 
so  far  as  his  journeys  permitted,  a  tusus  natures 
surely  amongst  poor-law  commissioners. 

I  first  met  him  at  Sir  Thomas  Cotton  Shepherd 
Shepherd's,  near  Uttoxeter,  when  we  formed  a 
lasting  friendship ;  and  he  shortly  afterwards  got 
me  to  meet  him  at  Bradfield,  to  consult  together 
as  to  the  restoration  of  the  church,  a  work  which 
was  happily  postponed  till  ten  years  later.  The 
next  year  he  married,  was  ordained,  and  took  the 
curacy  of  Keele,  in  the  county  of  Stafford. 

In  1840  or  1841  he  wrote  to  me,  telling  me  that 
Mr.  Coldwell,  rector  of  Stafford,  was  most  anxious 
to  restore  his  church,  if  only  he  could  get  funds, 
and  suggested  my  writing  to  him,  offering  to  make 
a  survey  and  report,  with  a  view  to  facilitating 
that  object.  I  did  so,  and  made  my  report,  but 
Mr.  Coldwell's  appeal  was  but  faintly  responded 
to.  Mr.  Stevens,  being  about  to  return  finally  to 
Bradfield,  I  visited  him  on  his  last  day  at  Keele, 
and  we  went  together  to  Stafford,  where  we  found 

H 


98  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Mr.  Coldwell  in  despair  of  ever  effecting  his 
wishes.  On  my  return  to  town  I  found  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Stevens,  telling  me  that,  on  reaching 
Bradfield,  he  had  found  a  letter  awaiting  him  from 
a  friend,  whom  he  did  not  yet  name,  asking  his 
advice  as  to  the  appropriation  of  a  sum  of  5OOO/. 
devoted  to  church  building  or  restoration,  and 
expressing  a  preference  for  Staffordshire. 

Mr.  Stevens  had  already  recommended  St. 
Mary's,  subject  to  the  condition  that  another  like 
sum  should  be  raised  by  public  subscription.  The 
challenge  was  accepted,  and  the  sum  quickly  raised, 
so  that  the  despair  of  the  rector  was  suddenly 
changed  to  joy  and  thankfulness. 

The  principal  parishioner  was,  and  is,  my  truly 
excellent  friend,  Mr.  Thomas  Salt,  the  banker,2 
whose  brother-in-law  is  the  Rev.  Louis  Petit,  since 
so  well-known  by  his  architectural  writings,  and 
his  truly  marvellous  sketches. 

Mr.  Petit  raised  some  considerable  objections 
to  certain  parts  of  my  proposed  restorations,  on 
the  ground  of  their  not  being  sufficiently  conser- 
vative, and  wrote  a  very  important  and  talented 
letter  on  the  subject. 

I  differed  from  him,  not  in  principle,  but  on  the  ap- 
plication of  the  principles  to  the  matter  in  question. 
I  wrote  stoutly,  and  I  think  well,  in  defence  of  my 
own  views,  and  the  correspondence  was,  by  mutual 
agreement,  referred  to  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
Societies,  who  gave  their  verdict  in  my  favour. 

The  whole   case  is  given  in  the  account  by  me 
of   the  restoration    in    Masfen's  "  History  of  St. 
Mary's  Church,"  to  which  I  would  specially  refer. 
2  He  died  a  few  years  since. — ED. 


CHAP,  ii  Recollections. 


99 


Whether  I  was  right  or  wrong  in  my  views  I 
am  doubtful,  but  the  result  was  a  happy  one,  for 
embedded  in  the  later  walling  we  found  abundant 
fragments  of  the  earlier  work,  which  enabled  me 
to  reproduce  the  early  English  south  transept  with 
certainty,  and  a  noble  design  it  is. 

I  employed,  during  the  earlier  part  of  this  work, 
the  services  of  my  now  deceased  friend,  Edwin 
Gwilt,  son  of  old  George  Gwilt,  the  restorer  of 
the  choir  and  Lady  chapel  of  St.  Saviour's, 
South  wark.  He  was  conservative  to  the  back- 
bone, and  where  stonework  had  to  be  renewed, 
he  went  on  the  principle  of  making  every  stone, 
and  even  every  joint  of  the  ashlar,  correspond  to  a 
nicety  with  the  old. 

The  pains  we  took  in  recovering  old  forms  and 
details  were  unbounded,  and  though  too  little 
actual  old  work  was  preserved,  I  believe  that  no 
restoration  could,  barring  this,  be  more  scrupu- 
lously conscientious. 

The  most  serious  practical  work  was  the  repair 
of  the  central  tower,  whose  four  piers  had  become 
so  crushed  that  they  had  to  be  nearly  rebuilt,  a 
dangerous  work,  which  it  has  since  been  my  too 
frequent  lot  to  repeat,  and  a  most  unenviable  lot  it  is. 

Let  me  impress  two  or  three  great  principles 
on  the  mind  of  those  who  have  to  undertake  such 
works.  I.  Be  assured  that  no  amount  of  shore- 
ing  can  be  too  much  for  safety,  no  foundations  to 
your  shoreing  too  strong,  and  no  principles  of 
constructing  it  too  well  considered.  II.  Use  the 
hardest  stone  for  your  new  work  which  you  can  pro- 
cure, and  spare  no  pains  in  bonding  it,  and  tying  it 
together  with  copper.  III.  Be  very  slow  in  your 

H  2 


TOO  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

operations,  excepting  at  critical  junctures,  where 
the  very  contrary  is  necessary ;  be  careful  in 
your  principle  of  moveable  supports,  as  you  cut 
away  old  work  ;  set  every  stone  in  the  very  best 
cement,  and  run  in  the  core  with  grout  of  the 
same  material.  IV.  Key  up  well  at  the  top,  and 
leave  your  shoreing  a  long  time  after  the  work  is 
done,  and  then  remove  it  with  the  greatest  care. 
V.  (Though  more  properly  first.)  Tie  your  tower 
well  together  with  iron  before  you  begin,  and  take 
especial  care  of  your  foundations.  Above  all, 
have  a  thoroughly  practical  clerk  of  the  works, 
neither  too  young,  nor  too  old. 

The  shoreing  must  be  all  of  undivided  timbers, 
and  often  of  four  or  more  such  balks,  bound  and 
bolted  together  into  one  by  irons. 

The  fittings  of  St.  Mary's  were  not  very  suc- 
cessful ;  but,  as  a  whole,  it  was  beyond  question  the 
best  restoration  then  carried  out,  nor  have  many 
since  been  in  the  main  much  better.  My  valued 
friend,  Mr.  Jesse  Watts  Russell,  of  Ham  Hall,  was 
a  munificent  patron  of  this  work  ;  and  this  led  to  a 
friendship  which  has  lasted  unshaken  ever  since.3 

I  may  here  mention  that  during  the  years  I 
have  been  chronicling,  our  poor-law  work  still 
continued ;  but  that  we  were  erecting  a  very 
different  class  of  building,  usually  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan style,  and  in  many  cases  of  really  good 
design.  I  may  mention  especially  those  at  Dun- 
mow  and  Billericay  in  Essex,  Belper,  Windsor, 
Amersham,  and  Macclesfield.  Some  of  these, 
indeed,  went  almost  as  much  too  far  in  this 
direction,  as  the  earlier  ones  in  meanness. 

8  He  died  some  few  years  after  this  was  written. — ED. 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  101 

We  competed  frequently,  too,  at  this  time,  for 
county  lunatic  asylums,  though  with  less  success. 
The  vigour  with  which  my  partner  entered  upon 
these,  and  his  assiduous  energy  in  obtaining  the 
opinions  of  practical  authorities  on  questions  of 
arrangement,  were  beyond  all  praise.  These 
competition  drawings  were  usually  prepared  at  his 
private  house  at  Kennington,  where  he  gave  up 
all  his  sitting-rooms,  and  peopled  the  house  with 
clerks,  who  had  all  their  meals  together,  and  had 
half  an  hour  for  a  good  game  in  his  grounds, 
every  other  minute  of  the  day  being  devoted  to 
the  closest  work,  in  which  he,  and  often  I,  joined 
as  zealously  as  any  of  them. 

Meanwhile,  my  church  practice  rapidly  in- 
creased in  quantity  and  in  merit.  I  recollect  with 
regret  one  work  of  restoration  to  which  I  devoted 
my  very  best  energies,  but  which  was  rendered 
abortive  by  one  false  step. 

Designs  were  advertised  for,  for  the  restoration 
of  the  beautiful  chapel  of  St.  Mary  on  Wakefield 
Bridge ;  and  I  devoted  myself  with  the  greatest 
earnestness  to  the  investigation  of  the  relics  of  its 
destroyed  detail.  I  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Burli- 
son,  then  clerk  of  the  works  to  the  church  at 
Chesterfield,  and  by  examining  the  heaps  of 
dtbris  in  the  river  wall,  &c.,  we  discovered  very 
nearly  everything ;  and  I  made,  I  believe,  a  very 
perfect  design,  illustrated  by  beautiful  drawings, 
the  perspective  views  being  made  by  my  friend  Mr. 
Johnson.  My  report  I  viewed  as  a  masterpiece. 
I  succeeded,  and  the  work  was  carried  out,  and 
would  have  been  a  very  great  success,  but  that 
the  contractor,  Mr.  Cox,  who  had  been  my  carver 


iO2  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

and  superintendent  to  the  Martyrs'  Memorial, 
had  a  handsome  offer  made  him  for  the  semi- 
decayed  front,  to  set  up  in  a  park  hard  by.  He 
then  mad6  an  offer  to  execute  a  new  front  in 
Caen  stone,  in  place  of  the  weather-beaten  old 
one  ;  and  pressed  his  suit  so  determinedly,  that, 
in  an  evil  hour,  his  offer  was  accepted.  I 
recollect  being  much  opposed  to  it ;  but  I  am 
filled  with  wonder  to  think  how  I  ever  was  in- 
duced to  consent  to  it  at  all,  as  it  was  contrary  to 
the  very  principles  of  my  own  report,  in  which 
I  had  quoted  from  Petit's  book  the  lines 
beginning, — 

"  Beware,  lest  one  lost  feature  ye  efface/'  &c. 

I  never  repented  but  once,  and  that  is  ever  since. 

The  new  front  was  a  perfect  masterpiece  of 
beautiful  workmanship,  but  it  was  new,  and,  in  just 
retribution,  the  Caen  stone  is  now  more  rotten  than 
the  old  work,  which  is  set  up  as  an  ornament  to 
some  gentleman's  grounds.  I  think  of  this  with 
the  utmost  shame  and  chagrin. 

During  all  this  distracting  period  we  lived  in 
the  same  house  in  which  my  office  was  placed.  I 
fear  it  was  wrong  towards  my  wife  to  subject 
her  to  such  disturbances,  particularly  as  her  health, 
after  the  birth  of  my  second  son,  was  very  indif- 
ferent. In  1844,  however,  we  happily  moved  to 
St.  John's  Wood,  where  my  other  three  boys  were 
born. 

I  have  little  recollection  of  the  visits  from  or 
to  my  relations  at  this  time.  It  seems,  to  look 
back  upon,  like  a  tumultuous  sea  of  business  and 
agitation,  leaving  no  time  for  the  claims  of  natural 


CHAP.  IL]  Recollections.  103 

affection,  or  of  friendship,  though  I  hope  it  was 
not  so  bad  as  my  memory  seems,  by  its  blankness, 
to  suggest.  We  used,  however,  in  most  years,  to 
go  to  the  sea-side,  and  on  one  of  these  occasions  I 
made  my  first  continental  trip  of  one  single  day.  It 
was  simply  to  Calais,  where  my  sketch-book  tells 
me  I  must  have  worked  violently,  for  I  made 
many  sketches. 

At  this  time  we  were  regular  attendants  at  the 
church  of  St.  Martin-in-the-Fields,  where  Sir 
Henry  Dukinfield  was  incumbent,  and  after  leav- 
ing Spring  Gardens,  we  continued  to  go  there  in 
all  seasons  and  weathers,  till  Sir  Henry  resigned 
the  living.  We  had  the  greatest  respect  and 
affection  for  this  excellent  man,  which  continued 
up  to  his  death,  and  he  was  godfather  to  our 
youngest  child,  who  is  called  after  him. 

My  wife  made,  in  most  years,  long  sojourns  with 
her  parents  at  Boston,  and  my  hasty  runs  down 
there  were  a  great  relief  and  pleasure.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Oldrid  were  admirable  people,  most  sterling 
characters.  A  triple  union  had  made  our  families 
in  every  way  one,  and  our  mutual  visits  were 
periods  of  great  pleasure  and  happiness,  as  well 
as  of  great  advantage  to  my  wife. 

I  may  here  mention  that  during  this  period  the 
Cambridge  Camden  Society,  with  many  of  whose 
views  I  strongly  sympathized,  and  who  had  been 
at  one  time  most  friendly,  had  suddenly,  and  with 
no  reason  that  I  could  ever  discover,  become 
my  most  determined  opponents.  My  subsequent 
success  was,  for  many  years,  in  spite  of  every  effort 
on  their  part  to  put  me  down  by  criticisms  of  the 
most  galling  character.  No  matter  how  strenuous 


IO4  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

my  endeavours  at  improvement,  everything  was 
met  by  them  with  scorn  and  contumely.  I  be- 
lieve, though  I  did  not  know  it  at  the  time,  that 
this  partly  originated  in  a  mistake.  They  had 
recommended  me  to  the  restoration  of  a  church  in 
Berks,  and  a  parish  opposition  having  been  got 
up  against  restoring  the  ancient  and  very  fine 
open  seats,  Archdeacon  Thorpe,  the  President  of 
the  Society  (in  whose  archdeaconry  it  was  situated), 
went  with  me  to  a  parish-meeting,  to  endeavour  to 
quell  the  opposition.  His  eloquence  and  archidia- 
conal  authority  were  alike  unavailing,  and  the 
farmers  carried  their  point  against  him,  to  his  no 
small  chagrin.4  I  fancy  that  the  members  of  the 
Society  vented  their  vexation  upon  me,  though  I 
was  as  earnest  in  the  cause  as  they,  and  that  they 
believed  the  adverse  vote  was  to  have  been  ac- 
tually carried  into  execution,  whereas  I  had 
watched  my  opportunity,  and  had  effected  by 
default,  what  the  archdeacon  had  failed  to  carry  by 
assault,  and  I  had  in  fact  gained  my  point  to  the 
full,  without  saying  a  word  about  it,  so  that  I  had, 
in  reality,  a  double  claim  upon  their  approval. 

I  suppose  that  I  was  not  thought  a  sufficiently 
high  churchman,  and  as  they  fell  in  at  the  time 
with  my  very  excellent  friends  Carpenter  and 
Butterfield,  they  naturally  enough  took  them 
under  their  wing.  This  no  one  could  complain 
of :  but  the  attempt  to  elevate  them,  by  the  syste- 
matic depreciation  of  another  equally  zealous 
labourer  in  the  same  vineyard,  was  anything  but 
fair.  I  never  would,  however,  publicly  com- 

*  The  chancel  of  this  church  I  did  not  do.  It  was  done 
some  years  later  by  a  local  clerk  of  the  works. 


CHAP,  ii.]  Recollections.  105 

plain,  and  my  constant  answer  when  urged  to 
do  so,  was,  "  that  those  who  are  rowing  in  the 
same  boat  must  avoid  righting."  I  therefore  bore 
with  their  injustice  patiently,  chiefly  grieving  that 
the  leading  advocates  of  so  great  and  good  a 
cause  should  not  act  on  principles  better  calculated 
to  recommend  it  to  the  moral  perception  of  the 
public.  I  think  it  right  to  mention  these  facts, 
though  it  is  many  years  since  I  have  had  any 
cause  to  complain,  and  though  I  now  number 
many  of  the  leaders  of  the  Society  among  my  most 
esteemed  friends.  I  remember  one  amusing  little 
key  to  their  line  of  conduct.  They  had  criticized 
one  of  the  very  best  churches  I  had  ever  built  (and 
one  in  which  all  their  principles  were  carried  out  to 
the  letter)  in  a  way  which  led  to  a  remonstrance 
from  the  incumbent,  who  pointed  out  glaring 
errors  in  matters  of  fact.  The  line  of  defence 
they  took  was  this,  that  as  they  had  had  nothing 
on  which  to  ground  their  critique  but  a  small 
lithographic  view,  the  onus  of  any  errors  they 
might  have  fallen  into,  did  not  lie  with  themselves, 
but  with  the  architect,  who  had  abstained  from 
submitting  his  working  plans  for  their  examination. 
With  all  its  faults,  however,  the  good  which  the 
Society  has  done  cannot  possibly  be  over- rated. 
They  have,  it  is  true,  like  all  enthusiastic  re- 
formers, often  pressed  views,  in  themselves  good, 
too  far,  and  their  tendencies  have  at  times  been 
too  great  towards  an  imitation  of  obsolete  ritual- 
isms ;  but  in  the  main  their  work  has  been  sound 
and  good.  Their  reprobation  of  bad  work  has 
never  been  blameable,  indeed  at  the  present  time,6 
6  About  1860.— ED. 


io6  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

it  is  too  mild  by  far.  It  is,  I  think,  the  duty  of 
such  a  Society  to  rebuke  the  atrocities  of  false 
architects  with  unflinching  courage.  What  I  com- 
plain of  is,  their  attempt  just  at  this  period,  to 
crush  those  who  were  labouring  strenuously  in 
the  same  cause,  and  the  same  direction  with  them- 
selves ;  and  that,  with  the  sole  object,  so  far  as  I 
could  ever  ascertain,  of  the  more  easily  elevating 
others  whom  they  viewed  as  more  distinctly  their 
own  representatives.  To  expose  the  misdoings 
of  ignorance  and  vandalism  was  their  duty ;  to 
point'out  the  shortcomings  of  their  fellow-labourers 
would  have  been  a  kindness  ;  but  to  treat  friends 
and  allies  with  studied  scorn  and  contumely, 
through  a  series  of  years,  because  they  had  not 
sworn  implicit  allegiance  to  their  absolute  regime, 
was  discreditable  to  the  sacred  cause  which  they 
professed  to  make  the  object  of  their  endeavours, 
and  ended  in  undermining  their  influence,  through 
the  obvious  self-seeking  it  evinced ;  thus  damaging 
the  movement  they  otherwise  had  so  ably  ad- 
vocated. 

Even  Pugin  himself  could  not  escape  their  lash, 
his  single  sin  being  his  independent  existence. 
It  is  vexatious  to  reflect  that  the  vigour  of  the 
Society,  and  its  tendency  to  unfair  dealing,  seem  to 
have  varied  directly  But  it  must  be  remembered 
that  it  was  then  young  and  vigorous,  was  natu- 
rally somewhat  intoxicated  by  success,  and  was 
especially  open  to  the  constant  temptation  of  such 
bodies  to  rate  the  success  of  the  Society  itself 
above  that  of  the  cause,  and  consequently  to 
estimate  persons  rather  by  their  loyalty  than  by 
their  merits. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HAVING  arrived  at  a  point  closely  approaching  to 
what  I  view  as  the  most  important  era  in  my 
professional  life,  I  will  offer  a  few  observations 
upon  the  position  of  the  great  revival  of  Gothic 
architecture  at  this  period  (viz.  about  1844),  and 
also  as  to  my  own  humble  share  in  it,  up  to  that 
date. 

It  is  almost  vexatious  when  we  consider  how 
great  an  event  that  revival  really  has  been,  to 
recollect,  at  the  same  time,  how  unconscious  one 
felt  of  this  fact  during  its  earlier  years. 

I  call  these  its  earlier  years,  because  I  hardly 
view  those  which  preceded  1830  (or  even  a  later 
date),  as  belonging  to  the  period  of  the  revival  at 
all.  Writers  on  this  subject  are  wont  to  talk 
about  Strawberry  Hill,  and  a  number  of  such  base 
efforts,  as  the  early  works  of  the  revival.  They 
may  be  so  in  a  certain  sense,  but  one  can  scarcely 
trace  much  connexion  between  them  and  the 
work  of  its  really  vigorous  period,  and,  as  I  per- 
sonally know  little,  and  knew  nothing,  about  them, 
I  will  leave  them  wholly  out  of  the  question. 

When  I  first  commenced  sketching  from  Gothic 
buildings  (which  was  about  1825,  though  I  had 
taken  delight  in  them  a  few  years  earlier),  I  did 


io8  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

not  in  the  smallest  degree  connect  my  feelings 
towards  them  with  any  thought  of  the  revival  of 
the  style.  I  think  that  a  very  base  church  at 
Windsor,  (putting  aside  the  ludicrous  "  Gothic 
Temple "  at  Stowe,  which  belongs  I  suppose  to 
the  Strawberry  Hill  type),  was  the  first  modern 
Gothic  building  I  ever  saw.  This  was,  I  fancy, 
about  1823,'  and  bad  as  it  is,  I  recollect  its  giving 
me  some  pleasure.  On  a  visit  to  London  the 
next  year  I  remember  seeing  the  yet  baser  church 
at  Somers  town,  since  celebrated  by  Pugin  in  his 
"  Contrasts."  I  do  not  think  that  this  was  very 
gratifying  to  me,  though,  during  the  same  visit,  I 
recollect  seeing  with  extreme  delight  the  restora- 
tion of  the  reredos  in  Westminster  Abbey,  then 
in  hand:  that  of  Henry  VII. 's  chapel  had,  I 
think,  been  already  completed.  The  great  majority 
of  new  churches  were  still  classic,  and  I  remember 
that  in  1826,  when  my  father  had  to  rebuild  his 
church,  the  idea  of  making  it  "  Gothic  "  was  con- 
sidered quite  visionary,  nor  am  I  conscious  of  any 
practical  object  occurring  to  me  while  studying 
Gothic  architecture  till  many  years  after  this  time. 
I  did  so,  purely  from  the  love  of  it. 

A  great  deal  is  said,  too,  as  to  the  influence  on 
the  public  taste  of  different  publications,  in  leading 
to  the  appreciation  and  the  revival  of  mediaeval 
architecture,  and  it  would  be  unfair  to  ignore  such 
influence.  I  believe,  however,  that  the  effect  was 
really  of  a  reciprocal  kind.  The  natural  current 
of  human  thought  had  taken  a  turn  towards  our 
own  ancient  architecture,  and  this  led  to  its  in- 
vestigation and  illustration,  while  such  investigation 
1  The  church  was,  I  find,  erected  111-1822. — ED. 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  109 

and  illustration  in  their  turn  reacted  upon  the  mental 
feelings  which  had  originated  them  ;  so  that,  by  a 
kind  of  alternate  action,  spread  over  a  series  of 
years,  the  mind  of  the  public  was,  both  awakened 
to  a  feeling  for  the  beauties  of  the  style,  and  in- 
structed in  its  principles.  So  far  as  I  was  per- 
sonally concerned,  my  love  of  Gothic  architecture 
was  wholly  independent  of  books  relating  to  it ; 
none  of  which,  I  may  say,  I  had  seen  at  the  time 
when  I  took  to  visiting  and  sketching  Gothic 
churches.  The  first  prints  I  had  met  with  bearing 
upon  the  subject  (for  I  do  not  think  that  I  read 
the  article)  were  in  the  "  Encyclopedia  Edinensis," 
where,  under  the  head  of  "  Architecture,"  were 
two  or  three  engravings  illustrative  of  our  style  ; 
the  west  front  of  Rheims  Cathedral,  an  internal 
view  of  Rosslyn  Chapel,  and  a  view  of  an  Epis- 
copal church  at  Edinburgh.  The  latter,  by-the-bye, 
must  have  been  a  very  early  work  (as  it  was  about 
1823  that  I  saw  this  print),  and  it  was,  I  fancy, 
rather  in  advance  of  its  day.  After  this  I  saw 
nothing  tending  in  the  same  direction,  beyond  one 
volume  of  Lysons'  "  Magna  Britannia,"  till  after  I 
had  left  home  to  read  with  my  uncle  in  1826,  and 
then  what  I  saw  was  very  slight,  Storer's  "  Cathe- 
drals "  being  the  choicest  and  dearest  to  my 
memory.  It  must  have  been  very  long  after- 
wards that  I  first  became  acquainted  with  any  of 
Britton's  works. 

So  far,  then,  as  my  own  consciousness  goes, 
books  had  little  to  do  with  the  earnest  stirring  up 
to  a  love  of  the  subject  which  I  experienced.  I  was 
unconsciously  subjected  to  the  same  potent  influ- 
ence which  was  acting  upon  the  public  mind,  and 


1 1  o  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

which  was  rather  the  cause  than  the  effect  of  the 
publications  which  subsequently  so  much  aided  it. 

Among  the  books  which  did  most  to  aid  the 
revival  in  these  early  days  was  Pugin's  (sen.) 
"  Specimens  of  Gothic  Architecture."  This, 
though  it  first  appeared  in  1821,  came  out  in  its 
present  more  perfect  form  in  1825.  Its  great 
utility  was  that  it  set  people  measuring  details, 
instead  of  merely  sketching,  and  its  practical  effect 
was  to  lead  architects,  who  attempted  to  build 
Gothic  churches,  to  give  some  little  attention  to 
detail.  The  specimens  given  were  mostly  of  late 
date,  but  the  spirit  of  the  work,  rather  than  its 
actual  contents,  was  its  great  value,  and  the  several 
volumes  of  "  Examples  "  which  followed  carried  on 
the  same  feeling. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  the  share 
taken  by  the  younger  Pugin  in  these  works,  and 
what  he  saw  of  their  preparation,  which  stirred 
up  within  him  that  burning  sentiment  which  has 
produced  such  extraordinary  results.  I  should  be 
disposed  also  to  attribute  to  the  first  of  these 
publications  a  share  in  the  merits  of  Mr.  Barry's 
Islington  churches,  which,  with  all  their  faults  and 
their  strange  commissioners'  ritualisms,  were  for  this 
period  wonderfully  advanced  works.  They  were 
going  on  while  I  was  in  my  articles  (1827-30), 
and  I  doubt  whether  anything  so  good  was  done 
(excepting  by  Pugin)  for  ten  years  later ;  indeed, 
in  their  own  parish  nothing  so  good  has  been  done 
since.  For  myself,  I  can  hardly  say  too  much  as 
to  the  benefit  derived  from  Pugin's  "  Specimens." 
I  found  them  at  Mr.  Edmeston's  when  I  was  first 
articled  to  him,  and  they  at  once  had  the  effect  of 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  1 1 1 

leading  me  to  the  most  careful  measuring,  and 
laying  down  with  scrupulous  accuracy,  of  the  details 
of  the  works  I  sketched.  Indeed,  the  greater  part 
of  my  holidays  was  spent  in  making  such  detailed 
measurements.  All  thanks  and  honour  then  to 
the  older  Pugin,  however  much  our  illuminati 
may  sneer. 

So  far  as  I  was  personally  concerned,  nearly 
another  decade  had  to  pass  before  my  studies 
became  practically  productive.  I  followed  up 
sketching  with  more  or  less  assiduity  according  to 
circumstances,  but  still  with  little  thought  of  its  be- 
coming practically  useful ;  I  still  pursued  it  solely 
from  the  love  of  it.  Once  during  this  period  I, 
for  practice  sake,  entered  into  a  competition, 
and  chose  my  favourite  style.  I  have  by  me  also 
two  designs  for  gothic  churches,  which  I  made 
with  an  idea  of  submitting  them,  as  probationer's 
drawings,  to  the  Royal  Academy.  They  have 
some  merit,  though  showing  most  extraordinary 
notions  of  ritual.  I  have  already  said  that  church 
architecture  during  this  period  had  gone  back. 
Barry's  Islington  churches  were  princely  com- 
pared with  those  of  this  dark  decade ;  and  my  own 
awakening  attempts,  from  1838  to  1841,  were  as 
bad  or  nearly  so,  as  the  rest,  pressed  down  as  I  was 
on  the  one  hand  by  the  intensity  of  the  "  cheap 
church  "  mania,  and  on  the  other  by  an  utter  want 
of  appreciation  of  what  a  church  should  be. 

From  this  darkness  the  subject  was  suddenly 
opened  out  by  Augustus  Welby  Pugin,  and  the 
Cambridge  Camden  Society.  From  that  time  on 
to  1 844  was  the  great  period  of  practical  awaken- 
ing, and  by  the  end  of  it  the  revival  was  going  on 


H2  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

with  determined  and  rapid  success.  By  this  time 
"  shams  "  had  been  pretty  generally  discarded  by 
all  architects  not  hopelessly  in  the  mire.  The  old 
system  of  solid  and  genuine  construction  had 
generally  been  revived,  and  truth,  reality,  and 
"  true  principles "  were  accepted  as  the  guiding 
stars  of  architecture;  while  a  more  correct  ritualism 
had  been,  so  far  as  the  opposition  of  party  feel- 
ing permitted,  to  a  considerable  extent  adopted. 
Pugin's  own  works  were,  of  course,  limited  (or 
nearly  so)  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Their 
clergy  had  sunk  fully  as  low  as  our  own  in  their 
notions  of  ecclesiastical  arrangement  and  design, 
and  he  had  much  the  same  difficulties  to  contend 
with  as  we  had.  His  success  was  wonderful,  for, 
though  his  actual  architecture  was  scarcely  worthy 
of  his  genius,  the  result  of  his  efforts  in  the  revival 
of  "  true  principles,"  as  well  as  in  the  recovery 
of  all  sorts  of  subsidiary  arts,  glass  painting, 
carving,  sculpture,  works  in  iron,  brass,  the  pre- 
cious metals  and  jewellery,  painted  decoration, 
needlework,  bookbinding,  woven  fabrics,  encaustic 
tiles,  and  every  variety  of  ornamental  work,  was 
truly  amazing.  Amongst  Anglican  architects,  Car- 
penter and  Butterfield  were  the  apostles  of  the 
high  church  school — I,  of  the  multitude. 

I  had  begun  earlier  than  they,  indeed,  Camber- 
well  church  dates  before  their  commencement ; 
but  as  they  became  the  mouth-pieces — or  hand- 
pieces — of  the  Cambridge  Camden  Society,  while 
I  took  an  independent  course,  it  followed  that  they 
were  chiefly  employed  by  men  of  advanced  views, 
who  placed  no  difficulties  in  their  way,  but  the 
reverse ;  while  I,  doomed  to  deal  with  the  pro- 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  113 

miscuous  herd,  had  to  battle  over  and  over  again 
the  first  prejudices,  and  had  to  be  content  with 
such  success  as  I  could  get.  The  one,  cast 
seed  only  into  good  ground  :  the  other,  as  luck 
would  have  it,  over  the  wayside,  upon  stony 
ground,  or  among  the  thorns ;  and  only  now  and 
then,  quite  exceptionally,  and  by  some  happy 
chance,  upon  a  bit  of  good  soil.  Each  was  a 
necessary  work.  Mine  was  unquestionably  the 
more  arduous,  and  was  not,  perhaps,  the  least 
useful,  though  far  from  being  the  most  agreeable, 
while  it  led  to  thankless  abuse  from  both  sides. 
I  look  back,  however,  upon  my  labours  at  that 
time  (1841-44)  with  some  satisfaction,  and  believe 
that  they  have  in  the  main  effected  much  good. 

The  circumstance  which  brought  about  a  new 
era  in  my  professional  life  was  this. 

Late  in  the  summer  of  1844  my  attention  was 
called  by  a  city  friend  to  the  advertisement  for 
designs  for  the  rebuilding  of  St.  Nicholas'  church, 
at  Hamburg,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
great  fire.  My  friend  had  been  requested  (though 
quite  informally)  to  induce  one  of  the  English 
church  architects  to  enter  the  lists  of  this  Euro- 
pean competition,  and  he  fixed  upon  me. 

Strange  to  say,  I  had  not  then  seen  anything  of 
continental  architecture,  excepting  during  part  of 
two  days  which  I  had  spent  at  Calais.  I  at  once, 
however,  made  up  my  mind  that  the  style  of  the 
design  must  be  German  gothic,  and  that  I  must 
without  delay  make  this  my  study.  I  accordingly 
set  out  on  my  first  continental  tour,  and  un- 
bounded was  the  enthusiasm  with  which  I  under- 
took it.  I  was  accompanied  by  my  brother  John, 


ii4  S*r  Gilbert  Scott. 

and  at  first  by  a  young  lawyer,  my  friend  Mr. 
Smith,  and  a  young  barrister,  Mr.  Cameron  (both 
long  since  departed). 

Oddly  enough,  it  never  occurred  to  me  that 
France  should  ^be  my  first  field  of  study  ;  I  knew 
what  had  been  written  by  Whewell,  Petit,  and 
Moller,  but  I  had  not  gathered  this  fact  from 
what  they  had  said.  I  began  with  one  of  the 
worst  countries  for  pointed  architecture,  Belgium, 
though  to  me  it  was  then  an  enchanted  land.  I 
visited  with  great  delight  Bruges,  Ghent,  Tournay, 
Mons,*Hal,  Brussels,  Mechlin,  Antwerp,  Louvain, 
and  Liege. 

My  companions  were  very  agreeable,  but  I  ex- 
perienced what  every  architect  must  feel  who 
travels  with  lay  companions,  the  inconvenience 
arising  from  the  incompatibility  of  their  objects 
with  his  own.  They  had  always  "  done  "  a  place 
before  my  work  was  well  commenced,  and  had  I 
listened  to  their  wishes,  I  should  have  obtained 
scarcely  any  advantage  from  my  tour.  As  it  was, 
I  worked  very  hard  and  got  through  a  great  deal, 
but  it  was  by  fighting  hard  against  adverse  cir- 
cumstances. 

I  would  strongly  advise  architects  to  travel 
only  with  architects,  or  even  alone  rather  than 
with  lay  fellow-travellers. 

I  got  a  fair  day's  work  at  Tournay  owing  to  a 
great  festival  then  going  on,  which  amused  my 
con-voyageurs,  and  at  Hal  I  had  a  luxurious  day 
while  they  were  visiting  Waterloo.  The  pictures 
we  did  enjoy  in  common,  and  certainly  they  are 
a  great  source  of  delight  in  Belgian  travel.  In 
some  places  one  of  my  companions  was  set  as  a 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  \  \  5 

watch  over  me  to  see  that  I  did  not  cause  them 
to  miss  the  trains,  and  I  was  consoled  by  the 
assurance  that  once  arrived  at  Cologne,  they  would 
give  me  as  much  time  as  I  liked. 

Leaving  Belgium,  we  took  the,  customary  line 
by  Aix-la-Chapelle  to  Cologne.  There  my  legal 
companions  had  done  everything  by  the  end  of 
the  first  day,  and  I,  now  out  of  all  patience  with 
lay  intervention,  got  up  the  next  morning  at  four 
or  five  and  started  off  on  my  own  hook  to  Alten- 
berg,  leaving  them  to  take  their  own  course  while 
I  took  mine,  and  arranging  to  rejoin  my  brother 
a  few  days  later. 

I  sketched  pretty  well  everything  at  Altenberg, 
to  the  very  patterns  of  the  glass,  and  I  got  a  good 
day  at  Cologne,  on  which  I  half  worked  myself 
to  death.  I  here  found  that  I  was  in  a  great 
strait,  I  could  not  make  up  my  mind  whether  in 
studying  for  my  Hamburg  design,  I  ought  to 
follow  the  semi- Romanesque,  of  which  Cologne 
supplied  such  a  field  of  study,  or  the  "  complete 
Gothic "  of  the  cathedral  and  of  Altenberg.  I 
was  not  then  aware  of  the  French  origin  of  the 
latter  style,  or  my  decision  might  perhaps  have 
been  different. 

Leaving  Cologne,  I  rejoined  my  brother  at  Bonn, 
and  proceeded  up  the  Rhine,  visiting  Swartz, — 
Rheindorf,  Andernach,  Laach,  Coblentz,  Oberwesel, 
Bacharach,  Mayence,  and  Frankfort,  and,  my 
brother's  patience  exceeding  that  of  my  lawyer 
friends,  I  was  able  to  work  fairly.  Passing  Rema- 
gen,  I  saw  the  little  chapel  then  recently  erected 
at  Apollinarisberg.  Its  architecture  is  bad,  but  I 
was  much  interested  by  seeing  the  frescoes  in 

I    2 


i  1 6  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

course  of  operation,  never  having  seen  art  of  this 
class  before. 

Near  Zinzig,  we  passed  a  long  procession  of 
priests  and  peasants  whom,  after  a  long  puzzle 
with  our  driver,  we  ascertained  to  be  pilgrims 
on  their  way  to  Treves,  to  pay  their  devotions 
to  the  Holy  Coat,  then  being  exhibited.  They 
sang  hymns  as  they  went  on  their  way,  and  were 
accompanied  from  the  village  by  the  clergy  and 
people  of  the  place,  who,  after  going  a  mile  or 
so  to  see  them  on  their  way,  took  an  affectionate 
leave  of  them  and  returned.  We  saw  another 
party  of  pilgrims  afterwards  at  Coblentz  ;  and  an 
English  gentleman  who  had  been  to  Treves,  told 
us  that  such  was  the  vastness  of  the  crowd  that 
it  took  him  a  whole  day  to  get  from  his  hotel  to 
the  cathedral  and  back. 

At  Frankfort  we  were  greatly  interested  by  the 
conversation  of  Dr.  Schopenhauer,  an  old  German 
philosopher,  who  usually  took  his  meals  at  the 
hotel  at  which  we  stayed.  I  think  I  never  met  a 
man  with  such  grand  powers  of  conversation ;  but, 
alas,  he  was  a  determined  infidel.  I  have  since 
met  him  twice  at  the  same  hotel  :  the  last  time 
was  as  late  as  1860,  when  I  with  some  difficulty 
drew  him  out  into  conversation,  which  deafness 
rendered  less  easy  than  formerly,  and  I  was  quite 
astonished  at  his  brilliancy,  and,  but  for  his  infi- 
delity, at  the  noble  philosophical  tone  of  his  thoughts 
and  conversation.  I  meant  to  have  sent  him 
some  books  on  the  evidences,  &c.,  of  Christianity, 
but  I  forgot  it ;  and  when  I  went  to  Frankfort 
last  year,  and  looked  out  for  him,  I  found  his 
portrait  hanging  over  where  he  used  to  sit, 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  1 1 7 

betokening  that  he  had  departed.  May  it  be 
that  his  philosophy  had  previously  become  chris- 
tianized. 

My  brother  John  was  at  this  time  in  a  tran- 
sitional state  between  medicine  and  divinity.  He 
had  given  up  his  first  profession,  and  was  keeping 
his  terms  at  Cambridge  previously  to  entering  the 
Church  ;  and  the  long  vacation  being  now  nearly 
over,  he  was  obliged  to  hasten  our  journey.  We 
accordingly  set  off  on  a  long  diligence  drive  from 
Frankfort  to  Hanover,  which  took  us  two  days 
and  two  nights,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection, 
beside  one  night  on  which  we  rested  at  Cassel. 
I  had  a  peep  only  at  the  exterior  of  St.  Eliza- 
beth's church  at  Marburg,  while  breakfast  was 
going  on.  I  certainly  ought  to  have  stopped,  as 
it  was  the  most  important  church  in  some  respects 
that  I  had  seen  in  Germany. 

We  spent  a  Sunday  at  Hanover,  and  the  next 
day  went  by  rail  to  Brunswick,  with  which  I  was 
very  much  pleased  ;  and  then  to  Magdeburg, 
whence  we  took  a  night  journey  by  steamer  to 
Hamburg. 

Here  my  brother  left  me,  and  I  stayed  on  to 
get  local  information,  and  took  a  diligence  journey 
to  old  Liibeck,  to  my  great  delight,  and  thus 
completed  my  tour. 

On  leaving  Hamburg  by  steamer  for  London, 
I  struck  out  on  the  first  morning  of  the  voyage 
my  design  for  the  church — I  have  the  sketch 
now — but  a  stormy  sea  soon  put  a  stop  to  work. 
The  voyage  took,  I  think,  three  days  and  four 
nights,  during  most  of  which  I  was  in  bed  ;  and, 
on  reaching  home,  I  was  so  ill  as  to  be  laid  up  for 


1 1 8  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

several  days,  during  which  time,  however,  I  was 
enabled  to  complete  my  general  design,  on  the 
drawing  out  of  which  all  force  was  put,  as  I  had 
only  a  month  left  on  returning  to  my  office.  The 
style  I  chose  was  somewhat  later  than  I  should 
now  adopt,  being  founded  rather  on  fourteenth 
than  on  thirteenth  century  work.  I  thought  at 
the  time  that  it  was  earlier.  My  journey  had 
enabled  me  to  catch  the  general  spirit  of  German 
work  at  that  period,  though  I  afterwards  found 
that  I  had  not  done  so  perfectly.  My  design  was, 
however,  in  the  main  a  good  one,  and  the  draw- 
ings were  admirably  finished,  all  hands  being  put 
upon  them,  though  the  best  elevations  were  made 
by  Mr.  Coe  and  Mr.  Street,  the  last-named 
coming  out  now  for  the  first  time,  to  my  obser- 
vation, in  the  prominent  way  which  has  since 
characterised  him.  The  drawings,  which  were 
very  large  and  numerous,  were  sent  off  by  a 
steamer,  which  would,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, have  delivered  them  by  the  time  pre- 
scribed ;  but  an  early  frost  had  stopped  the 
navigation  of  the  Elbe,  and  they  arrived  three 
weeks  after  the  time !  My  agent,  however,  Mr. 
Emilius  Miiller,  was  indefatigable  in  his  nego- 
tiations, and  the  delay  was  condoned. 

When  my  drawings  arrived  and  were  exhibited 
with  the  rest,  the  effect  upon  the  public  mind  in 
Hamburg  was  perfectly  electrical.  They  had 
never  seen  Gothic  architecture  carried  out  in  a 
new  design  with  anything  like  the  old  spirit,  and 
as  they  were  labouring  under  the  old  error  that 
Gothic  was  the  German  ("  Alt  Deutsch ")  style, 
their  feelings  of  patriotism  were  stirred  up  in  a 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  119 

wonderful  manner.  My  design  was  to  their 
apprehension  far  more  German  than  those  of  any 
of  the  German  architects.  Professor  Semper,  my 
most  talented  competitor,  had  grounded  his  design 
on  that  of  the  cathedral  at  Florence,  and  Heideloff, 
Lange,  and  others  had  made  more  or  less  of 
failures,  while  an  English  architect  of  the  name 
of  Atkinson  (the  future  Siberian  explorer),  then 
living  at  Hamburg,  who  had  made  a  powerful 
effort,  had  failed  of  making  his  design  German. 
Mr.  M tiller  kept  me  constantly  supplied  with  ex- 
tracts from  the  newspapers,  &c.,  which  for  the 
most  part  advocated  my  design  with  enthusiasm. 
One  writer  indulged  in  a  poetical  effusion,  while 
by  another  I  was  compared  to  Erwin  von  Stein- 
bach. 

I  subjoin  extracts  from  two  out  of  a  multitude 
of  such  papers  in  my  possession.  These  must 
have  appeared  within  a  few  days  of  the  arrival  of 
my  drawings  ;  the  second,  I  fancy,  may  have  been 
by  the  Rev.  Pastor  Freudenthiel,  one  of  the 
clergymen  of  St.  Nicholas,  who  is  well-known  in 
Germany  as  a  poet. 

From  the  "  Hamburger  Neue  Zeilung"  z^rd  Dec.,  1844. 

Bauplane  fur  die  neue  St.  Nicolai  Kirche. 
Von  allgemeinstem  Interesse  1st  gewiss  die  Ausstellung  der 
39  eingelieferten  Bauplane  fur  die  neue  St.  Nicolai  Kirche,  von 
besonderem  Interesse  fur  den  Kunstverstandigen  aber,  zu  sehen 
wie  verschiedenartig  und  wirklich  bunt  die  Combinationen 
hier  ausfallen,  die  historisch-architectonischen  Elemente  in  den 
Ideen  oft  nur  restaurirt  sind,  so  dass  man  den  Mangel  natiir- 
licher  Schopfungskraft,  welche  das  Angelernte  und  Ueberlieferte 
beherrschen  und  vergessen  machen  soil,  unmittelbar  gewahrt — 
wie  die  Manifestationen  der  Ideen  oft  selbst  geschmacklos  und 
antichristlich  sind,  indem  hier  eine  halbe  Pagode,  dort  ein 
halber  griechischer  Tempel  zum  Vorschein  kommt.  Natiirlich 


I2O  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

aber  fehlt  es  auch  nicht  an  tiichtigen  kernigen  Anschauungen, 
die  wiirdevoll  und  edel  aufgefasst  sind,  wie  die  unter  No.  32, 
"Das  Werk  und  nicht  derMeister" — No.  25,  "Erhabenist 
der  Baukunst  Streben,"  etc.,  doch — "  die  Letzten  werden  die 
Ersten  sein  !  "  No.  39,  "  Labor  ipse  voluptas  "  —  wurde 
durch  den  Frost  zu  Cuxhaven  zuriickgehalten,  und  es  ist  die 
Krone  von  Allen.  Das  Characteristische  diirfte  hier  vornehmlich 
sein :  die  reine  Entwickelung  des  historisch-technischen  Be- 
griffes  christlicher  Baukunst  in  originaler  Klarheit  und  Majes- 
tat.  Die  Phantasie  des  Kiinstlers  ringt  hier  gleichsam  mit  den 
Monumenten  der  Geschichte  und  der  Steg  wird  verherrlicht 
durch  seine  saubere  architectonische  Zeichnung.  Solchen 
Miinster  und  man  wird  ihn  ewig  bewundern  in  seiner  Herr- 
lichkeit ! — Auch  darin  lebt  der  Geist  Ervvin's  von  Steinbach. 

From  the  " Nachrichten"  January  2nd,  1845. 

Ein  Mauerstein  zum  Bauplane  der  St.  Nicolai-Kirche  mit 
dem  Motto  :  "  Labor  ipse  voluptas." 

Wie  hast  Du  aufgebaut,  Du  wack'rer  Meister, 

SQ  kiihn  den  Bau  in  Deinen  Kiinstlerplan, 

Vernichtend  jenen  eitlen,  leeren  Wahn, 

Dass  deutsche  Kunst  mit  uns'rer  Ahnen  Geister 

Zu  Grabe  ging  fur  alle  kiinft'ge  Zeit ! 

Hat  Albion  Dich  vormals  uns  geboren, 

Dich  hat  die  deutsche  Gothik  auserkoren, 

Als  Herold  ihrer  Pracht  und  Herrlichkeit ! 

Das  ist  der  Miinster,  der  mit  heil'gen  Schauern 

In  Strassburg  fullet  jede  Menschenbrust ; 

Das  ist  der  Dom  zu  Coin,  der  heil'ge  Lust 

Erschuf,  zu  bauen  jene  macht'gen  Mauern, 

Die  fromm  der  Ahn  in  alter  Zeit  begann, 

Ein  Engel  musste  lichtvoll  Dich  umschweben, 

Als,  Meister,  Dein  Gebild  erstand  aus  schonem  Streben 

Das  stolz  und  kiihn  nun  strebet  himmelan  ! 

Mein  Hamburg,  auf,  zum  allerschonsten  Bunde 

Erbaue  solch  ein  Werk  nach  schwerer  Zeit, 

Dass  staunen  alle  Volker  !     Weit  und  breit 

Durchdringe  jedes  Land  die  hehre  Kunde, 

Dass  nun  Sanct  Nicolaus  in  lichter  Pracht 

Verherrlicht  wieder  unsers  Hamburgs  Mauern, 

Dann  wird  der  spat'ste  Enkel  nimmer  trauern 

So  lang  der  Thurm  die  Vaterstadt  bewacht, 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  121 

Dass  frommer  Glaube  bei  den  Ahnen  schwand, 
Dass  nicht  aus  Nacht  ein  Gottestag  erstand. 
Ja,  ihm  verkiinden  noch  geweihte  Sagen 
In  Liedern  gross  und  hehr  die  fromme  Kraft, 
Mit  der  ein  Gott  begeistert  Volk  geschafft, 
Als  Armuth  mit  der  Armuth  sich  verband, 
Um  Gaben  mild  aus  ihren  armen  Handen 
Durch  langer  Jahre  Zeiten  fortzuspenden  ; 
Bis  schon  vollendet  jenes  Werk  erstand. 
Es  wird  der  Glaube  einst  zum  sel'gen  Schauen, 
Die  Hoffnung  wandelt  sich  in  Gottvertrauen, 
Nur  Liebe  bleibt — Drum  lasst  uns  ewig  bauen 
In  jeder  Freudenzeit,  in  schwerer  Stunde 
Ein  jedes  Werk  auf  ihrem  reinen  Grunde. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  all  the 
notices  were  as  favourable  as  these,  many  were 
so,  and  went  very  much  into  detail,  and  several 
pamphlets  appeared  on  the  same  side.  Some, 
however,  were  written  by  persons  favourable  to 
other  styles,  and  to  other  architects,  and  were  in 
some  cases  violent  in  their  opposition. 

As  it  may  perhaps  not  be  uninteresting  to  know 
the  line  which  at  this  time  I  took  in  my  advocacy 
of  Gothic  architecture,  I  will  subjoin  some  extracts 
from  the  paper  by  which  my  design  was  accom- 
panied. 

"  A  strong  feeling  has  for  some  years  existed  in 
most  parts  of  Europe  in  favour  of  the  study  and 
careful  investigation  of  the  principles  of  that 
beautiful  but  long-neglected  style  of  architecture 
of  which  such  glorious  examples  are  to  be  found 
in  the  ecclesiastical  edifices  of  Germany,  France, 
England,  and  other  northern  countries.  This 
feeling,  and  the  investigation  consequent  upon  it, 
has  almost  universally  removed  the  absurd  preju- 
dices of  the  last  three  centuries,  which,  by  making 


1 2  2  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  architecture  of  Greece  and  Rome  the  standard 
for  all  other  countries,  however  differing  in  climate, 
manners,  or  religion,  condemned  as  barbarous  all 
the  indigenous  productions  of  the  countries  in- 
habited by  the  Teutonic  nations.  A  careful  exa- 
mination, however,  of  these  works  which  have 
been  so  ruthlessly  condemned  has  convinced  every 
inquirer  that,  so  far  from  being  barbarous,  they 
are  the  greatest  productions  of  human  art,  the 
most  perfectly  suited  to  the  climate,  manners,  and 
natural  materials  of  the  countries  where  they  exist, 
and,  above  all,  that  as  sacred  edifices  they  excel  all 
other  buildings  in  the  appropriateness  to  the  spirit 
of  the  religion  from  which  they  have  emanated. 
The  style  of  these  exquisite  buildings  has  a  strong 
and  natural  claim  to  be  used  for  ecclesiastical  pur- 
poses by  the  architects  of  all  nations  of  northern 
Europe,  as  being  that  style  which  spontaneously 
rose  and  developed  itself  among  all  the  nations  of 
German  origin  under  the  peculiar  influence  of  the 
Christian  religion.  That  this  style  did  not  owe 
its  origin  or  developement  in  any  degree  to  the 
particular  influence  of  the  Church  of  Rome  is  fully 
shown  by  the  fact  that  it  never  arrived  at  any 
great  perfection  south  of  the  Alps,  that  it  was 
there  considered  as  a  foreign  style,  and  that  its 
extinction  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  commenced 
by  the  efforts  of  the  ecclesiastics  at  Rome,  and 
was  carried  out  through  the  influence  of  Italian 
artists. 

"It  was  natural  that  when,  after  three  centuries 
of  neglect,  the  beauties  of  our  native  architecture 
began  again  to  be  appreciated,  disputes  should 
arise  between  the  different  branches  of  the  great 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  123 

Teutonic  family  for  the  honour  of  its  first  inven- 
tion. Warm  and  elaborate  arguments  have  accord- 
ingly taken  place  :  Germany,  France,  and  England 
have  zealously  pressed  their  claims,  with  more  or 
less  success,  according  to  the  ingenuity  of  their 
respective  champions.  The  subject  of  dispute,  it 
must  be  confessed,  has  been  unimportant,  but,  like 
the  study  of  alchemy,  though  fruitless  in  its  imme- 
diate object,  it  has  tended  much  to  promote  the 
successful  investigation  of  more  practical  and 
important  questions.  These  frivolous  inquiries 
have  now  merged  into  the  practical  and  detailed 
study  of  the  principles  of  this  noble  style  of  archi- 
tecture, and  questions  as  to  its  origin  and  its 
inventors  have  given  place  to  the  more  important 
inquiry  of  how  it  can  most  successfully  be  revived 
and  re-established.  England  has  taken  her  place 
among  other  nations  in  the  study  and  revival  of 
ecclesiastical  architecture,  and  among  others  the 
architect  who  has  prepared  the  accompanying 
design  has  made  this  the  leading  object  of  his 
labours,  and  it  is  the  opportunity  afforded  by  your 
liberal  advertisement  of  preparing  a  design  in 
some  degree  worthy  of  the  ancient  models,  to  the 
study  of  which  he  has  devoted  himself,  that  has 
induced  him  to  enter  upon  the  present  competition, 
which  he  docs  rather  for  the  delight  he  feels  in  the 
subject  than  from  any  great  hopes  of  success,"  &c. 

Again,  on  the  choice  of  the  variety  of  pointed 
architecture  to  be  made  use  of, — 

"In  tracing  the  history  of  an  art  which  was 
subject  to  continual  and  uniformly  progressive 
change  it  is  a  matter  of  considerable  difficulty  to 
determine  at  what  precise  period  it  had  arrived 


i  24  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

at  the  greatest  degree  of  perfection.  The  taste 
of  individuals  may  vary  much  on  the  merits  of 
such  a  question,  and  where  every  phase  of  that 
art  possesses  peculiar  merits  and  beauties  of  its 
own,  the  feelings  of  the  same  person  may  be 
subject  to  much  change,  according  to  the  im- 
pressions produced  upon  the  mind  by  the  con- 
templations of  specimens  of  different  periods. 
As,  however, '  the  gradual  progression  of  eccle- 
siastical architecture  in  northern  Europe  com- 
menced with  a  style  which  was  evidently  bar- 
barous, but  rose  by  degrees  to  the  highest  degree 
of  beauty  and  excellence,  and  as  unquestionably 
it  afterwards  became  lowered  and  corrupted  and 
finally  extinguished,  it  is  clear  that  it  must  have 
had  a  culminating  point,  and  that  there  must  be 
one  period  at  which  it  had  obtained  its  greatest 
perfection.  To  ascertain  this  point  with  accuracy 
is  an  important  object  to  those  engaged  in  design- 
ing a  church,  which  ought  not  to  be  less  perfect 
in  its  character  than  corresponding  works  of  the 
best  ages  of  art. 

"  From  a  very  careful  consideration  of  the 
ancient  churches  of  Germany,  France,  and  Eng- 
land, the  author  of  the  present  design  has  been 
led  to  fix  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  viz. 
from  1270  to  1300  A.D.,  as  the  period  at  which 
the  most  perfect  ecclesiastical  architecture  is  to  be 
found ;  very  fine  specimens  are  certainly  to  be 
met  with  both  earlier  and  later  than  these  dates, 
but. still  within  these  limits  appears  to  be  com- 
prised the  period  of  the  fullest  developement  of  the 
style.  That  this  was  a  marked  era  in  the  history 
of  church  architecture  is  proved  by  several  cir- 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  125 

cumstances  in  which  it  differs  from  other  times. 
The  architects  of  the  different  nations  of  Europe, 
in  the  first  instance,  imitated  the  later  works  of 
the  Romans,  but  in  the  course  of  time  they  re- 
modelled these  into  a  style  peculiarly  their  own, 
which  style  is  known  by  the  name  Romanesque, 
Lombardic,  or  (though  erroneously)  Byzantine. 
In  the  working  out  of  this  change  each  nation 
took  its  own  course,  and  the  architectural  styles 
resulting  from  this  change  widely  differed  in 
different  countries.  During  the  twelfth  century, 
however,  each  began  to  introduce  the  pointed 
arch,  accompanied  by  other  features  novel  to  the 
established  manner.  During  the  transition  each 
nation  still  took  its  own  course.  We  accordingly 
find  the  buildings  of  this  period  in  Germany, 
France,  and  England,  widely  differing  from  one 
another.  Towards  the  end,  however,  of  the 
thirteenth  century  they  appear,  by  a  remarkable 
coincidence,  to  have  all  arrived  at  the  same  point, 
though  reaching  it  by  different  routes.  It  is  true 
that  each  country  still  retained  its  peculiar  taste 
and  characteristics,  but  the  essential  principles 
and  elements,  at  this  period,  more  nearly  coincided 
than  at  any  other,  and  from  this  point  they  seem 
to  have  again  diverged,  till  they  at  length  differed 
from  one  another  as  widely  as  before.  Each, 
though  in  different  ways,  departed  from  the  simple 
principles  of  taste,  and  introduced  into  their  archi- 
tecture those  fantastic  and  corrupted  details,  which 
at  length  led  to  the  extinction  of  the  style,  and  a 
return  to  the  architecture  of  ancient  Rome. 

"  Another  peculiar  feature  which  marks  the  era 
which   has  been  named,  is,    that  at   that   epoch, 


126  Sir  Gilder  I  Scoff. 

the  ornamental  foliage  was  in  every  instance 
imitated  from  nature.  The  enrichment  of  earlier 
buildings  had  been  derived  from  classic  antiquity, 
but  in  the  course  of  years  had  grown  into  a 
new  style,  neither  classic  nor  natural.  At  this 
period,  however,  the  artists  fell  back  upon  nature, 
and  we  find  all  the  foliage  and  ornaments  of 
that  time  to  be  copies  of  real  leaves  and  flowers  ; 
while  at  a  later  date  nature  was  again  departed 
from,  and  merely  conventional  forms  again  made 
use  of.  The  same  distinctive  features  may  be 
traced  in  the  sculpture,  stained  glass,  decorative 
painting,  jewellery,  and  other  ecclesiastical  arts 
of  that  period,  which  will  be  found  to  evince  a 
purity  of  taste  and  feeling  never  before  reached  in 
the  same  countries,  and  not  generally  retained  in 
later  times. 

"A  careful  examination  of  the  architecture  of 
this  date  will  show  that  it  possesses  in  its  most 
perfect  form  all  the  peculiar  characteristics  of 
pointed  architecture,  that  it  retains  no  trace  what- 
ever of  the  objectionable  features  of  former  styles, 
and  that  it  is  at  the  same  time  free  from  the 
defects  which  were  subsequently  engrafted  upon 
it.  Every  form  is  perfect  and  elegant  in  its 
design,  from  the  grandest  features  to  the  most 
minute  ornaments.  Individual  buildings  may 
have  their  own  particular  defects,  but  there  is  no 
imperfection  inherent  in  the  style.  It  is  equally 
suited  to  the  most  simple  and  to  the  most  mag- 
nificent structures,  being  susceptible  of  the  greatest 
simplicity  without  becoming  mean,  and  of  the 
utmost  extent  of  decoration  without  the  risk  of 
exuberance." 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  127 

I  then  go  on  to  show  that  it  would  be  incon- 
sistent to  imitate  the  local  characteristics  of  the 
old  buildings  in  the  immediate  district,  because 
these  arose  from  difficulties  as  to  materials,  &c., 
which  then  existed,  but  have  since  ceased,  recom- 
mending rather  "  To  take  advantage  of  the  varied 
beauties  exhibited  by  German  churches  of  corre- 
sponding style  in  general,  than  by  those  of  a 
particular  district ;  and  to  endeavour  so  to  treat  the 
subject  as  we  may  imagine  that  the  ancient  artists 
would  have  done,  if  they  had  possessed  all  the 
practical  advantages  which  can  now  be  obtained." 

I  give  these  lengthy  extracts,  not  from  any 
value  they  possess  in  themselves,  but  in  order  to 
show  the  progress  of  thought  upon  such  subjects 
then  attained. 

The  decision  on  the  design  was  for  some  time 
delayed  ;  and,  during  the  interval,  the  mask  of 
concealed  names  was  so  completely  dropped,  that 
my  design  was  constantly  spoken  of  as  the 
"  Scottisch  "  design,  and  I  was  enabled  to  defend 
myself  personally  against  some  attacks  made  upon 
it.  At  length  it  was  determined  to  call  in  Sulpice 
Boiseree,  and  Zwirner,  the  architect  to  Cologne 
Cathedral.  The  former  could  not  personally 
attend  ;  but  he  wrote  a  sort  of  essay  on  the  sub- 
ject, which  was  considered  to  coincide  with  my 
own  views.  Zwirner,  however,  went  to  Ham- 
burg, and  I  was  advised  by  my  agent,  Emilius 
M  tiller,  to  be  there  in  case  of  being  wanted.  I 
accordingly  crossed  from  Hull,  and  arriving  early 
on  a  Sunday  morning,  was  roused  from  my  slum- 
bers by  the  indefatigable  Miiller,  who  had  dis- 
covered that  he  was  wrong  in  advising  my 


128  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

presence.  I  had  accordingly  to  remain  incognito 
for  the  day,  and  the  next  morning  to  retire  to 
Ltibeck,  where  I  remained  for  some  days.  As  ill- 
luck  would  have  it,  it  was  found  out  by  my  com- 
petitors that  I  had  arrived  ;  and  as  Zwirner  had 
gone,  with  one  of  the  committee,  to  spend  the 
Sunday  at  Llibeck,  I  had  actually  met  him 
(though  unseen)  on  the  road,  which  afforded  a 
fine  card  for  the  invention  of  a  conspiracy.  Of 
this,  however,  I  was  ignorant,  and  I  remained  in 
my  retirement  until  I  heard  that  the  decision  was 
in  my  favour,  and  then  returned  to  Hamburg.  I 
stayed  there  for  a  considerable  time,  to  make 
arrangements  for  commencing  the  execution  of 
the  work.  I  went  there  again  in  September  and 
October  of  the  same  year,  when  a  contract  was 
entered  into  for  the  foundations,  and  we  formally 
broke  ground  on  October  8th,  1845  (L.D.) 

During  this  visit  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
that  admirable  man,  the  Syndic  Sieviking,  the 
founder  of  the  celebrated  Raumen  Haus.  I  have 
never  met  a  more  accomplished  gentleman,  or  a 
more,  charming  and  excellent  man,  or  one  of  a 
more  elegant  mind,  or  more  refined  feelings. 

A  difference  of  opinion  had  arisen  as  to 
whether  transepts  should  be  added  to  my  design, 
omitting  the  second  aisles.  This  alteration  was 
eventually  carried.  I  may  mention  that  I  had 
been  studying  German,  though  in  a  very  moderate 
degree,  from  the  time  that  there  seemed  a 
prospect  of  my  success  ;  and  that  my  assistant, 
Mr.  Burlison,  had  done  so  more  successfully,  and 
had  spent  some  time  this  year  at  Hamburg,  in 
order  to  get  up  practical  information.  My  clerk 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  129 

of  the  works  was  Mr.  Mortimer,  a  very  talented 
man,  who  had  been  engaged  for  me  in  that 
capacity  at  several  buildings,  among  which  was 
St.  Mary's,  Stafford.  Of  this  valued  coadjutor, 
and  his  untimely  end,  I  shall  have  to  speak 
hereafter. 

I  returned  home  by  way  of  Holland,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  myself  acquainted  with  the  use  of 
trass  or  tarras  in  water  cements.  I  visited  on  my 
way  Bremen,  Osnabriick,  Miinster,  and  Xanten. 
The  latter  contains  an  admirable  church,  which 
had  some  influence  on  the  manuring  of  the  Ham- 
burg design.  In  Holland  I  visited  Arnhem, 
Utrecht,  Amsterdam,  Haarlem,  and  Rotterdam. 
The  journey  from  Hamburg  to  Xanten  was  by 
diligence,  as  were  most  of  my  inland  journeys 
in  Germany  for  some  years  later. 

The  information  I  obtained  in  Holland  was 
most  serviceable,  and  was  conclusive  in  favour  of 
tarras.  I  brought  some  of  it  home  with  me,  and 
followed  up  experiments  which  were  equally  con- 
clusive in  their  result.  The  pains  taken  in 
Holland  on  government  works  in  the  preparation 
of  mortar  is  truly  amazing.  I  went  into  a  shed 
where  eighty  people  were  employed ;  they  were  in 
four  divisions,  twenty  facing  twenty,  all  armed 
with  a  kind  of  hoe.  The  materials  for  the  mortar 
(consisting  of  trass  and  dry  slacked  hydraulic 
lime)  were  placed  in  two  lengthened  heaps  be- 
tween two  twenties  of  men,  who,  at  the  word  of 
command  from  a  kind  of  sergeant,  commenced 
mixing  the  ingredients  in  the  most  careful  and 
systematic  manner.  This  done,  the  two  ranks 
shouldered  arms,  and  a  man  ran  through  the  shed 

K 


130  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

with  a  watering-pot,  sprinkling  a  small  quantity  of 
water  on  the  powder,  after  which  the  mixing  was 
repeated  as  before.  Again  the  aquarius  ran 
through,  and  again  the  mixing  was  repeated  ;  and 
this  went  on  till  the  mortar  was  reduced  to  a  state 
of  paste,  and  no  apothecary's  salve  was  ever 
better  manipulated.  The  mortar  is  tried  from 
time  to  time  by  means  of  wedge-shaped  bricks 
stuck  together,  and  the  cohesive  power  tested  by 
weights  in  a  scale  hung  to  one  of  them,  the  result 
being  formally  booked  by  the  clerk  of  the  works. 
The  work  upon  which  they  were  engaged  was  a 
fortification  on  the  banks  of  the  old  Rhine. 
There  was  a  mighty  cistern,  elevated  high  above 
the  works,  from  which  proceeded  india-rubber 
hose  with  brass  nozzles  ;  every  bricklayer  having 
the  command  of  one  of  these,  and  directing  the 
jet  of  water  against  every  side  of  every  brick 
before  laying  it,  lest  one  particle  of  dust  should 
weaken  the  adhesion  of  the  mortar. 

About  this  time  a  constantly  increasing  desire 
had  grown  up  in  my  mind  to  terminate  my 
partnership  with  Mr.  Moffatt.  My  wife  was  most 
anxious  upon  the  subject,  and  was  constantly 
pressing  it  upon  my  attention,  but  my  courage 
failed  me,  and  I  could  not  muster  pluck  enough 
to  broach  it.  At  length  Mrs.  Scott  "took  the 
bull  by  the  horns."  She  drove  to  the  office 
while  I  was  out  of  town,  asked  to  see  Mr.  Mof- 
fatt privately,  and  told  him  that  I  had  made 
up  my  mind  to  dissolve  our  partnership.  He 
was  tremendously  astounded,  but  behaved  well, 
and  the  ice  thus  broken,  I  followed  up  the  matter 
vigorously.  This  was  during  the  latter  part  of 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  131 

1845,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  an  agreement 
was  entered  into,  dissolving  our  partnership  then 
and  there  "  de  facto,"  but  taking  one  year  as  a 
year  of  transition,  and  delaying  the  actual  gazet- 
ting of  the  dissolution  until  the  close  of  that  year. 

Though  Mr.  Moffatt  occasionally  kicked  hard 
at  this,  I  must  do  him  the  justice  to  say  that  he 
behaved  fairly  and  straightforwardly  throughout. 
We  came  to  an  agreement  of  this  kind  :  we 
valued  the  probable  receipts  of  our  several  works 
and  of  outstanding  bills,  and  divided  the  works 
into  three  portions,  one  for  myself,  another  for 
Mr.  Moffatt,  (each  taking  our  allotment  "  for 
better  or  worse"),  and  a  third  to  pay  a  debt  owing 
to  our  banker.  This  arrangement  turned  out 
better  for  me  than  for  him,  as  his  works  having 
a  certain  amount  of  speculation  about  them,  he 
lost  a  good  deal  of  the  estimated  value  of  some 
of  them.  As,  however,  they  were  in  their  nature 
and  origin  his  own  works,  it  did  not  seem  unfair 
that  he  should  stand  the  brunt  of  this.  The 
year  1846  was  to  me  a  time  at  once  of  thank- 
fulness and  of  anxiety.  I  was  most  thankful  to 
be  freed  from  a  partnership  which,  with  many 
advantages,  had  become  the  source  of  much 
annoyance  ;  at  the  same  time  it  was  "  hard  lines," 
after  having  been  ten  years  in  practice  of  the 
most  unprecedented  activity,  to  have  put  by  next 
to  nothing,  and  to  have  to  set  aside  the  proceeds 
of  many  works  to  cover  a  debt,  which  was  the 
result  of  easy-going  and  bad  management  on  my 
own  part,  and  of  some  extravagance  on  that  of  my 
partner. 

My  connexion  with  Mr.  Moffatt,  as  will  have 
K  2 


132  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

been  gathered  from  the  statements  made  earlier 
in  this  sketch,  was  by  no  means  a  premeditated 
one.  It  had  grown  up  spontaneously  and  almost 
independently  of  my  will.  People  wonder,  I  have 
no  doubt,  how  two  persons,  so  contrary  in  their 
tastes  and  dispositions,  could  have  joined  in  part- 
nership, and  blame  my  judgment  in  permitting  it. 
I  have  only  to  say,  in  reply,  that  I  never  thought 
of  partnership  until  it  came  about  wholly  without, 
and  almost  against  my  own  will.  Nor  had  I 
any  reason  to  think  otherwise  than  favourably  of 
my  partner.  He  was  very  talented,  very  practical, 
and  very  industrious.  Nor  am  I  sure,  with  all  its 
drawbacks,  that  I  have  not  gained  more  than  I 
have  lost  by  the  connexion.  My  natural  disposi- 
tion was  so  quiet  and  retiring,  that  I  doubt  if  I 
should  have  alone  pushed  my  way.  My  father 
used  to  be  seriously  uneasy  on  this  head,  and  he 
never  believed  that  I  could  get  on  in  the  rough 
world.  Mr.  Moffatt  supplied  just  the  stuff  I  was 
wanting  in.  He  was  thoroughly  fitted  to  cope 
with  the  world ;  he  saw  through  character  in  a 
moment,  and  could  shape  himself  precisely  to  the 
necessities  of  the  case  and  the  character  of  the 
people  he  had  to  do  with.  This  enabled  me, 
through  a  sort  of  apprenticeship  of  ten  years,  to 
learn  to  rough  it  on  my  own  account.  Strange 
to  say  as  time  went  on,  he  seemed  gradually  to 
lose  his  power  of  acting  wisely.  I  had  by  that 
time  chalked  out  a  practice  for  myself,  wholly 
different  from  that  for  which  he  was  fitted,  and 
at  length  I  was  enabled  to  separate  from  him,  and 
to  keep  my  own  practice,  making  over  his  own  to 
him. 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  133 

I  was  now  a  free  man,  but  I  had  almost  to  begin 
life  over  again.  I  wrote  a  circular,  which  I  sent 
far  and  wide,  publishing  my  separation  to  the 
world.  I  almost  wonder  to  think  how  readily 
practice  came  to  me  in  my  single  name ;  but 
''Scott  and  Moffatt"  had  become  so  well  known 
as  a  nom-de-guerre,  that  it  took  very  many  years 
to  get  rid  of  it  altogether,  and  now  at  the  end 
of  eighteen  years  I  occasionally  get  a  letter  so 
addressed. 

The  fact  is  that  we  had  made  ourselves  a  name 
such  as  few  architects  have  ever  made  at  our 
age,  and  had  done  more  perhaps  than  had  ever 
been  done  in  the  first  ten  years  of  architectural 
practice. 

I  fear  we  were  disliked  by  our  fellow-profes- 
sionals for  our  almost  unheard-of  activity  and 
success.  This,  however,  was  only  the  natural 
jealousy  of  competitors,  and  I  do  not  think  that  it 
was  founded  on  any  just  reason.  Happily,  I  had 
come  to  the  determination  to  avoid  competitions 
for  the  most  part,  though  without  making  any 
resolution  which  would  debar  me  from  them  when 
they  seemed  from  special  circumstances  desirable. 
I  have  the  greatest  reason  to  be  thankful  that  my 
subsequent  practice  has,  for  the  most  part,  come  to 
me  without  competition  and  unasked-for,  and  that 
this  has  freed  me  from  much  of  that  professional 
jealousy  which  follows  a  frequently  competing 
architect.  I  do  not,  however,  think  that  I  could 
have  got  into  such  practice  without  a  long  previous 
course  of  competition,  and  I  would  not  recommend 
young  architects,  as  a  general  rule,  to  try  the 
experiment. 


134  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

I  was  thirty-five  years  old  in  the  midst  of  this 
year  of  transition,  and  I  recollect  congratulating 
myself  on  the  old  saying, — 

"  He  who  ever  means  to  thrive 
Must  begin  by  thirty-five." 

From  this  time  my  life  seems  to  have  usually 
run  in  so  smooth  a  course  that  I  hardly  know 
what  to  say  about  it  that  is  worth  saying. 

In  that  year  (1846)  I  appear  to  have  made  two 
journeys  to  Hamburg.  The  first  was  in  April :  I 
went  via  Calais,  visiting  Dunkirk,  Bergues,  Pope- 
ringhe,  and  Ypres,  to  which  place  I  had  been 
directed  by  my  dear  friend  Syndicus  Sieviking  to 
study  for  the  future  Rath-Haus  of  Hamburg,  for 
which  he  considered  the  Halles  there  as  a  most 
suggestive  model ;  and  highly  delighted  I  was  with 
it.  I  then  went  by  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Dusseldorf, 
Neuss,  and  by  diligence  across  Westphalia  to  Min- 
den,  whence  I  visited  some  of  the  quarries,  situated 
in  a  splendid  country,  which  supply  Hamburg  ; 
thence  to  Halberstadt,  and  by  Magdeburg,  to 
Hamburg,  and  returned  by  sea.  The  next  journey 
was  in  September.  I  went  by  sea,  and  on  this 
occasion,  on  September  24th,  1846,  the  first  stone 
of  the  church  was  laid  in  great  state  (L.  D.).  I 
returned  by  way  of  Brunswick,  Hildesheim,  and 
Cologne,  visiting  stone  quarries  and  sketching. 

I  ought  to  have  mentioned  that  I  had  been 
violently  attacked  in  the  "  Ecclesiologist "  for  un- 
dertaking a  Lutheran  church.  I  wrote  a  formal 
defence,  to  which  they  refused  admission. 

The  following  is  the  text  of  my  defence  thus 
suppressed : — 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  135 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  '  Ecclesiologist! 

"  SIR, — In  your  last  number  I  find  that  you  have 
made  some  rather  severe  remarks  upon  me  with 
reference  to  the  new  church  of  St.  Nicholas, 
Hamburg.  Had  these  remarks  been  founded 
upon  correct  premises,  I  should  not  for  a  moment 
deny  their  justice  ;  but  as  this  is  far  from  being  the 
case,  and  as  the  natural  inference  from  what  you 
say  would  be,  that  I  was  about  to  erect  a  church 
for  a  community  which  disbelieved  the  most 
essential  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  to  dis- 
honour the  symbols  of  our  faith  by  using  them 
as  mere  decorations  of  a  building  which  is  to  be 
used  by  those  who  deny  that  faith,  I  think  it 
necessary  to  trouble  you  with  a  few  lines  to  show 
how  unjust  an  impression  your  remarks  are  calcu- 
lated to  make. 

"  Now,  nothing  can  be  more  manifest  than  the 
injustice  of  attributing  to  any  community  opinions, 
which,  though  possibly  held  by  individuals  pro- 
fessing to  be  its  members,  are  directly  opposed  to 
the  authorized  doctrinal  standards  of  the  com- 
munity itself,  and  to  do  so,  certainly  but  ill- 
becomes  any  member  of  a  church  like  our  own, 
which  retains  within  its  pale,  and  even  within  its 
priesthood,  persons  professing  almost  every  variety 
of  doctrine  from  the  Romanist  to  the  Socinian. 
If  your  principle  was  to  be  fully  carried  out,  surely 
no  one  could  conscientiously  build  an  Anglican 
church,  as  such  a  building  would  in  all  probability 
be  used  at  one  period  or  another  by  persons,  who, 
though  belonging  to  the  same  communion,  might 
hold  doctrines  which  he  must  consider  to  be  little, 
if  at  all,  short  of  heresy. 


136  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

"  Now  the  position  of  the  Lutheran  body  is  in 
this  respect  very  similar  to  that  of  our  own.  Its 
authorized  tenets  have  generally,  I  believe,  been 
considered  to  differ  but  little  from  those  of  the 
church  of  England  ;  indeed,  where  they  chiefly 
differ,  the  Lutheran  doctrines  have  generally  been 
thought  to  approach  nearer  to  those  of  the  Roman- 
ists than  do  those  of  our  own  communion.  On  the 
other  hand,  however,  there  are  many  professed 
Lutherans,  whose  opinions  are  at  direct  variance 
with  those  of  the  body  to  which  they  belong :  but 
are  we  to  select  the  views  of  these  persons,  and 
lay  them  down  as  the  doctrines  of  their  church  ? 
The  fact  is,  that  the  class  of  religionists  of  whom 
you  speak,  so  far  from  being  the  genuine  type  of 
their  church,  are,  I  have  every  reason  to  believe,  a 
small  and  constantly  decreasing  minority. 

"  Their  doctrines  (if  such  they  may  be  called) 
are  not  indeed  the  genuine  offspring  of  Germany 
at  all,  but  had  their  origin  in  the  philosophical  and 
infidel  spirit  which  gave  rise  to  the  French  revo- 
lution ;  and  I  am  happy  to  find  that  they  are  now, 
for  the  most  part,  confined  to  a  section  of  the  older 
ministers,  and  are  almost  universally  repudiated  by 
the  younger  members  of  the  community. 

"  Of  the  actual  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran  church 
it  would  be  very  much  out  of  my  place,  were  I 
indeed  able  to  do  so,  to  speak  in  detail.  As  re- 
gards those,  however,  to  which  you  particularly 
refer,  I  may  say,  first,  that  wherever  the  confession 
of  Augsburg  has  been  adopted,  instead  of  explain- 
ing away  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  that 
mystery  has  been  held  in  exactly  the  same  manner 
as  it  is  by  the  church  of  Rome,  and  by  our  own 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  137 

church,  and  the  three  creeds  have  been  retained 
in  the  form  in  which  they  are  received  by  the 
Western  Church  in  general. 

"  On  the  subject  of  the  Sacraments,  it  is  well 
known  that  they  hold  much  stronger  views  than 
many  of  the  English  clergy.  Their  views  on  the 
Real  Presence  are  too  well  known  to  need  remark  : 
and  on  the  subject  of  Baptism  they  agree  with 
our  own  church,  according  to  the  strongest  inter- 
pretation of  its  articles  and  offices.  Luther,  for 
instance,  makes  such  observations  on  the  subject 
as  the  following : — '  The  laver  of  regeneration  is 
one  that  not  superficially  washes  the  skin  and 
changes  man  bodily,  but  converts  his  whole 
nature,  changing  it  into  another,  so  that  the  first 
birth  from  the  flesh  is  destroyed,  with  all  the 
inheritance  of  sin  and  damnation.'  Again  he 
says,  '  This  (that  is,  the  old  man)  must  be  put  off 
with  all  its  deeds ;  so  that,  being  the  children  of 
Adam,  we  may  be  made  the  children  of  God. 
This  is  not  done  by  a  change  of  clothing,  or  by 
any  laws  or  works,  but  by  a  renascence  and  a 
renovation  which  takes  place  in  baptism.'  Again, 
'  Those  who  extenuate  the  majesty  of  baptism 
speak  wickedly  and  impiously.  St.  Paul,  on  the 
contrary,  adorns  baptism  with  magnificent  titles, 
calling  it  the  washing  of  regeneration!  Again  he 
speaks  of  the  fanaticism  of  those  who  speak  of 
baptism  as  a  mere  mark,  and  adds  that  as  many 
as  have  been  baptized  have  taken,  beyond  the  law, 
a  new  nativity,  which  was  effected  in  baptism. 
Surely  no  one,  whatever  his  opinion  may  be  on 
this  subject,  can  call  this  '  scoffing  at  regeneration  :' 
and  even  Dr.  Pusey,  who  is  certainly  not  preju- 


138  Sir  Gilbert  Scot 7. 

diced  in  favour  of  the  German  reformers,  speaks 
with  satisfaction  of  their  retaining  the  ancient 
doctrine  of  baptism,  and  of  the  clearness  of  their 
perceptions  on  the  subject.  If  we  view  the 
Lutheran  community  in  the  spirit  of  ecclesiologists, 
we  shall  not,  I  think,  deny  them  a  large  share  of 
praise  as  having  preserved  more  of  the  ancient 
fittings  of  their  churches  than  any  other,  not 
excepting  the  Romanists,  and  certainly  not  our- 
selves. 

"  Mr.  Pugin  remarks  upon  this  in  one  of  his 
works,  stating  that  he  could,  when  first  entering 
an  ancient  Lutheran  church,  hardly  perceive  that 
it  was  in  the  hands  of  Protestants;  and  again,  in 
his  '  Glossary,1  under  the  head  of  '  Tabernacle,' 
he  speaks  of  the  fine  preservation  of  one,  and  the 
existence  of  several  others  in  churches  which  are 
in  the  hands  of  Lutherans,  but  of  the  demolition 
of  that  in  Cologne  Cathedral,  and  the  probable 
destruction  of  that  at  Louvain  by  the  Romanists. 
Indeed,  it  is  to  churches  which  are  'occupied  by 
the  Lutherans '  that  we  must  look  for  examples  of 
the  movable  fittings  of  mediaeval  churches.  While, 
for  instance,  one  party  in  our  own  church  is  search- 
ing, with  but  little  success,  for  ancient  stone  altars  ; 
and  another  is  much  more  successfully  seeking  for 
judgments  against  new  ones,  the  Lutherans  quietly 
and  universally  retain  and  use  their  ancient  stone 
high  altars,  and  even  the  minor  altars  which  are 
not  used  are  still  preserved,  so  that  most  of  their 
large  churches  contain  more  specimens  of  ancient 
altars  than  our  reformers  have  allowed  to  remain 
in  our  whole  island.  I  know,  for  instance,  a  sinele 

o 

Lutheran  church  which  contains  upwards  of  thirty 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  139 

of  them.  But  it  is  not  alone  the  altars  which 
they  have  retained,  but  almost  every  accompani- 
ment of  the  altar  :  such,  for  instance,  as  the  mag- 
nificent triptychs,  gorgeously  decorated  with  paint- 
ings and  imagery,  which  retain  their  places  not 
only  over  the  high  altars,  but  in  many  instances 
even  over  the  small  and  disused  altars  in  other 
parts  of  the  churches.  Many  of  these  are  of  the 
most  magnificent  description  and  in  perfect  pre- 
servation, and  several  of  them  are  frequently  to  be 
found  in  a  single  church. 

''Again,  every  high  altar  retains  its  ancient 
candlesticks,  not  for  ornament  only,  but  for  almost 
daily  use.  The  magnificent  tabernacle,  a  feature 
almost  unknown  in  England,  still  stands  by  the 
side  of  the  altar,  or  forms  a  recess  with  richly- 
decorated  doors  in  the  wall  near  to  it.  Figures 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  of  exquisite  loveliness,  still 
occupy  the  niches.  The  rood-lofts  often  remain 
decorated  with  splendid  sculpture,  or  with  panels 
filled  by  most  beautiful  paintings  of  saints,  or 
other  Catholic  subjects.  Above,  very  frequently, 
hangs  the  rood  itself,  never  having  been  removed, 
as  in  England,  from  its  place.  Pendant  lights, 
both  for  lamps  and  candles,  often  containing  beau- 
tiful niches  and  figures,  still  hang  from  the  vault- 
ings, and  ancient  brass  candlesticks  are  still 
attached  to  the  walls  ;  paintings,  needlework, 
and,  indeed,  every  kind  of  decoration  are  fre- 
quently to  be  met  with,  such  as  we  retain  hardly 
a  remnant  of.  They  have,  indeed,  not  only  pre- 
served what  is  ancient ;  but,  at  periods  subse- 
quent to  the  Reformation,  have  added  multitudes 
of  new  decorations,  particularly  paintings  of  Scrip- 


140  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

tural  subjects,  often  in  vast  numbers,  though  of 
course  partaking  of  the  general  decay  of  art 
common  to  the  period ;  but  still  showing  that  the 
fanatical  dread  of  such  decorations  was  unknown 
among  them,  and  a  feeling  that  the  '  teaching  of 
the  Church '  should  be  displayed  upon  its  walls. 
In  the  present  instance  there  has  been,  as  you 
state,  a  dispute  as  to  the  proper  style  to  be 
adopted  for  a  church :  one  party  favouring,  not 
as  you  say,  a  pagan  temple  ;  but  the  style  of 
the  Romanesque  period  in  Italy,  and  the  other 
the  German  style  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The 
latter  having  prevailed,  it  is  only  common  justice, 
after  the  manner  in  which  you  have  thought 
proper  to  speak  of  them,  to  inquire  a  little  into 
the  grounds  which  have  led  them  to  this  de- 
termination ;  and,  for  this  purpose,  I  cannot  do 
better  than  refer  to  one  of  the  pamphlets  which 
has  been  published  on  the  subject,  and  you  will 
find  that  the  author  treats  the  matter  precisely  on 
the  same  principle  as  you  would  do  yourselves, 
and  carries  out  the  details  of  Christian  symbolism 
in  a  spirit  which  you  could  not  but  approve, 
though  you  might  not  go  with  him  in  all  his 
details. 

"  After  treating  at  great  length  on  the  unsuit- 
ableness  of  all  other  styles  for  a  Christian  church, 
he  proceeds  to  lay  down  this  general  axiom,  that 
'  The  outward  building  of  stone  should  present 
an  image  of  the  spiritual  Church  of  Christ,'  and 
after  some  interesting  remarks  upon  the  spiritual 
edifice — particularly  on  the  threefold  grace  of 
Light  and  Life  and  Love,  imparted  by  Christ  to 
his  Church — and  also  on  the  promise  of  Christ  to 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  141 

be  present  with  it  in  the  Sacraments,  and  in  the 
preaching  of  the  Word,  and  in  prayer,  he  pro- 
ceeds, 'The  place  now  for  the  assembling  of 
Christians  for  the  public  worship  of  God  is  the 
material  church,  this  as  a  work  of  the  Christian 
congregation  which  is  itself  imbued  with  the  Life 
of  Love  in  the  Light  of  the  Gospel  ;  and  must,  in 
conformity  therewith,  bear  witness  to  the  same 
threefold  grace.  The  outward  fabric  must  itself 
present  an  image  of  the  Light  and  Life  and  Love 
which  are  the  essential  characteristics  of  the 
Christian  Church.  Does  not  the  Apostle  say  of 
the  Christian  congregation,  "  Ye  are  the  temple 
of  the  living  God,  as  God  hath  said,  I  will  dwell 
in  them  and  walk  in  them."  Thus  will  we  also 
demand  of  the  house  of  the  congregation,  that  as 
a  Christian  edifice  it  may  present  itself  as  a  temple 
of  the  living  God,  in  which  the  Spirit  of  God  may 
dwell  and  walk.' 

"  He  then  states  that  such  a  work  have  our 
fathers  achieved,  '  or  much  rather,'  he  adds,  '  may 
we  say,  has  the  Spirit  of  God  itself  erected  ; '  and 
that  'in  the  same  spirit  in  which  the  Apostle  says, 
"  Ye  also,  as  living  stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual 
house,"  have  also  our  fathers  breathed  into  the 
inanimate  stones  a  new  life,  and  built  them  up 
into  a  spiritual  house  of  God  ;  so,  therefore,  may 
we  justly  say  of  such  a  building,  as  the  Apostle 
Paul  did  of  the  Christian  Church  itself:  "Ye  are 
God's  building,  and  are  built  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Him- 
self being  the  chief  corner-stone,  in  whom  all  the 
building,  fitly  framed  together,  groweth  into  an 
holy  temple  in  the  Lord." 


142  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

"He  next  proceeds  to  give  a  general  outline 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  symbolism  of  church 
architecture  is  expressed,  commencing  with  the 
prevalence  of  the  cross  from  the. very  foundation 
of  the  church,  to  the  heaven-aspiring  points  of  its 
steeples.  The  frequent  use  of  the  cross  as  the 
form  of  the  massive  foundation  of  the  church,  he 
considers  to  be  an  emblem  of  the  Rock  upon 
which  the  Church  is  built ;  and,  from  thence,  he 
carries  out  the  principle,  not  only  where  it  is 
palpably  intended,  but  even  through  the  details 
of  the  architecture,  where,  though  the  intention  is 
not  evident,  the  principle  of  the  cross  is  constantly 
recurring. 

"  He  then  adverts  to  the  prevailing  upward 
tendency  of  every  feature  in  a  Gothic  building, 
following  it  out  from  the  lower  features  to  the 
'  steeple,  which,  with  the  glance  of  the  eye,  draws 
also  the  heart  unchecked  to  the  cross  above,  and 
seems  as  the  leader  of  the  choir  to  exclaim,  '  sur- 
sum  corda  ;'  and  to  hear  from  the  whole  congre- 
gation of  pinnacles  around  the  echo,  '  habemus  ad 
Dominum.' 

"  He  speaks  of  the  clustered  pillars  as  emblems 
of  brotherly  love,  each  helping  to  bear  the  other's 
burden,  and  each  assisting  the  other  in  its  upward 
striving,  till  all  meet  in  the  heaven's  vault  above. 
'  As  the  aim  of  all  is  the  vault  of  heaven,  so  the 
soul  of  all  is  the  free  spirit  of  love — nothing  ser- 
vile is  to  be  seen,  no  architrave  checks  with  its 
oppressive  burden  the  upward  striving,  every- 
thing, it  is  true,  bears  and  serves,  but  it  is  the 
service  of  free  love.' 

"It  is  needless  to  go  through  the  details,  but 


CHAP.  IIL]  Recollections.  143 

they  all  show  the  same  general  spirit  and  inten- 
tion. I  will,  however,  quote  a  few  passages  to 
illustrate  the  spirit  of  the  writer  more  fully.  After 
remarking  that  the  symbolical  allusions  of  Gothic 
architecture  may  be  traced  through  a  thousand 
features,  but  all  in  unison  with  the  whole,  and  all 
bearing  witness  to  the  same  spirit :  '  But  the 
festive  garment  and  ornament  is  first  put  upon 
such  a  building  by  the  hand  of  sculpture  and 
painting.  As  the  Christian  spirit  strives  to  em- 
brace and  to  penetrate  all  spheres  of  life,  so  the 
Gothic  building  draws  all  arts  into  its  service. 
The  Christian  church  has  become  what  it  is  in  the 
course  of  the  historical  developement  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  upon  earth.  This  historical  develope- 
ment then,  together  with  all  the  branches  of  the 
earthly  creation,  are  presented  in  a  Gothic  church, 
and  more  particularly  in  statues,  reliefs,  paintings 
&c.  There  we  see  the  whole  creation,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  last  day,  Moses  and  the  Prophets 
and  the  Kings  of  the  Old  Testament.  The 
holiest  place  is  occupied  by  the  Lord  of  Lords, 
the  King  of  Kings,  and  around  Him  are  the 
Apostles  and  Evangelists ;  more  distant  are  the 
martyrs  and  fathers  of  the  church  to  the  latest 
period,  with  the  representatives  of  the  worldly, 
but  protecting  power,  emperors,  kings,  and  princes.' 
He  then  shows  how  every  kingdom  of  nature  is 
made  to  bear  its  part  in  symbolizing  the  kingdom 
of  grace,  and  he  adds — (  The  richest  fulness  of 
sculpture  abounds  in  the  wide  portals,  as  if  in- 
vitingly pointing  towards  rich  and  blissful  trea- 
sures of  the  Spirit  which  are  contained  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  building.  The  revelation  of  God  is 


144  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

most  evidently  set  forth  in  a  Gothic  minster,  &c., 
&c.' 

"  He  closes  this  branch  of  his  subject  by  re- 
marking that  the  same  system  may  be  carried  out 
in  many  other  ways ;  '  for  as  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity is  a  living  one,  the  symbolization  of 
Christian  art  must  be  infinitely  various.' 

'  I  will  only  notice  one  other  point,  which  is  the 
earnest  manner  in  which  this  writer  urges  the 
position  of  the  font  near  the  entrance  of  the 
church.  '  Here  placed,'  says  he,  '  it  reminds  and 
admonishes  each  person,  on  his  entrance,  of  his 
baptismal  vow,  which  he  has  once  solemnly  con- 
firmed, as  bound  in  covenant  with  his  Lord  and 
God.  There  in  the  sight  of  the  pulpit,  and  in 
the  direction  towards  the  altar,  ought  the  font  to 
stand,  that  here  it  may  hold  our  sight  directed, 
both  to  the  word  of  the  gospel  and  to  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  altar,  that  by  means  of  these,  we  may 
obtain  that  forgiveness  which,  through  the  journey 
of  life  from  our  baptism  to  the  partaking  of  the 
altar  of  the  Lord,  we  so  continually  stand  in 
need  of. 

" '  The  whole  course  of  the  Christian's  life  lies 
between  the  sacrament  of  baptism  and  that  of  the 
altar.  As  he  receives  baptism  at  the  entrance 
of  life,  so  would  he  desire  at  his  exit  from  the 
same  to  receive  the  Lord's  Supper  as  the  latest 
Viaticum.  The  font,  therefore,  should  take  its 
place  at  the  beginning,  as  the  altar  at  the  termi- 
nation, of  the  whole  building.' 

"  I  will  add  but  one  more  quotation.  '  Without 
pious  faith,  without  warm  love,  and  a  heartfelt 
devotedness,  never,  and  nowhere,  was  anything 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  145 

truly  great  or  holy  accomplished.  Such  a  living 
faith  is,  however,  not  an  exclusive  privilege  of 
(Roman) 2  Catholicism.  Do  we  protestants,  there- 
fore, at  the  present  day  wish  to  erect  houses  of 
God  as  great  and  noble  as  those  of  our  fathers  ? 
then  must  we  build  up  ourselves  onwards  and 
onwards,  as  living  stones  into  a  spiritual  house,  a 
temple  of  the  living  God.  Unless  endued  with 
life  and  light  from  above,  we  cannot  perceive 
the  sacred  glory  which  beams  around  Gothic 
architecture.  Without  these  our  heart  remains 
dead,  a  cold  rock  against  the  floods  of  faith  and 
of  love ;  but  by  means  of  these  the  stone  having 
received  life,  bears  a  mightily  convincing  witness 
that  of  these  stones  God  has  raised  up  children 
to  Himself.' 

"  Such  have  been  the  arguments,  and  such  the 
tone  of  feeling,  which  have  led  the  citizens  of  Ham- 
burg to  select,  as  you  say,  the  style  of  a  '  Gothic 
cathedral/  rather  than  that  of  a  pagan  temple. 

"  Now,  let  me  ask,  are  persons  capable  of  such 
sentiments,  to  be  treated  as  heathen  men  or  as 
infidels,  and  to  be  denied  the  very  externals  even 
of  Christianity  ?  Much  rather,  should  we  not 
rejoice  to  find  among  them  such  warmth  of  feeling, 
and  such  depth  of  sentiment,  backed  as  it  is  by  a 
noble  liberality,  which  it  would  be  well  for  us,  if 
we  had  more  of  amongst  ourselves,  and  which, 
considering  the  awful  calamity  from  which  they 
are  but  just  recovering,  reflects  the  greatest  credit 
upon  their  Christian  feeling.  Lastly,  may  we  not 
fairly  hope  that  the  practical  carrying  out  of  such 

2  The  word  "  Roman  "  is  not  in  the  original ;  it  was  inserted 
by  my  father. — ED. 

L 


146  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

sentiments  may  be  made  a  means  of  stirring  them 
up  to  still  more  elevated  zeal,  and  leading  them 
to  restore  that  ancient  discipline,  which  has  been 
of  late  years  but  too  much  neglected,  and  to 
remedy  all  those  evils  which  we,  as  members  of 
the  church  of  England,  cannot  but  deplore  ? 
"  I  am,  sir, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  GEORGE  GILBERT  Scon'. 
"July  3oth,  1845." 

The  next  year,  I  visited  the  Saxon  Switzerland 
in  search  of  stone  quarries,  and  went  on  to  Prague. 
Indeed  from  that  time,  I  was  in  Germany  nearly 
every  year,  though  as  yet,  I  remained  ignorant  of 
France. 

In  the  autumn  of  1847,  while  at  the  lakes  with 
Mrs.  Scott,  I  received  intelligence  of  my  appoint- 
ment as  architect  to  the  refitting,  &c.,  of  Ely  Cathe- 
dral, which  opened  out  before  me  a  new  field.  It 
was  from  the  excitement  produced  in  my  mind  by 
Dean  Peacock's  description  of  Amiens  Cathedral, 
which  he  had  visited  that  autumn,  that  I  was  led, 
as  late  as  the  end  of  November,  to  make  a  short 
run  over  to  France,  chiefly  to  Amiens  and  Paris. 

My  eyes  were  at  once  opened.  What  I  had 
always  conceived  to  be  German  architecture  I 
now  found  to  be  French.  I  thoroughly  studied 
the  details  of  Amiens,  and  those  of  the  Sainte 
Chapelle,  which  bore  most  closely  on  my  pre- 
vious German  studies,  and  I  returned  home  with 
a  wholly  new  set  of  ideas,  and  with  many  of 
my  old  ones  dispelled.  It  seems  curious  that 
I  should  have  been  twelve  years  in  practice, 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  147 

before  I  became  acquainted  with  French  architec- 
ture, yet  I  was  the  first  among  English  architects, 
as  I  believe,  to  study  it  in  detail  in  any  practical 
way,  and  with  a  practical  intention.  In  1848,  the 
annus  mirabilis,  my  tour  was  from  Hamburg  to 
Bamberg,  Nuremberg,  Strasburg,  Freyburg,  and 
Oppenheim.  So  deserted  was  the  continent  by 
Englishmen  that  year,  that  I  travelled  ten  days 
without  seeing  one,  or  hearing  our  language 
spoken.  I  was  at  Frankfort  at  the  time  of  the 
German  Parliament,  when  I  spent  a  Sunday  after- 
noon in  writing  a  letter  to  my  friend  Reichen- 
sperger,  who  was  a  member  of  it,  on  the  necessity 
of  founding  the  revived  German  Empire  on  a 
basis  of  religion.  I  remember  saying  that  the  old 
empire  had  been  so  based,  and  had  stood  a  thousand 
years,  and  that  if  the  new  one  were  not  so,  it  would 
inevitably  fail. 

The  next  morning  I  went  (by  appointment  with 
him)  to  see  the  sitting  of  the  parliament.  I  found 
them  in  a  state  of  perfect  uproar  and  confusion, 
and  with  difficulty  learned,  that  it  was  owing  to 
having  just  received  intelligence  that  Prussia  had 
signed  an  armistice  with  the  Danes  without  ask- 
ing their  leave.  A  fortnight  later  this  turmoil  cul- 
minated in  the  murder  of  several  of  the  members, 
and  the  overthrow  of  the  attempted  revival  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire.  Among  the  friends  of  this 
period,  I  may  mention  Herr  Reichensperger,  M. 
Gerente  sen.,  Herr  Zwirner,  Dean  Buckland,  and 
Lord  John  Thynne. 

The  most  important  works  to  be  noted  since 
1845,'  are  the  following: — Bradfield  Church; 

8  Up  to  the  year  1862,  or  thereabouts. — ED. 
L   2 


148  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Worsley  Church,  which  was  begun  when  I  was  in 
partnership  with  Mr.  Moffatt ;  St.  Mary's,  Not- 
tingham, which  was  finished  by  him  ;  Watermore, 
near  Cirencester  ;  Weeton,  near  Hare  wood  ;  Bil- 
ton,  near  Harrowgate ;  Aithington  House,  York- 
shire ;  the  restoration  of  the  churches  of  Ayles- 
bury,  Newark,  and  Nantwich,  and  the  designs  for 
the  Cathedral  of  St.  John,  Newfoundland.  Also 
new  churches  at  West  Derby,  Liverpool  ;  Hoi- 
beck,  near  Leeds  (a  special  work);  Sewerby,  near 
Bridlington,  where  difficulties  arose  from  the 
fads  of  my  employer ;  the  restoration  of  Elles- 
mere  church,  and  the  rebuilding  of  St.  George's, 
Doncaster ;  additions  to  Exeter  College,  Oxford, 
and  the  new  chapel  there ;  the  new  churches 
at  Haley  Hill,  Halifax,  and  on  Ranmore 
Common,  near  Dorking.  Then  followed  the 
competition  for  the  Rathhaus  at  Hamburg,  and 
that  for  the  Government  offices  in  Whitehall ; 
the  restoration  of  Hereford,  Lichfield,  Salisbury, 
and  Ripon  Cathedrals.  Of  civil  and  domestic 
buildings,  I  will  here  mention  the  houses  in  Broad 
Sanctuary,  Westminster ;  Mr.  Forman's  house  at 
Dorking  ;  Mr.  Manners  Sutton's,  near  Newark  ; 
Sir  Charles  Mordaunt's,  Walton  Hall,  Warwick  ; 
and  Mr.  Sandbach's,  near  Llanwrst ;  the  Town 
Hall  at  Halifax,  which  came  to  nothing ;  the 
Town  Hall  at  Preston,  and  Brighton  College. 
And  I  also  carried  out  several  semi-classic  works, 
among  which  I  will  name  the  chapel  at  Hawk- 
stone  ;  the  remodelling  of  St.  Michael's,  Cornhill ; 
Partis  College,  and  the  chapel  of  King's  College, 
London. 

In  1848  I  read  the  first  paper  I  had  written  for 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  149 

a  public  meeting,  excepting,  by-the-bye,  one  on 
the  origin  of  the  stone  of  which  Stonehenge  is 
composed,  written  about  1836,  for  the  then  exist- 
ing Architectural  Society,  but  which  I  could  not 
muster  courage  to  bring  forward. 

My  paper  was  on  the  truthful  restoration  of 
ancient  churches,  and  it  was  read  before  the  archi- 
tectural and  archaeological  society  of  the  county 
of  Bucks,  at  Aylesbury.  It  was  a  somewhat  im- 
passioned protest  against  the  destructiveness  of 
the  prevailing  restorations,  and  was  preceded  by 
an  address  from  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  (Dr.  Wil- 
berforce),  in  which  (probably  to  propitiate  some 
low-church  dons),  he  took  almost  the  contrary 
line,  inveighing  against  popish  arrangements,  &c., 
&c.  I  was  so  irate  at  his  paper  that  my  natural 
timidity  vanished,  and  I  gave  double  emphasis  to 
all  I  had  written. 

The  bishop,  however,  had  the  better  of  me,  for 
a  rood-loft  in  the  neighbouring  church  of  Wing, 
which  I  had  been  for  some  time  defending  against 
threatened  destruction,  was  forthwith  pulled  down, 
asking  no  more  questions,  and  the  bishop's  address 
was  appealed  to  as  the  authoritiy.  I  cannot  resist 
a  wicked  joke  apropos  to  this  case,  which  had 
been  made  shortly  before  in  the  same  town.  I 
had  been  called  in  to  report  on  the  central  tower 
of  the  church,  and  had  found  it  to  be  very 
dangerous.  At  a  dinner  to  which  I  was  invited 
on  this  occasion,  an  obtuse  old  cleric  wisely  re- 
marked, "  What  a  mercy  it  was  that  the  tower  did 
not  fall  during  the  bishop's  visitation."  "  Not 
at  all,"  replied  a  witty  barrister,  "  not  at  all, 
I'd  match  Sam  to  dodge  a  falling  church  with 


150  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

any  man,"  and  reverence  for  the  episcopal  bench 
did  not  prevent  a  general  burst  of  laughter,  ex- 
cepting perhaps  from  the  excellent  cleric.  While 
upon  Aylesbury,  I  must  tell  a  good  joke  of  another 
kind.  It  happened  that  the  vicar  had  been  long 
annoyed  by  the  church  clock  striking  twelve  while 
he  was  reading  the  communion  service,  and  that 
very  week  the  sexton  had  completed  an  ingenious 
contrivance  to  prevent  the  disturbance.  His 
scheme  was  to  fasten  the  clapper  up,  by  pulling 
a  wire  which  reached  down  into  the  church,  and 
which,  when  in  action,  he  fixed  to  a  hook  which 
he  had  driven  into  a  pew  beneath  the  tower. 
When  the  hour  of  trial  came,  the  clock  made 
violent  spasmodic  efforts  to  strike  twelve,  and  at 
every  abortive  stroke,  it  lifted  up  the  corner  of 
the  crazy  old  pew,  and  let  it  down  again.  The 
congregation,  fresh  from  the  alarm  caused  by  my 
report,  came  to  the  instinctive  conclusion  that  the 
tower  was  coming  down,  and,  emulous  of  the 
character  given  to  their  diocesan,  rushed  from  the 
supposed  falling  church  en  masse. 

My  paper  was  repeated  at  Higham  Ferrers, 
before  the  Northamptonshire  and  Bedfordshire 
societies,  and  I  published  it  in  1850,  accompanied 
by  a  number  of  fragmentary  scribblings — a  per- 
son who  appears  in  print  for  the  first  time,  having 
usually  a  number  of  miscellaneous  arrears  to  pro- 
vide for.  It  was  dedicated  to  good  Dean  Peacock, 
whose  friendship  had  become  one  of  my  greatest 
sources  of  pleasure. 

As  I  have  since  become  a  confirmed  scribbler, 
and,  as  I  believe,  I  have  more  reason  to  be  satis- 
fied with  the  papers  I  have  written  in  the  way  of 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  151 

business  than  with  those  written  later  for  public 
reading,  I  will  refer  to  a  few  reports  which  may 
be  of  interest,  although  some  are  already  named.4 

My  first  report  on  St.  Mary,  Stafford,  and  the 
correspondence  with  Mr.  Petit  on  the  same 
church  ;  my  report  on  the  chapel  upon  the  bridge 
at  Wakefield ;  on  Ely  Cathedral ;  on  St.  Peter's 
and  St.  Sepulchre's  churches,  Northampton,  in  the 
papers  read  before  the  society  there  ;  a  report  on 
Westminster  Abbey  made  for  Mr.  Gladstone 
about  1855  or  '56  ;  reports  on  several  cathedrals, 
Hereford,  Salisbury,  Worcester,  Ripon,  &c.  ;  and 
one,  on  the  royal  tombs  (though  I  do  not  now 
agree  to  its  recommendations)  ;  on  Gloucester, 
Lichfield,  and  St.  David's  cathedrals,  several  re- 
ports ;  on  the  priory  churches  at  Brecon,  and 
many  others.  See  also  four  lectures  read  at  the 
Architectural  Museum,  five  at  the  Academy,  one  at 
Leeds,  and  one  at  Doncaster  (a  paper  on  Old  Don- 
caster  church)  ;  two  papers  read  at  the  Institute  of 
British  architects,  and  one  before  the  Architectural 
association.  See  also  an  early  letter  to  the  Eccle- 
siologist  about  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  a  subject  on 
which  I  had  got  up  a  great  agitation. 

In  1849  I  was,  wholly  unexpectedly,  appointed 
architect  to  Westminster  Abbey;  the  appointment 
having  just  been  resigned  by  Mr.  Blore.  This 
was  a  great  and  lasting  source  of  delight.  I  at 
once  commenced  a  careful  investigation  of  its 
antiquities,  which  I  have  followed  up  ever  since, 
and  the  results  of  which  I  have  frequently  com- 
municated viva  voce  to  meetings  of  societies,  &c., 

4  It  is  hoped  to  publish  in  a  collected  form  the  most  important 
papers,  reports,  &c.,  of  the  character  here  referred  to.— ED. 


152  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

on  the  spot,  and,  more  recently,  in  a  written 
form.  I  also  devoted  much  time  to  the  similar 
investigation  of  the  Chapter-house,  the  results  of 
which  I  have  frequently  exhibited. 

My  communications  in  the  early  period  of  my 
appointment  were  chiefly  with  the  Dean,  Dr. 
Buckland,  though  also  with  Lord  John  Thynne, 
the  Sub-Dean.  Dr.  Buckland  was  excessively 
jovial  and  amusing,  though  it  was  clear  that  he 
was  wearing  himself  out  by  his  desultory,  though 
indefatigable,  way  of  attending  to  business.  No 
one  was  denied  him,  on  whatever  subject  he 
called.  I  have  known  him,  after  seeing  people  at 
the  Deanery  for  hours  together,  on  every  imagin- 
able subject — practical,  scientific,  and  visionary — 
run  up  to  the  roof  of  the  Abbey  with  me ;  and, 
after  scampering  over  every  part,  suddenly  recol- 
lect that  he  had  had  no  breakfast,  although  he 
had  come  from  Islip,  and  it  was  two  o'clock. 
Could  it  be  wondered  that  his  mind  should  give 
way  under  such  a  regimen  ? 

His  last  sermon  was  on  the  occasion  of  the 
thanksgiving  for  the  cessation  of  the  cholera,  and 
his  text  was,  "If  the  prophet  had  bid  thee  do 
some  great  thing,  wouldest  thou  not  have  done  it  ? 
How  much  rather  then,  when  he  saith  unto  thee, 
Wash,  and  be  clean."  In  the  course  of  the  ser- 
mon he  quoted  the  seventeenth  article,  as  against 
our  poor,  that  they  had  given  themselves  up  to 
"  wretchlessness  of  most  unclean  living." 

Under  Dr.  Buckland  I  restored  to  its  place  the 
beautiful  iron  grille  to  Queen  Eleanor's  monu- 
ment, which  had  been  removed  in  1823  ;  I  also 
restored  the  grille  of  the  tomb  of  King  Henry 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  153 

Vth,  which  had  been  broken  up  into  a  thousand 
pieces,  and  lay  scattered  in  "  the  Old  Revestry." 
We  also  newly  capped  a  great  number  of  the 
flying  buttresses,  and  completed  the  eastern 
pinnacles. 

During  the  long  period  of  the  poor  Dean's  ill- 
ness, Lord  John  Thynne  most  ably  filled  his  place, 
and  considerable  works  were  carried  on.  Among 
others,  I  may  mention  the  new  choir-pulpit ;  the 
enclosure  of  the  choir  from  the  transepts,  which 
had  been  left  open  when  the  choir  had  been 
refitted  under  Blore ;  the  iron  sanctuary  screen 
and  altar-rail ;  some  ameliorations  in  the  lantern 
above  ;  the  stained  glass  in  the  south  clerestory  of 
the  choir,  and  in  the  north  transept ;  also  the  re- 
opening of  the  ancient  entrance  to  the  dormitory 
(now  the  library)  ;  and  the  completion  of  the 
vaulting  of  the  vestibule  to  the  Chapter-house, 
which  had  lost  two  bays,  and  one  half  of  which 
was  walled  off.  I  also  introduced  the  use  of  a 
solution  of  shell-lac,  with  which  we  have  gone  on 
gradually  indurating  all  the  internal  surfaces. 
This  was  first  applied  to  the  royal  tombs,  and 
promises  to  stereotype  the  work  in  its  present 
condition  for  an  indefinite  time.5  Other  extensive 
practical  repairs  have  also  been  effected. 

During  this  time  the  new  houses  and  gatehouse 
in  Broad  Sanctuary  were  erected,  under  an  act 

5  This  process,  which  has  proved  perfectly  successful  in  the 
interior  of  the  Abbey  Church,  was  tried  as  an  experiment  in  the 
bay  of  the  cloister  which  aligns  with  the  entrance  of  the  Chapter- 
house. As  to  its  success  in  this  case,  under  conditions  inter- 
mediate between  those  of  external  and  internal  architecture,  I 
am  myself  very  doubtful. 


1 54  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

of  parliament  for  the  improvement  of  this  part  of 
Westminster. 

My  communications  with  Lord  John  Thynne 
have  always  been  of  the  most  agreeable  kind, 
and  I  believe  I  may  number  him  among  my 
best  friends.  Through  him  I  have  had  works 
placed  in  my  hands  by  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch, 
and  the  Earls  of  Cawdor  and  Harewood,  besides 
others. 

The  Abbey  to  me  has  been  a  never-failing 
source  of  interest,  though  sometimes  of  annoy- 
ance, owing  to  the  little  appreciation  which 
exists  of  the  value  of  the  remains  of  the  ancient 
monastic  buildings,  and  the  necessity  in  some 
instances  of  destroying  objects  of  antiquity  in 
order  to  comply  with  pressing  practical  wants. 
On  the  whole,  however,  I  have,  done  much  to 
preserve  and  bring  to  view  such  objects.  I  refer 
to  my  published  paper,  called  "  Gleanings  from 
Westminster  Abbey,"  as  containing  notices  of  the 
majority  of  these  discoveries.  About  1854  I  was 
requested  to  make  a  formal  report  to  the  Sub- 
Dean  (with  a  view  to  its  being  forwarded  to  Mr. 
Gladstone)  on  the  general  state  of  the  Abbey.  I 
do  not  think  I  have  a  copy  of  this,  but  it  ought 
to  be  preserved  as  a  public  document  of  some, 
interest  and  value.  The  nave  pulpit  is  a  recent 
work  for  which  the  funds  were  mainly  provided 
by  Sir  Walter  James. 

The  name  of  James  reminds  me  of  my  most 
talented  and  excellent  friend,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
James,  whose  death  we  have  had  very  recently  to 
deplore.  I  made  his  acquaintance  about  1846  in 
Northamptonshire,  when  he  was  one  of  the  secre- 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  155 

taries  to  the  Architectural  Society.  His  know- 
ledge and  judgment  in  all  matters  relating  to 
church  antiquities  were  of  a  high  order,  and  he 
was  for  some  twenty  years  the  life  and  soul  of 
that,  the  best  of  the  local  societies.  This  society 
has  counted  among  its  active  members,  besides 
Mr.  James,  the  Rev.  Ayliff  Poole,  Rev.  E.  Harts- 
horne,  E.  A.  Freeman,  Esq.,  the  Rev.  Lord 
Alwyne  Compton,  and  other  excellent  ecclesio- 
logists  and  antiquaries.  Mr.  James  was  a  most 
amiable  and  zealous  man,  and  an  excellent  writer. 
He  wrote  many  articles  for  the  Quarterly  Revieiv> 
amongst  others  one  on  Northamptonshire.  He 
has  been  one  of  my  best  friends  for  some  eighteen 
years.  He  died  of  a  cancer  in  the  liver  this  last 
autumn,  1863,  at  about  fifty-two  or  three  years 
of  age. 

In  1848  my  friend,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Stevens, 
commenced  the  restoration,  or  rather  the  partial 
rebuilding  and  enlargement,  of  his  church  at 
Bradfield,  which  had  been  in  contemplation 
some  ten  years  previously.  Though  executed 
so  long  since,  I  still  view  it  as  one  of  my  best 
works.  Mr.  Stevens  is  a  man  of  very  strong 
views  and  will,  a  detester  of  everything  weak, 
mean,  or  unmanly.  As  a  natural  consequence 
of  this  disposition,  he  took  a  very  determined 
liking  to  the  transitional,  or  what  we  usually  called 
the  "square  abacus"  style.  In  this  preference, 
as  a  matter  of  taste,  I  strongly  concurred,  though, 
as  a  matter  of  theory,  I  held  with  the  use  of  the 
early  decorated  as  the  point  of  highest  perfection 
in  the  style  generally.  I  elaborately  discussed 
the  question,  shortly  after  this  date,  in  a  paper 


156  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

attached  to  my  "  Plea  for  the  faithful  restoration 
of  ancient  churches,"  from  which  it  will  be  seen 
how  I  hung  back  upon  the  "  square  abacus " 
variety.  Many  were  the  friendly  and  jocose  dis- 
putations we  had  on  the  point.  I  was  always 
willing  to  be  beaten,  as  this  gave  me  an  excuse 
for  using  a  favourite,  though,  as  I  thought,  not 
theoretically  correct  style.  Mr.  Stevens  got  to 
employ  the  term  "square  abacus"  as  a  moral 
adjective,  used  in  the  sense  of  manly,  straight- 
forward, real,  honest,  and  all  cognate  epithets, 
and  "  round  abacus  "  for  what  was  milder,  "  ogee  " 
being  used  in  the  sense  of  mean,  weak,  dis- 
honest, &c.  This  drilling  probably  made  me 
ready  at  a  later  time  to  fall  in  with  the  French 
system  of  using  the  square  abacus  irrespective 
of  date  or  of  other  details.  At  an  intermediate 
period  I  made  use  of  the  transitional  style,  using 
it  in  conjunction  with  tracery,  and  with  a  certain 
amount  of  natural  foliage  (without  reference  to 
French  types)  as  a  fair  developement  on  eclectic 
principles.  The  period  over  which  the  work  at 
Bradfield  church  extended  was  a  time  of  great 

o 

pleasure,  owing  to  my  constant  and  most  friendly 
communication  with  Mr.  Stevens.  He  is  perhaps 
the  most  valued  friend  I  have  had,  a  thoroughly 
staunch,  firm  character,  a  thorough  man  of 
business,  of  undaunted  courage  and  determina- 
tion, and  a  strenuous  follower  out  of  whatever 
he  undertook.  Some  years  later  he  founded,  in 
connexion  with  the  church  of  Bradfield,  St.  An- 
drew's College,  a  school  which  has  had  a  wonder- 
ful run  of  success,  owing  to  Mr.  Stevens'  admirable 
and  courageous  management  of  it.  Of  the  build- 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  157 

ings  of  the  college  I  do  not  claim  to  be  the 
architect ;  it  was  not  built  out  of  hand,  but  grew 
of  itself,  bit  by  bit,  as  it  was  wanted,  each  part 
being  planned  by  Mr.  Stevens,  helped  a  little  by 
myself  or  by  my  clerk,  Mr.  Richard  Coad.  The 
hall  is  the  part  I  may  chiefly  claim  as  my  own.6 

A  direct  result  of  my  connexion  with  the  col- 
lege was  my  appointment  as  architect  to  the  new 
church  in  the  Isle  of  Alderney,  its  founder,  the 
Rev.  J.  Le  Mesurier,  having  resided  at  Bradfield. 
This  church  is  also  in  the  "  square  abacus  "  man- 
ner. I  must  say  that  this  is  still  the  style  I,  on 
the  whole,  most  delight  in,  though  it  is  no  doubt 
in  some  respects  imperfect,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that,  even  relinquishing  the  Gallic  mania, 
which  has  for  so  long  had  possession  of  our  minds, 
a  legitimate  style  may  be  generated  by  its  union 
with  later  developements. 

In  1851  I  joined  my  friend,  Mr.  Benjamin 
Ferrey,  in  a  short  tour  in  Italy.  We  met  at 
Berlin  and  proceeded  by  the  Saxon  Switzerland 
and  Prague  to  Vienna.  Here  we  gave  a  day  to 
St.  Stephen's,  with  which  I  was  most  agreeably 
surprised.  We  went,  partly  by  rail,  partly  by 
diligence,  to  Trieste,  and  thence  by  steamer  to 
Venice. 

My  special  recollections  of  this  early  part  of 
my  journey  are  first,  the  affected  delight  of  the 
hotel-keeper  at  Berlin  at  seeing  me ;  my  vanity 
accepted  it  (inwardly)  as  a  tribute  to  the  architect 
of  St.  Nicholas  at  Hamburg,  but,  unluckily  for 

6  The  stained  glass  in  its  western  windows  is  one  of  the 
earliest  works  in  this  material  designed  by  Mr.  E.  Burne 
Jones. — ED. 


158  Str  Gilbert  Scott. 

my  self-love,  he  proceeded  to  tell  me  that  I  was 
the  greatest  of  English  poets ;  and  I  found  that 
he  took  me,  or  pretended  to  do  so,  for  Sir  Walter 
Scott.  The  next  is  Ferrey's  depression  of  spirits 
at  the  dulness  of  the  country  in  north  Germany, 
and  his  sudden  delight  at  reaching  the  Saxon 
Switzerland.  He  seemed  as  if  he  would  jump 
out  of  the  carriage  window.  We  were  amused, 
in  passing  through  the  suburbs  of  Dresden,  to  see 
a  well-known  incumbent  of  Westminster,  in  plaid 
trousers,  black  tie,  and  a  wide-a-wake,  sitting 
swinging  his  legs  on  a  balk  of  timber  by  the  road- 
side, smoking  a  cigar.  Oh,  tell  it  not  in  West- 
minster !  The  fourth  incident  related  to  Ferrey's 
own  wide-awake,  which  persisted  in  blowing  off  his 
head,  while  crossing  the  Simmering  pass  outside  a 
droschky,  which  at  length  threw  the  Styrian  driver 
into  such  convulsions  of  laughter  that  he  fell  off 
the  carnage,  but  cat-like  came  down  on  his  legs. 

In  crossing  the  Adriatic,  I  was  delighted  at  the 
first  evidence  of  a  southern  climate,  in  the  vast 
tunny  fish,  which  followed  our  course,  ever  and 
anon  leaping  far  out  of  the  water,  and  pursuing  us 
again  as  swiftly  as  before. 

At  Venice,  all  was  enchantment !  No  three 
days  of  my  life  afford  me  such  rich  archaeological 
and  art  recollections.  We  both  worked  hard, 
and  did  much.  I  here  met  Ruskin,  whom  I 
knew  before,  and  we  spent  a  most  delightful 
evening  with  him.  On  this  occasion  I  made 
the  acquaintance  of  my  valued  and  now  lamented 
friend,  Sir  Francis  Scott,  whose  friendship  I  kept 
up  until  his  premature  demise  last  autumn,  1863. 
At  Venice  I  also  made  three  other  valuable 


CHAP.  IIL]  Recollections.  159 

acquaintances,  Mr.  Gambler  Parry,  of  Highnam 
Court,  David  Roberts,  and  Mr.  E.  W.  Cooke. 
We  urged  Roberts  to  take  Vienna  on  his  way 
home,  which  gave  rise  to  two  noble  pictures 
of  the  interior  of  St.  Stephen's.  My  impres- 
sions of  St.  Mark's  were  stronger  than  I  can 
describe.  I  considered  it,  and  still  continue  to  do 
so,  the  most  impressive  interior  I  have  ever  seen. 
The  Venetian  Gothic,  excepting  the  ducal  palace, 
disappointed  me  at  first,  but  by  degrees  it  grew 
upon  me  greatly.  Ferrey  was  enraged  at  it,  and 
I  could  continually  hear  him  muttering  the  words, 
"Batty  Langley,"  when  he  heard  it  spoken  favour- 
ably of.  We  both,  however,  joined  heart  and  soul 
in  our  devotion  to  the  ducal  palace,  and  spent 
much  time  in  sketching  its  details.  The  Byzantine 
palaces  also  attracted  my  attention  a  good  deal, 
especially  the  Fondaco  dei  Turchi.  Unhappily 
want  of  time  led  us  to  leave  Torcello  and  Murano 
unvisited. 

From  Venice  we  went  to  Padua.  Early  in  the 
morning  I  looked  out  into  the  twilight  to  see  if 
anything  in  our  line  was  visible,  when  what  was 
my  delight  to  see  a  splendid  Gothic  domestic  ruin 
close  behind  our  hotel,  and  what  my  disgust  at  its 
soon  turning  out  to  be  a  sham,  painted  upon  the 
back  wall  of  the  yard.  I  called  Ferrey  and  played 
off  the  trick  successfully  on  him,  and  was  next  day 
paid  off  by  him  in  kind  at  Vicenza. 

We  worked  tremendously  hard  at  St.  Antonio, 
and  at  the  Arena  chapel,  and  great  was  our  delight 
in  both.  The  next  day  we  went  to  Vicenza  and 
Verona.  The  latter  place  charmed  us  beyond 
measure,  and  we  worked  very  hard  for  a  day  and 


1 60  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

a  half,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Mantua,  where 
among  other  things  I  made  precisely  the  same 
sketch  of  the  tower  of  the  cathedral  which  Street 
made  the  next  year.  I  had  done  the  very  same 
by  the  tower  of  St.  Zeno  at  Verona.  From 
Mantua  we  went  by  Modena  to  Bologna.  I 
ought  to  have  mentioned  that  we  met  with  An- 
thony Salvin  the  younger,  who  accompanied  us 
and  interpreted  for  us.  Ferrey  and  I  tried  a  little 
speculative  Italian  on  our  own  account  at  Bologna, 
asking  an  elderly  gentleman  of  benignant  aspect 
where  we  should  find  the  church  of  San  Stefano. 
He,  seeing  that  we  had  exhausted  our  knowledge 
in  the  question,  made  no  reply,  but,  taking  one  of  us 
by  the  button,  he  led  us  silently  through  two  or 
three  streets,  and,  conducting  us  into  the  very 
middle  of  the  church,  shook  hands  with  us  both  in 
dumb  show,  and  departed.  San  Petronio  struck 
us  much  by  its  vast  proportions  and  wonderful  use 
of  brick,  though  this  is  internally  concealed  by 
whitewash.  From  Bologna  we  proceeded  to  Flo- 
rence. Again  we  had  three  days  of  the  purest 
delight.  I  worked  violently  to  the  last  day, 
timing  myself  strictly  to  the  work  I  was  to  do 
every  hour  of  the  day ;  and  at  last,  to  my  intense 
disgust  and  dismay,  forgot  San  Miniato.  Next  to 
my  three  Venice  days,  these  at  Florence  occupy 
the  choicest  corner  of  my  art  recollection. 

Thence  we  went  to  Sienna,  and  had  the  hardest 
three  hours'  work  in  my  life,  and  the  pleasantest. 
It  was  really  too  bad  to  hurry  in  such  a  manner, 
but  Ferrey  was  in  fits  at  the  idea  of  crossing  the 
Alps  in  the  snow,  and  we  had  reached  the  end  of 
October.  We  spent  one  working  day  and  a  Sun- 


CHAP.  IIL]  Recollections.  161 

day  at  Pisa,  again  with  unalloyed  delight,  and 
again  worked  hard  and  got  through  much.  Here 
we  met  with  a  young  English  architect,  who  had 
the  happy  knack  of  giving  offence  to  the  police 
authorities,  and  great  was  our  dread  of  the  effects 
of  his  conversation,  as  overheard  by  the  Austrian 
officers,  who  crowded  every  cafe.  We  escaped, 
though  we  afterwards  found  that  our  friend  had 
been  arrested  at  Verona  for  sketching  the  fortifi- 
cations. I  had  encountered  Austrian  soldiers 
throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  my  journey  ;  even 
Hamburg  that  year  was  garrisoned  by  Austrians, 
and  from  Saxony  to  Tuscany  they  were  con- 
tinuous. We  were  greatly  struck  by  their  fine 
persons  and  equipments  ;  but  when  Ferrey,  as  we 
were  crossing  from  Trieste  to  Venice,  was  describ- 
ing them  ecstatically  to  an  old  English  officer  just 
returned  from  India,  the  reply  he  received  was, — 
"Aye,  but  if  they  ever  go  to  war  with  the  French, 
you'll  see  how  the  French  will  walk  into  them," 
— and  so  we  have  seen,  eight  years  later. 

I  am  hurrying  over  the  architectural  part  of  our 
tour,  but  to  go  into  particulars  would  be  endless, 
and  the  buildings  are  too  well  known  to  need  it. 
We  were,  suffice  it  to  say,  delighted,  and  worked 
as  hard  as  men  could  do  from  morning  to  night. 
We  usually  breakfasted  by  twilight,  to  get  every 
hour  of  the  day  for  hard  work.  I  only  regret  that 
we  were  so  chary  of  our  time,  and  did  not  stay 
longer. 

We  went  from  Pisa  to  Genoa,  and  the  snow 
had  already  come,  and  had  covered  the  Carrara 
mountains  most  gloriously.  I  shall  never  forget 
looking  back  upon  them  as  we  walked  up  the  hill 

M 


1 62  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

at  Spezzia  in  the  morning,  and  seeing  them  again 
radiant  in  fiery  glory  in  the  last  rays  of  the  setting 
sun.  I  never  saw,  nor  since  have  seen,  anything 
more  magnificently  splendid.  In  a  few  minutes  it 
had  vanished  into  cold  grey. 

Of  Genoa  my  recollections  are  of  chilling  cold, 
warmed  only  by  my  enthusiastic  delight  in  the 
western  portion  of  the  cathedral,  both  within  and 
without.  I  have  written  my  impressions  of  this  in 
a  paper  given  in  the  appendix  to  my  work  on 
"  Domestic  Architecture."  It  is  the  best  Gothic 
architecture  I  saw  in  Italy,  and  I  am  convinced 
it  is  the  work  of  a  French  architect,  or  of  an 
Italian  fresh  from  France,  though  it  is  carried  out 
in  more  than  all  the  exuberance  of  coloured  ma- 
terial peculiar  to  Italian  art.7 

The  fear  of  snow  led  us  to  pass  through  Pavia 
without  stopping,  and  to  spend  but  a  day  at  Milan. 
Haste,  alas  !  without  good  speed,  for  the  snow 
overtook  us  at  Como,  and  we  had  to  cross  the 
Alps  after  all,  through  six  feet  of  snow,  and  in 
sledges  (i.  e.  deal  boxes  nailed  on  ash  poles)  with 
some  twenty  men  to  dig  a  way  for  us,  and  nothing 
to  be  seen  but  snow  and  fog. 

In  going  by  diligence  from  Como  to  the  pass, 
one  of  our  horses  jumped  over  a  precipice.  I  was 
asleep  at  the  time,  but  Ferrey,  who  saw  it,  woke 
me  up  in  dismay.  Happily  the  traces  had  broken 

7  This  work  should  be  compared  with  the  north  and  south 
portals  of  the  west  front  of  the  cathedral  of  Rouen.  A  compari- 
son of  the  two  works  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  both  were 
executed  by  the  same  artist,  or  guild  of  artists,  and  that  the 
originators  of  both  were  not  Italians,  but  northern  Frenchmen. 
-ED. 


CHAP.  HI.]  Recollections.  163 

and  let  him  go,  but  a  tree  caught  him,  and  we 
drew  him  up  again  by  ropes. 

On  our  return  (which  was  all  in  the  fog)  we 
looked  in  at  Freiburg,  in  Breisgau  (which  I  had 
seen  three  years  before),  and  were  much  charmed. 
We  were  shown  over  by  an  old  acquaintance 
of  mine,  the  commissionaire  whose  quaint  English 
books  and  letters  had  before  amused  me,  and 
whose  worthiness  had  interested  me  in  him. 

On  our  journey  home  we  made  the  acquaintance 
of,  I  believe,  a  nobleman  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Leghorn.  He  was  going  to  London,  and  thence 
to  Paris.  He  was  a  most  conversational  man,  and 
not  afraid  to  proclaim  himself  to  be  one  of  the 
most  timid  of  his  race.  His  greatest  dread  was 
lest  there  should  be  an  e"meute  during  his  stay 
at  Paris.  He  called  on  Ferrey  and  myself  in 
London  "pour  prendre  cong£"  and  set  off  for 
Paris,  where,  on  the  very  morning  after  his  arrival, 
occurred  the  celebrated  "  coup  d'ttat"  We  heard 
of  him  no  more. 

In  spite  of  all  the  violence  now  indulged  in, 
against  every  lesson  learned  south  of  the  Alps, 
I  must  say  that  I  gained  very  much  by  this 
journey,  and  much  desire  to  repeat  it.  I  was 
convinced,  however,  that  Italian  Gothic,  as  such, 
must  not  be  used  in  England,  but  I  was  equally 
convinced,  and  am  so  still,  that  the  study  of  it  is 
necessary  to  the  perfecting  of  our  revival,  and  I 
have  detailed  my  impressions  on  this  head  in  the 
paper  already  referred  to.  W^hat,  however,  with 
the  folly,  on  the  one  hand,  of  men  who  adopt 
Italian  Gothic,  with  all  its  purely  local  peculiarities, 
and,  on  the  other,  of  those  who,  from  a  mere  rabid 

M    2 


164  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

and  unintelligent  prejudice,  condemn  unheard  any 
one  who  thinks  that  any  practical  hint  can  be  im- 
ported from  Italy,  one  is  compelled  to  abstain  from 
making  much  use  of  any  lessons  one  has  learned 
there.  I  trust  this  double  folly  will  in  time  be 
outgrown. 

This  year  the  Great  Exhibition  had  taken  up 
much  of  my  attention.  I  had  had  a  model  pre- 
pared of  the  church  at  Hamburg,  which  occupied 
a  very  conspicuous  place  in  the  nave  ;  perhaps  the 
finest  of  Mr.  Salter's  models. 

I  had  also  a  restoration  prepared  of  one  end  of 
the  monument  of  Queen  Philippa.  This  had  taken 
a  very  long  time  to  work  out  by  the  most  careful 
study  of  the  original.  I  had  during  the  previous 
summer  been  constantly  giving  snatches  of  time  to 
it,  and  as  the  niche  work  was  all  gone,  excepting 
some  detached  fragments  preserved  in  the  Abbey, 
and  the  parts  immured  in  the  adjacent  monument 
of  Henry  V.,  I  had  obtained  leave  to  make  inci- 
sions into  the  base  of  that  tomb,  by  which  means  I 
brought  to  light  the  whole  design,  including  two 
niche-figures  and  one  exquisite  little  angel,  one 
of  the  many  which  adorned  the  tabernacle-work. 
I  had  to  work  at  this  by  the  help  of  candles  and 
looking-glasses.  When  engaged  one  day  with 
Mr.  Cundy,  the  Abbey  mason,  on  this  work,  the 
thought  suddenly  occurred  to  me  that  some  of  the 
lost  portions  might  have  found  their  way  into  the 
Cottingham  Museum.  I  suggested  this  to  Mr. 
Cundy,  and  as  that  collection  was  at  the  time  for 
sale,  he  went  and  searched,  and  at  length  found 
one  of  the  large  canopies  and  other  fragments  on 
the  chimney-piece  of  Mr.  Cottingham's  office. 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  165 

After  some  months  they  were  recovered,  and  all 
(with  the  fragments  before  mentioned)  refixed  in 
their  places.  It  was  said  that  Mr.  Cottinofham 

•  O 

had  bought  them,  thirty-five  years  earlier,  from  the 
Abbey  mason.  The  restoration  of  the  end  was 
executed  by  Mr.  Cundy,  mainly  at  his  own  cost. 
The  figures  were  by  Mr.  Philip,  and  the  coloured 
decorations  by  Mr.  Willement.  It  is  now  in  the 
South  Kensington  collection,  and  is  the  property  of 
the  architectural  museum.8 

I  had  some  other  things  in  this  exhibition,  but 
my  great  interest  was  in  Pugin's  court.  The  last 
time  I  saw  him  was  there,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
opening.  How  little  did  I  think  how  soon  that 
burning  light  was  to  be  extinguished !  Had  I 
known  this,  how  anxiously  should  I  have  striven 
for  more  intimate  acquaintance ! 

During  this  year,  Mr.  Cottingham's  museum 
being  for  sale,  I  wrote  a  letter  in  the  Builder, 
urging  its  purchase  by  the  Government,  as  the 
nucleus  of  a  collection  of  mediaeval  specimens 
for  the  use  of  carvers  and  others.  This  was 
without  avail,  but  it  originated  the  architectural 
museum.  I  had  a  call,  in  consequence  of  my 
letter,  from  a  strange  person,  Mr.  Bruce  Allen, 
who  told  me  that  he  had  long  had  a  plan 
of  the  same  kind  in  connexion  with  a  school 
of  art  for  art  workmen.  After  my  return  from 
Italy  he  pressed  the  matter,  and  invited  to  a 
meeting  a  number  of  architects,  to  whom  he  pro- 
posed his  scheme,  chiefly  for  the  school  of  art. 
After  several  meetings,  it  was  determined  to 
establish  an  architectural  museum,  and  to  allow 

8  It  is  now  in  the  architectural  museum  in  Westminster. — ED. 


1 66  Sir  Gilbert  Scoff. 

Mr.  Allen  to  carry  on  his  school  of  art  as  a  pri- 
vate speculation  of  his  own  within  the  museum,  to 
which  he  was  to  be  curator.  The  matter  went 
on  but  sleepily  for  some  months,  when  I  deter- 
mined to  take  it  into  my  own  hands,  and  nail  my 
flag  to  the  mast.  I  accordingly  wrote  private 
letters,  and  sent  circulars  to  every  one  I  could 
possibly  think  of,  begging  both  annual  subscrip- 
tions and  donations  to  a  special  fund  for  starting 
the  collection.  The  labour  I  gave  to  it  was 
immense ;  I  called  on  all  such  people  as  seemed 
to  need  it,  and  frequently  over  and  over  again. 
The  number  of  times  I  wrote  and  called  on  Mr. 
Blore,  without  getting  in  reply  one  word  or  one 
penny,  was  amazing.  Street  discouraged  it,  as 
tending  to  copyism.  Butterfield  gave  very  cold 
support.  Poor  Pugin  was  just  laid  by.  I  never- 
theless obtained  liberal  support,  got  up  a  good  list 
of  annual  subscribers,  and  some  5OO/.  in  dona- 
tions. Specimens  poured  in  from  all  quarters  (not 
always  good  ones) ;  I  lent  nearly  the  whole  of  my 
large  collection,  and  employed  agents  and  work- 
men all  over  the  country  to  get  new  casts.  M. 
Gerente  acted  as  my  agent  in  France,  and  he  got 
us  an  excellent  lot  of  casts.  Later  on  Ruskin 
gave,  or  lent  us,  his  whole  collection  of  Venetian 
casts,  and  some  very  fine  French  ones.  Much  ol 
Cottingham's  museum  came  to  us,  and  before  long 
we  had  formed  a  very  wonderful  collection. 

We  had  taken  a  very  extensive  and  most  quaint 
loft,  in  a  wharf  at  Cannon  Row,  Westminster, 
which  we  soon  completely  filled.  There  we  used 
to  have  lectures  in  the  midst  of  our  specimens. 
There  Ruskin  has  poured  forth  his  most  telling 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  167 

eloquence.  There  we  held  annual  conversaziones, 
when  500  or  600  persons  were  presided  over  in 
the  cock-loft  by  the  prince-like  Earl  de  Grey,  and 
were  addressed  often  by  some  of  the  first  men  in 
the  country  ;  but,  above  all,  here  were  our  carvers 
taught  their  art  from  the  best  ancient  models,  and 
our  students  acquired  a  degree  of  skill  and  taste 
in  the  drawing  of  architectural  ornament  which 
had  never  before  been  reached,  nor  has  (since  the 
removal  of  the  museum)  been  retained.  These 
were  the  days  of  our  pride,  and  I  confess  I  even 
now  feel  a  pardonable  exultation  when  I  call  to 
remembrance  the  share  I  took  in  bringing  about 
such  noble  results.  No  movement  ever  made  in 
our  day,  had  equalled  this  in  its  effects  both  upon 
workmen  and  students.  Our  cock-loft  was  the 
centre  of  their  artistic  study  and  improvement, 
and  to  myself  and  others  engaged  in  the  work  it 
was  a  source  of  constant  and  almost  daily  delight 
and  interest.  During  my  journeys  I  was  ever 
looking  out  for  objects  of  art,  whose  representa- 
tion might  enrich  our  collection  ;  and  even  in  the 
gardens,  in  the  fields,  or  by  the  seaside,  the  very 
leaves  and  flowers  seemed  to  connect  themselves 
with  our  art-scheme,  and  to  suggest  plans  for  illus- 
trating all  such  productions  as  would  lend  sugges- 
tions to  art. 

The  vision  was,  however,  soon  clouded. 
Funds  failed  ;  I  had  allowed  my  enthusiasm  to 
outrun  our  finances,  and  a  heavy  debt  stared 
us  in  the  face.  We  made  an  appeal  for  aid  to 
the  Prince  Consort,  and  a  deputation,  consisting 
of  Earl  de  Grey,  Mr.  Glutton  (the  Hon.  Sec.), 
and  myself,  waited  on  his  Royal  Highness  to 


1 68  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

state  our  case.  He  received  us  graciously,  and 
promised  and  gave  aid,  becoming  also  our 
"  patron."  He  took  occasion,  however,  to  read 
us  a  not  very  complimentary  lecture  on  the  state 
of  architectural  education  in  this  country,  which 
he  described  as  contemptible  in  the  extreme.  It 
was  clearly  a  ricotto  of  one  of  Mr.  Cole's,  being 
the  key  to  his  own  course  in  always  employing 
builders  instead  of  architects.  There  was  much 
truth  in  what  he  said,  though  the  true  result 
should  have  been  a  strenuous  movement  to  im- 
prove the  artistic  education  of  our  profession, 
rather  than  to  employ  in  our  stead,  and  cry  up 
as  our  superiors,  builders  and  military  engineers, 
who  make  no  pretence  whatever  to  aesthetical 
training.  I  might,  had  dates  coincided  (of  which 
I  am  uncertain),  have  replied  that,  defective  as 
was  the  training  of  English  architects,  there 
stood  before  his  Royal  Highness  two  of  them, 
who,  having  in  three  several  instances  accepted 
invitations  to  compete  in  foreign  countries  with 
architects  from  all  Europe,  and  for  buildings 
of  first-rate  importance,  had  in  each  instance 
carried  off  the  first  prizes,  and  that  two  of  these 
European  competitions  had  been  in  his  own 
country,  and  the  third  in  France,  while  in  two 
at  least  of  them  (one  in  each  country),  the  highest 
authorities .  had  been  consulted,  or  had  taken  part 
in  the  decision. 

We  were  referred  by  the  Prince  to  Mr.  Cole 
and  Mr.  Redgrave/who  took  up  the  case  with 
some  favour,  and  met  our  committee  to  arrange 
joint  action.  The  result  was  an  annual  subscrip- 
tion of  ioo/.  (which  they  were  not  pledged  to  con- 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  169 

tinue),  on  condition  of  the  free  admission  of  the 
students  of  their  school  of  art.  This  lasted,  how- 
ever, but  a  single  year,  1855.  South  Kensington 
was  then  but  in  embryo,  and  nothing  could  be 
permitted  elsewhere.  Accordingly,  when  we 
applied  in  person  for  the  continuance  of  the  sub- 
scription, Mr.  Cole  told  us  that,  their  schools  being 
now  about  to  be  removed,  our  collection  would 
cease  to  be  available  to  them,  and  the  payment 
must  consequently  cease.  He  then  delicately 
suggested  that  if  we  were  to  change  our  venue, 
and  petition  for  a  grant  of  space  in  their  new 
building,  rent  free,  it  might  be  favourably  en- 
tertained, and  we  were  shown  on  a  plan  of  the 
building  a  noble  gallery  which  might  be  at  our 
service,  with  attendance,  lighting,  warming,  &c., 
gratis, — "  All  these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou 
wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me."  The  gallery 
was  to  be  fitted  up  for  us,  and  the  collection  re- 
moved and  re-arranged  at  the  public  cost.  Never, 
in  fact,  was  hook  better  baited  for  hungry  fish. 
The  suggestion  was  laid  before  the  committee.; 
There  were  those  who,  like  Laocoon,  suggested 
fears  of  the  Greeks,  even  when  in  so  generous  a 
mood.  In  fact,  we  all  secretly  felt  that  our  fate 
was  sealed.  The  Syren  voice  was  understood, 
but  could  not  be  resisted;  stern  poverty  constrained 
us  to  the  shore.  Meanwhile,  when  they  saw  that 
we  nibbled,  the  bait  was  gradually  and  studiously 
reduced.  Our  wrath  was  great,  but  our  poverty 
was  greater,  and  at  last  the  compact  was  signed, 
with  the  fullest  consciousness  that  we  were 
doomed  to  be  engulphed ;  I  had  written  the  word 
before  I  recollected  one  of  the  epithets  of  Mr. 


1 70  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Cole,  "  the  modern  Ingulphus."  It  is  now  about 
eight  years  since  we  removed  to  South  Kensington, 
and  I  can  truly  say  that  I  have  never  felt  any 
satisfaction  in  the  museum  since.  There  followed 
continual  and  systematic  encroachment,  the  re- 
sistance of  which  was  deemed  a  personal  affront, 
to  be  avenged  by  further  encroachments,  and,  as 
a  climax  at  last,  our  refusal  of  some  absurd  pro- 
posal was  made  an  excuse  for  our  receiving  notice 
to  quit,  the  joint  consequence  of  our  having  done 
the  work  we  were  invited  for,  and  of  their  know- 
ledge that,  as  we  could  never  get  other  premises, 
our  collection  was  at  their  mercy.  Our  capitula- 
tion and  our  making  over  the  collection  on  loan 
was  followed  by  its  removal  and  re-arrangement 
without  our  leave  or  knowledge.  All  this,  how- 
ever, would  be  as  nothing  were  it  not  that  our 
students  were  frightened  away  by  distance  and 
red  tape,  and  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  collection 
thus  seriously  reduced. 

These  annoying  circumstances  have  been,  I 
confess,  much  mitigated  by  the  noble  collection 
brought  together  under  the  same  roof  by  the 
department,  and  the  first-rate  art-library  since 
added  to  it,  so  that  I  am  ready  to  condone  all 
past  offences,  and  now  recommend  all  art  students 
to  lodge  near  South  Kensington,  and  to  avail 
themselves  of  its  unprecedented  advantages  for 
the  pursuit  of  their  studies. 

In  1853,  the  great  parish  church  of  St.  George 
at  Doncaster  was  burned  down.  Ferrey  had  re- 
fitted the  old  church,  and  I  thought  that  we  should 
be  appointed  joint  architects,  as  he  proposed,  and 
I  was  willing  to  accept,  but,  owing  to  some  local 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  171 

differences,  this  arrangement  was  negatived,  and 
I  was  appointed  singly. 

I  did  all  I  could  to  bring  them  to  what  had 
been  suggested  by  Ferrey,  but  in  vain. 

My  first  anxiety  on  undertaking  this  great  work 
was  to  ascertain  whether  any  part  of  the  ruins 
could  be  worked  up  into  the  new  church.  I  found 
this  impossible.  I  then  devoted  my  attention  to 
the  restoration,  on  paper,  of  the  old  church  from 
its  ruins  and  fragments,  and  in  this  I  met  with 
great  success.  Mr.  Burlison  stayed  there  several 
weeks  and  thoroughly  overhauled  everything.  We 
traced  out  the  whole  history  of  the  church,  which 
we  found  to  be  a  skeleton  of  transitional  early 
english,  gradually  overlaid  with  different  ages  of 
perpendicular  work. 

I  read  a  paper  on  the  result  of  these  investiga- 
tions before  the  Oxford  architectural  society, 
which  is  published  in  Jackson's  history  of  St. 
George's  church. 

The  next  question  related  to  style.  The  tower 
was  a  noble  work  in  early  and  bold  perpendicular, 
and  as  its  entire  design  had  been  recovered,  I 
was  anxious  to  reproduce  it.  The  question  then 
arose  whether  I  ought  to  make  the  rest  of  the 
church  coincide  with  it  in  style.  Yorkshire  con- 
tains much  of  the  best  early  perpendicular,  e.  g. 
at  York  in  the  Minster,  at  Beverly  Minster  (in 
the  east  window  and  the  west  end),  at  Bridlington 
(in  the  west  front),  and  at  Howden  (in  the  Chapter- 
house). I  was  well  acquainted  with  all  these  of 
old,  but  I  determined  on  a  systematic  revisiting 
of  them  with  a  view  to  forming  a  deliberate 
opinion.  My  conclusion  was  that,  noble  as  these 


172  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

specimens  are,  and  excellent  as  are  their  details, 
their  great  merits  arise  from  their  similarity  to 
the  preceding  style,  and  that  we  had  better  adopt 
that  earlier  style  at  once,  and,  adopting  it,  take  it 
at  about  its  best  stage,  and,  further,  that  there  was 
no  harm  in  accompanying  this  by  a  reproduction 
of  the  perpendicular  tower. 

The  old  church  was  insufficient  in  size  for  the 
wants  of  the  parish,  yet  had  acquired  a  part  of  its 
size  by  a  disproportionate  widening  of  its  aisles. 
I  could  not  of  course  reproduce  this.9  I  therefore 
increased  the  radical  scale  of  the  church,  repro- 
portioning  it  with  reference  to  its  earlier  form.  I 
found,  however,  that  much  greater  length  was 
necessary,  and  I  wanted  to  add  a  bay  to  the 
length  of  the  nave,  but  the  Archbishop  had  spoken, 
and  still  spoke,  so  strongly  against  enlargement, 
that  I  unfortunately  had  to  give  this  up.  Still, 
however,  the  church  is  some  twenty  feet  longer 
than  the  old  one.  I  will  not  go  further  into  a 
description  of  the  church.  I  certainly  took  great 
pains  with  it,  and  believe  it  to  stand  very  high 
amongst  the  works  of  the  revival.  It  has  been 
brought  almost  ad  nauseam  before  the  public  by 
my  friend,  and  at  the  time  my  tormentor,  Mr.  E. 
B.  Denison.1  He  was,  however,  a  strenuous 
supporter  of  doing  the  work  well,  and  was  a  very 
liberal  contributor  to  the  funds  ;  and  were  it  not 
that  he  has  an  unpleasant  way  of  doing  things 

9  Aisles  are  valuable  in  the  point  of  view  of  accommodation 
in  proportion  to  their  width,  the  least  useful  part  of  an  aisle 
being  that  nearest  to  the  pillars.  In  Newark  church,  to  my 
mind  one  of  the  best  proportioned  churches  in  England,  the 
aisles  are  wider  than  the  nave. — ED. 

1  Now  Sir  Edmund  Beckett,  Q.C.— ED. 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  173 

which  makes  one  hate  one's  best  works,  I  should 
have  far  more  reason  to  thank  than  to  complain  of 
him.  My  comfort  was,  however,  much  more  seri- 
ously interfered  with  by  a  despicable  and  untrust- 
worthy man,  whom  I  had  the  misfortune  to  fall 
in  with  as  a  clerk  of  the  works,  and  who  had  con- 
trived to  ingratiate  himself  (for  the  time)  with  Mr. 
Denison,  so  much  so  as  to  cause  much  that  was 
annoying ;  but  I  will  not  dwell  upon  disagree- 
ables. The  work  was  well  carried  out,  and  every 
improvement  proposed  was  ably  advocated  by 
Mr.  Denison.  He,  like  my  friend  Mr.  Stevens, 
was  a  determined  advocate  of  anything  strong, 
bold,  and  forcible,  and  the  lessons  he  read  me  on 
this  have  been  most  useful.  It  is  true  he  carries 
this  to  excess,  and,  barrister-like,  advocates  it  by 
faulty  arguments,  which,  woe  be  to  the  luckless 
wight  who  ventures  to  expose ;  but  his  views  are 
in  the  main  strong,  sound,  and  true,  so  that  there 
is  no  good  done  by  sifting  them  for  a  few  fallacies, 
which  any  one  who  knows  anything  of  the  subject 
is  as  well  aware  of  as  he  is  himself.  My  project 
of  reproducing  the  original  design  of  the  tower 
was  subsequently  modified  into  the  reproduction  of 
its  general  forms  in  an  earlier  style.  I  am  not  proud 
of  this  tower.  I  missed  the  old  outline,  and  I  never 
see  it  without  disappointment,  though  I  do  not 
think  that  this  feeling  is  generally  participated  in. 
I  built  another  church  there  on  a  general 
scheme  of  Mr.  Denison's.  I  wonder  whether  I 
have  the  original  sketch.  It  would  be  amusing.2 

~  This  church,  close  to  the  Great  Northern  Railway  Station,  has 
since  been  altered  by  Sir  Edmund  Beckett,  or  rather  by  a  very 
competent  local  architect  under  Sir  Edmund's  direction. — ED. 


1 74  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Late  in  1854  I  competed  for  the  new  Rathhaus, 
or  H6tel  de  Ville,  at  Hamburg,  a  second  European 
competition.  I  founded  my  design  according  to 
the  wish  of  my  departed  friend,  the  Syndic  Sievi- 
king,  upon  the  Halles  at  Ypres,  but  changed  the 
detail  entirely.  I  confess  that  I  think  it  would 
have  been  a  very  noble  structure. 

Early  in  1855  this  competition  was  decided  in 
my  favour,  but  the  execution  was  postponed  sine 
die,  owing  to  the  funds  set  apart  for  it  being 
required  for  the  improvement  of  the  navigation 
of  the  Elbe.  I  sent  a  small  view  of  it  that  year 
to  the  Exhibition  at  Paris.  The  following  re- 
mark terminates  the  notice  of  it  in  a  pamphlet 
by  M.  Adolphe  Lance  : — "  L'hotel  de  ville  de 
Hambourg  sera  une  des  plus  belles  et  des  plus 
raisonnables  constructions  de  ce  temps-ci.  Heu- 
reux  1'artiste  qui  y  aura  attache  son  nom,  heureuse 
la  ville  qui  pourra  le  compter  au  nombre  de  ses 
monuments." 

I  was  named  one  of  three  architects  who  had 
the  examining  and  passing  of  English  works 
in  architecture  for  the  Paris  Exhibition,  my  coad- 
jutors being  Professors  Cockerell  and  Donald- 
son. I  contributed  very  largely  myself,  sending 
two  views  of  the  church  at  Hamburg,  one  of  the 
Rathhaus  design,  one  of  the  interior  of  Ely  Cathe- 
dral, a  drawing  of  my  restoration  of  the  Westmin- 
ster Chapter-house,  and  a  number  of  others.  I 
received  a  gold  medal. 

I  spent  a  little  time  in  Paris  on  this  occasion, 
and  saw  very  much  in  the  Exhibition  to  give  me 
pleasure.  As  usual,  however,  I  devoted  most  of 
my  time  to  sketching  from  old  buildings. 


CHAP,  in.]  Recollections.  175 

In  1855  I  had  received  a  hint  from  Mr.  Hard- 
wick,  R.  A.,  that  I  had  better  put  down  my  name  on 
the  list  of  candidates  for  the  Royal  Academy,  and  in 
December  I  was  elected  an  associate.  The  only 
notable  circumstance  connected  with  my  associate- 
ship  was  that,  during  an  interregnum,  in  which  Pro- 
fessor Cockerell  had  ceased  to  lecture,  I  was,  in  con- 
junction with  Mr.  Smirke  (also  an  associate),  called 
upon  to  deliver  lectures  there.  I  gave  five  such  lec- 
tures, and  I  must  say  that,  if  they  were  not  good 
ones,  it  was  not  for  want  of  pains,  for  I  did  all  in  my 
power  to  render  them  so,  and  am  vain  enough  to 
believe  that  they  contain  much  that  is  original 
and  meritorious.  They  were  most  elaborately 
illustrated  by  bold  chalk  sketches  and  drawings  ; 
on  these  I,  my  sons,  pupils,  and  assistants  worked 
most  assiduously.  On  one  occasion  I  actually 
went  into  France  on  a  special  sketching  tour  in 
December,  to  get  materials  for  my  lecture.  A 
nobler  set  of  illustrations  was  probably  never  seen 
to  any  lectures.  They  numbered  on  one  occasion 
upwards  of  seventy,  and  far  more  than  covered 
an  entire  side  of  the  great  room  at  the  Academy. 
They  were  many  of  them  from  sketches  made 
expressly  for  the  occasion ;  some  were  from 
sketches  obtained  from  others,  very  many  were 
enlarged  from  my  older  sketch-books,  and  some 
were  taken  from  published  works ;  indeed,  every 
source  was  laid  under  contribution  to  make  my 
lectures  thoroughly  explanatory  in  every  way.  I 
often  think  of  publishing  them,  but  the  trouble 
and  the  cost  interfere.3 

3  They  are  now  published  with  illustrations  as  a  posthumous 
work. — ED. 


176  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

It  is  a  pity  that  we  have  not  two  professorships 
at  the  Academy — the  one  for  classic,  the  other  for 
gothic  architecture.  It  is  sad  that  the  latter 
should  be  either  utterly  neglected,  or  else  taken 
up  by  one  who  has  not  made  it  his  special 
study,  nor  cares  about  its  revival,  except  to  head 
deputations  to  discourage  it. 

About  this  time  I  erected  the  church  at  Haley 
Hill,  Halifax,  the  munificent  work  of  Mr.  E. 
Akroyd,  the  great  manufacturer.  It  is,  on  the 
whole,  my  best  church ;  but  it  labours  under  this 
disadvantage,  that  it  was  never  meant  to  be  so 
fine  a  work  as  it  is,  and  consequently  was  not 
commenced  on  a  sufficiently  bold  and  comprehen- 
sive plan.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  liberality 
and  munificence  of  its  founder,  and  I  think  he  was 
well  satisfied.  I  confess  I  hardly  am  so,  as  I  know 
how  much  finer  it  would  have  been,  had  it  been 
more  developed  as  to  size. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

I  NOW  arrive  at  the  period  of  the  competition  for 
the  Government  offices  in  the  autumn  of  1856. 

I  will  first  mention  that  it  found  me  hard  at  work, 
writing  a  treatise  on  "  Domestic  Architecture."  I 
had  long  felt  that  some  book  was  needed,  putting 
forth  in  a  popular  way,  free  from  exaggeration,  the 
applicability  of  our  revived  style  to  general  uses  ; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  inconsistency  of  giving 
it  a  queer,  antiquated  garb,  and  the  necessity  of 
making  it  conform  loyally  and  willingly  to  the 
habits  and  requirements  of  our  own  age.  This 
book,  as  pretty  well  all  that  I  write,  is  the  product 
of  my  travelling  hours.  People  often  express  a 
wonder  how  I  write  lectures,  books,  &c.,  in  the 
midst  of  my  engagements.  I  simply  do  so  by 
employing  my  time  on  such  work  while  travel- 
ling. I  carry  a  blank  book  in  my  pocket,  and 
write  in  pencil  as  I  go.  I  find  that  it  rather 
amuses  than  fatigues  me,  and  that  my  thoughts 
are  freer  at  such  times  than  at  any  other ;  while 
in  a  night  journey  I  often  warm  up  to  more 
enthusiastic  sentiments  than  at  other  times  I  have 
leisure  for.  This  book  took  me  a  very  consider- 
able time  to  write,  and  its  publication  was  delayed 
because  it  was  finished  at  the  wrong  time  of  the 

N 


1 78  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

year — for  books,  like  other  things,  may  be  in  or 
out  of  season. 

This  great  competition,  then,  found  me  in  rather 
a  prepared  state  of  mind.  I  was  not,  however, 
content  with  this ;  but,  long  before  the  pro- 
gramme came  out,  I  set  to  work  to  put  myself 
systematically  through  my  facings.  My  family 
being,  as  was  usual  in  the  latter  part  of  summer, 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  I  retired  to  a  great  extent 
from  active  engagements,  and  set  myself  to  de- 
sign the  elements  which  I  thought  best  suited  to 
a  public  building.  I  designed  windows  suited  to 
all  positions,  and  of  all  varieties  of  size,  form,  and 
grouping  ;  doorways,  cornices,  parapets,  and  ima- 
ginary combinations  of  all  these,  carefully  studying 
to  make  them  all  thoroughly  practical,  and  suited 
to  this  class  of  building.  I  did  not  aim  at  making 
my  style  "  Italian  Gothic  ; "  my  ideas  ran  much 
more  upon  the  French,  to  which  for  some  years 
I  had  devoted  my  chief  study.  I  did,  however, 
aim  at  gathering  a  few  hints  from  Italy,  such  as 
the  pillar-mullion,  the  use  of  differently-coloured 
materials,  and  of  inlaying.  I  also  aimed  at 
another  thing  which  people  consider  Italian — I 
mean  a  certain  squareness  and  horizontality  of 
outline.  This  I  consider  pre-eminently  suited  to 
the  street  front  of  a  public  building.  I  combined 
this,  however,  with  gables,  high-pitched  roofs,  and 
dormers. 

My  opinion  is,  that  putting  aside  the  question 
now  rife  as  to  whether  we  should,  or  should  not, 
introduce  foreign  varieties  of  Gothic,  my  details 
were  excellent,  and  precisely  suited  to  the  pur- 
pose. I  do  not  think  the  entire  design  so  good 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  179 

as  its  elementary  parts.  It  was  rather  set  and 
formal.  With  all  its  faults,  however,  it  would 
have  been  a  noble  structure  ;  and  the  set  of  draw- 
ings was,  perhaps,  the  best  ever  sent  in  to  a 
competition,  or  nearly  so. 

A  little  before  the  competition,  but  subsequent 
to  my  designing  the  speculative  elements  of  it, 
I  had  a  good  opportunity  of  trying  these  elements 
beforehand.  Mr.  Akroyd  had  asked  me  to  de- 
sign a  town-hall  for  Halifax,  to  suit  a  site  which 
he  favoured.  I  made  a  design,  which  I  flatter 
myself  was  as  good  a  thing  of  its  kind,  and  of  its 
small  size,  as  had  been  made  at  the  time  ;  nor  do 
I  think  I  could  now  do  better.  It  was  the  first- 
fruits  of  my  studies  for  the  Government  offices  ; 
and,  in  my  opinion,  was  better  than  any  subse- 
quent design  for  these  buildings. 

When  my  designs  for  the  public  offices  were 
exhibited,1  they  excited  much  attention ;  indeed, 
they  were,  by  those  who  favoured  Gothic,  con- 
sidered generally  the  best,  though  opinions  were 
divided  to  some  extent  between  them  and  the 
designs  by  Mr.  Street  and  Mr.  Woodward.  In- 
deed, few  comparatively,  as  were  the  Gothic 
designs,  they  were  by  far  the  best  in  the  exhi- 
bition, putting  aside,  perhaps,  those  of  Sir  Charles 
Barry,  which  were  visionary,  and  founded  on  the 
diminutive  elements  of  the  present  Board  of  Trade 
buildings. 

The  judges,  who  knew  amazingly  little  about 
their  subject,  were  not  well-disposed  towards  our 

1  They  bore  the  following  motto  : — "  Nee  minimum  meruere 
decus  vestigia  Grseca  ausi  deserere  et  celebrare  domestica 
facta."— ED. 

N   2 


1 80  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

style,  and  though  they  awarded  premiums  to  all 
the  best  Gothic  designs,  they  took  care  not  to  put 
any  of  them  high  enough  to  have  much  chance. 
The  first  premium  for  the  Foreign  Office  was 
awarded  to  a  design  by  my  old  pupil  Coe  ;  the 
first  for  the  War  Office  to  one  (not  bad  by  any 
means)  by  Garling.  Barry  and  Banks  came  second 
for  the  Foreign  Office,  and  I  third. 

I  did  not  fret  myself  at  the  disappointment,  but 
when  it  was  found,  a  few  months  later,  that  Lord 
Palmerston  had  coolly  set  aside  the  entire  results 
of  the  competition,  and  was  about  to  appoint 
Pennethorne,  a  non-competitor,  I  thought  myself 
at  liberty  to  stir.  A  meeting  took  place  at  Mr. 
Beresford  Hope's,  at  which  Charles  Barry,  myself, 
and  Digby  Wyatt  were  present;  and,  if  I  remember 
rightly,  it  was  agreed  to  stir  up  the  Institute  of 
Architects.  To  the  best  of  my  memory,  the 
Government  had  just  changed,  and  Lord  John 
Manners  had  taken  the  Office  of  Works,  when  a 
deputation  from  the  Institute  laid  the  matter 
before  him.  The  result  was  the  appointment  of 
a  select  committee  to  inquire  into  the  subject. 
This  committee  had  Mr.  Beresford  Hope  for  its 
chairman,  and  included  Lord  Elcho,  Sir  Benjamin 
Hall,  Mr.  Tite,  Mr.  Akroyd,  Mr.  Stirling,  Sir 
John  Shelley,  Mr.  Lock,  Mr.  Lygon,2  and  others. 

It  appeared,  on  the  evidence  of  Mr.  Burn,  who 
had  acted  as  one  of  the  architectural  assessors  to 
the  judges,  that  while  the  assessors  were  of  one 
mind  as  to  the  order  of  merit  among  the  designs, 
they  did  not  coincide  with  the  decision  of  the 
judges;  and,  further,  that  they  had  agreed  in 
1  Now  the  Earl  Beauchamp. — ED. 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  181 

placing  me  second  for  both  buildings,  while  no 
one  was  on  any  showing  first  for  both  ;  moreover, 
that  they  considered  second  for  both  (the  two 
being  essentially  parts  of  the  same  group)  to  be  a 
higher  position  than  that  of  first  for  only  one.3  I 
was  thus  in  a  certain  sense  lifted  up  from  my  third 
place  and  placed  upon  the  balance  between  second 
and  first.  The  committee  reported  that  the  two 
styles  were  equal  in  convenience  and  in  cost,  and, 
stating  what  I  have  just  detailed,  they  recom- 
mended the  Commissioner  of  Works  virtually, 
though  not  in  terms,  to  make  his  own  choice 
between  my  design  and  that  of  Messrs.  Banks 
and  Barry. 

They  reported  in  July,  1858,  but  no  decision 
was  come  to  till  late  in  November,  when  I  learned 
that  I  had  been  appointed  (L.  D.). 

I  at  once  received  instructions  to  revise  my 
design  with  reference  to  sundry  considerations 
named.  Meanwhile,  the  notion  of  erecting  a 
War  Office  had  been  given  up,  and  the  Indian 
Government  were  in  treaty  for  that  part  of  the 
ground  which  faces  King  Street;  and  as  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  India  (Lord  Stanley)  had 
actually  drawn  up  a  minute  for  my  appointment 
to  that  building  also,  Mr.  Digby  Wyatt,  at  that 

3  It  may  be  well  to  give  here  the  order  in  which  the  premi- 

ated  competitors  were  placed  by  the  judges  : — 

War  Office.  Foreign  Office. 

H.  B.  Garling  Coe  and  Hofland 

M.  B.  D'Hazeville  (of  Paris)  Banks  and  Barry 

T.  E.  Rochead  *G.  G.  Scott 

*Pritchard  and  Seddon  *Deane  and  Woodward 

C.  Brodrick  T.  Bellamy 

The  Gothic  designs  are  marked  in  this  list  by  an  asterisk.— ED. 


1 82  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

time  official  architect  to  the  India  Office,  called 
upon  me,  and  made  a  proposition  that  we  should 
undertake  the  work  in  conjunction,  to  which  I 
willingly  agreed.  The  designs  were  made  and 
approved,  and  the  working  drawings  ordered  and 
proceeded  with  for  both  buildings,  when  Mr.  Tite4 
commenced  a  violent  opposition  in  Parliament,  in 
which  he  was,  unhappily  for  me,  supported  by 
Lord  Palmerston.  It  is  of  no  use  fighting  this 
battle  over  again  now,  but  I  refer  to  the  papers 
on  the  subject.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  state- 
ments made  both  by  Mr.  Tite  and  by  Lord 
Palmerston  were  as  absurd  and  unfounded  as 
anything  could  be. 

I  wrote  in  the  Times  the  next  day,  showing 
their  utter  fallacy.  On  a  former  occasion,  while 
the  subject  was  before  the  select  committee,  I 
went,  or  sent  round,  to  all  the  public  buildings  I 
could  think  of,  and  measured  the  area  of  their 
windows,  and  on  comparing  them  with  those  of 
my  design  I  was  able  to  show  to  the  committee 
that  my  design  provided  half  as  much  light  again 
as  the  average  of  buildings  of  the  same  class.  Tite 
was  a  member  of  that  committee,  yet  he  had  the 
face  to  state  that  my  designs  were  deficient  in 
window-light,  and  encouraged  Lord  Palmerston 
to  do  the  same.  In  my  letter  in  the  Times  I 
showed  this  up  pretty  vigorously  ;  but  a  second 
attack  followed,  in  which  all  this  unfair  mis- 
statement  was  again  brought  forward,  with  a 
quantity  of  poor  buffoonery  which  only  Lord 
Palmerston's  age  permitted. 

4  The  architect  of  the  new  Royal  Exchange,  and  M.P.  for 
Bath.— ED. 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  183 

I  was  well  defended,  but  the  Government, 
being  weak,  promised  to  exhibit  the  drawings  in 
the  House  of  Commons  before  they  were  to  be 
executed.  One  leading  member  of  our  profession 
was  so  irate  at  my  letter  in  the  Times,  which  he 
considered  to  reflect  upon  English  architects  in 
general,  that  he  proposed  moving  the  Institute  to 
reverse  the  recommendation  of  their  council  to 
award  to  me  the  annual  Royal  Medal  of  the  Insti- 
tute, and  was  only  dissuaded  from  attempting  to 
inflict  that  gratuitous  dishonour  upon  me  by  strong 
remonstrances.  I  had  not,  I  think,  then  become 
aware  that  he  was  Lord  Palmerston's  private  tutor 
in  matters  of  architectural  lore.  As  this  gentle- 
man had  for  many  years  acted  in  a  very  friendly 
way  towards  me,  I  have  never  allowed  his  conduct 
in  this  matter  to  provoke  me  to  any  unkindly  act. 
I  shall  have  to  say  a  little  more  about  this  presently. 
I  confess  that  though  I  knew,  till  then,  nothing  of 
my  recommendation  for  the  medal,  I  did  feel  deeply 
this  attempt  to  kick  me,  while  prostrate  and  in 
deep  perplexity  and  trouble  :  and  I  cannot  recon- 
cile it  with  the  character  and  generosity  which 
this  gentleman  has  usually  evinced.  I  fancy, 
however,  that  his  somewhat  morbidly  correct 
ideas  as  to  competition  rendered  the  fact  of  the 
work  being  given  to  a  man,  who  obtained  only  a 
third  premium,  very  galling  to  him,  and  had 
much  to  do  with  his  conduct.  Still,  as  he  agreed 
in  throwing  overboard  Messrs.  Coe  and  Hofland, 
while  Barry  and  I  were  reported,  virtually,  by  the 
select  committee,  to  be  on  an  equality,  I  fear  that 
personal  feeling,  together  with  an  hostility  to  my 
style,  had  an  even  stronger  influence. 


1 84  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

However  all  this  may  be,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  I  was  cast  down  from  the  eminence  I  had 
attained.  The  "very  abjects"  now  loaded  me 
with  their  miserable  abuse,  and,  though  I  went  on 
with  my  working  drawings,  I  felt  that  my  position 
was  sadly  altered,  and  the  chance  of  carrying  out 
my  design  forlorn.  It  was  comforting,  under  these 
dejecting  circumstances,  to  observe  how  generously 
a  certain  select  number  of  persons  of  influence 
rallied  round  me,  and  cheered  me  in  the  conflict. 
Not  only  was  I  warmly  and  vigorously  aided  by 
the  Saturday  Review,  the  Ecclesiologist,  and  by 
the  Gothic  party  pretty  generally,  but  a  number  of 
members  of  parliament  stuck  nobly  by  me.  I 
wish  I  knew  all  their  names,  but  I  will  enumerate 
a  few :  Lord  Elcho,  Mr.  Dudley  Fortescue,  Mr. 
Charles  Buxton,  Mr.  Stirling  (who  had  been  one 
of  the  judges  in  the  competition),  Sir  Edward 
Colebrook,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  Mr.  Dauby 
Seymour,  Mr.  Pease,  Col.  Tinney,  Sir  Morton 
Peto,  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  and  Mr.  Akroyd. 

Digby  Wyatt,  though  no  Goth,  held  loyally  to 
our  compact,  and  we  went  on  in  a  forlorn  hope. 
Even  Mr.  Disraeli  told  me  that  there  was  no 
chance  of  carrying  it,  but  Lord  John  Manners 
held  firmly  to  his  own  decision,  and  met  the 
attack  in  parliament  manfully,  and  with  great 
success.  Indeed,  the  opponents  trusted  to  num- 
bers, and  cared  little  about  argument,  while  Lord 
Palmerston  didn't  care  a  straw  what  buffoonery 
he  gave  vent  to,  for  the  greater  the  twaddle  he 
talked,  the  louder  of  course  was  the  laughter,  and 
that  was  his  deadly  weapon. 

So  things  went  on,  and   had  the  Government 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  185 

stood,  I  should  perhaps  have  carried  it  in  the 
small  days  of  August.  But,  alas  !  the  ministers 
were  left  in  a  minority  on  their  "  Reform  Bill," 
and  dissolved  parliament.  Then  followed  the 
sudden  invasion  of  Italy,  and  the  canard  that 
Government  had  been  playing  into  the  hands  of 
the  Emperor  of  the  French,  which  was  believed 
just  long  enough  to  serve,  with  the  pseudo- 
Reform  cry,  to  lose  the  elections.  I  am  no  poli- 
tician, though  tending  to  conservatism,  but  at  that 
time  I  certainly  did  take  an  interest  in  the  elec- 
tions. At  length,  however,  the  fatal  day  arrived, 
the  Government  resigned,  and  my  arch-opponent 
became  once  more  autocrat  of  England. 

It  was  a  considerable  time  before  a  Commis- 
sioner of  Public  Works  was  nominated,  and  I  lived 
upon  the  slender  hope  that  he  might  be  favourably 
inclined. 

At  length  Mr.  Fitzroy  took  the  office,  and 
personally  he  actually  was  on  my  side,  but  was 
nevertheless  bound  to  uphold  Lord  Palmerston's 
views.  I  forget  the  precise  order  of  events,  but 
the  builders'  estimates  were  by  that  time  in  a 
forward  state,  and  were  allowed  to  come  in,  and 
they  turned  out  very  satisfactorily.  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  however,  sent  for  me,  and  told  me  in  a  jaunty 
way  that  he  could  have  nothing  to  do  with  this 
Gothic  style,  and  that  though  he  did  not  want  to 
disturb  my  appointment,  he  must  insist  on  my 
making  a  design  in  the  Italian  style,  which  he  felt 
sure  I  could  do  quite  as  well  as  the  other.  That 
he  heard  I  was  so  tremendously  successful  in  the 
Gothic  style,  that  if  he  let  me  alone  I  should 
Gothicize  the  whole  country,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.  About 


1 86  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  same  time  my  drawings  and  a  model  were 
exhibited  in  the  tea-room  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  when  the  vote  for  the  building  came 
on,  there  took  place  another  memorable  debate  on 
architecture,  in  which  Lord  Palmerston  gave  way 
to  another  flood  of  his  secret  mentor's  second- 
hand learning,  Mr.  Tite  talked  nonsense,  and  some 
fair  speeches  were  made,  especially  by  Lord 
John  Manners  and  Lord  Elcho,  on  my  side.  The 
matter  was  left  an  open  question  to  be  decided 
the  next  session,  when  I  was  to  exhibit  designs 
in  both  styles. 

It  was,  as  I  suppose,  about  this  time  that  a 
deputation  of  M.P.'s  waited  on  Lord  Palmerston 
to  advocate  the  cause  of  Gothic  architecture. 

Since  Satan  accompanied  the  angels  on  the 
mission  narrated  in  the  Book  of  Job,  there  has 
seldom  been  wanting  a  "  devil's  advocate  "  when 
anything  delicate  has  had  to  be  transacted,  and 
so  it  was  now. 

They  unluckily  invited  that  worthy,  vain  old 

busy-body,  Mr.  A ,  who  had  been  trying  to 

make  himself  look  clever  in  the  tea-room  by 
finding,  mare's-nests  in  the  shape  of  non-existent 
errors  in  the  arrangement  of  my  plans,  and  he 
must  needs  come  and  tell  his  foolish  tale  at  the 
deputation.  The  faults  he  found  were  wholly 
imaginary,  and  the  arrangements  had  been  the 
result  of  long  thought  and  patient  consultation 
with  the  heads  of  departments,  but  no  one  there 
knew  anything  about  this,  and  so  a  wound  was 
given  me  by  a  pretended  friend,  who  had  been 
admitted  by  mistake,  and — thanks  to  him — Lord 
Palmerston  found  no  difficulty  in  letting  off  all 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  187 

friendly  arguments  like  water  out  of  a  tap.  I  think 
it  was  on  this  occasion  that,  having  discovered  the 
error  of  his  argument  about  "  shutting  out  the  very 
light  of  day,"  he  said,  "  This  Gothic  architecture 
admits  the  sun  from  its  very  rising  till  its  setting, 
so  that  my  friend  the  Speaker,  who  necessarily 
goes  to  bed  late,  and  has  no  shutters  to  his 
windows,  can  get  no  sleep  for  it." 

It  was  about  the  same  time  that,  on  going  to  the 
lobby  of  the  House,  I,  by  the  merest  chance,  dis- 
covered that  one  of  my  opponents  in  the  original 
competition  had  just  brought  a  paper,  arguing  his 
own  claims,  for  distribution  among  the  members. 
I  obtained  one,  went  home  and  wrote  a  reply,  got 
600  copies  struck  off  in  no  time,  and,  it  having 
been  on  a  Friday  that  these  papers  were  sent  round, 
I  got  mine  distributed  to  the  members  from  house 
to  house  before  the  next  sitting.  I  had,  by  the 
request  of  the  editor  of  some  periodical,  written 
(anonymously)  a  conspectus  of  the  arguments  con- 
tained in  my  book  on  "  Domestic  Architecture  " 
and  elsewhere,  in  favour  of  our  style,  under  the 
name  of  "  The  Gothic  Renaissance."  This  I  had 
printed  in  a  separate  form  and  similarly  distributed. 
Indeed,  I  did  everything  that  man  could  do,  nearly 
my  entire  time  being  devoted  to  the  fight. 

About  the  middle  of  August  I  heard  that  a  depu- 
tation of  architects  was  going  up  to  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  to  pat  him  on  the  back  and  encourage  him  in 
his  determination  to  overthrow  the  work  of  his 
predecessors.  I  was  foolish  enough,  on  hearing  it, 
to  call  on  a  leading  member  of  the  profession,  a 

Mr.  B ,  to  protest  against  this.  He  professed 

innocence  of  all  privity  to  the  scheme,  but  told 


1 88  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

me  that,  if  asked,  he  should  not  decline  to  join 
it. 

My  necessary  exertions  being  for  the  time  over, 
Mrs.  Scott  persuaded  me  to  go,  with  our  elder  sons, 
to  spend  a  day  or  two  at  the  Oatlands  Park  Hotel 
near  Chertsey,  for  relaxation  after  my  anxious  toils 
and  sorrows.  The  next  day  was  a  Saturday,  and 
on  that  day  there  appeared  in  the  Saturday 
Review  a  most  cutting  article,  showing  up  the 
ignorance  and  folly  of  Lord  Palmerston's  architec- 
tural essays  in  and  out  of  parliament.  On  return- 
ing from  fishing  with  my  sons,  I  received  a  message 
from  Mr.  Burn,  who,  to  my  surprise,  I  found  to  be 
laid  up  with  a  severe  illness  in  the  same  hotel, 
saying  that  he  had  just  seen  my  name  in  the  visi- 
tors' book,  and  wished  I  would  call  upon  him.  I 
did  so,  and,  though  he  was  very  ill,  found  him  very 
jovial,  and  he  talked  a  little  about  the  Government 
Offices,  but  said  he  wanted  to  go  into  the  subject 
more  at  leisure  with  me,  and  arranged  that  I  should 
call  again  on  Monday.  When  I  did  so,  he  opened 
conversation  by  saying,  "Whoever  do  you  think 
came  down  to  see  me  yesterday  (Sunday)  but 

B ?     I  don't  know  what  he  came  about,  but  he 

said  he  was  so  anxious  to  know  how  I  was  that  he 
thought  he  would  run  down  on  Sunday  afternoon 
and  see  me."  He  then  proceeded  to  say,  "  I  asked 
him  if  he  had  seen  the  article  on  the  Government 
Offices  in  yesterday's  Saturday  Review,  and  I  said 
to  him,  '  By  the  lord  Harry,  it  is  the  best  thing  I 

ever  read  in  my  life.' "     B was  mum,  while 

Mr.  Burn  proceeded  :  "  I  don't  know  who  it  is  that 
backs  Palmerston  up,  but  I  am  convinced,  by  what 
he  says,  that  there's  some  idle  fellow  in  our  profes- 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  189 

sion  who  keeps  prompting  from  behind  the  scenes." 

B had  had  enough  of  it  and  departed !  I 

was  able  to  tell  Mr.  Burn,  what  he  had  by  his 

spirited  reception  prevented  B from  telling 

him  himself,  that  Mr.  B had  come  down  to 

canvas  him  for  the  deputation,  with  a  view  to 
being  able  to  quote  him  as  agreeing  with  its 
objects,  but  the  broadside  he  had  received  had 
silenced  him,  and  he  went  back  from  his  Sunday 
trip  "  with  a  flea  in  his  ear."  I  now  found  to  my 
satisfaction  that  Mr.  Burn,  the  senior  assessor  of 
the  competition,  approved  distinctly  of  my  appoint- 
ment, though  till  then  (barring  our  cursory  introduc- 
tion years  before)  he  was  a  perfect  stranger  to  me. 

The  deputation  took  place  during  the  same 
week.  Mr.  B again  was  master  of  the  cere- 
monies. Sidney  Smirke,  the  first  speaker,  assert- 
ing (with  his  hair  perhaps  on  end)  that,  if  they 
began  in  King  Street  with  Gothic,  it  would  never 
stop  till  it  had  reached  Charing  Cross.  Tite 
repeated  his  heavy  common-places,  and  spoke  of 
Charles  Barry  and  H.  B.  Garling  as  the  successful 
competitors  :  poor  Coe  had  no  friends. 

I  have  not,  after  an  interval  of  many  years, 
ceased  to  feel  that  the  conduct  of  those  architects 
who  attended  on  this  deputation  was  in  a  high 
degree  unprofessional.  I  am  happy,  however,  to 
say  that  I  have  never  permitted  any  such  feeling 
to  show  itself  in  my  intercourse  with  them,  or  to 
cause  any  personal  breach. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  deputation 
had  been  arranged  with  the  cognizance  of  Lord 
Palmerston,  and  that  it  greatly  strengthened  his 
hands.  I  tried  to  get  up  a  counter  address,  but 


IQO  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  Gothic  architects  did  not  come  forward  in 
sufficient  force  to  make  it  worth  while.  This  cold- 
heartedness  was  the  greatest  damper  I  had  met 
with.  I  must,  however,  name  some  who  exerted 
themselves  in  the  most  generous  way,  and  who 
willingly  signed  the  address  : — Mr.  Joseph  Clarke, 
Mr.  Benjamin  Ferrey,  Mr.  John  Norton,  Mr. 
Ewan  Christian,  Mr.  George  Goldie,  Mr.  Raphael 
Brandon,  Mr.  T.  W.  Goodman,  Messrs.  Pritchard 
and  Seddon,  Mr.  T.  P.  St.  Aubyn,  Mr.  Arthur 
W.  Blomfield,  Mr.  William  Slater,  Mr.  William 
White,  Mr.  T.  H.  Hakewill,  Mr.  John  L.  Pear- 
son, Mr.  E.  Welby  Pugin,  Mr.  William  Burges, 
and  Mr.  S.  S.  Teulon. 

Shortly  afterwards  Lord  Palmerston  sent  for 
me,  and,  seating  himself  down  before  me  in  the 
most  easy,,  fatherly  way,  said,  "  I  want  to  talk  to 
you  quietly,  Mr.  Scott,  about  this  business.  I 
have  been  thinking  a  great  deal  about  it,  and  I 
really  think  there  was  much  force  in  what  your 
friends  said."  I  was  delighted  at  his  supposed 
conversion.  "  I  really  do  think  that  there  is  a 
degree  of  inconsistency  in  compelling  a  Gothic 
architect  to  erect  a  classic  building,  and  so  I  have 
been  thinking  of  appointing  you  a  coadjutor,  who 
would  in  fact  make  the  design  !  "  I  was  thrown  to 
the  earth  again.  I  began  at  once  to  bring  argu- 
ments against  the  proposal,  but  the  blow  was  too 
sudden  to  allow  me  to  do  justice  to  my  case  viva 
voce ;  so  on  my  return  I  immediately  wrote  a 
strongly  and  firmly  worded  letter,  stating  that  I 
had  been  regularly  appointed  to  the  work,  that 
Mr.  Gladstone  had  assured  me  that  my  appoint- 
ment would  be  respected,  that  he  (Lord  Palmer- 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  ,  191 

ston)  had  done  the  same  both  personally  and  in 
parliament.  I  dwelt  upon  my  position  as  an 
architect,  my  having  won  two  European  com- 
petitions, my  being  an  A.R.A.,  a  gold  medallist 
of  the  Institute,  a  lecturer  on  architecture  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  &c.  ;  and  I  ended  by  firmly  de- 
clining any  such  arrangement.  I  forget  whether 
he  replied.  I  also  wrote,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
to  Mr.  Gladstone. 

Thus  closed  this  stage  of  the  business,  and, 
being  thoroughly  knocked  up  (or  down,  as  you 
may  please  to  call  it),  I  retired  with  Mrs.  Scott 
and  my  family  to  Scarborough  to  recruit. 

I  was  thoroughly  out  of  health,  through  the 
badgering,  anxiety,  and  bitter  disappointment 
which  I  had  gone  through,  and  for  the  first  time 
since  commencing  practice,  twenty-four  years  be- 
fore, I  gave  myself  a  quasi-holiday  of  two  months, 
with  sea  air  and  a  course  of  quinine.  During 
this  time,  however,  besides  the  work  sent  down 
to  me  from  time  to  time,  I  was  busying  myself  in 
preparing  for  the  next  campaign.  I  saw  that, 
with  Lord  Palmerston,  Gothic  would  have  no 
chance,  and  I  had  agreed  to  prepare  an  Italian 
design.  I  felt  that  I  could  not,  while  a  stone  was 
left  unturned,  make  a  design  in  the  ordinary 
classic  form  ;  I  had,  however,  such  faith  in  Gothic, 
that  I  always  believed  that  "something  would 
turn  up  "  in  its  favour. 

To  resign  would  be  to  give  up  a  sort  of  pro- 
perty which  Providence  had  placed  in  the  hands 
of  my  family,  and  would  be  simply  rewarding  my 
professional  opponents  for  their  unprecedented 
attempt  to  wrest  a  work  from  the  hands  of  a 


192  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

brother  architect,  after  he  had  not  only  been 
regularly  appointed,  but  had  commenced  the  busi- 
ness, had  even  made  his  working  drawings,  and 
had  received  builders'  tenders. 

The  way  in  which  the  matter  was  left  in  parlia- 
ment was  that  I  was  to  prepare  an  Italian  design, 
which,  with  the  Gothic  one,  was  to  be  laid  before 
parliament  the  next  year.  The  course  I  deter- 
mined on  was  to  prepare  a  design  in  a  variety  of 
Italian,  as  little  inconsistent  with  my  antecedents 
as  possible.  I  had,  in  dealing  with  Lord  Hill's 
chapel  at  Hawkstone,  and  with  St.  Michael's 
church,  Cornhill,  attempted,  by  the  use  of  a  sort 
of  early  Basilican  style,  to  give  a  tone  to  the 
existing  classic  architecture ;  and  it  struck  me 
that  not  wholly  alien  to  this  was  the  Byzantine  of 
the  early  Venetian  palaces,  and  that  the  earliest 
renaissance  of  Venice  contained  a  cognate  ele- 
ment. I  therefore,  conceived  the  idea  of  gene- 
rating what  would  be  strictly  an  Italian  style  out 
of  these  two  sets  of  examples  ;  Byzantine,  in  fact, 
toned  into  a  more  modern  and  usable  form,  by 
reference  to  those  examples  of  the  renaissance 
which  had  been  influenced  by  the  presence  of 
Byzantine  works.  To  the  study  of  this  I  devoted 
myself  while  at  Scarborough,  and  I  produced 
elementary  sketches  which  contained  much  that 
was,  in  my  opinion,  really  valuable,  as  giving  a 
new  tone  to  semi-classic  ideas.  After  my  return 
to  town,  I  worked  out  these  ideas  into  new  de- 
signs for  both  buildings,  and  not,  as  I  think,  with- 
out considerable  success.  The  designs  were  both 
original  and  pleasing  in  effect ;  indeed,  Lord 
Elcho,  to  whom  I  showed  them  before  laying 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  193 

them  before  the  authorities,  thought  them  better 
than  the  Gothic  design,  and  rejoiced  that  good 
was  likely  to  come  out  of  evil. 

I  at  length  showed  them  to  Mr.  Cowper,  who, 
I  should  have  stated,  had,  on  the  unexpected 
death  of  Mr.  Fitzroy  during  the  recess,  come  into 
the  Office  of  Works.  Mr.  Cowper  was,  of  course, 
under  the  control  of  Lord  Palmerston.  Left  to 
himself,  he  would,  I  believe,  like  Mr.  Fitzroy, 
have  preferred  the  Gothic  design  ;  and  now,  as 
I  equally  believe,  liked  the  Byzantinesque  one. 
He  was,  however,  so  far  as  this  question  went, 
in  the  hands  of  a  strong  master,  and,  after  a  few 
civil  remarks,  merely  said  that  he  would  make  an 
appointment  with  Lord  Palmerston. 

About  this  time  a  friend  called,  and  told  me  he 
was  sure  that  something  secret  was  being  trans- 
acted with  one  of  the  original  competitors,  for 
when,  in  casual  conversation  with  this  gentleman, 
he  had  referred  to  the  Foreign  Office,  so  extra- 
ordinary an  expression  had  come  over  his  coun- 
tenance that  he  was  convinced  that  some  mischief 
was  brewing.  Some  time  later  another  friend 
told  me  that  he  had  discovered  that  a  design  for 
the  Foreign  Office  was  being  prepared  by  this 
architect !  He  also  asked  me  if  Lord  Palmerston 
had  not  once  proposed  to  make  him  my  coadjutor 
in  the  matter,  and  if  it  was  not  the  case  that  I 
had  refused.  I  now  saw  how  matters  stood. 
Lord  Palmerston  had  hoped  at  first  to  be  able  to 
thrust  this  gentleman  upon  me  as  a  colleague ; 
but,  failing  that,  had  secretly  encouraged  him  to 
make  a  design,  that  he  might  have  "  two  strings 

his  bow."     I   do  not  remember  the  order  in 

o 


194  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

which  these  revelations  came  to  me,  relatively  to 
other  circumstances  ;  but  they  probably  explain 
the  fact  that  Lord  Palmerston  allowed  several 
weeks  to  elapse,  after  I  had  shown  Mr.  Cowper 
the  designs,  before  he  made  any  appointment  with 
me  to  see  them.  When  he  did  so,  he  kept  me  wait- 
ing two  hours  and  a  half  in  his  back  room  (during 
a  part  of  which  I  heard  him  very  deliberately 
going  through  his  luncheon  in  the  next  room),  and 
then  sent  me  away  unseen.  At  length,  however, 
I  showed  him  the  design.  He  was  very  civil, 
and  I  thought  he  liked  it.  Indeed,  I  believe  that 
he  did,  but  thought  it  hardly  consistent  with  his 
previous  professions  to  admit  it. 

After  this  I  saw  Mr.  Cowper,  and  told  him 
that  I  thought  Lord  Palmerston  was  favourably 
impressed.  Having  occasion  to  go  at  once  to 
Hamburg,  I  left  the  matter,  as  I  thought,  in  a 
tolerably  satisfactory  position.  While  abroad, 
however,  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Cowper, 
saying  that  I  was  mistaken  in  my  impression  as 
to  Lord  Palmerston's  feelings,  and  that  I  must 
modify  the  design,  and  make  it  much  more  like 
modern  architecture. 

This  led,  on  my  return,  to  a  number  of  futile 
attempts,  and  in  the  midst  of  them  I  heard  by  a 
side  wind  that  the  competitor  to  whom  I  have 
referred  had  not  only  made  a  design,  but  that  it 
was  actually  at  the  Office  of  Works,  and  under 
consideration ! 

Now  indeed  a  crisis  had  arrived,  and  some 
strong  step  must  be  taken.  I  accordingly  drew 
up  a  formal  account  of  all  which  had  transpired, 
stating  what  I  had  heard  as  to  these  proceedings, 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  195 

and  entering  a  decided  protest  against  the  course 
thus  secretly  taken. 

This  protest  I  sent  to  Mr.  Cowper,  and  in- 
formed my  supporters  in  the  House  of  Commons 
of  what  had  been  done. 

This  seems  to  have  quashed  the  project,  and 
shortly  afterwards  I  was  directed  to  make  some 
modifications  in  my  semi-Byzantine  design  to 
meet  the  opposing  views  half  way.  The  design 
was  then  referred  to  the  joint  opinion  of  Messrs. 
Cockerell,  Burn,  and  Ferguson. 

I  had  frequent  interviews  with  these  three 
gentlemen,  and  I  have  every  reason  to  be  grate- 
ful for  the  kind  consideration  with  which  I  was 
treated  by  them.  Professor  Cockerell,  being  a  pure 
classicist,  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  swallowing 
my  new  style.  He  lectured  me  for  hours  together 
on  the  beauties  of  the  true  classic,  going  over 
book  after  book  with  me,  and  pouring  forth 
ecstatic  eulogies  on  his  beloved  style  of  art.  I 
did  not  argue  against  his  views,  which  I  respected, 
but  rather  took  the  line  of  advocating  variety  and 
individuality,  and  of  each  man  being  allowed  to 
follow  out  his  individual  idiosyncrasies ;  but  it  was 
a  bitter  pill  for  him.  He  kindly  desired  to  aid  me, 
but  his  tastes  went  all  the  other  way.  Ferguson, 
on  the  contrary,  was  strongly  in  favour  of  my 
views.  They  embodied  in  great  measure  what 
he  had  been  for  years  advocating,  and  he  would 
have  gone  to  the  full  extent  of  my  newly  generated 
variety  of  "  Italian."  Mr.  Burn  did  not  go  strongly 
into  the  question  of  style,  but  took  the  thing  up  in 
a  determined  and  sturdy  manner  in  the  light  of 
upsetting  an  unjustifiable  combination  against  a 

o  2 


196  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

brother  architect.  He  stood  by  me  most  man- 
fully and  sternly.  He  and  Ferguson  together 
brought  over  Cockerell  to  their  views,  and  they 
made  a  joint  report  in  favour  of  my  design,  sub- 
ject to  a  few  modifications,  of  which  Ferguson 
disapproved,  but  which  he  conceded  to  please 
Cockerell. 

I  cannot  say  much  in  favour  of  the  design  as 
now  approved.  My  first  idea  had  been  toned 
down,  step  by  step,  till  no  real  stuff  was  left  in 
it.  It  was  a  mere  caput  mortuum,  as  is  invariably 
the  case  where  a  design  is  trimmed  and  trimmed 
again  to  meet  the  views  of  different  critics.  Like 
the  man  with  his  two  wives  in  the  fable,  one  had 
pulled  out  all  the  black  hairs,  and  the  other  all 
the  grey  ones.  I  hoped,  however,  to  throw  more 
life  into  it  in  the  execution,  and  I  even  encouraged 
to  myself  the  most  forlorn  hope  that  the  House 
of  Commons  might  still  decide  in  favour  of  the 
Gothic  design.  The  drawings  went  again  before 
parliament ;  the  House  of  Commons  had  no 
liking  at  all  for  the  new  design,  but  let  it  pass 
after  another  architectural  debate,  and  so  it  stood 
at  the  end  of  the  session  of  1860,  and  thus  my 
second  great  campaign  was  over. 

As  in  the  previous  year,  Lord  Palmerston, 
when  parliament  was  once  safely  prorogued,  lost 
no  time  in  changing  his  tone.  I  found  that 
something  was  "  up,"  through  my  friend  Mr. 
Hunt5  (the  professional  adviser  to  the  Office 
of  Works),  who  sent  for  me  and  offered  some 
very  serious  though  mystic  advice  to  me  to 
comply  with  any  directions  I  might  receive,  or 
5  Now  Sir  Henry  Arthur  Hunt,  C.B.— ED. 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  197 

I  should  be  in  danger  of  losing  my  appoint- 
ment. I  may  here  mention  that  during  all  these 
wearisome  delays,  the  India  Government,  grow- 
ing naturally  sick  of  such  childish  trifling,  had 
fought  shy  of  their  verbal  agreement  to  share 
the  site  with  the  Foreign  Office,  and  had  quite 
justifiably  commissioned  Mr.  Digby  Wyatt  to 
look  out  for  another.  I  was  thus  in  danger  in 
that  quarter  also.  They  were  the  further  moved 
to  this,  because  Sir  Charles  Wood  did  not  like 
the  arrangement  made  by  Lord  Stanley,  that  they 
should  have  the  King  Street  front,  while  the 
Foreign  Office  should  have  that  towards  the  park. 
I  was  sent  for  to  Lord  Palmerston  on  Septem- 
ber 8th,  1860,  when  he  told  me  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  disturb  my  position,  but  that  he  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  Gothic  ;  and  as  to  the 
style  of  my  recent  design,  it  was  "  neither  one 
thing  nor  t'other — a  regular  mongrel  affair — and 
he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it  either :"  that 
he  must  insist  on  my  making  a  design  in  the 
ordinary  Italian,  and  that,  though  he  had  no  wish 
to  displace  me,  he  nevertheless,  if  I  refused,  must 
cancel  my  appointment.  He  did  not  stop  for  a 
reply,  but  went  on  to  tell  me  that  he  had  made 
an  agreement  with  Sir  Charles  Wood  which 

o 

necessitated  an  entire  alteration  of  plan.  The 
India  Office  was  to  share  the  park  front  with  the 
Foreign  Office.  The  State  Paper  Office  was  to 
be  removed,  and  the  building  was  to  project 
irregularly  into  the  park,  leaving  the  King  Street 
front  as  a  future  work. 

I   came   away  thunderstruck  and  in  sore  per- 


198  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

plexity,  thinking  whether  I  must  resign  or  swallow 
the.  bitter  pill,  when  whom  should  I  meet  in  Pall 
Mall  but  my  friend  Mr.  Hunt.  I  at  once  told  him 
what  had  transpired,  and  he  in  return  told  me  what 
had  given  rise  to  the  advice  which,  a  few  days 
earlier,  he  had  kindly  volunteered.  He  had  been 
consulted  by  Mr.  Cowper6  as  to  whether  they  could 
not  fairly  get  rid  of  me  (as,  I  suppose,  a  troublesome, 
contumacious  fellow).  He  (Mr.  Hunt)  had  put  the 
case  in  this  way :  that  I  was  regularly  appointed 
by  his  (Mr.  Cowper's)  predecessor,  and  had  per- 
formed, without  any  shortcomings,  the  duties  com- 
mitted to  me  :  that  it  was  no  fault  of  mine  that  a 
change  of  masters  had  taken  place  whose  tastes 
were  different,  and  that  it  would  be  a  very  serious 
injury  to  me  to  displace  me,  and  one  for  which  no 
pecuniary  compensation  would  make  amends.  On 
the  other  hand,  that  employers  had  an  undoubted 
right  to  prescribe  the  style  of  the  building  they 
desired  to  erect,  and  that,  in  the  case  of  an  heir 
succeeding  to  an  estate  after  a  new  mansion  had 
been  designed,  though  good  feeling  suggested  the 
continuance  of  the  same  architect,  it  was  a  fair 
condition  that  he,  on  his  part,  should  be  willing  to 
conform  to  the  views  of  his  new  client.  By  these 
arguments  alone  he  had  quieted  the  impatience  of 
my  employers,  now  stirred  up  to  a  climax,  and  he 
conjured  me  to  act  in  conformity  with  the  views 
which  he  had  suggested.  He  urged  the  claims  of 
my  family,  whom  I  had  no  right  to  deprive  of 
what  had  become  their  property  as  much  as  my 
own,  for  a  mere  individual  preference  on  a  question 
of  taste,  &c.,  &c.  I  saw  Mr.  Digby  Wyatt  shortly 
8  Now  Mr.  Cowper  Temple. — ED. 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  199 

afterwards,  who,  very  disinterestedly,  urged  strongly 
the  same  view — I  say  disinterestedly,  for  had  I 
resigned  he  would  beyond  a  doubt  have  had  the 
whole  design  of  the  India  Office,  instead  of  a  half 
of  it,  committed  to  his  hands.  I  was  in  a  terrible 
state  of  mental  perturbation,  but  I  made  up  my 
mind,  went  straight  in  for  Digby  Wyatt's  view, 
bought  some  costly  books  on  Italian  architecture, 
and  set  vigorously  to  work  to  rub  up  what,  though 
I  had  once  understood  pretty  intimately,  I  had 
allowed  to  grow  rusty  by  twenty  years'  neglect. 

I  devoted  the  autumn  to  the  new  designs,  and,  as 
I  think,  met  with  great  success.  I  went  to  Paris 
and  studied  the  Louvre  and  most  of  the  important 
buildings,  and  really  recovered  some  of  my  lost 
feelings  for  the  style,  though  I  fell,  ever  and  anon, 
into  fits  of  desperate  lamentation  and  annoyance, 
and  almost  thought  again  of  giving  up  the  work. 

That  winter  my  youngest  boy  but  one 7  had  a 
severe  fever  at  St.  Leonard's,  and  I  was  detained 
for  six  weeks  from  business,  but  I  went  on  with 
my  design.  While  I  was  from  home  under  this 
affliction,  I  was  elected  a  Royal  Academician,  the 
pleasure  of  which  was  sadly  alloyed  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time.  I  succeeded  my  dear  friend 
Sir  Charles  Barry,  who  had  died  suddenly  during 
the  autumn. 

My  new  designs  were  beautifully  got  up  in  out- 
line; the  figures  I  put  in  myself,  and  even  composed 
the  groups,  for,  though  I  have  no  skill  in  that  way, 
I  was  so  determined  to  show  myself  not  behind- 
hand with  the  classicists,  that  I  seemed  to  have 
more  power  than  usual. 

7  We  were  five,  all  boys. — ED. 


2OO  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

The  India  Office,  externally,  was  wholly  my 
design,  though  I  had  adopted  an  idea  as  to  its 
grouping  and  outline,  suggested  by  a  sketch  of 
Mr.  Digby  Wyatt's.  This  I  thought  very  excel- 
lent, although  in  his  own  drawing  he  had  done 
but  little  justice  to  the  conception.  Lord  Pal- 
merston  highly  approved  of  the  design,  and  it 
passed  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  session 
of  1 86 1,  after  a  very  stout  fight  by  the  Gothic 
party,  who  naturally  and  consistently  opposed 
it  strenuously.  I  aided  this  opposition  a  little 
myself,  for  feeling  the  new  design  (as  to  its 
plan  and  outline)  to  be  even  more  suited  to  the 
Gothic  style  than  the  old  one,  I  had  a  splendid 
view  made  of  a  mediaeval  design  adapted  to  the 
altered  plan.  It  was  by  very  far  superior  to  any 
which  I  had  hitherto  made,  and  I  placed  it  with 
my  other  Gothic  designs  in  the  exhibition  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  as  a  silent  protest  against  what 
was  going  on.  I  further  had  a  copy  made  of  this 
view,  and  had  nearly  succeeded  in  getting  it 
exhibited  to  the  House  of  Commons  with  my 
classic  design  on  the  same  plan,  but  Mr.  Cowper 
was  too  canny  for  me,  and  thus,  after  more  than 
two  years'  hard  fighting,  I  was  compelled  to  "  eat 
my  leek." 

The  struggle  through  which  I  had  fought  the 
matter,  step  by  step,  was  such  as  I  should  never 
have  faced  out,  had  I  known  what  was  before  me. 
Indeed,  at  the  commencement,  nothing  would  have 
induced  me  to  volunteer  a  classic  design  ;  but  the 
battle,  though  long  one  of  style,  came  at  last  to 
be  almost  for  existence.  I  felt  that  I  should  be 
irreparably  injured  if  I  were  to  lose  a  work  thus 


CHAP,  iv.]  Recollections.  201 

publicly  placed  in  my  hands,  and  I  was  step  by 
step  driven  into  the  most  annoying  position  of 
carrying  out  my  largest  work  in  a  style  contrary 
to  the  direction  of  my  life's  labours.  My  shame 
and  sorrow  were  for  a  time  extreme,  but,  to  my 
surprise,  the  public  seemed  to  understand  my 
position  and  to  feel  for  it,  and  I  never  received 
any  annoying  or  painful  rebuke,  and  even  Mr. 
Ruskin  told  me  that  I  had  done  quite  right. 

Such  was  the  length  of  time  over  which  this 
business  spread,  that,  though  my  designs  were 
commenced  before  my  son  Gilbert's  term  of  archi- 
tectural pupilage  began,  his  five  years  had  ex- 
pired before  the  foundations  were  begun  to  be 
excavated.  It  is  now  seven  years  and  a  half8  since 
I  set  about  my  first  sketches,  and  the  work  is  only 
in  certain  parts  first-floor  high.  Great,  however, 
as  has  been  the  annoyance  of  which  I  had  been 
the  victim,  I  am  determined  by  God's  help  to  do 
my  very  best,  just  as  much  so  as  if  the  style  was 
of  my  own  choosing. 

I  am  ashamed  to  have  occupied  so  much  space 
in  detailing  these  heartless  and  almost  heart- 
breaking vexations,  and  will  now  leave  the  subject. 

8  Written  in  1864.— ED. 


CHAPTER   V. 

I  WILL  now  make  a  few  observations  upon  the 
progress  and  position  of  the  revival  during  the 
period  which  I  have  been  passing  over,  viz.  from 
1845  to  the  present  time,  1864. 

Up  to  that  time  (1845)  the  revival  in  this 
country  had  been  essentially  English.  I  am  not 
aware  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  works  by 
Mr.  Wylde,1  any  foreign  idea  had  crept  into  it. 
I  believe  my  own  journeys  into  Germany,  and 
subsequently  into  France,  gave  the  first  impetus 
in  the  direction  of  foreign  architecture,  and  that 
was  but  a  slight  one.  I  think  it  was  in  1849  that 
I  drew  a  series  of  designs  for  capitals  of  the 
foreign  type,  and  my  pupil,  Mr.  Alfred  Bell,  fol- 
lowed them  out  further  for  St.  Nicholas  at  Ham- 
burg, my  types  being  those  which  I  had  sketched 
at  the  Sainte  Chapelle. 

In  my  essays  on  various  subjects  at  the  end 
of  my  book  on  Restoration  (published  in  1850) 
I  do  not  recollect  any  tendency  to  foreignism. 
Those  essays  are  not  a  bad  modulus  of  the  mind 
of  the  revival  at  that  time ;  that  on  the  selection 

1  As  a  fine  example  of  Mr.  Wylde's  design,  St.  Martin's 
Northern  schools  in  Castle  Street,  Endell  Street,  may  be  men- 
tioned.— ED. 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  203 

of  a  style,  was  intended  to  be  corrective  of  the 
tendency  of  the  "  Ecclesiologist "  towards  late 
decorated.  Their  dictum  had  been  in  favour  of 
the  earlier  stage  of  the  flowing  decorated,  or,  as 
my  friend,  Mr.  E.  A.  Freeman,  used  to  say,  they 
would  call  it  in  their  own  nomenclature,  "  the 
early  late  middle  pointed."  The  three  western 
bays  of  the  choir  at  Ely  were  at  that  time  their 
beau-ideal,  forgetting  that  the  outline  and  pro- 
portion of  these  were  derived  directly  from  the 
Norman  bays  with  which  they  came  in  conjunc- 
tion. So  imperious  was  their  law,  that  any  one 
who  had  dared  to  deviate  from  or  to  build  in 
other  than  the  sacred  "Middle  Pointed,"  well  knew 
what  he  must  suffer.  In  my  own  office,  Mr.  Street 
and  others  used  to  view  every  one  as  a  heretic 
who  designed  in  any  but  the  sacred  phase ;  and  I 
well  recollect,  when  I  was,  at  Holbeck,  obliged  to 
build  in  early  English  or  "  first  pointed,"  the  sort 
of  holy  and  only  half-repressed  indignation  and 
pity  to  which  it  gave  rise.  The  revived  style 
was  one,  and  its  unity  was  "  Middle  Pointed."  I 
held  this  as  a  theory  myself.  They  held  it  as 
a  religious  duty,  though  they  now  seem  to  have 
forgotten  this  phase  in  the  history  of  their  faith, 
and  are  very  irate  when  it  is  referred  to.  So 
tyrannical  did  this  law  continue  to  be,  that  when 
I  first  busied  myself  in  forming  the  Architectural 
Museum,  it  was  with  fear  and  trembling  that  I 
introduced  some  early  English  specimens.  I  held 
out  against  the  revival  of  this  style  of  foliage  myself, 
but  I  feared  that  its  admission  would,  among  the 
stricter  sort,  condemn  the  whole  institution. 

How    curiously    reversed    have    these    Medo- 


2O4  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Persic  laws  since  become.  Tyranny  has  been 
equally  rampant,  but  it  has  persecuted  what  it 
once  enjoined,  and  now  its  supporters  have  got 
back  once  more  into  the  old  groove,  and  are 
equally  tyrannous  in  the  old  line.  The  introduc- 
tion of  the  foreign  element  in  a  systematic  way, 
may,  perhaps,  have  been  due  to  Mr.  Ruskin, 
certainly  it  came  on  shortly  after  the  publication 
of  his  "  Seven  Lamps."  This,  undoubtedly,  set 
people  upon  Italian  Gothic.  For  my  own  part, 
I  never  fell  into  this  latter  mania ;  I  held  that 
there  was  much  to  be  learned  from  Italian  Gothic, 
but  that  it  should  not  be  really  adopted  at  all. 
Others  took  a  contrary  view,  as  Mr.  Bodley,  in 
his  design  for  the  memorial  church  at  Constan- 
tinople. 

The  French  casts  in  the  Architectural  Museum 
had,  no  doubt,  a  strong  influence  in  bringing  about 
the  revival  of  that  class  of  detail  ;  and,  as  regards 
myself,  my  frequent  sketching  tours  in  France  and 
Germany,  and  my  having  constantly  to  make  use 
of  these  details  in  my  working  drawings  for  Ham- 
burg, had  a  great  tendency  in  the  same  direction. 
As  yet  I  held  and  thought,  in  my  innocence,  that 
every  one,  or  nearly  every  one,  held  to  nature  as 
the  source  of  foliated  ornamentation.  I  had, 
during  my  earlier  practice,  made  use  in  early 
English  work  of  the  conventional  foliage ;  but 
subsequently  I  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that, 
though  it  was  lawful  to  revive  bygone  forms  of  a 
merely  mechanical  character,  it  was  inconsistent 
to  revive  bygone  conventionalism  in  matters 
originally  derived  from  nature ;  and  that  while  we 
might  imitate  the  architecture  of  another  period, 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  205 

we  must  always  go  to  nature  direct  (though  per- 
haps aided  by  suggestions  from  art)  for  objects  of 
which  nature  was  the  professed  origin,  and  that  if 
we  saw  fit  to  conventionalize,  the  conventional- 
ism should  be  our  own. 

It  was,  I  suppose,  about  1853  or  1854  that  I 
wrote  a  lecture  on  such  subjects  for  the  Architec- 
tural Museum.  I  entered  into  it  with  intense 
enthusiasm,  and  actually  got  up,  as  well  as  I  was 
able,  the  subject  of  botany,  so  far  as  concerns  the 
English  wild  plants.  I  followed  this  up,  not 
scientifically,  it  is  true,  but  with  a  delight  and  an 
avidity  which  I  can  hardly  describe,  and  my 
lecture  was  of  a  very  impassioned  character. 

I  remember  longing  most  earnestly  to  discover 
a  leaf,  from  which  one  might  suppose  our  early 
English  foliage  to  have  been  derived.  .  The 
nearest  I  could  find  was  an  almost  microscopic 
wall-fern,  and  certain  varieties  of  the  common 
parsley.  One  night  I  dreamed  that  I  had  found 
the  veritable  plant.  I  can  see  it  even  now.  It 
was  a  sear  and  yellow  leaf,  but  with  all  the  beauty 
of  form  which  graces  the  capitals  at  Lincoln  and  at 
Lichfield.  I  was  maddened  with  excitement  and 
pleasure  ;  but  while  I  was  exulting,  and  ready  to 
exclaim,  "Eureka!  Eureka!"  I  awoke,  and  behold 
it  was  a  dream. 

I  remember  after  this,  or  another  lecture  on  the 
subject,  in  which  I  had  stated  my  theory  against 
revived  conventionalism,  Mr.  Glutton  (our  secre- 
tary) came  behind  me,  and  whispered  in  my  ear, 
"  You've  been  preaching  heresy."  I  thought  my 
theory  so  certain,  that  I  never  discovered  his 
meaning  till  1856,  when  he  and  Mr.  Burges  made 


206  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

their  competition  design  for  the  cathedral  at  Lille. 
This  was  really  the  first  occasion  on  which  the 
Ecclesiological  Society's  law,  as  regards  the 
"  Middle  Pointed,"  was  set  at  nought.  The 
Ecclesiologists  had  actually  at  one  time  doubted 
whether  it  would  not  be  right  to  pull  down  Peter- 
borough Cathedral,  if  only  we  could  rebuild  it 
equally  well  in  the  "  Middle  Pointed"  style  ;  and 
now  they  were  forced  to  swallow  a  veritable 
"  First  Pointed  "  design,  and  to  sing  its  unwilling 
praises.  Glutton  and  Burges  certainly  had  the 
credit  of  overthrowing  the  old  tyranny,  and  even 
some  of  its  most  rigorous  abettors  soon  found  it 
necessary  to  outvie  each  other  in  setting  at 
nought  their  former  faith,  and  in  trying  who  could 
be  the  earliest  in  the  style  of  their  buildings. 
One  thing,  however,  never  changed,  the  intole- 
rance shown  by  them  for  all  freedom  of  thought 
on  the  part  of  other  men.  Every  one  must  per- 
force follow  in  their  wake,  no  matter  how  often 
they  changed,  or  how  entirely  they  reversed  their 
own  previous  views.  Nor  was  anything  more 
certain  than  this,  that  however  erroneous  their 
former  opinion  might  have  been,  their  views  for 
the  time  being  were  right,  and  that  every  one 
who  differed  from  them  was  a  heretic,  or  an  old- 
fashioned  simpleton.  It  had  many  years  before 
been  a  saying  of  mine,  that  there  was  no  class  of 
men  whom  the  Cambridge  Camden  Society  held 
in  such  scorn,  as  those  who  adhered  to  their  own 
last  opinion  but  one ;  and  this  sentiment  has 
been  the  great  inheritance  and  heirloom  of  their 
imitators. 

Let  it  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  I  object 


CHAP.  v.J  Recollections.  207 

to  changes  of  taste  or  opinion  ;  on  the  contrary,  I 
conceive  them  to  be  the  necessary  accompaniment 
of  a  state  of  active  and  tentative  progress.  Nor 
even  do  I  object  to  an  earnest  belief  in  the  par- 
ticular phase  in  vogue  ;  this  is  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  earnestness  and  zeal  in  the  work  in 
hand.  What  I  do  protest  against,  is  the  custom 
of  taking  the  cue  from  some  self-elevated  leader 
of  their  own,  and,  whatever  the  circumstances 
may  be,  treating  with  pitying  scorn  every  one 
who  does  not  chance  to  fall  in  with  the  new 
rule  or  opinion  ;  even  those  who  have  no  power 
of  art  in  them  setting  themselves  up  as  lights, 
because  of  their  adhesion  to  the  latest  promul- 
gated dictum  of  the  clique,  and  those  of  a  superior 
class  neglecting  often  their  own  special  training, 
in  the  intensity  of  their  self-satisfaction  at  belong- 
ing to  the  privileged  party,  whose  great  moral 
rule  is  to  trust  in  themselves,  and  to  despise 
others. 

Still,  in  spite  of  these  foibles,  the  revival  was 
progressing  vigorously ;  probably  these  very 
weaknesses  were  the  mere  outbreakings  of  over- 
excited pulsation,  and  the  eccentricities,  which 
were  growing  upon  the  revived  style,  were  per- 
haps like  the  diseases  which  human  beings  are 
expected  to  pass  through  once  and  then  to  have 
done  with. 

I  feel  uncertain  sometimes  whether  the  breaking 
down  of  the  "Middle  Pointed"  regime  was  a  move 
for  good  or  ill.  There  was,  to  say  the  least,  a 
theory  in  that  rigorous  code.  It  was  argued,  and 
with  some  force,  that  in  the  nature  of  things  it  is 
anomalous  to  revive  an  old  style  ;  that  the  history 


208  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

of  art,  while  its  stream  was  pure,  was  one  of  con- 
tinuous and  natural  progress,  the  stream  never 
returning  upon  its  own  course,  and  every  develope- 
ment  being  the  offspring  of  its  immediate  pre- 
decessor; that  this  natural  course  had  been  broken 
by  the  classic  renaissance,  since  which  event  all 
had  been  confusion,  until  at  length  we  were  left 
without  a  distinctive  style  of  our  own  ;  that  at 
this  juncture,  by  a  coincidence  of  feelings  and 
circumstances,  our  old  architecture  came  to  be, 
without  premeditation,  revived,  and  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  those  who  guided  that  revival  to  see 
that  its  course  should  not  be  wildly  eclectic,  but 
that  we  should  select  once  and  for  all,  the  very 
best  and  most  complete  phase  in  the  old  style, 
and  taking  that  as  our  agreed  point  de  depart, 
should  make  it  so  thoroughly  our  own,  that  we 
should  develope  upon  it  as  a  natural  and  legitimate 
nucleus,  shaping  it  freely  from  time  to  time  to 
suit  our  altered  and  ever  altering  wants,  require- 
ments, and  facilities,  just  as  if  no  rude  change  had 
ever  taken  place.  Assuming  this  theory  to  be 
sound,  it  was  further  argued  that  the  "  Middle 
Pointed  "  is  the  true  point  of  perfection  which  we 
.should  take  as  our  nucleus  of  development;  that 
however  admirable  may  be  the  vigour  of  the 
earlier  phases,  and  whatever  beauties  we  may 
find  in  the  later,  this  middle  style  has  the  un- 
doubted merit  of  completeness.  It  may  be  less 
vigorous  than  its  predecessor,  but  it  has  purged 
itself  of  the  leaven  of  early  rudeness,  and  has  so 
completed  all  its  parts  as  to  meet  every  practical 
necessity,  while  it  has  not  commenced  the  down- 
hill road  of  enervation  and  decay.  One  thing 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  209 

was  also  in  its  favour,  that  the  theory  had  become 
so  generally  accepted,  that  this  phase  might  really, 
and  without  affectation,  be  said  to  be  already 
thoroughly  revived  and  adopted  as  our  own,  and 
that  we  really  were  in  a  position  to  take  it  as  our 
starting  point,  and  were  actually  doing  so  with 
considerable  success.  I  had  added  to  this  theory, 
in  my  own  version  of  it,  that  we  should  endeavour 
to  import  into  this  revived  style  all  which  was 
valuable  in  other  varieties,  the  vigour  of  the 
earlier  work,  and  all  useful  developements  of  the 
later.  I  refer  on  this  point  to  my  remarks  on 
future  developement  in  my  little  volume  of  i85O,2 
and  I  was  certainly  trying,  with  some  success 
now  and  then,  to  carry  the  theory  into  effect. 

There  is  then  some  ground  for  doubt  how  far 
the  break-down  of  this  theory,  which  followed 
immediately  upon  the  Lille  competition,  was  of 
advantage  to  the  cause.  Its  most  ludicrous  fea- 
ture was,  the  pious  devotion  to  "First  Pointed" 
in  its  most  ultra-Gallic  form,  which  at  once  began 
to  inspire  the  minds  of  those  who,  before  this, 
had  given  an  equally  religious  tone  to  their  ad- 
hesion to  "  Middle  Pointed,"  now  in  its  turn  be- 
come semi-impious.  I  confess  I  was  disposed 
for  one  reason  to  welcome  the  change.  I  had 
long  felt  the  slavery  of  being  morally  debarred 
from  making  use  of  the  earlier  style,  in  which  I 
secretly  delighted,  and  was  glad  to  have  a  little 
more  freedom,  without  being  subject  to  the  jibes 
of  self-constituted  critics.  This  was,  however,  a 
vain  imagination,  as  exclusiveness  is  never  at  a 

2  "  A   Plea  for  the  faithful  Restoration   of   our    Ancient 
Churches  "  (T.  H.  Parker),  chapter  iii. 

P 


2io  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

loss  in  forging  new  fetters  to  take  the  place  of 
those  worn  out.  Not  that  this  is  of  any  great 
consequence,  as  some  bond  of  union  is  unques- 
tionably needed,  and  no  one  should  be  weak 
enough  to  allow  his  own  judgment  to  be  biassed 
by  the  fads  of  others,  unless  he  sees  that  their 
judgment  is  to  be  relied  upon  as  sound. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  a  kind  of  chaotic 
state  of  things  has  ensued  upon  the  dissolution 
of  the  "Middle  Pointed"  confederation.  This, 
while  it  has  perhaps  done  good  by  encouraging  a 
tentative  striving  after  new  developements,  and 
the  introduction  of  many  elements  of  value  into 
the  revived  style,  has  nevertheless  weakened  the 
movement  by  destroying  its  unity,  and  by  bringing 
it  back  very  much  to  what  it  had  been  at  first,  a 
system  of  eclecticism,  the  very  thing  which  we 
were  striving  to  avoid. 

There  has,  in  fact,  been  no  end  to  the  oddities 
introduced.  Ruskinism,  such  as  would  make 
Ruskin's  very  hair  stand  on  end  ;  Butterfieldism, 
gone  mad  with  its  endless  stripings  of  red  and 
black  bricks ;  architecture  so  French  that  a 
Frenchman  would  not  know  it,  out-Heroding 
Herod  himself ;  Byzantine  in  all  forms  but  those 
used  by  the  Byzantians ;  mixtures  of  all  or  some 
of  these;  "original"  varieties  founded  upon  know- 
ledge of  old  styles,  or  upon  ignorance  of  them,  as 
the  case  may  be  ;  violent  strainings  after  a  some- 
thing very  strange,  and  great  successes  in  pro- 
ducing something  very  weak  ;  attempts  at  beauty 
resulting  in  ugliness,  and  attempts  at  ugliness 
attended  with  unhoped-for  success.  All  these 
have  given  a  wild  absurdity  to  much  of  the  archi- 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  2 1 1 

lecture  of  the  last  seven  or  eight  years,  which  one 
cannot  but  deplore  :  but  at  the  same  time  it  must 
be  allowed  that  much  of  the  best,  the  most  ner- 
vous, and  the  most  original  results  of  the  revival, 
have  been  arrived  at  within  the  same  period. 
The  worst  things  have  in  fact  been  produced  by 
men,  not  drilled  by  the  study  of  ancient  work,  but 
"  climbing  in  some  other  way."  It  is  their  works 
which  disfigure  our  streets  with  preposterous 
attempts  at  originality  in  domestic  architecture. 
The  really  trained  men,  who  have  thoroughly 
studied  ancient  work,  though  they  have  not  been 
exempt  from  great  eccentricities,  have  neverthe- 
less produced  very  fine  works  of  art,  full  in  many 
cases  of  original  developement.  I  believe  now, 
that  the  "  wild  oats  "  of  this  period  may  be  consid- 
ered as  sown,  that  we  are  getting  back  into  a  very 
reasonable  groove,  and  may  trust  that  the  days 
of  mere  eccentricity  are  passed,  and  I  cannot  but 
hope  that  we  shall  get  into  a  condition  of  liberal 
unity,  in  which  our  efforts  will  be  brought  to  act 
in  one  direction,  not  by  a  scornful  bearing  towards 
one  another,  but  by  a  general  conviction  of 
the  reasonableness  of  the  course  which  we  are 
taking. 

Just  now,  indeed,  the  contemptuous  line  is 
chiefly  adopted  by  a  somewhat  old-fashioned  clique, 
of  which  the  head  is  my  valued  friend,  Mr.  J.  H. 
Parker  of  Oxford.  These  early  pioneers  in  the 
revival,  horrified  at  the  wildness  of  these  later 
days,  have  taken  upon  them  to  abuse,  not  the 
ignorant  pretenders  who  have  brought  disgrace 
upon  our  cause,  but  the  most  talented  of  our 
band.  No  insult  indeed  is  sufficiently  bitter 

p  2 


212  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

against  every  one  who  learns  a  single  lesson 
abroad,  or  attempts  the  smallest  originality  of  his 
own.  Our  tendency  to  wildness  has  given  some 
excuse  for  this,  and  I  do  trust  that  a  little  com- 
mon-sense exercised  on  both  sides  will  soon  put 
an  end  to  a  state  of  things  which  is  bringing  much 
scandal  upon  the  revival,  and  is  greatly  rejoicing 
its  opponents. 

'  As  regards  myself  I  gradually  fell  into  the  use 
of  French  detail,  not  exclusively,  but  in  combina- 
tion with  English.  In  domestic  architecture  I  do 
think  that  I  struck  out  a  variety  eminently  prac- 
tical, and  thoroughly  suited  to  the  wants  and  habits 
of  the  day.  Had  I  carried  out  my  designs  for 
the  Government  offices,  this  developement  would 
have  been  realized  ;  as  it  is,  it  is  hardly  known. 
I  have  carried  it  out  to  a  certain  degree  at  Kelham 
Hall,3  but  that  is,  in  its  ideal,  rather  more  Italian- 
ized than  my  own  more  deliberate  developement 
would  have  been  ;  still,  however,  that  house  shows 
it  fairly.  Mr.  Forman's  house  at  Dorking4  was 
built  earlier  and  on  a  less  pretentious  scale,  but  it 
contains  a  great  deal  of  what  I  was  then  working 
out.  Sir  Charles  Mordaunt's,  at  Walton  near 
Warwick,  contains  it  in  a  minor  form,  and  worked 
out  with  less  sufficient  funds,  as  does  Hafodunos 
House,  near  Llanwrst.5  The  Town  Hall  at 
Preston  also  exemplies  it,  and  the  Rector's  house 
at  Exeter  College,  though  in  a  less  degree.  One 
feature  in  all  these  buildings  is  the  ample  size  of 
the  windows. 

3  Near  Newark,  the  seat  of  J.  H.  Manners-Sutton,  Esq. — ED. 

*  Pipbrook  House. — ED. 

6  The  seat  of  II.  R.  Sandbach,  Esq.— ED. 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  213 

My  friend  Parker  is  very  irate  at  the  whole  of 
these  developements.  He  says  they  are  Italian, 
French,  or  anything  else,  and  wants  me  to  make 
everything  purely  English,  indeed  he  would  make 
it  Tudor.  Now  I  distinctly  aver,  that  if  we  were 
to  build  houses  really  like  the  old  Tudor  mansions, 
people  would  not  in  these  days  live  in  them.  We 
must  have  large  windows,  plate  glass  in  large 
sheets,  sash  windows  if  we  like,  and  every  con- 
venience of  our  day.  These  clearly  demand  a 
new  expansion  of  the  style,  and  I  boldly  say  that 
none  has  been  proposed  so  good  as  this.  The 
tide  is  rather  setting  against  it  now,  because  of 
its  non-English  form,  and  I  am  myself  desirous, 
as  soon  as  the  vortex  of  business  gives  me  a  little 
leisure,  to  go  again  over  its  details  carefully,  and 
to  Anglicize  them,  without  sacrifice  of  essentials. 
Thus  far  I  go  with  the  present  turn  of  feeling,  but 
I  see  no  sense,  after  for  years  labouring  to  bring 
domestic  architecture  into  a  practical  form,  in  at 
once  giving  up  all  the  results  to  a  mere  change  of 
fashion.  The  general  tendency  at  the  present 
moment  is  to  return  to  English  detail.  I  hold 
with  this  to  a  certain  extent.  We  were  certainly 
going  too  far  the  other  way,  but  if  by  doing  this 
we  have  introduced  any  features  bolder,  more 
manly,  more  reasonable,  more  useful  in  any 
way,  or  have  added  to  our  store  elements 
which  tend  to  enrich  it,  and  to  increase  our 
legitimate  resources,  let  us  not,  in  the  name  of 
common  sense,  throw  them  away  again.  Anglicize 
if  you  please,  and  I  go  all  the  way  with  you, 
for  we  were  running  wild  on  foreign  detail  ;  but 
retain  all  the  good  you  have  picked  up  in  your 


2I4  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

wanderings,  and  use  it  up  in  your  reformed  archi- 
tecture. 

I  will  offer  a  few  remarks  on  our  progress 
in  the  subsidiary  arts,  beginning  with  that  of 
carving. 

It  has  been  a  drawback  to  my  own  artistic 
success  that,  being  one  of  the  first  of  the  revivers, 
I  had,  as  it  were,  to  grow  with  my  own  work, 
instead  of  being  previously  trained  for  it.  Had 
I,  for  instance,  known  my  future  lot,  how  assidu- 
ously should  I  have  practised  myself  in  my  youth 
in  the  drawing  and  designing  of  foliage,  and  in 
all  the  branches  of  decorative  art  as  connected 
with  Gothic  architecture.  I  had  no  kind  of  idea 
of  ever  wanting  them,  and  wonder  that  I  practised 
them  even  as  much  as  I  did.  The  consequence 
of  this  want  of  knowledge  of  the  future  has  been 
that  I  was  unprepared,  in  my  personal  artistic 
training,  to  do  justice  to  the  developement  in  which 
I  have  had  to  take  a  prominent  part,  and  have 
had  to  work  up  the  subject,  as  I  was  able,  in  the 
midst  of  the  vortex  and  turmoil  of  distracting 
business.  I  had  it  in  me,  but  I  had  no  leisure  to 
stop  to  cultivate  it.  In  spite  of  these  great  dis- 
advantages I  do  believe  that  I  have  done  as  much 
as  most  men  to  forward  the  art  of  carving ;  but 
had  it  not  been  for  them,  I  am  sure  that  I  should 
have  done  very  great  things  in  this  direction.  I 
have  had  a  vast  deal  of  bad  carving  done  for  me, 
it  is  true,  some  of  it  detestable.  This  has  been 
mainly  owing  to  the  extent  of  my  business,  which 
has  been  always  too  much  for  my  capacity  of 
attending  to  it,  added  to  the  disadvantages  before 
mentioned.  Nevertheless  where  mv  real  influence 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  215 

has  been  brought  to  bear,  the  results  have  been 
very  different,  and  would  have  been  very  far  more 
so,  had  it  not  been  for  these  disadvantages,  which 
I  could  not  by  any  means  get  over. 

I  remember  that,  as  early  as  1840,  my  anxiety 
about  the  carving  for  the  Oxford  memorial  was 
most  intense,  and  though  the  result  is  not  very 
high,  I  do  think  that,  considering  the  time,  it  was 
remarkable.  The  carving  at  Camberwell  church, 
which  is  conventional,  is  another  fair  specimen 
(barring  the  human  heads,  which  I  then  thought 
as  detestable  as  I  do  now).  My  carver  then  was 
a  Mr.  Cox,  who  continued  to  do  my  work  for  some 
years.  When  we  founded  the  Architectural 
Museum,  I  turned  my  attention  very  much  to 
French  carving,  of  the  type  of  that  in  the  Sainte 
Chapelle,  and  later  I  urged  the  adoption  of  a  bolder 
style,  using  natural  foliage  in  a  great  degree,  but 
attempting  to  get  something  of  the  boldness  of 
the  best  conventional  types.  I  think  that  this 
has  been  admirably  attained  by  Mr.  Brindley6  in 
some  of  my  later  works,  as  at  Kelham  Hall, 
Wellington  College  Chapel,  and  the  Town  Hall  at 
Preston.  These  are  examples  of  carving  of  a 
very  high  order.  My  friend  Mr.  Street,  during 
this  period,  has  been  working  up  the  pure  conven- 
tional foliage,  Mr.  Earp  7  being  his  handpiece,  and 
he  has  done  very  great  things.  I  think  that  his 
work  and  mine  together,  for  the  last  few  years  or 
so,  have  been  a  noble  developement.  He  can  lay 
claim  to  his,  more  personally  than  I  can  to  mine, 

6  Of  the  firm  of  Farmer  and  Brindley,  whose  studios  are  in 
the  Westminster  Bridge  Road. — ED. 

7  His  studios  are  now  in  the  Finchley  Road.  — ED. 


2 1 6  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

as  he  gives  drawings,  while  I  do  my  work  by  influ- 
ence ;  but  the  results  in  both  cases  are  of  a  high 
order.  Let  us  push  on  to  perfection  in  this  noble 
race. 

Metal-work  has,  during  the  period  in  question, 
made  considerable  progress,  though  it  has  suffered 
from  its  share  of  the  eccentric  mania  of  the  day. 
Mr.  Skidmore8  can  claim  an  eminent  place  both 
in  skill,  progress,  and  eccentricity.  My  own  indi- 
vidual share  has  not  been  great,  excepting  that  I 
have  had  one  or  two  great  works  carried  out,  such 
as  the  choir-screens  at  Lichfield  and  Hereford 
cathedrals.  Both  of  these  were  designed  in  full 
by  myself,  and  are  carried  out  according  to  my 
designs,  in  general ;  in  both,  however,  as  in  all  his 
works,  Mr.  Skidmore  has  "  kicked  over  the  traces" 
wherever  he  has  had  a  chance.  In  some  cases  the 
work  has  gained,  and  in  some  suffered  from  this. 
Original  ideas  have  been  imported,  but  a  certain  air 
of  eccentricity  has  come  in  with  them.  On  the 
whole  the  works  are  both  very  fine,  and  especially 
the  latter.  I  believe  that  Mr.  Street  has  made  great 
progress  in  metal  work,  acting  through  a  smith  at 
Maidenhead.  I  have  only  seen  a  little  of  his 
work,  but  that  was  first  rate. 

With  gold  and  silver  work  and  jewellery  I  have 
had  nothing  to  do.  This  is  foolish  of  me,  as  I 
delight  in  nothing  more,  but  my  avocations  will 
not  permit  me.  I  hope  that  the  Memorial  to  the 
Prince  Consort  will  be  a  success  in  the  way  of 
metal-working,  if  not  invaded  by  interference  on 
the  one  side  or  by  wildness  on  the  other. 

How  far  stained  glass  has  progressed,  I  am 
8  Of  Coventry.— ED. 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  217 

unable  to  form  an  opinion.  The  universal  mania 
for  earliness  and  eccentricity  has  here  been  ram- 
pant with  a  vengeance,  and  eliqueishness  has  had 
its  full  swing.  I  recollect  about  1855,  just  before 
Mr.  Clayton  9  established  himself  in  practice,  he 
designed  for  me  several  windows  for  the  clerestory 
of  the  choir  of  Westminster  Abbey  ;  and  though 
the  windows  themselves  were  late  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, he  was  so  strong  in  the  old  "  Middle  Pointed  " 
theory,  that  he  insisted  upon  treating  his  draperies, 
&c.,  in  the  style  of  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth. 
In  1860  when  he  was  employed  to  fill  some  win- 
dows in  the  north  transept,  so  great  had  been  the 
change  in  his  views,  that  he  could,  with  the  utmost 
difficulty,  be  kept  from  making  his  glass  earlier  in 
style  than  the  stonework  itself,  and  his  figures 
absolute  scarecrows.  Yet  I  believe  that  he  has 
never  been  considered  early  enough,  or  grotesque 
enough,  in  his  views  for  the  more  learned.  Per- 
sonally I  have  always  been  under  the  disadvantage 
of  having  had  no  time  to  obtain  such  a  mastery 
over  this  subject,  as  would  enable  me  to  exercise 
that  strong  influence  which  I  should  have  desired. 
My  theory  is,  that  if  there  is  real  merit  in  early 
Christian  art — of  which  I  am  perfectly  convinced — 
its  merit  must  of  necessity  be  independent  of,  and 
separable  from,  its  defects  and  its  quaintness  ;  and 
that  if  we  believe  in  our  own  great  revival,  we  are 
bound  to  show  our  faith  by  discriminating  the 
faults  from  the  merits  of  our  originals,  and  by 
endeavouring  to  produce  an  art  which  avoids  the 
one  while  it  retains  the  other,  and  adds  to  this 
whatever  of  better  instruction  and  skill  our  own 
9  Now  of  the  firm  of  Clayton  and  Bell. — ED. 


2 1 8  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

age  can  afford.  This  theory  I,  from  year  to  year, 
endeavour  to  dun  into  the  heads  of  those  with 
whom  I  have  to  do.  Alas  !  as  an  Hibernian  once 
said,  "  The  more  I  tell  them  to  do  it,  the  more 
they  won't  do  it  at  all."  Either  they  are  such 
simple  zealots  as  to  believe  in  the  faults  of  their 
masters  as  implicitly  as  in  their  merits,  or  else  they 
do  not  really  believe  in  the  revival,  and  treat  the 
old  examples  merely  as  viewed  through  a  Wardour 
Street  shop-window,  or,  as  Simonides  views  an 
early  codex,  as  things  made  only  to  be  forged.  I 
believe  the  former  to  be  their  real  view,  but  I  beg 
them  to  apply  their  common-sense  to  the  subject 
for  a  little  time,  and  then  to  act  freely  for  them- 
selves. As  it  is,  one  constantly  sees  in  painted 
glass,  things  which  in  Punch  would  pass  for  very 
good  jokes,  and  caricatures  in  Punch,  which,  in 
glass,  would  be  viewed  as  true  Christian  art. 

Hardman,  or  rather  his  artist  Powell,  has  had 
the  advantage  or  disadvantage  of  a  long  drilling 
under  Pugin.  It  made  him  a  first-rate  glass- 
painter,  but  on  the  death  of  his  great  master, 
instead  of  turning  to  old  examples,  he  has  been 
content  to  work  on  upon  the  material  be- 
queathed to  him,  which  has  become  from  year  to 
year  more  diluted,  and  its  loss  by  dilution  being 
unsupplied  by  any  infusion  of  new  strength,  he  has 
sunk  for  the  most  part  into  little  more  than  an 
agreeable  prettiness,  though  he  occasionally  when 
he  brings  his  mind  to  bear  strongly  upon  a  par- 
ticular work,  produces  really  fine  things,  and  his 
sense  of  pleasant  colouring  is  certainly  stronger 
than  that  of  a  great  majority  of  our  glass-painters. 
The  works  he  did  for  Pugin  have  been  as  yet 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  219 

barely   surpassed,  e.  g.   those    in   the    Houses   of 
Parliament. 

The  art  of  glass-painting  has  suffered  a 
great  loss  from  the  crochets  and  ill-nature  of  a 
man  who  of  all  others  was  the  best  qualified  to 
help  it  forward.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Whinston.  He 
had  devoted  years  to  the  study  of  old  examples, 
and  no  man  more  thoroughly  understood  them. 
From  his  profession  and  education  one  would 
have  expected  him  to  prove  a  wise  and  judicious 
moderator  between  the  excesses  of  over-excited 
partisans  of  conflicting  views.  He  might  have 
done  infinite  good  had  he  taken  up  that  position. 
As  it  is,  he  has  absolutely  thrown  away  his  van- 
tage-ground by  imitating  the  worst  excesses  which 
he  ought  to  have  corrected,  and  by  appearing  as 
the  almost  exclusive  advocate  of  a  single  type  of 
glass-painting,  and  the  unmeasured  abuser  of 
every  one  who  in  the  smallest  degree  differs  from 
him.  This  unhappy  course  has  left  him  literally 
without  influence,  which  I  the  more  deeply  regret 
as  I  am  one  who  admires  with  him  the  particular 
phase  to  which  he  has  attached  himself,  and  go 
almost  the  whole  way  with  him  in  my  reprobation 
of  some  of  the  follies  which  excite  his  wrath,  and 
I  feel  that  his  influence  and  censorship,  had  they 
been  judiciously  used,  would  have  been  of  the 
most  essential  service  to  the  cause.  As  it  is,  his 
bitter  invectives  render  it  impossible  for  any  one 
to  converse  with  him  on  the  subject,  excepting  a 
few  persons  who  have  submitted  to  act  in  sub- 
serviency to  his  dictation,  and  who  being,  naturally, 
persons  of  no  great  mark,  are  very  far  from  repre- 
senting in  their  works  any  great  advantage  received 


220  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

from  his  instruction.  In  one  respect,  however,  he 
has  been  eminently  useful.  He  has,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Messrs.  Powell  of  Whitefriars,  effected 
very  important  improvements  in  the  manufacture 
of  glass  for  the  purposes  of  glass-painting. 

Another  great  loss  which  this  art  has  sustained 
arose  from  the  premature  death  of  the  elder 
M.  Gerente,  of  Paris.  This  gentleman,  educated 
to  another  profession,  had  so  earnest  a  feeling  for 
art,  and  directed  that  feeling  so  strongly  upon 
glass-painting,  as  to  devote  several  years  exclu- 
sively to  the  study  of  it,  and  to  tracing  and  draw- 
ing from  ancient  examples  throughout  France. 
He  told  me  that,  after  he  had  made  up  his  mind 
to  become  a  professional  glass-painter,  he  would 
not  allow  himself  to  execute  a  single  work,  till  he 
had  devoted  four  years,  exclusively  to  the  study  of 
ancient  glass-paintings.  He  was  a  man  of  most 
vigorous  talent,  of  great  originality  of  conception, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  very  learned  antiquary. 
From  such  a  man,  though  at  first  too  antiquarian 
in  the  treatment  of  his  works,  the  greatest  results 
might  have  been  hoped  for,  but  Providence  willed 
it  otherwise.  After  escaping,  almost  miraculously, 
the  dangers  of  the  Revolution  of  1848,  in  which 
he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  mob,  and  actually 
set  up  for  execution  and  the  muskets  levelled  at 
him,  when  he  was  saved  by  the  accidental  inter- 
ference of  one  of  his  own  workmen,  and  after- 
wards was  engaged  in  actual  fighting  for  twenty- 
four  hours  together ;  he  was  cut  off  in  the  very 
next  year,  after  only  eight  hours'  illness,  by  the 
cholera.  He  called  on  me  one  day  in  great 
agitation  ;  he  had  just  lost  his  father  by  that 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  221 

disease,  and,  after  watching  him  through  his  illness, 
had  been  seized  with  such  a  panic  that  he  fled 
precipitately  to  England,  convinced  that  if  he 
stayed  in  Paris  he  should  die  of  it.  A  fortnight 
afterwards  Le  pere  Martin  called  upon  me,  and 
told  me  that  Gerente  had  returned,  had  been 
immediately  seized  with  cholera,  and  had  died  ! 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  educated  as 
a  sculptor,  who  has  followed  up  with  considerable 
success  his  elder  brother's  methods. 

Among  the  most  promising  artists  in  this 
department  are  Clayton  and  Bell,  both  of  them 
men  who  took  to  art  directly  and  solely  from  a 
natural  genius  for  it.  Mr.  Alfred  Bell  was  a  pupil 
of  my  own.  He  was  recommended  to  me  by  the 
clergyman  of  his  native  village,  himself  an  amateur 
artist,  who  had  aided  his  early  genius.  His  pro- 
ductions at  that  early  age  (fourteen)  were  most 
remarkable,  and,  during  the  whole  time  that  he 
was  with  me,  nothing  he  had  to  do  seemed  to 
present  any  difficulty  whatever  to  him.  Since 
then  he  has  reverted  to  his  original  bent  for 
painting,  rather  than  architecture.  I  only  regret 
that  he,  owing  to  circumstances,  and  perhaps  to  an 
over-confidence  in  his  own  unaided  powers,  too 
much  neglected  a  regular  drilling  in  the  elements 
of  art.  This  has  prevented  his  natural  talents 
exhibiting  themselves  to  full  advantage.  Mr. 
Clayton  has  been  better  drilled,  and  has  a  stronger 
turn  of  mind,  and  were  it  not  for  the  two  great 
banes  of  glass-painting,  a  morbid  love  of  queer 
antiquated  drawing  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
destructive  effect  of  over-pressure  of  work  on  the 
other,  very  great  results  indeed  might  be  antici- 


222  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

pated  from  them.  They  were  the  first  in  this 
country  who  became  glass-painters,  because  they 
were  artists ;  but  it  is  a  destructive  profession,  and 
if  the  greatest  artist  who  ever  lived  had  become  in 
early  life  a  glass-painter,  and  had  had  a  great  run 
of  business,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  his  future 
fame  would  have  been  ruined.  No  real  art  can 
stand  against  a  constant  high-pressure  and  working 
against  time.  Some  of  Clayton  and  Bell's  pro- 
ductions are  of  a  high  character,  but  a  large  pro- 
portion are  damaged  or  ruined  by  one  or  both  of  the 
influences  above-mentioned.  Their  works  are  by 
no  means  whatever  proportioned  to  their  ability. 

Ill-luck  seems  inseparably  attached  to  this  most 
unhappy  art.  Three  distinct  misfortunes  dog  its 
course  at  every  step.  First,  the  multitude  of 
mere  pretenders,  or,  at  best,  men  of  very  slender 
artistic  feeling  and  less  skill,  who  disgrace  and 
drag  down  the  art  which  they  profess.  Secondly, 
the  absurd  rage  for  antiquated  drawing,  which 
exercises  a  ruinous  influence  upon  it.  This  may 
be  divided  into  two  classes  :  one,  that  of  the 
pseudo-artists,  who  imitate  or  pretend  to  imitate 
old  drawings,  merely  to  mask  their  inability  to  do 
anything  better.  Their  grotesqueness  is  that  of 
incapacity.  The  other  is  that  of  artists  of  a 
better  class,  who,  as  a  simple  matter  of  choice, 
follow  the  oddness  of  old  work.  This  is  the 
grotesqueness  of  error.  The  third  misfortune  is 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  second.  A  number 
of  persons,  whether  glass-painters  or  others,  dis- 
gusted at  the  folly  of  this  deliberate  grotesqueness, 
run  at  once  into  the  opposite  mistake,  and  seek  to 
remedy  the  evil  by  means  of  copies  in  glass  of 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  223 

actual  picture-painting.  This  again  divides  itself 
into  two  classes  :  the  pretenders,  who,  though 
incapable  of  producing  works  of  art  at  all,  calculate 
(and  successfully)  upon  the  prevalent  ignorance, 
and  produce  wretched,  mawkish  attempts  at 
picture-painting,  which  a  large  proportion  of  the 
public  believe  in  and  cry  up  as  something  very 
fine,  but  which  is  really  the  most  sickening  of  all 
things.  The  culminating  specimen  of  this  is, 
perhaps,  the  east  window  of  All  Saints  Church, 
Hastings.  The  second  class  consists  of  really 
good  or  tolerable  artists,  who,  falling  into  this 
mistake,  do  all  the  mischief  in  the  world  by,  as  it 
were,  gilding  an  error  by  art  which  would  other- 
wise be  pretty  good.  The  leaders  of  this  are  the 
Munich  painters  and  their  patrons  in  this  country, 
and  the  culmination  of  the  error  is  to  be  seen  in 
Glasgow  Cathedral.1  It  is  perhaps  fortunate  that 
these  painters  make  use  of  such  contemptible 
architectural  decoration  in  their  windows  that  no 
one  who  has  any  real  knowledge  is,  in  this  country, 
deceived  by  them.  A  few  classic  architects,  a 
Dean  or  two,  and  a  mixed  multitude  of  the  semi- 
ignorant  public  form  the  list  of  their  patrons. 

The  annoying  thing  is,  that  those  who  know 
better  give  them  the  best  possible  excuse  for  their 
error,  for  it  becomes  a  fairly  open  question  whether 
a  person  will  choose  reasonably  good  art  united 
with  erroneous  principles,  or  sound  principles 
wedded  to  a  grotesque  art.  It  was  vexatious 
enough  that  Clayton  and  Bell,  from  whom  better 
things  might  have  been  hoped,  and  who  have  pro- 
duced fine  work  (as  in  St.  Michael's,  Cornhill) 
1  And  in  the  Chapel  of  Peterhouse,  Cambridge.— ED. 


224  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

should,  for  the  most  part,  deliberately  follow  in  the 
wake  of  the  incapables :  but  it  is  yet  more  so,  when 
a  society  of  painters  of  the  highest  class,  having 
been  formed  with  the  express  intention  of  uniting 
high  art  with  true  principles,  are  found  producing 
works  yet  still  more  strange  than  those  of  any  of 
their  predecessors.2 

Let  us  hope  against  hope. 

In  decorative  colouring  I  fear  that  we  are  not 
much  more  in  advance.  Our  architects  must  be- 
come artists,  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  shall  we 
have  a  chance  of  success.  Pugin  did  great  things, 
but  I  cannot  say  much  for  subsequent  progress. 
In  mosaic  work  and  inlays  I  think  we  have  done 
better ;  indeed  I  cannot  but  think  that  this  is  one 
of  the  most  promising  branches  of  decorative  art, 
and  one  of  the  most  important,  inasmuch  as  our 
climate  demands  decoration  which  cannot  be  in- 
jured by  damp. 

In  encaustic  tiling  we  have  made  little  progress 
since  Pugin's  time.  No  one  has  equalled  him  in 
the  designing  of  patterns,  though  I  think  that  Lord 
Alwyne  Compton  greatly  excels  him  in  arrange- 
ments ;  wrhile  Godwin,  of  Hereford,  comes  far 
nearer  to  the  texture  of  old  tiles  than  Minton 
does. 

Incised  stone  in  some  degree  trenches  now 
upon  tile-work,  and  offers  a  wide  field  for  pro- 
gress. I  hope  that  the  introduction  of  it  by 
Baron  Triqueti  into  Wolsey's  chapel  at  Windsor 
will  prove  a  cause  of  advancement  in  that  art,  as 

2  From  the  date  of  this  critique  it  is  evidently  only  to  the 
very  earliest  works  of  Messrs.  Morris  and  Co.  that  reference 
is  here  made. — ED. 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  225 

the  employment  of  enamel  mosaic  in  the  same 
chapel  will  also,  as  I  trust,  in  its  own  particular 
direction.  The  use  of  high  art  (as  painting  and 
sculpture)  in  connexion  with  the  revived  style, 
has  not  yet  made  great  progress,  though  I  think 
it  will  do  so.  I  will  not  dwell  upon  this  question ; 
for  my  individual  views  on  the  subject,  I  would 
refer  to  my  lecture  delivered  at  Leeds  in  1863, 
and  entitled,  "  The  Gothic  Renaissance,"  and  to 
my  book  on  "  Domestic  Architecture." 

My  latest  engagement  of  importance  has  been 
the  Memorial  to  the  late  Prince  Consort.  I  was 
invited  to  enter  a  competition  for  this,  with  some 
half-a-dozen  other  architects.  I  sent  a  single 
design  for  the  memorial  proper,  and  several  for 
the  Hall,  which  was  proposed  at  the  same  time. 
My  design  for  the  monument  was  accepted.  My 
idea  in  designing  it  was,  to  erect  a  kind  of  ciborium 
to  protect  a  statue  of  the  Prince ;  and  its  special 
characteristic  was  that  the  ciborium  was  designed 
in  some  degree  on  the  principles  of  the  ancient 
shrines.  These  shrines  were  models  of  imaginary 
buildings,  such  as  had  never  in  reality  been 
erected  ;  and  my  idea  was  to  realize  one  of  these 
imaginary  structures  with  its  precious  materials, 
its  inlaying,  its  enamels,  etc.,  etc.  This  was  an 
idea  so  new,  as  to  provoke  much  opposition. 
Cost  and  all  kinds  of  circumstances  aid  this  oppo- 
sition, and  I  as  yet  have  no  idea  how  it  may  end  ; 
I  trust  to  be  directed  aright.  [March  10,  1864.] 

April,  1865. 

I  confess  that  few  things  perplex  me  more  than  the 
question  of  our  position  as  the  Gothic  Revivalists. 

Q 


226  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

We  commenced,  as  I  have  often  said,  without 
premeditation,  acting  spontaneously  from  mere 
love  of  it,  without  combination,  without  even 
comparing  notes,  with  no  thought  of  overthrowing 
or  supplanting  the  vernacular  classicism,  but 
merely  from  an  ardent  and  newly-generated  affec- 
tion for  our  old  architecture;  which  led,  first,  to  the 
mere  study  of  it,  and  then,  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence, to  its  reproduction.  Reproduction  gra- 
dually ripened  into  revival,  first  for  ecclesiastical 
purposes,  and  then  for  general  use :  our  zeal 
increasing  as  we  went  on,  we  now  began  to  flat- 
ter ourselves  that  we  should  eventually  supplant 
the  classicism  of  the  day.  Our  love  of  the  Gothic 
led  us  to  a  condemnation  of  the  Classic,  of  which 
at  first  we  had  never  thought :  till  at  length  we 
came  to  entertain  a  sort  of  religious  horror  of  all 
styles  of  pagan  origin.  The  formal  and  specific 
character  which  the  revival  now  assumed,  naturally 
led  to  a  more  systematic  action.  At  first,  free 
choice  was  allowed  in  the  variety  of  Gothic  which 
each  man  should  adopt  for  any  of  his  works. 
Gradually  this  was  seen  to  be  inconsistent  with 
an  organized  revival,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
unite  in  the  adoption  of  our  one  style.  The 
"  middle-pointed "  was  soon  fixed  upon,  though 
some  (including  myself)  held,  that  whatever  was 
valuable  in  other  styles  should  be  translated  into 
it,  so  as  to  make  it  more  comprehensive  of  all 
which  was  good.  Some  among  us  hated  other 
varieties  as  much  as  they  did  classic,  or  perhaps 
even  more,  and  seemed  to  think  the  use  of  per- 
pendicular, or  Norman,  or  even  early  pointed  as 
nothing  •  short  of  heresy.  This  absurdity  was, 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  227 

however,  a  mere  exaggeration  of  consistency,  for 
if  the  revival  was  to  be  a  great  reality,  it  must 
have  a  consistent  nucleus ;  so  that  it  became 
necessary  for  a  man,  whose  taste  for  the  style 
was  of  an  eclectic  and  general  character,  to  put 
restraint  upon  himself  for  the  sake  of  maintaining 
the  unity  and  consistency  of  the  movement. 

I  must  confess  that  I  regret  the  rude  breaking- 
up  of  this  consistent  theory.  It  was  begun  by  the 
transference  of  the  claim  of  sovereignty  from  mid- 
dle to  early  pointed  :  this  was  followed  up  by  the 
attempering  of  the  early  style  with  foreign  fea- 
tures ;  and  eventually  by  the  exclusion  of  English 
Gothic,  in  favour  of  French  with  a  mixture  of 
Italian,  and  often  by  a  violent  exaggeration  of 
foreign  character.  This,  in  its  turn,  produced  a 
reaction  toward  our  own  architecture,  and  at  the 
same  time  in  favour  of  a  later  style.  Had  this 
brought  us  back  to  where  we  once  were,  with  all 
the  advantage  of  what  we  had  gathered  during  our 
wanderings,  it  might  have  been  advantageous  ;  but 
all  our  movements  are  in  excess,  and  we  seem  for 
the  time  at  least,  to  be  at  sea  again,  without  chart 
or  compass.  All  must  now  be  very  English  and 
very  late ;  while  by  some,  liberty  is  again  pro- 
claimed, and  men  are  left  to  adopt  any  style  they 
may  fancy,  from  the  twelfth  century  to  the 
eighteenth,  while  a  few  still  adhere  to  the  ex- 
aggerated early  French  or  half  Italian  in  vogue 
a  few  years  back. 

There  is  one  great  advantage  attendant  upon 
these  changes,  in  that  they  have  produced  a  liberal 
spirit  as  to  the  varieties  of  our  own  architecture, 
which  renders  our  restorations  more  conservative, 

Q  2 


228  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

and  our  knowledge  more  general ;  while  a  study 
of  foreign  architecture  cannot  fail  to  supply  us 
with  much  valuable  matter,  even  though  we  do  not 
actually  adopt  foreign  styles.  Still,  however,  our 
position  is  anomalous.  I  confess  to  thinking  that 
while  the  foreign  rage  was  upon  us,  we  were  gene- 
rating a  secular  style  peculiarly  suited  to  our  own 
wants :  but  unhappily  this  was .  caught  up  by  an 
ignorant  and  untutored  rabble,  and  so  caricatured 
and  exaggerated,  that  its  very  originators  came  to 
hate  it,  and  can  now  hardly  make  use  of  their  own 
developements  without  exposing  themselves  to 
ridicule,  as  adhering  to  exploded  notions,  and  as 
abetting  their  own  vulgar  imitators.  This  reaction 
may  well  lead  to  an  anglicizing  of  the  variety  thus 
developed,  which  would  be-in  itself  desirable: 
though  I  confess  to  an  opinion  that  a  little  touch  of 
Italian  character  has  the  advantages  of  facilitating 
the  use  of  brick,  with  the  square  sectional  forms 
which  the  nature  of  that  material  suggests  ;  of 
severing  purely  secular  from  religious  architecture 
in  the  minds  of  the  public  ;  and  of  avoiding  a  too 
severe  clashing  between  our  gothic  and  our 
classic  street  architecture.  If  all  this  can  be 
obtained  without  departing  too  far  from  English 
types,  so  much  the  better.  A  slight  infusion  of 
Italian  feeling  may  also  have  the  advantage  of 
admitting  the  free  use  of  round  and  segmental 
arches,  which  I  feel  to  be  essential  to  secular 
architecture. 

In  our  church  architecture  we  have,  as  I  con- 
sider, little  reason  to  depart  far  from  our  own 
types;  though  I  confess,  even  here,  to  a  tendency  to 
eclecticism  of  a  chastened  kind,  and  to  a  desire 


CHAP,  v.]  Recollections.  229 

for  liberty  to  unite  in  some  degree  the  merits  of 
the  different  styles.  We  ought,  I  think,  to  have 
periodical  conferences  between  the  leaders  of  the 
revival,  with  a  view  to  keeping  as  much  as  may  be 
together ;  though  unfortunately  in  these  days  the 
publicity  of  these  conferences  is  sadly  against 
their  efficiency.  I  believe  that  a  sort  of  free- 
masonry is  almost  essential  here,  the  differences 
of  opinions  among  architects,  and  the  contemp- 
tuous feelings  entertained  by  one  clique  towards 
another,  militating  sadly  against  agreement. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  the  above  reminiscences  since  1845,  I  have 
confined  myself  almost  wholly  to  professional 
topics,  indeed  my  intention  has  been  to  limit 
myself,  after  the  first  part  of  the  work,  to  such 
subjects. 

What  I  have  written  being  intended  primarily 
for  my  children,  I  wished  to  give  such  family 
information  as  was  wholly  beyond  their  reach,  but 
after  that  to  give  them  an  outline  of  my  profes- 
sional career  alone,  almost  to  the  exclusion  of 
personal  and  family  matters.  I  will  however 
mention  that  my  mother  died  at  Wappenham  in 
1854.  She  had  for  a  long  time  been  in  very  bad 
health,  having  suffered  from  an  oppression  of  the 
brain  (whether  of  an  epileptic  or  paralytic  kind 
I  do  not  know),  which  had  the  effect  of  under- 
mining her  memory  to  a  very  painful  degree.  I 
believe  that  it  was  brought  about  in  some  degree 
by  the  intensity  of  her  sorrow  at  my  father's  death, 
and  it  was  furthered  by  a  sort  of  excess  in  her 
religious  devotions.  She  would  shut  herself  up 
every  day  for,  I  think,  two  hours  (or  it  might  not 
have  been  quite  so  much)  for  religious  reading  and 
devotion  in  a  cold  room  in  all  seasons,  and  gave 
way  no  doubt  to  emotions  calculated  to  overstrain 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  231 

the  mental  system.  Her  piety  was  of  the  most 
ardent  kind,  only  equalled  by  her  affection  for  her 
family.  She  lived,  from  the  time  of  my  father's 
death,  in  a  good  old  house  opposite  the  Rectory  at 
Wappenham,  a  house  which  my  father  had  occu- 
pied while  the  Rectory  was  being  built,  and  which 
(as  he  really  only  occupied  the  latter  for  a  year  or 
so)  I  got  to  view  as  "my  home."  During  my 
early  ''workhouse"  days  I  was  always  dropping 
in  there  on  all  occasions.  Later  on  I  went  there, 
I  fear,  less  and  less  frequently  till  the  time  of  my 
poor  mother's  decease,  though  always  feeling  it  to 
be  my  old  home.  I  grieve  to  say  that  from  that 
time  I  felt  that  I  had  lost  my  boyish  home,  and 
although  my  brother  and  his  family  were  there, 
and  though  my  sister  Mary  Jane  lived  in  a  cottage 
built  for  her  in  the  village,  I  have  never  been  at 
Wappenham  again.  This  has,  during  the  last  two 
months  since  my  dear  sister's  decease,  caused  me 
the  most  poignant  grief.  I  have  felt  like  one 
awakening  from  a  feverish  dream,  and  have  almost 
madly  wondered  where  I  have  been  and  what 
I  have  been  doing.  I  earnestly  advise  young 
persons  diligently  to  keep  up  communication  with 
their  relatives.  You  do  not  seem  to  need  it  at  the 
moment,  and  you  feel  as  if  you  could  do  it  at  any 
time,  but  when  death  makes  a  breach  in  the  family 
circle,  then  it  is  that  one's  neglect  comes  back  upon 
the  conscience  in  a  way  which  is  almost  over- 
whelming. It  seemed  at  one  time  as  if  it  would 
affect  my  reason. 

In  1848  we  lost  my  father-in-law,  Mr.  Oldrid, 
under  circumstances  peculiarly  painful  and  dis- 
tressing. He  was  an  excellent  man,  of  sterling 


2^2 


Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 


and  exemplary  worth.  Both  he  and  my  mother 
died,  I  believe,  in  their  seventieth  year.  My 
mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Oldrid,  died  some  years 
later,  and  reached,  I  think,  her  eightieth  year. 
She  was  a  person  of  great  excellence,  and  of  a 
very  powerful  mind,  which  retained  all  its  vigour 
and  freshness  till  the  very  last.  For  many 
years  I  saw  much  more  of  her  than  of  my  own 
mother,  the  one  being  in  full  vigour  and  energy, 
while  the  other  was  almost  laid  aside  from  the 
malady  I  have  mentioned.  She  frequently  came 
to  stay  with  us  in  town,  and  we  often  visited  her 
at  Boston,  which  became  a  third  home  to  me. 
Her  conversation  was  always  lively,  amusing,  and 
instructive.  She  was  a  sort  of  female  mentor  in 
our  family,  while  at  the  same  time  she  was  the  life 
of  our  party,  when  she  was  with  us.  She  departed 
this  life  after  a  painful  illness  in  1857.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Oldrid  lie  buried  in  the  family  vault  in  the 
church-yard  at  Leverton,  near  Boston,  where  Mr. 
Oldrid  had  a  small  estate. 

My  uncle  King  died  in  Jersey  in  1856.  My 
aunt  King  followed  him  two  months  later,  to  the 
very  day,  and  thus  nearly  the  entire  generation 
had  passed  away,  which  had  been  the  guides  and 
guardians  of  my  youth,  and  here  I  would  say, 
"  Make  me  to  be  numbered  with  thy  saints  in 
glory  everlasting." 

On  my  mother's  side  of  the  family,  Mr.  Na- 
thaniel Gilbert  of  Antigua,  her  first  cousin,  the 
head  and  the  last  of  the  Gilbert  family1  came 

1  Southey,  in  his  life  of  Wesley,  says  of  him,  "  Mr.  Gilbert 
was  a  man  of  ardent  piety  .  .  .  Being  enthusiastic  by  constitu- 
tion, as  well  as  devout  by  principle,  he  prayed  and  preached  in 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  233 

over  to  England  for  some  years  (I  suppose  about 
1845),  and  lived  here  in  very  good  style  for  a 
long  time,  occupying  Stocks,  near  Tring,  the  seat 
of  his  cousin  Mr.  Gordon.  When,  however,  the 
duties  on  free-grown  and  slave-grown  sugar  were 
equalized,  he  returned  precipitately  to  Antigua, 
where  he  found  his  circumstances  almost  ruined  by 
the  change.  He  shortly  afterwards  died,  leaving 
the  estate  to  his  widow  (and  cousin)  with  a  re- 
mainder to  her  sister,  and  after  her  to  the  Bible 
Society.  I  daresay  the  reversion  could  be  pur- 
chased of  them  for  an  old  song.  The  estate 
has  been  so  much  reduced  in  value,  that  my 
sister  Mary  Jane,  whose  income  depended  on  it, 
in  some  degree,  was  put  to  some  inconvenience  'for 
several  years  by  the  failure  of  supplies  fron  the  old 
family  source. 

As  regards  my  own  personal  history,  I  will 
only  say  that,  since  we  ceased  to  reside  in  Spring 
Gardens,  we  have  lived  in  all  happiness,  first  at 
St.  John's  Wood,  and  then  at  Hampstead,  watch- 
ing the  growing  up  of  our  five  boys,  and  have 
every  reason  to  bless  God  for  the  happiness  and 
prosperity  He  has  granted  us,  nearly  the  only 
drawback  to  which  has  been  my  wife's  delicate 
health. 

his  own  house  to  such  persons  as  would  assemble  to  hear  him 
on  Sundays,  and  encouraged  by  the  facility  of  which  he  found 
himself  possessed,  and  the  success  with  which  these  beginnings 
were  attended,  he  went  forth  and  preached  to  the  negroes. 
This  conduct  drew  upon  him  contempt,  or  compassion,  accord- 
ing as  it  was  imputed  to  folly  or  to  insanity.  But  he  had  his 
reward ;  the  poor  negroes  listened  willingly  to  the  consolations 
of  Christianity,  and  he  lived  to  form  some  two  hundred  persons 
into  a  Methodist  Society,  according  to  Mr.  Wesley's  rules." — 
Ch.  xxviii.  p.  332. 


234  Sir  Gilbert  Scoff. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  these  remarks  I  have 
alluded  to  my  sister  Mary  Jane's  death.  This 
was  the  first  breach  in  our  immediate  family  circle 
of  brothers  and  sisters  since  the  death  of  my 
brother  Nathaniel  in  1830,  a  space  of  nearly 
thirty-four  years.  How  much  do  we  owe  to 
Almighty  God  for  so  long  sparing  us  from  so 
bitter  a  grief.  Mary  Jane  had  been  for  some 
time  in  very  weak  health,  though  I  had  hoped  that 
she  was  getting  over  it,  but  this  last  year  (1863) 
she  was  attacked  more  violently  than  before,  and 
in  the  autumn  it  was  seen  that  her  sickness  would 
be  unto  death.  My  brother  Samuel  and  his  excel- 
lent wife  most  kindly  asked  her  to  stay  with  them 
at  'Brighton,  knowing  well  that  it  was  to  die 
there.  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  her  cha- 
racter, nor  the  circumstances  of  her  illness  and 
departure.  They  will,  I  trust,  be  sketched  by  a 
more  able  hand,  but  it  is  delightful  to  think  how 
cheerfullyand  happilyshe  passed  away  from  this  life 
to  a  better,  knowing  well  that  her  end  was  coming, 
and  preparing  for  it  with  all  cheerfulness  and 
deliberation,  both  in  temporal  and  spiritual  things. 
Her  character  was  one  of  exquisite  beauty  ;  I  have 
never  known  anything  to  surpass  it.  I  saw  her 
several  times  during  her  illness,  and  no  word  or 
expression  but  of  happiness  passed  her  lips.  I 
saw  her  within  a  few  hours  of  her  death,  and 
when  I  bid  her  good  night  she  said,  "We  shall 
meet  in  .heaven."  Before  I  could  get  back  in  the 
morning  her  sweet  soul  had  taken  its  flight.  This 
was  on  the  22nd  of  January  last  (1864),  her  age 
being  wit'hin  a  few  days  of  forty-three  years.  She 
was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light,  and  had  been 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  235 

made  instrumental,  as  one  may  fairly  hope,  to  the 
salvation  of  many  souls.  Our  family,  with  the 
exception  of  my  two  sisters  Euphemia  and  Eliza- 
beth, met  at  her  funeral.  She  lies  in  the  church- 
yard of  Hove,  near  Brighton.  It  was  a  peaceful 
and  pleasant  family  party,  for,  though  the  occasion 
was  mournful,  a  halo  of  sacred  cheerfulness  seemed 
to  hover  around  every  memory  of  our  departed 
sister. 

I  confess,  however,  that  when  alone  my  feelings 
were  very  different,  and  for  some  time  I  suffered 
from  severe  depression,  which  disappeared  when 
I  was  in  company.  I  believe  I.  shed  more  tears 
for  my  sweet  sister  than  I  had  ever  shed  in  an 
equal  time  before.  I  was,  in  fact,  haunted  with 
my  own  neglectful  conduct,  and  was  only  consoled 
by  the  assurance  of  my  two  surviving  sisters  that 
she  attributed  it  wholly  to  the  necessities  of  my 
peculiar  practice.  I  am  now  threatened  with  a 
second  grief.  My  dear  sister  Euphemia  is  suffer- 
ing from  a  disease  which  they  say  must  be  fatal, 
and  which  is  of  a  most  painful  nature.  Nothing 
could  be  more  touchingly  beautiful  than  the  corre- 
spondence between  her  and  our  sister  Mary  Jane 
during  the  last  few  months ;  each  being  conscious 
of  the  seeds  of  dissolution  working  within  them, 
and  each  more  anxious,  and  grieving  more,  for  the 
other  than  for  herself.  How  earnestly  do  I  wish 
that  I  could  experience  the  sentiments  which  have 
so  wonderfully  supported  them  in  these  .grievous 
trials. 

March  2  yd,  1865. 
I   re-open  my  book  after  closing  it  for  twelve 


236  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

months,  and  I  must  recommence  on  subjects 
similar  to  those  with  which  I  closed  it.  Two  most 
heavy  afflictions  have  come  upon  me  during  the 
interval  ;  the  one  expected,  the  other  absolutely 
unlocked  for.  My  dear  sister  Euphemia  departed 
this  life  in  perfect  peace  on  February  8th  last 
(1865).  I  will  return  to  this  subject  by-and-by, 
but  during  our  long  anticipation  of  this  sad  event 
who  would  have  thought  that  one  of  the  strongest 
of  our  dear  boys  would  be  snatched  away  from  us 
before  her  ?  My  son  Albert  Henry  was  born  in 
August,  1844,  a  few  days  after  our  removal  from 
Spring  Gardens  to  St.  John's  Wood.  During  his 
infancy  and  early  childhood  he  showed  some  ten- 
dency to  water  on  the  brain,  accompanied  by  a 
very  early  intellectual  developement.  Happily  his 
health,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  was  re-estab- 
lished ;  though  we  did  not  for  a  long  time  venture 
to  send  him  to  school,  but  committed  his  education 
to  private  tutors,  all  of  whom  in  succession  gave 
us  the  most  flattering  accounts  of  his  promise  and 
talents.  We  had,  indeed,  abundant  evidence  of 
the  high  order  of  his  mind,  both  as  to  power  and 
tone,  especially  evinced  by  his  facility  of  compo- 
sition, which  from  a  very  early  age  was  remarkable. 
He  went  for  a  short  time  to  St.  Andrew's  College, 
Bradfield,  where  his  progress  was  very  satisfactory, 
but  he  was  obliged  to  leave,  owing  to  a  slight 
indisposition,  which  led  us  to  think  that  he  needed 
home  care,  and  he  accordingly  completed  his 
preparation  for  the  University  under  private 
tuition. 

He  went  to   Exeter  College,  Oxford,    at   the 
beginning  of  1864,  and  we  are  told  by  the  rector 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  237 

and  the  tutor  that  his  progress  during  the  one  year 
of  his   continuance    there  was  really  remarkable,  - 
and  his  conduct  in  every  way  exemplary;  indeed, 
he  won  the  respect  and  affection  of  all  who  knew 
him  there. 

During  his  long  vacation  we  were  in  search  of  a 
new  place  of  abode,  Hampstead  being  too  cold  for 
our  younger  boys,  and,  after  many  disappoint- 
ments and  difficulties,  we  found  a  suitable  residence 
at  Ham,  in  choosing  which,  and  in  moving  into  it, 
our  son  Albert  was  of  great  assistance,  though  he 
was  obliged  to  return  to  Oxford  before  we  were 
quite  settled.  Who  would  have  imagined  that,  while 
removing  for  the  health  of  our  younger  children, 
we  were  so  soon  to  lose  their  elder  and  far  stronger 
brother.  He  had  been  exceedingly  charmed  with 
the  place  when  he  first  visited  it  with  me  in 
September,  and  when  he  returned  in  the  winter 
he  at  once  availed  himself  of  its  facilities  for 
boating,  and  nearly  every  day  went  with  his 
brother  Alwyne  on  the  river  for  a  row  in  a 
boat,  which  he  had  hired  for  the  vacation.  How 
little  did  we  think  that  this  harmless  recreation 
would  be  the  cause  of  so  much  grief!  Often 
did  I  feel  exultation  at  the  thought  that  Alwyne, 
who  could  not  stand  even  the  commencement  of 
our  Hampstead  winters,  should  be  able  now  to 
row  every  winter  day  on  the  Thames  without  any 
inconvenience ;  little  thinking  that,  though  the 
frail  boy  stood  against  it  unhurt,  the  strong  man 
was  destined  to  quail  under  its  effects. 

Albert  felt  no  evil  from  this  exposure  till  within 
a  week  of  the  end  of  the  vacation.  On"  Saturday, 
January  2ist,  he  rowed  as  usual  in  the  morning, 


238  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

and,  after  an  early  dinner,  went  with  Alwyne  to 
town.  The  day  was  sharp  and  frosty,  but  with 
us  at  Ham  pretty  bright,  though  in  London  there 
was  a  most  dense  fog.  They  were  late  in  return- 
ing, having  found  no  little  difficulty  in  groping 
their  way  about  town.  The  next  day  (Sunday) 
Albert  complained  (as  I  have  since  heard)  of  a 
little  stiffness  in  the  limbs,  but  nevertheless  went 
twice  to  church.  On  Monday  I  still  knew  nothing 
of  his  being  unwell,  but  I  afterwards  heard  that  he 
complained  of  stiffness,  and  said  that  he  would  try 
to  row  it  off.  After  rowing  he  had  a  long  run 
after  a  dog.  The  next  day  he  was  very  stiff,  and 
we  afterwards  heard  that,  while  reading  logic  with 
Alwyne,  which  he  usually  (and  very  kindly)  did 
in  the  afternoon,  he  lay  down  on  the  floor  of  his 
room,  and  said  he  felt  as  if  he  was  going  to  have 
rheumatic  fever.  We  heard  nothing  of  this  ;  but  a 
medical  man,  Dr.  Julius,  who  was  attending  my 
son  Gilbert,  saw  him  and  gave  him  some  trifling 
medicine,  saying  that  it  was  only  stiffnes.s  from 
rowing.  I  was  out  all  that  day.  The  next  morn- 
ing (Wednesday)  he  was  still  very  stiff,  with  pains 
in  all  his  joints,  even  to  the  fingers  and  toes  ;  but 
the  medical  attendant,  when  I  told  him  that  I 
feared  it  was  rheumatism,  said  he  thought  it  was 
not.  In  the  evening  I  found  him  much  worse, 
and  hardly  able  to  walk,  and  the  doctor  at  once 
said  that  it  was  rheumatism.  We  put  him  into  a 
hot  bath  and  got  him  to  bed,  but  in  the  night  he 
suffered  acutely,  and  the  next  day  was  utterly 
helpless,  unable  to  move  hand  or  foot.  I  had  to 
be  away  that  day  at  Salisbury,  to  attend  the  first 
meeting  of  the  restoration  committee.  On  my 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  239 

return  at  night  I  found  him  very  ill,  and  the  next 
day  he  continued  the  same.  We  then,  with  great 
difficulty,  carried  him  down  into  a  larger  room. 
On  Saturday  he  seemed  better,  the  rheumatism 
having  left  his  limbs  to  a  considerable  degree,  but 
the  doctor  announced  that  his  heart  was  (as  he  said, 
slightly)  affected.  He  had  been  somewhat  de- 
lirious at  times,  but  during  Sunday  night  became 
more  so,  and  on  Monday,  January  3Oth,  1865, 
he  departed  without  pain,  and  apparently  with- 
out consciousness,  at  about  half-past  three  in 
the  afternoon.  He  was  interred  in  Petersham 
Churchyard  on  the  following  Saturday.  I  ear- 
nestly pray  God  never  to  let  his  image  be 
dimmed  in  my  memory,  but  to  keep  it  ever  fresh 
in  my  thoughts.  I  doubt  not  that  our  Gracious 
God  will  make  his  dear  soul  an  object  precious 
in  His  sight,  and  will  train  it  to  ever  higher  and 
more  exalted  happiness. 

April  2ist,  1865. 

I  will  mention  that  among  a  very  large  number 
of  letters  of  condolence  of  the  kindest  character, 
addressed  to  us  on  this  sad  event,  I  received  one 
written  by  the  direction  of  the  Queen,  expressing 
her  warm  sympathy  with  me  in  my  loss. 

My  sister  Euphemia,  whose  illness  and  death  I 
have  already  alluded  to,  departed  this  life  in  per- 
fect peace.  Her  last  days  were  happily  much 
more  free  from  suffering  than  had  been  feared, 
and  her  mind  was  in  a  state  of  the  most  heavenly 
and  childlike  quiescence,  happiness  and  love. 
Her  life  had  been  one  of  constant  labour  for  the 
good  of  others,  and  of  constant,  unremitting,  and 


240  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

untiring  work.  Her  great  characteristic  was  ener- 
-  getic,  strong-willed  devotion  to  doing  good.  While 
in  health,  she  was  a  person  of  almost  herculean 
power  of  work,  and  was  always  at  it ;  and  she 
continued  this  far  into  her  illness,  and,  in  lessen- 
ing degrees,  even  towards  the  close  of  it.  The 
love  and  veneration  felt  for  her  in  the  three  places 
where  she  had  thus  ministered  (Gawcott,  Boston, 
and  Alford),  were  unbounded. 

She  added  to  this  robust  side  of  her  mental 
constitution,  a  great  tenderness  of  spirit,  and  an 
earnestness  of  affection,  such  as  one  would  hardly 
have  expected  from  one  of  so  strenuous  a  turn  of 
mind.  Her  letters  breathe  a  strong,  yet  tender 
love,  which  is  quite  beautiful ;  and  when  her  illness 
came  upon  her,  this  became  yet  more  marked. 
She  was  a  very  beautiful  letter-writer,  and  I  very 
much  wish  a  collection  of  her  letters  could  be 
made.  My  still  heavier  loss,  which  preceded  her 
death  by  but  eight  or  nine  days,  has,  in  some 
degree  preoccupied  my  mind  against  the  sorrow 
which  her  loss  would  otherwise  have  caused  me ; 
but  I  feel  that  one  of  the  very  dearest  companions 
of  my  early  life  has  been  taken  from  me,  and 
one  of  the  most  loving  of  relatives  and  best  of 
religious  counsellors,  though,  alas,  too  little  con- 
sulted. 

June  \*]th,  1865. 

I  open  this  book  again  to  record  bereavements. 
At   the    beginning   of    May,    1865,    I    lost    my 
cousin  John  Scott  of  Hull,2  the  eldest  male  cousin 

2  Vicar  of  St.   Mary's.     He  preached  his  last  sermon  on 
Easter-day. — ED. 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  241 

on  my  father's  side,  and  one  of  the  loved  com- 
panions of  my  youth. 

I  cannot  now  stop  to  commemorate  him,  as 
death  has  since  come  far  nearer  to  me,  and  has 
removed  one  of  the  dearest  of  my  circle  of 
brothers,  and  perhaps  the  very  one  who  seemed 
the  least  likely  to  be  cut  off. 

My  brother  Samuel  King  Scott  was  seven  01 
eight  years  younger  than  I,  having  been  born  in 
November,  1818.  He  was  consequently  but  a 
child  of  eight  or  nine  years  old  when  I  left  my 
early  home :  I  well  remember  him,  at  that  time, 
as  the  blithest,  most  lively  and  humorous  of  our 
family,  and  every  one's  favourite.  "  Sammy  King 
is  just  the  thing,"  was  a  favourite  rhyme  in  our 
nursery,  and  expressed  rudely  the  general  feeling 
towards  him.  His  little  strokes  of  wit,  even  in 
those  days,  were  vernacular  amongst  us,  and  I 
have  often  told  them  to  my  own  children.  Years 
afterwards  (I  do  not  recollect  whether  before  or 
after  my  father's  death)  he  was  articled  to  Mr. 
Stowe,  a  surgeon  at  Buckingham,  a  little  before 
my  brother  John  went  into  partnership  with  him. 

These  were  my  early  days  of  workhouse  building, 
and  as  Buckingham  was  the  centre  of  my  first 
batch  of  unions,  I  was  often  there ;  and  I  have  a 
lively  recollection  of  the  delight  I  then  felt  in  my 
young  brother's  company.  I  used  to  arrive  by 
mail-cart  at  seven  in  the  morning,  just  as  he  was 
getting  up,  and  sometimes  on  a  cold  morning  I 
turned  into  his  bed  to  supplement  my  night's  rest  ; 
which  had  been  divided  between  the  top  of  the 
mail  to  Aylesbury,  a  short  bout  of  bed  at  a  public- 
house  there,  and  what  one  could  get  balanced  on 

R 


242  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  mail-cart  between  there  and  Buckingham. 
These  little  visits  were  peculiarly  delightful  to  me, 
Sam  was  so  jolly  and  cheery,  and  his  master,  Mr. 
Stowe,  was  so  kind,  and  took  such  an  interest  in 
my  special  pursuits,  as  well  as  in  my  favourite 
study  at  the  time,  geology.  Later  on,  my  brother 
John  and  his  wife  added  to  the  pleasure  of  these 
little  flying  visits,  so  that  they  are  among  quite 
the  bright  spots  in  my  memory.  Sam  was  treated 
in  Mr.  Stowe' s  house  not  as  an  apprentice,  but 
rather  as  an  adopted  son. 

Years  rolled  on  again,  and  we  had  him  in  Lon- 
don "  walking  the  hospitals."  I  was  then  married, 
and  we  lived  in  Spring  Gardens,  where  he  used  to 
come  whenever  his  work  allowed  ;  and  very  happy 
we  were  when  he  came,  though  he  was  working  so 
hard,  and  I  was  so  busy,  and  travelling  so  much 
about  the  country,  that  our  communications  were 
after  all  but  scanty,  though  very,  very  pleasant. 
One  of  his  hospital  friends,  now  an  eminent  phy- 
sician, told  me  the  other  day  that  he  was  the 
general  favourite  amongst  them.  "  They  all  had 
their  quarrels,"  he  says,  "  among  themselves,  but 
none  of  them  ever  quarrelled  with  him,  though  all 
went  and  told  him  of  their  quarrels."  I  ought  to 
say,  that  at  this  time,  and  I  think  a  good  deal 
earlier,  he  had  become  a  sincerely  religious  cha- 
racter, and  I  never  heard  of  a  single  act  or  word 
of  his  inconsistent  with  a  strictly  conscientious 
Christian  life,  though  this  did  not  for  a  moment 
clash  with  the  natural  cheeriness  of  his  lively  and 
humorous  disposition. 

As  soon  as  ever  he  had  passed  his  examinations, 
he  became  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  house- 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  243 

surgeon  to  the  Sussex  County  Hospital  at  Brighton, 
but  seeing  that  another  candidate  had  a  better 
chance  than  he,  he  desisted,  and  accepted  the 
post,  which  chanced  to  be  also  vacant,  of  surgeon 
to  the  public  dispensary  there.  The  duties  of  this 
office  seem  to  have  been  that  of  doctor-general 
to  the  poor  of  Brighton,  and  he  worked  at  this 
for  more  than  a  year  desperately  hard,  so  much 
so,  as  to  injure  his  health ;  but  by  doing  so  he  won 
golden  opinions  among  the  most  estimable  inhabi- 
tants of  the  town,  as  also  among  the  medical 
practitioners.  This  led  to  his  being  selected  by 
one  of  the  first  surgeons  there,  Mr.  Philpot, 
brother  to  the  present  bishop  of  Worcester,  as  his 
partner,  and  subsequently  his  successor. 

About  1846  he  married  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
Bodley,  a  highly  respected  physician,  who  had 
formerly  practised  at  Hull,  where  he  had  been 
an  intimate  and  valued  friend  of  my  uncle  and  his 
family  ;  but  who  had  retired,  and  then  was  living 
at  Brighton. 

He  was  peculiarly  happy  in  his  marriage,  its  only 
drawback  being  that  his  family  increased  at  an 
unusually  rapid  rate :  so  that  before  he  had  freed 
himself  from  the  burdens  incident  to  commencing 
practice,  he  found  himself  surrounded  by  a  large 
party  of  children.  No  man,  however,  has  led  a 
happier  life  in  every  possible  way,  nor  was  any  one 
in  his  position  more  loved,  valued,  and  respected. 
He  was  the  kindest  and  most  hospitable  of  men  ; 
always  ready  to  do  good,  devoted  to  his  work, 
and  withal  a  strict,  consistent,  and  unswerving 
Christian  man.  I  hear  of  him  wherever  I  go,  and 
always  in  the  same  strain,  and  the  feelings  enter- 

R  2 


244  Siy  Gilbert  Scott. 

tained  towards  him  at  Brighton  were  warm  beyond 
expression. 

He  was  of  a  wonderfully  hearty  constitution, 
and  of  intense  powers  of  enjoyment ;  and  for  many 
years  he  relieved  the  monotony  of  active  practice 
by  a  month  of  pedestrianism  in  the  summer.  He 
had  "  done  "  every  part  of  Switzerland,  while  the 
Highlands,  North  Wales,  and  the  Lake  district 
had  their  turns,  and  sometimes  the  less  romantic 
parts  of  the  country :  for  such  was  his  zest  for 
nature  and  scenery  that  no  one  beauty  suffered 
with  him  by  contrast  with  another,  so  that  the 
South  Downs  or  the  Surrey  hills  were  as  charming 
to  him  as  if  he  had  never  visited  Snowdon,  Ben 
Nevis,  or  Mont  Blanc  ;  and  he  enjoyed  a  little 
country  residence  he  was  in  the  habit  of  taking 
for  his  family  on  the  borders  of  Ashdown  forest, 
with  as  great  a  zest  as  the  valleys  of  Switzerland, 
or  the  borders  of  the  Westmoreland  lakes  ;  with 
which  latter  district  he  was  as  familiar  as  a  moun- 
tain guide.  His  knowledge  of  geology,  botany, 
and  other  branches  of  natural  science,  rendered 
these  trips  the  more  delightful. 

Last  summer,  1864,  he  went  again  to  the  Lakes 
with  his  two  eldest  boys,  my  nephew  the  Rev.  T. 
Scott,  my  son  Albert,  and  another  friend,  and  a 
most  delightful  tour  they  made,  thoroughly  ex- 
ploring all  the  western  half  of  the  district ;  and, 
stout  as  he  was,  they  say  that  he  was  the  most 
indefatigable  of  the  party,  often  continuing  his 
mountain  walks  after  some  of  the  younger  ones 
had  been  obliged  to  desist. 

This  proved  to  be  his  last  expedition.  It  is 
now  seen  that  his  mountaineering  was  a  mistake. 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  245 

A  stout  man  of  forty-five,  working  hard,  early  and 
late,  day  and  night,  for  eleven  months  in  the  year, 
is  unfit,  however  strong  and  vigorous  he  may  feel, 
for  exercises  belonging  either  to  youth  or  to  the 
trained  pedestrian.  He  was  conscious  of  no 
effects  but  what  were  good,  but  something  was 
going  on  within,  of  which  he  felt  nothing.  The 
strong  man  was  failing  at  the  heart,  but  the 
danger  was  unknown  and  unfelt.  So  exuberant 
were  his  sensations  of  health,  that  he  delighted  in 
playing  with  his  constitution.  He  habitually  rose 
at  six,  exercised  himself  for  half  an  hour  with 
heavy  dumb-bells,  and  then  plunged  into  a  cold 
bath.  The  powerful  machine  was  overstrained  at 
its  one  weak  point. 

Early  last  April  he  went  with  one  of  his  sons, 
and  my  own  son  Alwyne,  to  a  place  on  the  South 
Downs,  and  there  for  the  first  time  felt  an  oppres- 
sion in  going  up  hill.  The  next  week  he  felt  it 
again,  and  more  sharply,  in  walking  over  the 
downs  to  see  the  review  of  the  Volunteers.  It 
came  on  yet  more  heavily  when  he  was  called  out 
soon  afterwards  to  see  a  patient  in  the  night,  and 
shortly  after  this  it  came  upon  him  with  such 
overwhelming  violence  as  to  prostrate  his  strength 
and  compel  him  to  retire  from  work. 

I  ran  down  to  see  him  at  his  little  retiring  place 
near  Ashdown  forest,  and  found  him  changed, 
from  vigour  to  feebleness,  a  broken,  prostrated 
man ;  still  in  his  languor  rejoicing  in  the  beauties 
of  nature,  and  supported  by  the  consolation  of 
religion,  cheerful  and  happy,  though  evidently 
conscious  of  his  position. 

He  was  delighted  to  see  me,  but  I  left  him  with 


246  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

a  strong  feeling  on  my  mind  that  I  had  looked 
upon  him  for  the  last  time,  and  I  wept  bitter  tears 
after  straining  myself  to  get  the  last  peep  of  him 
standing  at  the  farmhouse  door  to  see  me  off. 
For  a  few  days  we  had  better  accounts,  but  ten 
days  after  I  had  left  him,  he  was  suddenly  called 
to  a  better  world,  June  9th,  1865. 

Last  Tuesday  we  committed  his  body  to  the 
tomb,  to  rest  not  far  from  that  of  our  dearly 
loved  sister,  Mary  Jane,  in  Hove  churchyard. 
Nineteen  years  before  I  had  been  present  at  his 
wedding  in  the  same  church. 

Thus  within  less  than  a  year  and  a  half  I  had 
followed  to  the  grave,  from  the  same  door  and  to 
the  same  churchyard,  a  dear  sister  and  brother, 
next  to  each  other  in  age,  and  nearer  yet  in  good- 
ness and  love,  both  far  younger  than  myself,  and 
one  far  stronger :  both  far  better.  They  were 
both  pleasant  and  lovely  in  their  lives,  and  in 
death  were  not  far  divided. 

My  dear  brother's  heart  was  found  to  have  lost 
a  large  portion  of  its  muscular  fibre,  which  his 
physician  attributed  to  a  slow  chronic  inflammation 
brought  on  by  too  violent  exercise ;  a  practical 
warning  to  the  strong  man  not  to  glory  in  his 
strength. 

He  was  followed  to  the  grave  by,  I  believe,  all 
the  medical  men  in  Brighton.  His  friend  and 
pastor,  Mr.  Smith,  declared,  after  the  funeral,  that 
he  had  never  met  with  a  more  thorough-going, 
consistent  Christian,  or  a  man  more  estimable  in 
every  relation  of  life,  and  that  he  never  expected 
to  find  his  equal.  "  The  memory  of  the  just  is 
blessed." 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  247 

All  his  brothers  were  present  at  the  funeral,  and 
many  others,  both  friends  and  relations. 

March   loth,   1872. 

I  have  neglected  this  little  chronicle  now  for 
nearly  seven  years — years  of  mercy  and  prosperity 
in  most  respects. 

In  1870  I  was  threatened  with  a  fatal  disease, 
being  suddenly  attacked,  while  at  Chester,  in  the 
heart  and  lungs. 

I  was  detained  at  the  deanery  for  five  weeks 
before  I  could  return  home  : 3  my  dear  wife  went 
down  there  to  be  with  me,  and  she  brought  me 
home,  and  by  God's  mercy,  I  was,  in  the  course 
of  the  following  spring,  sufficiently  restored  to 
resume  my  usual  engagements. 

Now  after  yet  another  year,  a  terrible  blow  has 
fallen  upon  me.  My  wife  had  repeatedly  been 
threatened  with  heart  disease,  but  had  been  hither- 
to mercifully  relieved.  Last  spring  she  had  a  very 
alarming  attack,  but  again  recovered.  In  Decem- 
ber last,  while  staying  in  London,  she  was  attacked 
by  very  acute  rheumatism  in  the  right  shoulder, 
which  was  followed  by  a  return  of  the  symptoms 
of  disease  of  the  heart.  Again,  however,  this  gave 
way  to  remedies,  but  again  returned.  She  suffered 
from  frequent  faintness,  drowsiness,  and  swimming 
in  the  head,  with  pain  and  stiffness  about  the 
region  of  the  heart.  Dr.  Bence  Jones,  who  was 
consulted,  made  rather  light  of  it,  though  his 
remedies  did  not  much  relieve  her.  She  seemed 

3  Nothing  could  have  exceeded  the  kindness  of  the  Dean 
and  Mrs.  Howson  under  circumstances  which  cannot  but  have 
occasioned  to  them  great  inconvenience. 


248  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

to  get  weaker,  and  sometimes  kept  her  room.  At 
length  some  other  trouble  complicated  the  attack. 
She  kept  her  bed,  and  although  I  usually  went 
three  times  in  the  night  to  see  her,  while  a  servant 
constantly  sat  up  with  her,  I  was  blind,  or  nearly 
so,  to  the  danger ;  though  I  confess  to  suffering 
from  an  indescribable  internal  alarm.  Oh !  what 
dismay  and  grief  came  at  length  upon  me,  when, 
on  February  the  24th,  she  was  snatched  away 
from  us  during  sleep  ! 

Her  loss  is  to  me  that  of  one  of  the  wisest  and 
best  of  earthly  companions,  helpers,  and  advisers. 
She  was  a  person  of  very  strong  and  clear  intellect ; 
of  quiet  and  decided  perception  of  the  right  thing 
to  do,  under  any  emergency ;  and  she  was  gifted 
with  that  decision  and  courage  in  which  I  was 
myself  naturally  deficient. 

She  has,  over  and  over  again,  given  me  advice 
of  the  greatest  importance  in  my  profession ;  she 
was  the  means  of  terminating  (a  quarter  of  a 
century  back)  my  partnership  with  Mr.  Moffatt, 
for  while  I  hesitated  and  delayed,  she  took  the 
matter  into  her  own  hands,  drove  to  town  while  I 
was  away,  called  on  my  partner,  and  unflinchingly 
communicated  to  him  my  decision. 

In  training  up  her  children,  and  managing  her 
household,  she  was  exemplary,  and  her  intercourse 
with  her  friends  and  neighbours  were  such  as  to 
secure  a  lasting  friendship  and  a  sincere  regard, 
which  did  not  cease  when  we  removed  from  the 
neighbourhood  in  which  we  had  been  living.  One 
of  her  most  striking  characteristics  was  her  wide- 
spread and- open-handed  charity.  None  came  to 
her  and  went  away  empty. 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  249 

My  wife  was  my  second  cousin,  her  mother 
being  the  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Scott  of  Grim- 
blethorpe  Hall  in  Lincolnshire,  the  eldest  brother 
of  my  grandfather,  the  commentator.  My  mother- 
in-law  had  known  my  father  in  their  youth,  but  they 
had  been  for  many  years  separated,  until,  in  1821, 
she  brought  her  only  son  to  Gawcott  as  a  pupil. 
From  that  time,  the  families  became  intimate,  and 
on  one  occasion  Mrs.  Oldrid  brought  her  eldest 
daughter  Fanny  to  Gawcott,  when  the  foundation 
was  laid  of  the  regard  felt  for  her  by  my  eldest 
brother,  which  subsequently  culminated  in  their 
marriage. 

I  did  not  form  the  acquaintance  of  my  cousin 
Caroline  Oldrid  till  the  winter  of  1828,  when  she, 
and  her  sister  Helen,  being  then  at  school  at 
Chesham,  came  over  to  spend  their  Christmas 
vacation  with  us.  I  have  often  heard  my  wife  tell 
with  great  zest  of  this.  They  were  to  have  stopped 
through  the  holidays  at  Chesham,  but  getting 
thoroughly  sick  of  it,  they  asked  leave  to  go  to 
Gawcott,  nearly  thirty  miles  off.  They  walked 
over  to  Amersham  to  meet  the  Buckingham  coach, 
sending  on  their  luggage,  and  arrived  just  too  late, 
or  els^  the  coach  was  full,  I  forget  which.  They 
were  not,  however,  to  be  stopped,  and  at  once 
ordered  out  a  chaise  and  posted  through  the  snow 
to  Gawcott.  I  arrived  from  London  for  my  Christ- 
mas holiday  a  few  days  later,  and  there  I  met  for 
the  first  time  my  future  wife. 

She  was  then  a  most  merry  girl  of  seventeen, 
and  a  most  happy  Christmas  we  spent  together. 
Nothing  could  exceed  our  merriment,  and  our 
constant  fun  and  jokes.  My  sister  Euphemia  and 


250  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

my  brother  Nathaniel  were  there,  and  we  were  all 
in  joyous  happiness  together. 

I  well  remember  when  our  happy  meeting  came 
to  an  end,  what  a  vacancy  and  a  sort  of  pang  I 
felt,  which  whispered  to  me  that  some  feeling 
hitherto  unknown  was  stealing  into  my  heart. 

Not  long  after  this,  my  eldest  brother  followed 
up  his  early  love,  and  was  married  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1830  to  Fanny  Oldrid.  I  saw  her 
sister  again  for  a  short  time,  on  her  way  from 
Boston  to  Goring,  where  my  brother  was  then 
living.  My  next  meeting  with  her  was  at  Latimers 
in  April  1831,  when  we  were  thrown  much  to- 
gether, and  my  early  feelings  were  greatly  fostered. 
I  saw  her  again,  for  a  day  or  two,  that  year 
at  Boston  on  my  return  from  Hull.  I  well 
remember  drinking  wine  with  her  at  a  picnic  at 
Tattershall  Castle  out  of  the  same  silver  cup  with 
an  indescribable  feeling  of  pleasure.  Again  I  saw 
her  in  London  about  1833,  and  two  years  later,  in 
the  course  of  the  summer  of  1835, we  were  engaged. 
She  was  now  a  matured  woman  of  twenty-four, 
merry  and  full  of  life  and  fun  as  before,  but  she 
had  seen  much  in  the  interval  to  subdue  and 
chasten  her  spirits,  and  had  become  deeply  re- 
ligious. 

I  was  not  even  now  in  any  fit  position  for 
marriage,  and  our  engagement  extended  over 
nearly  three  years,  during  which  I  regularly  visited 
Boston.  In  this  I  was  facilitated  by  my  employ- 
ment in  the  erection  of  several  Union  houses  in 
the  county.  We  were  married  on  June  5th,  1838, 
being  each  a  little  under  twenty-seven  years  of  age. 
Our  wedding  tour  was  by  Southwell  and  Matlock 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  251 

to  Malvern,  thence  to  Bristol,  and  home  by  way 
of  Oxford. 

At  first,  we  had  no  house  of  our  own,  and  lived 
in  lodgings,  my  office  continuing  to  be  at  Carlton 
Chambers,  but  soon  we  found  a  house  to  our  mind, 
in  which  we  could  unite  the  two — No.  2O,4  Spring 
Gardens,  where  my  practice  has  ever  since  been 
conducted,  during  a  period  of  thirty-three  years. 

As  our  family,  however,  and  my  practice  both 
began  to  increase  we  removed  (1844)  to  St.  John's 
Wood,  where  we  lived  for  many  years. 

My  wife  was  ever  an  admirable  helper  to  me  in 
my  business,  always  ready  with  wise  advice  and 
encouragement.  At  one  time,  after  my  separation 
from  Mr.  Moffatt,  we  were  for  some  years  in 
straitened  circumstances,  but  she  always  en- 
couraged me  to  face  them  out  boldly,  and  by 
God's  blessing  they  gradually  mended  till  at 
length  we  became  very  prosperous. 

My  practice  took  me  much  from  home,  and  she 
led  a  comparatively  solitary  life.  Her  great  re- 
laxation was  when  we  went  to  the  sea-side,  which 
we  did  every  year,  unless  some  other  tour  to 
Wales  or  to  the  Lakes  engaged  us.  She  oc- 
casionally went  with  me  on  my  professional 
journeys,  but  after  the  birth  of  our  second  son, 
her  health  was  much  undermined,  and  she  became 
an  indifferent  traveller.  Once,  I  remember,  we 
took  a  little  voyage  in  an  open  sailing  boat,  round 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  with  much  enjoyment.  Later 
on,  we  took  to  driving  excursions  in  an  open  one- 
horse  chaise,  which  we  repeated  very  often  for 
many  years,  going  down  in  this  manner  to  the 
4  Now  Number  31. — ED. 


252  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

sea-side,  usually  to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  This  de- 
lightful custom  we  kept  up  to  the  very  last  year  of 
her  life.  On  one  occasion  we  went  from  London, 
in  our  own  carriage,  to  the  further  side  of  Devon- 
shire. 

One  of  our  earliest  excursions  (not  made  in  this 
way,  though)  was  to  Skegness  in  Lincolnshire,  the 
retreat  of  her  youthful  days.  I  shall  never  forget 
our  enjoyment  of  this  plain,  unfrequented  coast.  I 
used  to  take  my  work  with  me,  and  often,  there 
and  elsewhere,  have  I  marked  out  my  designs  on 
the  sand  in  a  large  scale,  repeating  them,  perhaps, 
on  paper  in  the  evenings. 

Our  favourite  watering-place,  however,  was 
Shanklin,  where  we  very  often  went,  occupying 
usually  the  residence  of  the  absentee  squire,  a 
rather  large  though  cottage-like  house,  with 
charming  gardens  and  thick  plantations.  My 
wife  delighted  in  the  seclusion  of  this  quiet  spot. 

On  one  occasion  we  took  another  house  there, 
the  grounds  of  which  extended  to  the  very  edge 
of  the  "  Chine,"  and  which  proved  to  be  haunted.5 

5  I  well  remember  the  circumstances.  Every  evening  after 
dark,  footsteps,  as  of  a  man  pacing  slowly  up  and  down  the 
verandah,  upon  the  garden  front  of  the  house,  were  distinctly 
to  be  heard.  We  at  first  took  it  to  be  the  gardener.  Finding 
that  this  was  not  the  case,  we  boys  used  to  lie  in  wait,  and 
when  the  footsteps  were  heard,  leap  out  into  the  verandah. 
I  can  well  recollect  doing  thus  upon  a  bright  moonlight  night, 
and  our  amazement  at  finding  no  one.  This  failing,  we 
stretched  strings  across  the  track,  so  as  to  render  it  impossible 
for  any  one  to  walk  there  in  the  dark  without  stumbling,  but 
these  interfered  in  no  way  with  the  even  regularity  of  the  strange 
footfalls.  Another  time  we  strewed  the  flagging  with  sand, 
and  when  the  footsteps  were  again  heard,  we  went  out  with 
a  lantern  and  carefully  examined  the  sanded  pavement :  not 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  253 

Our  last  visit  to  the  Isle  of  Wight  was  some 
twelve  or  thirteen  years  back.  After  staying  a 
time  at  Shanklin,  but  not  in  our  favourite  home, 
we  took  a  house  at  Niton,  called  La  Rosiere,  which 
we  greatly  liked.  We  found,  however,  by  repeated 
experience,  that,  much  as  we  loved  this  charming 
island,  it  did  not  really  suit  my  dear  wife's  health, 
being  too  relaxing.  We,  one  year,  tried  Sea  View, 
near  Ryde,  but  at  last  we  gave  it  up,  and  in  future 

a  trace  of  any  kind  was  to  be  found.  I  do  not  remember 
that  we  ever  thought  of  there  being  anything  supernatural  in 
the  matter,  only  the  noises  were  unaccountable,  and  so,  strongly 
piqued  our  curiosity.  Our  groom,  who  slept  in  the  house, 
came  one  morning  about  this  time  to  my  mother,  and  asked 
for  leave  to  go  to  his  home.  When  pressed  for  his  reason  for 
this  sudden  wish,  he  stated  that  he  had  in  the  early  dawn  seen 
by  his  bedside  a  ghostly  female  figure,  from  which  he  inferred 
that  his  mother,  his  only  female  relative,  was  in  danger.  He 
was  with  some  difficulty  persuaded  to  wait  the  result  of  a  letter 
to  his  mother,  who  of  course  was  found  to  be  well  enough.  We 
thought  no  more  of  this,  judging  it,  in  spite  of  the  extraordinary 
impression  which  it  had  evidently  made  upon  him,  to  be  nothing 
but  a  dream  of  indigestion.  More  than  a  year  after  this,  we 
happened  to  meet  some  friends  of  ours,  who,  as  we  then  found, 
had  occupied  the  same  house  during  part  of  the  following 
season.  They  asked  us  whether  we  had  not  been  disturbed 
by  ghostly  noises  and  so  forth,  and  told  us  that  they  had 
themselves  been  so  annoyed,  that  they  had  had  to  leave  the 
house,  and  that  after  giving  it  up,  they  had  ascertained  that 
every  one  in  the  village  knew  the  house  to  be  "  haunted,"  but 
that  the  fact  was  carefully  kept  secret  lest  the  letting  value  of 
the  villa  should  surfer.  The  village  story  goes,  I  know  nothing 
of  the  truth  of  this,  that  in  that  house  in  about  1820,  a  wicked 
uncle  murdered  his  niece  and  ward  in  a  cellar,  which  is 
accessible  only  by  a  trap-door  in  the  floor  of  the  room  in  which 
our  groom  slept.  The  old  gentleman  is  said  to  have  been 
accustomed  to  pace  up  and  down  that  verandah  after  dark,  for 
many  years,  during  which  the  crime  remained  undetected.  I 
attach  no  particular  value  to  these  facts  myself,  but  as  my 
father  has  referred  to  them,  and  the  evidence  is  first-hand,  it 


254  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

went  to  St.  Leonards,  where  we  had  bitter  ex- 
perience of  fevers  during  two  succeeding  winters, 
due  not  to  the  place  itself,  but  to  the  bad  con- 
struction of  the  houses  we  happened  to  take.  We 
persevered,  and  in  subsequent  visits  found  it 
perfectly  healthy.  We  at  that  time  were  living  at 
Hampstead,  which  we  found  too  cold  for  some  of 
our  boys  in  the  winter ;  which  led  to  the  painful 
break-up  of  our  party  every  year,  my  wife  and  the 
younger  ones  spending  the  winter  at  St.  Leonards. 
She  thus  became  almost  an  inhabitant  of  that 
place,  and  formed  many  friendships,  becoming 
known  there,  as  was  the  case  wherever  she  re- 
sided, as  a  ready  helper  of  the  poor. 

The  causes  above  referred  to  led  us,  in  the 
autumn  of  1864  to  leave  Hampstead,  after  a  long 
search  and  many  projects,  for  Ham,  near  Rich- 
mond. I  have  already  related  the  most  heavy 
trial  which  overtook  us  very  shortly  after  making 
this  change.  It  was  a  life-long  sorrow  to  my  dear 
wife. 

On  one  occasion  only  my  dear  wife  went  with 
me  abroad.  Her  health  had  rendered  her  so  poor 
a  traveller  that  she  always  shrank  from  it ;  but  at 
length,  in  1863,  she  made  up  her  mind  to  venture, 
and  was  in  the  highest  degree  delighted.  Our 
tour  was  not  long  as  to  distance,  though  it  spread 

it  may  be  worth  while  to  give  it.  The  footfalls,  the  attempts 
made  to  discover  their  cause,  the  fact  that  the  groom  made 
that  statement  to  my  mother,  and  that  he  was  beyond  a  doubt 
sincerely  alarmed,  I  can  vouch  for.  I  also  heard  myself  the 
statement  of  the  lady  who  rented  the  house  the  next  season. 
Of  the  rest  I  can  only  say — 

"  I  know  not  how  the  truth  may  be, 
I  tell  the  tale  as  t'was  told  to  me." — ED. 


CHAP.  vi. J  Recollections.  255 

over  some  time.  We  went  by  Boulogne  and 
Amiens  to  Paris,  where  we  stopped  a  fortnight  in 
a  pleasant  private  hotel  overlooking  the  gardens  of 
the  Tuilleries.  We  then  went  on  to  Rheims,  and 
thence,  by  the  exquisite  valley  of  the  Meuse,  to 
Namur  and  Brussels,  where  she  stayed,  with  our 
second  son  and  a  friend,  while  I  made  a  rush  to 
attend  the  consecration  of  my  church  at  Hamburg. 
We  returned  by  steamer  from  Antwerp  to  London. 
Curiously  enough,  I  have  never  myself  been  abroad 
since  then,6  not  liking  to  leave  her  for  so  long  a 
time  as  it  would  have  required. 

One  of  our  subsequent  trips  was  into  Devon- 
shire. We  went  in  our  own  carriage,  with  post- 
horses  hired  at  Petersham,  travelling  by  stages  of 
twenty  or  thirty  miles,  by  Reading,  Marlborough, 
Chippenham,  Clifton,  Bridgewater,  and  Minehead 
to  Lynton,  where  we  stayed  a  fortnight.  We  had 
great  fun  in  going  from  Minehead  to  Lynton. 
Our  Petersham  post-horses  not  being  trustworthy, 
we  drove  four-in-hand  from  Minehead  over  the 
noble  piece  of  table-land,  iioo  feet  high,  which 
intervenes.  At  Lynton  we  were  lodged  in  the 
best  situated  house  in  the  place,  belonging  to  Sir 
— • —  Smith.  The  situation  was  simply  enchant- 
ing, but  to  my  wife  it  was  like  an  exquisite  prison, 
as  she  could  never  get  down  to  the  sea  nor  visit 
the  finest  scenery.  We  accordingly  transferred 
ourselves,  again  with  four  horses,  to  Westward- 
ho,  and  subsequently  drove  straight  across  the 
country  to  Sidmouth.  Finally  we  drove  back 
through  Dorset  and  Wilts,  along  the  old,  but 
now  unfrequented  roads — a  beautiful  mode  of 

6  This  was  written  in  1872. — ED. 


256  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

seeing  the  country,  though  subject  to  the  incon- 
venience arising  from  the  deterioration  of  the  inns. 

After  1869,  we  never  returned  to  Ham,  but, 
after  a  visit  to  Worthing  and  Brighton,  we  took 
for  three  years  a  charming  residence — Rook's-nest, 
near  Godstone. 

This  place  was  an  elysium  to  my  dear  wife, 
though  trouble  followed  us  up.  On  the  day  of  our 
arrival  there  her  eldest  sister7  died.  The  next 
summer  she  had  to  go  into  Lincolnshire  to  nurse  her 
second  sister,  whose  life  she  was  the  means  of  saving. 

Towards  the  end  of  1870  my  own  health  failed, 
and  she  had  then  to  go  to  Chester  to  nurse  me. 
Shortly  afterwards  she  was  herself  attacked  in  the 
heart.  Our  eldest  son,  and  subsequently  our 
second  son  John,  were  also  taken  ill,  and  then 
came  my  greatest  trouble — her  own  illness  and 
departure,  brought  about  mainly,  as  I  think,  by 
her  solicitude  for  others.8 

My  dearest  wife,  as  I  have  said  before,  was  a 
deeply  religious  person.  Although  she  read  ex- 
tensively on  all  subjects,  those  bearing  upon 
religion  were  her  favourite  topics.  Her  early 
training,  like  my  own,  had  been  strictly  "  evangeli- 
cal." Her  parents  had  at  one  time,  owing  to  the 
wretched  state  of  the  church  at  Boston,  become 
Baptists,  and  she  was  not  baptized  until  she  was 
adult.  This  took  place  at  Latimers  church  in 

T  Wife  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  Rector  of  Wappenham, 
Northants,  my  father's  eldest  brother. — ED. 

8  My  father,  after  her  death,  made  it  a  practice,  so  often  as 
the  thought  of  her  recurred  to  his  mind  to  pray  silently  for  her, 
and  whenever,  being  out  of  doors  he  had  occasion  to  mention 
her  name,  he  was  accustomed  to  raise  his  hat  while  he  offered 
this  tribute  of  natural  piety. — ED. 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  257 

1831.  I  was  there  at  the  time,  but  did  not  witness 
the  service.  Old  Mr.  King,  my  uncle's  father, 
was  one  of  the  witnesses,  and  we  have  a  Bible 
which  he  gave  her  on  the  occasion. 

She  was  ever  after,  and  had  been  in  heart 
before,  a  devoted  member  of  the  Church  of 
England ;  though  broad  and  liberal  in  her  views, 
and  delighting  in  piety  wherever  met  with. 

When  we  first  married,  and  for  many  years 
afterwards,  we  attended  St.  Martin's  Church, 
where  Sir  Henry  Dukinfield  was  vicar.  She 
greatly  delighted  in  his  ministrations,  and  even 
when  we  moved  to  St.  John's  Wood,  we  continued 
to  drive  twice  on  the  Sunday  to  St.  Martin's,  till 
he  resigned  the  incumbency.  He  was  godfather 
to  our  youngest  son,  Dukinfield  Henry ;  his 
other  sponsors  being  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Austen,  who 
chanced  to  be  connexions  of  Sir  Henry,  though 
my  dear  wife's  acquaintance  with  them  was  inde- 
pendent of  this,  having  been  formed  much  earlier, 
during  her  visits  to  my  brother  at  Goring,  where 
the  Tilsons,  of  whom  Mrs.  Austen  was  one, 
resided  ;  my  wife  and  Mrs.  Austen  were  devoted 
friends. 

Her  most  intimate  friend  when  at  Ham  was  a 
Roman  Catholic,  an  excellent  and  deeply-injured 
lady,  who  used  on  one  day  in  every  week  to  spend 
an  afternoon  with  her,  confiding  to  her  in  private 
her  deep  sorrows. 

The  following  letters  were  written  to  me  by  this 
lady,  on  hearing  of  my  dear  wife's  decease: — 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Scott, — I  cannot  indeed  find 
words  adequate  to  express  my  sorrow  and  sym- 

s 


258  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

pathy  at  the  sad  intelligence  contained  in  your 
most  kind  letter  just  received.  I  heard  the  report 
on  Sunday  evening,  but  would  not  believe  it,  until 
I  went  on  Monday  morning  to  see  Mrs.  Ham- 
mond, from  whom  I  found,  alas,  that  it  was  but 
too  true.  If  I  feel  overcome  with  sorrow  at  the 
loss  of  so  dear  a  friend,  what  must  be  the  grief 
of  her  bereaved  husband  and  children !  and  truly 
does  my  heart  bleed  for  you.  Under  so  severe  a 
blow  nature  must  have  its  vent ;  but  I  know  that 
you  will  not  grieve  as  those  without  hope,  for  your 
dear  wife  has  literally  '  gone  to  sleep  in  the  Lord,' 
and  she  whom  you  so  deeply  mourn  is  only  gone 
before,  to  await  that  happy  day  when  you  will 
both  meet  again  in  the  bosom  of  your  God.  I  feel 
that  I  cannot  thank  you  sufficiently  for  having,  in 
the  midst  of  your  own  heartrending  sorrow,  so 
thoroughly  appreciated  my  friendship  towards  our 
dear  departed  one.  That  our  good  God  may  be 
with  you  all  in  your  trouble,  is  the  sincere  prayer, 
my  dear  Mr.  Scott,  of  yours  most  sincerely,  and 
with  the  deepest  sympathy, 

"K.  H." 

In  a  postscript,  she  speaks  of  her  as  one  of 
the  most  Christian  women  she  has  known.  Again 
she  writes :  "If  the  prayers  of  an  habitually 
sorrowful  heart  can  avail  aught,  rest  assured  that 
in  my  communion  to-morrow  I  will  pray  for  you 
and  yours  with  all  the  fervour  of  my  soul,  that  our 
good  God  in  His  own  good  time  may  heal  the  wound 
He  has  Himself  inflicted,  by  taking  from  you  the 
best  of  wives,  and  from  your  sons  the  tenderest  of 
mothers.  In  this  neighbourhood  there  is  but  one 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  259 

wail  of  woe  from  all,  both  gentle  and  simple,  who 
have  had  the  privilege  of  her  acquaintance." 

From  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Weldon,9  a  man  of  great 
piety  and  talent,  with  whom  she  was  on  very 
friendly  terms  when  living  at  St.  John's  Wood,  I 
received  the  following : — "  I  have  just  read  with 
sorrow  the  tidings  of  your  recent  sad  bereavement. 
Though  years  have  passed  since  we  met,  the  deep 
feeling  of  personal  attachment  for  her  who  is 
gone  has  never  changed.  Allow  me  to  add  my 
sympathy  to  that  of  your  other  friends.  By  bitter 
— very  bitter  experience — I  know  what  the  heart 
feels  at  such  a  crisis,  and  how  little  even  the 
kindest  words  avail,  to  touch  the  sore  spot.  I 
shall  only  add  one  word,  and  that  shall  be  in 
the  form  of  a  prayer.  May  the  Lord  soon  ac- 
complish the  number  of  His  elect,  and  hasten 
His  kingdom." 

I  ought  to  have  mentioned,  among  our  summer 
outings,  that  of  1868,  when,  instead  of  going  to 
the  seaside,  we  took  a  furnished  house  for  a 
couple  of  months  at  Wrotham,  in  Kent. 

Wrotham  Place  is  a  pleasant  old  Elizabethan 
house,  in  part  perhaps  earlier,  of  red  brick  and 
stone,  very  picturesque,  and  with  a  fine  old  hall, 
now  used  as  a  sitting-room  ;  my  wife  loved  it  much, 
and  greatly  enjoyed  her  stay  there,  and  the  more 
so,  as  the  country  around  is  very  beautiful,  and 
as  she  there  made  several  very  agreeable  friend- 
ships. 

She  possessed  a  noble  mind,  and  was  devoted 

to  reading  and  deep  thought,  sometimes  indulging 

in  speculative  views  especially  as  to  the  unseen 

8  Now  of  St.  Saviour's,  Chelsea.— ED. 

S    2 


260  Sir  Gilbert  Scot  I. 

world.  Every  book  which  she  could  get  on  such 
subjects  she  read  with  avidity.  She  was  also 
much  addicted  to  mental  study. 

She  took  much  interest  in  my  profession,  and 
often  aided,  encouraged,  and  corrected  me  in  its 
pursuit.  Her  criticisms  on  my  designs  were  always 
true,  and,  as  I  usually  followed  them,  were  very 
serviceable. 

My  profession,  and  its  overbearing  and  per- 
plexing demands  on  my  time  and  on  my  thoughts, 
although  it  provided  her  with  the  means  of  living 
in  great  comfort,  was  also  a  cause  of  much  loss 
of  happiness.  I  was  always  working  under  high 
pressure,  ever  in  a  hurry,  too  often  therefore  out 
of  humour,  and  in  the  evenings  jaded,  tired  and 
oppressed.  My  days  were  usually  spent  away 
from  her,  and  my  time  was  greatly  taken  up  by 
long  journeys,  so  that  her  life  was  on  the  whole  a 
very  solitary  one.  Our  having  no  daughters 
greatly  added  to  this  disadvantage.  I  wish  I 
could  look  back  upon  having  done  my  utmost  to 
introduce  amusements  and  recreations  to  compen- 
sate for  this,  but  alas  !  I  did  not.  My  life  past  is 
made  up  of  subjects  for  regret.  All  I  can  say  is, 
that  I  worked  hard,  and  endeavoured  to  provide 
for  her  and  for  my  children  what  they  needed  for 
their  material  well-being. 

In  appearance,  my  wife  was,  in  her  latter  years, 
very  remarkable,  for  though  she  lived  to  be  sixty 
years  of  age,  she  had  scarcely  any  appearance  of 
the  effects  of  age  upon  her,  and  few  supposed  her 
to  be  even  fifty.  There  was  not  a  wrinkle  on  her 
face,  and  her  hair  was  very  little  touched  with 
grey.  She  was  peculiarly  dignified  and  stately  in 


CHAP,  vi.]  Recollections.  261 

her  deportment.  She  only  once  ventured  in  any 
formal  way  into  print.  I  wish  I  had  encouraged 
her  to  do  so  more.  This  was  a  little  pamphlet  on 
the  state  of  the  lower  orders,  in  London  more 
especially,  and  is,  in  many  respects  exceedingly 
good. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

July  1 ith,  1872. 

I  RESUME,  after  an  interval  of  some  seven  years, 
the  statement  of  my  personal  and  professional 
reminiscences. 

I  think  I  had  stated  before  this  interval  the 
preliminary  circumstances  of  the  Memorial  to  the 
Prince  Consort.  As,  for  example,  that  I  had,  for 
my  own  personal  satisfaction  and  pleasure,  at  the 
time  when  a  monolithic  obelisk,  150  feet  high,  was 
thought  of,  endeavoured  to  render  that  idea  con- 
sistent with  that  of  a  Christian  monument.  This 
I  effected  by  adding  to  its  apex,  as  is  believed  to 
have  been  done  by  the  Egyptians,  a  capping  of 
metal,  that  capping  assuming  the  form  of  a  large 
and  magnificent  cross.  The  (so-called)  "lona" 
cross  is,  in  fact,  the  Christian  version  of  the  obelisk, 
and  though  the  idea  of  a  cross  of  metal  on  a 
colossal  obelisk  is  different  from  this  in  type,  it  is 
not  so  in  idea.  The  faces  of  the  obelisk  I  pro- 
posed to  cover  with  incised  subjects  illustrative 
df  the  life,  pursuits,  &c.,  of  the  Prince  Consort. 
The  obelisk  was  to  have  had  a  bold  and  massive 
base,  at  the  angles  of  which  were  to  be  placed 
four  granite  lions,  couchant,  after  the  noble  Egyp- 
tian model.  The  whole  was  to  be  raised  on  an 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  263 

elevated  platform,  approached  by  steps  from  all 
sides.  I  showed  the  drawing  to  the  Queen,  though 
not  till  after  the  idea  of  the  obelisk  had  been  finally 
abandoned. 

I  made  my  design  for  the  actual  memorial  also 
con  amore^  and  before  I  was  invited  to  compete 
for  it.  Though  I  say  con  amore,  in  one  sense  it 
was  the  reverse,  for  I  well  remember  how  long 
and  painful  was  the  effort  before  I  struck  out  an 
idea  which  satisfied  my  mind.  Why  this  was  so 
I  know  not,  but  such  was  the  effort  that  it 
made  me  positively  ill.  My  revilers  will  say  that 
this  ought  to  have  been  the  result  of  my  success, 
rather  than  of  my  previous  failures ;  be  this  as  it 
may,  I  remember  vividly  the  contrary  fact,  and 
the  sudden  relief  when,  after  a  long  series  of 
failures,  I  hit  upon  what  I  thought  the  right  idea. 

I  do  not  recollect  that  this  was  derived  con- 
sciously from  the  ciboria  which  canopy  the  altars 
of  the  Roman  Basilicas,  although  the  form  is  the 
same,  but  it  came  to  me  rather  in  the  abstract  as 
the  type  best  suited  to  the  object,  and  proved 
then  to  be  an  old  acquaintance  appearing,  for  the 
first  few  moments,  incognito. 

Having  struck  out  the  idea,  which,  when  once 
conceived,  I  carried  out  rapidly,  the  two  next 
thoughts  which  occurred  to  me  were,  first,  the 
sculptured  podium  illustrating  the  fine  arts ;  and 
secondly,  the  realization  in  an  actual  edifice,  of  the 
architectural  designs  furnished  by  the  metal-work 
shrines  of  the  middle  ages.  Those  exquisite  pro- 
ductions of  the  goldsmith  and  the  jeweller  profess 
in  nearly  every  instance  to  be  models  of  architec- 
tural structures,  yet  no  such  structures  exist,  nor, 


264  Si*'  Gilbert  Scott. 

so  far  as  we  know,  ever  did  exist.  Like  the 
charming  architectural  visions  of  the  older  poets, 
they  are  only  in  their  primary  idea  founded  upon 
actual  architecture,  and  owe  all  their  more  gor- 
geous clothing  to  the  inspiration  of  another  art. 
They  are  architecture  as  elaborated  by  the  mind 
and  the  hand  of  the  jeweller ;  an  exquisite  phan- 
tasy realized  only  to  the  small  scale  of  a  model. 

My  notion,  whether  good  or  bad,  was  for  once 
to  realize  this  jeweller's  architecture  in  a  structure 
of  full  size,  and  this  has  furnished  the  key-note  of 
my  design  and  of  its  execution. 

The  parts  in  which  I  had  it  in  my  power  most 
literally  to  carry  out  this  thought  were  naturally, 
the  roof  with  its  gables,  and  the  fleche.     These 
are  almost  an  absolute  translation  to  the  full-size 
of  the  jeweller's    small-scale   model.     It   is    true 
that  the  structure  of  the  gables  with  their  flanking 
pinnacles   is    of   stone,  but  the  filling   in   of  the 
former  is  of  enamel  mosaic,  the  real-size  counter- 
part of   the  cloissonne    enamels    of   the    shrines, 
while  all  the  carved  work  of  both  is  gilded,  and  is 
thus   the   counterpart    of    the   chased    silver-gilt 
foliage  of  shrine-work.     All  above  this  level  being 
of  metal,  is  literally  identical,  in  all  but  scale,  with 
its   miniature  prototypes.     It  is  simply  the  same 
thing  translated  from  the  model  into  reality,  having 
the  same  beaten   metal-work,   the  same  filagree, 
the  same  plaques  of  enamel,  the  same  jewelling, 
the  same  figure-work  in  metal ;  and  each  with  the 
very  same  mode   of  artistic  treatment  which  we 
find  in  the  shrines  of  the  Three  Kings  at  Cologne, 
of  our  Lady  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  of  St.  Elizabeth 
at  Marburg,  of  St.  Taurin  at  Evreux,  and  in  so 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  265 

many  other  well-known  specimens  of  the  ancient 
jeweller's  craft.  For  the  perfect  carrying  out  of 
this  idea  I  am  indebted  to  the  skill  of  Mr.  Skid- 
more,  the  only  man  living,  as  I  believe,  who  was 
capable  of  effecting  it,  and  who  has  worked  out 
every  species  of  ornament  in  the  true  spirit  of  the 
ancient  models. 

The  carving  has  been  equally  well  executed  by 
Mr.  Brindley. 

The  shrine-like  character  I  proposed  to  carry 
out  in  the  more  massive  parts  of  the  structure  by 
means  of  the  preciousness  of  the  materials.  In 
one  respect  I  failed.  The  use  of  marble  for  the 
arches,  cornices,  &c.,  proved  to  be  too  costly, 
which  led  me  to  content  myself  with  Portland  stone. 
The  rest,  however,  is  all  of  polished  granite  or 
marble  from  the  platform  upwards,  while  below 
that  level  unpolished  granite  is  used. 

The  sculptors,  with  three  exceptions,  were  not 
nominated  by  me,  but  by  the  Queen,  the  exceptions 
being  Mr.  Armstead  and  Mr.  Philip,  who  have 
executed  the  sculpture  of  the  podium  and  the 
bronze  figures  at  the  angles ;  and  Mr.  Redfern, 
who  modelled  the  greater  part  of  the  figures  in 
the  fleche.  I  must  say  of  the  latter  that  the 
models  were  much  superior  to  the  execution  in 
metal.  Of  the  sculptors  of  the  podium,  Mr. 
Philip  had  long  been  known  to  me,  and  Mr. 
Armstead  had  come  under  my  notice  during  the 
great  Exhibition  of  1862  through  his  beautiful 
figure-groups  on  the  Outram  shield,  and  his 
designs  for  historical  subjects  for  Eatrington  Hall, 
Warwickshire.  Being  men  of  less  established  fame 
than  the  older  sculptors,  they  undertook  the  work 


266  Sir  Gilder  I  Scoff. 

at  a  far  lower  price  than  these  would  have  done, 
and,  as  it  proved,  to  their  own  cost. 

In  my  own  opinion  the  result  places  them  on 
quite  as  good  an  artistic  footing  as  most  of  their 
more  academic  companions ;  indeed,  I  am  mis- 
taken if  to  Mr.  Armstead  will  not  be  eventually 
awarded  the  palm  among  them  all,  or  at  least  an 
equal  position  with  the  best. 

I  think  I  ought  to  have  exercised  a  stronger 
influence  upon  the  sculptors  than  I  have  done. 
My  courage  rather  failed  me  in  claiming  this,  and 
I  was  content  to  express  to  them  my  general  views 
both  in  writing  and  vivd  voce.  I  should  mention, 
however,  that  before  the  work  was  commenced  a 
large  model  of  the  entire  monument  had  been 
prepared  under  my  own  direction.  This  was  made 
by  Mr.  Brindley,  but  the  sculpture  was  by  Mr. 
Armstead. 

The  sculpture  had  been  drawn  out  in  a  general 
way  on  the  first  elevations,  partly  by  Mr.  Clayton 
and  partly  by  my  eldest  son.  From  these  general 
ideas  Mr.  Armstead  made  small-size  models  for 
the  architectural  model,  and  imparted  to  the 
groups  a  highly  artistic  feeling. 

Without  derogating  from  the  merits  of  the 
sculpture  as  eventually  carried  out,  it  is  but  just 
to  say  that  I  doubt  whether  either  the  central 
figure  or  a  single  group,  as  executed,  is  superior  to 
the  miniature  models  furnished  by  Mr.  Armstead. 
They  remain  to  speak  for  themselves ;  while  the 
two  sides  of  the  podium  and  the  four  bronze 
figures  on  the  eastern  front,  which  he  designed, 
give  a  fair  idea  of  what  his  models  would  have 
proved,  if  carried  out  to  the  real  size. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  267 

I  mention  this  in  justice  both  to  him  and  to 
myself,  as  his  small  models  were  the  carrying  out 
of  my  original  intention,  and  have  in  idea  been  the 
foundation  of  the  actual  result. 

The  sculpture  was  placed  under  the  special 
direction  of  Sir  Charles  Eastlake  ;  after  his  death 
under  that  of  Mr.  Layard ;  and  finally  under  that 
of  Mr.  Newton,  so  well  known  as  the  discoverer  or 
recoverer  of  the  Mausoleum  at  Halicarnassus. 

The  enamel  subjects  were  not  only  designed, 
but  drawn  out  in  full-size  coloured  cartoons  by 
Mr.  Clayton,  and  from  these  executed  by  Mr. 
Salviati,  at  Venice. 

The  structural  work  has  been  admirably  carried 
out  by  Mr.  Kelk,  and  his  representative,  Mr.  Cross. 

I  have  been  the  more  particular  in  my  outline  of 
this  work  at  the  present  moment,  because  the 
memorial  has  just  now  (last  week)  been  opened 
by  the  Queen,  complete  (in  the  main),  with  the 
exception  of  the  central  figure,  which  has  been 
delayed,  first,  by  the  lamented  decease  of  Baron 
Marochetti ;  and,  since  then,  by  the  long  illness 
of  Mr.  Foley,  contracted  while  correcting  his 
model  in  situ. 

The  Queen  has  been  graciously  pleased  to 
award  me  on  the  occasion  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood. Oh  that  she  were  with  me  who  I  confess 
to  have  so  long  and  so  earnestly  wished  might 
live  to  be  the  beloved  sharer  of  this  honour ;  now 
in  her  absence  but  a  name  ! 

I  shall  have,  I  believe,  to  bear  the  brunt  of  criti- 
cisms upon  this  work  of  a  character  peculiar,  as  I 
fancy,  to  this  country.  I  mean  criticism  premedi- 
tated and  predetermined  wholly  irrespective  of  the 


268  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

merits  of  the  case.  I  need  not  enumerate  in  full 
the  various  strictures  which  have  already  been 
made.  Most  of  them  are  groundless,  some  wholly 
untrue,  some  merely  stupid,  and  most  of  them 
simply  malicious.  I  will  name,  however,  a  few. 

1.  That  the  supports  of  the  fleche  are  invisible, 
being  concealed  within  the  haunches  of  the  vaults  : 
a  fault,  however,  if   such  it  be,  which  it  shares 
with  all  the  great  fleches  of  the  middle  ages. 

2.  That  the  angle  piers  do  not  appear  strong 
enough  for  their  work.     This  is,  of  course,  a  matter 
of  feeling :  to  my  eye  they  do  look  strong  enough, 
and  in  some  points,  where  they  have  been  acci- 
dentally increased,  they  look   too  bulky.     I  will, 
however,  say  that  they  did  look  too  slight  in  the 
original  drawing,  a  defect  which  I  was  probably 
the  first  to  perceive,  and  which  I  corrected  with 
great  care. 

3.  That  much  of  the  height  of  the  fleche  is  lost. 
So  is  it  in  the  case  of  every   spire  that  ever  was 
erected,  as  they  are  all  of  necessity  much  higher 
than  they  appear.     I  will  only  add  upon  this  point 
that  the  greatest  fault  in   the  design,  in  my  own 
own  opinion,  is  that  the  fleche  is  too  high.     I  was 
rather  driven  to  this  by  a  particular  influence,  and 
I  now  regret  it. 

4.  That  the   outline   of   the   fleche   is   broken. 
This  is    due   to   the   figure- sculpture,   but  it  was 
never  intended  to  have  a  purely  pyramidal  outline 
like  that  of  a  shrine. 

5.  That   the    podium    being   of    white    marble 
weakens  the  structural  effect. 

This  is  in  theory  true,  but  the   difficulty   was 
deliberately   faced,    inasmuch   as   the    sculptured 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  269 

podium  is  the  very  soul  of  the  design,  and  is  well 
worth  a  minor  sacrifice.  The  high  relief  of  the 
figures  will,  when  the  first  glare  has  gone  off, 
relieve  this  whiteness,  while  the  vast  counterforts 
of  sculpture  at  the  angles  compensate  for  any  loss  of 
apparent  strength,  and  the  plain  massiveness  of  the 
whole  of  the  substructure  tends  to  the  same  result. 

6.  That  the  great  mass  of  steps  takes  off  from 
the  height  of  the  superstructure. 

This  I  wholly  deny ;  its  effect  is  the  reverse. 

This  being  my  most  prominent  work,  those  who 
wish  to  traduce  me  will  naturally  select  it  for  their 
attacks.  I  can  only  say  that  if  this  work  is 
worthy  of  their  contempt,  I  am  myself  equally 
deserving  of  it,  for  it  is  the  result  of  my  highest 
and  most  enthusiastic  efforts.  I  will  also  con- 
gratulate our  art,  so  industriously  vilified  by  the 
same  party,  on  this,  that  if  the  Prince  Consort 
Memorial  is  worthy  of  contempt  among  the  works 
of  our  age,  it  argues  favourably  of  the  present 
state  of  the  art  among  whose  productions  this  is 
selected  for  vituperation. 

The  following  is  a  letter  written  to  me  spon- 
taneously by  Mr.1  Layard,  whom  I  had  not  seen 
for  some  years. 

July  \i\th,  1872. 

My  dear  Mr.  Scott, — I  have  been  in  Eng- 
land since  the  beginning  of  last  week,  and  I 
have  visited  the  memorial  almost  every  day  that 
I  have  been  in  London.  I  must  offer  you  my 
warmest  congratulations  upon  the  great  success 
which  has  been  achieved.  It  is  a  magnificent 

1  Now  Sir  Austen  H.  Layard,  English  Ambassador  to  the 
Porte.— ED. 


270  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

monument,  which  will  be  an  honour  to  the 
country  and  to  you.  I  had  always  been  of 
opinion — an  opinion  which  on  more  than  one 
occasion  I  have  expressed  to  the  Queen — that 
when  the  memorial  was  completed  and  fully  ex- 
posed to  view,  men  of  knowledge  and  of  fair  and 
impartial  judgment  would  be  astonished  at  its 
beauty  and  originality.  Judging  from  what  I  hear 
said  around  me,  this  is  the  case.  Of  course  there 
will  be  adverse  criticisms :  the  most  perfect  work 
in  the  world  would  not  escape  them,  but  they  are 
not  worthy  of  notice,  and  will  in  a  very  short  time 
be  forgotten.  Those  who  have  had  anything  to 
do  with  the  Press  know  from  whence  these 
criticisms  generally  come,  and  can  trace  the 
motives  for  them. 

In  this  case  they  appear  to  represent  the  opinions 
of  one  prejudiced  and  unfriendly  man,  opposed  to 
the  judgment  and  taste  of  the  million.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  if  so  grand  and  splendid  a  monument 
had  been  erected  in  Italy  or  in  Germany,  our  coun- 
trymen would  have  gone  many  hundreds  of  miles 
to  see  it,  and  would  have  pronounced  it  an  example 
of  the  vast  superiority  of  foreign  over  English 
taste.  But  I  am  equally  convinced,  that  such  a 
monument  could  not  have  been  erected  out  of 
England.  I  trust  that  the  statue  of  the  Prince 
may  soon  be  in  its  place,  and  that  it  may  worthily 
complete  this  glorious  shrine. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  H.  LAYARD. 

July  i  iM,  1872. 
When    I    left  off,  in    1865,  the   account  of  my 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  271 

professional  career  I  had  not  mentioned  the 
terminus  of  the  Midland  Railway  which  had  not 
indeed  then  come  into  my  hands.  I  was  persuaded 
(after  more  than  once  declining)  by  my  excellent 
friend  Mr.  Joseph  Lewis,  a  leading  director  of 
that  Company,  to  enter  into  a  limited  competition 
for  their  new  terminus.  I  made  my  design  while 
detained  for  several  weeks  with  Mrs.  Scott  by 
the  severe  illness  of  our  son  Alwyne,  at  a  small 
seaside  hotel  at  Hayling  in  September  and 
October,  1865.  I  completely  worked  out  the 
whole  design  then,  and  made  elevations  to  a  large 
scale  with  details.  It  was  in  the  same  style  which 
I  had  almost  originated  several  years  earlier,  for 
the  government  offices,  but  divested  of  the  Italian 
element. 

The  great  shed-like  roof  had  been  already 
designed  by  Mr.  Barlow,  the  engineer,  and  as  if  by 
anticipation  its  section  was  a  pointed  arch. 

I  was  successful  in  the  competition,  and  the 
building  has  ever  since  been  in  progress,  having 
been  undertaken  in  sections,  of  which  the  last  is 
now  ordered. 

This  work  has  been  spoken  of  by  one  of  the 
revilers  of  my  profession  with  abject  contempt.  I 
have  to  set  off  against  this,  the  too  excessive 
praise  of  it  which  I  receive  from  other  quarters. 
It  is  often  spoken  of  to  me  as  the  finest  building 
in  London ;  my  own  belief  is  that  it  is  possibly  too 
good  for  its  purpose,  but  having  been  disappointed, 
through  Lord  Palmerston,  of  my  ardent  hope  of 
carrying  out  my  style  in  the  Government  offices, 
and  the  subject  having  been  in  the  meanwhile 
taken  out  of  my  hands  by  other  architects,  I  was 


2  72  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

glad  to  be  able  to  erect  one  building  in  that  style  in 
London.  I  had  carried  it  out  already  in  a  few  in- 
stances, in  the  provinces;  of  which  the  most  remark- 
able are  the  Town  Hall  at  Preston,  Kelham  Hall 
in  Nottinghamshire,  and  the  Old  Bank  at  Leeds. 

About  the  same  time  I  was  commissioned  to  erect 
the  new  University  buildings  at  Glasgow,  a  very 
large  work,  for  which  I  adopted  a  style  which  I 
may  call  my  own  invention,  having  already  initiated 
it  in  the  Albert  Institute  at  Dundee.  It  is  simply 
a  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century  secular  style 
with  the  addition  of  certain  Scottish  features, 
peculiar  in  that  country  to  the  sixteenth  century, 
though  in  reality  derived  from  the  French  style  of 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  I  think 
the  building,  though  as  yet  incomplete,  has  been  a 
success. 

I  ought  to  have  named  in  conjunction  with  the 
Prince  Consort  Memorial,  the  decoration  of  Wol- 
sey's  Chapel  at  Windsor  as  a  memorial  of  the 
same  kind. 

The  vaulting  of  this  chapel,  formerly  of  timber 
and  plaster,  has  been  carried  out  in  stone  with 
panels  of  mosaic  ;  and  the  walled-up  window  of  the 
west  end  is  filled  with  figure-work  in  the  same 
material.  It  was  my  intention  that  the  walls 
below  the  windows  should  be  covered  with  frescoes 
by  Mr.  Herbert,  but  for  these  were  substituted,  at 
the  suggestion  of  her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess 
of  Prussia,  subjects  in  marble-inlay  by  Baron 
Triqueti. 

This  has  been  a  source  of  deep  disappointment 
to  me,  as  it  will,  I  fear,  be  to  all  lovers  of  art.  The 
Baron's  work  is  not,  in  my  opinion,  worthy  of  his 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  273 

fame  or  of  its  object,  and  I  have  had  myself  to 
suffer  through  it  a  good  deal  of  vexation,  more 
perhaps  through  the  injudicious  ardour  of  his 
friends  than  from  any  intention  of  his  own.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  my  traducers  will,  when  the 
time  comes,  be  delighted  with  this  opportunity  of 
blaming  me  for  matters  wholly  beyond  my  control. 
Within  the  last  year  or  two  I  have  gone  on 
with  the  government  buildings,  completing  the 
group  by  the  erection  of  the  Home  and  Colonial 
Offices.  I  have  had  to  make  several  attempts  at 
the  design  for  these  latter  offices,  owing  to  new 
directions  from  successive  administrations ;  and 
finally  my  scheme  has  been  greatly  impoverished 
for  economy's  sake.  The  principal  damage  has 
been  done  by  striking  off  the  two  corner  towers, 
which  are  much  needed  to  relieve  the  monotony 
of  so  vast  a  group.  I  live  in  hopes  of  their 
restitution. 

THE  NEW  LAW  COURTS. 

I  have  now  to  chronicle  a  great  failure.  I  was 
invited,  early  in  1866,  to  compete,  with  a  limited 
number  of  architects,  for  the  New  Law  Courts. 
At  first  I  declined,  owing  to  some  absurd  con- 
ditions then  exacted,  but  on  the  withdrawal  of 
these,  I  consented,  and  at  once  threw  myself 
vigorously  into  the  work.  The  instructions  were 
unprecedented  in  voluminousness,  and  the  arrange- 
ments were  beyond  all  conception  complicated 
and  difficult,  which  was  further  enhanced  by  the 
insufficiency  of  the  site.  The  business  of  every 
conceivable  department  of  the  law  had  to  be 

T 


274  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

studied,  and  its  officers  consulted  over  and  over 
again.  It  took  me,  I  think,  from  April  to  Sep- 
tember to  get  up  my  information  and  throw  it  into 
anything  like  shape,  and  at  length  I  succeeded  in 
packing  together,  in  what  I  had  reason  to  think 
a  good  form,  every  room  required,  to  the  number, 
I  should  think,  of  some  thousands.  We  were  told 
that  arrangement  alone  was  to  settle  the  com- 
petition, so  I  neglected  the  purely  architectural 
work  until  a  late  period.  Then,  however,  I  took 
it  vigorously  in  hand,  working  at  it  at  odd  times, 
while  my  more  practical  study  was  going  on,  and 
then  taking  a  month  at  the  sea-side  for  this 
department  exclusively,  besides  much  subsequent 
work,  upon  my  return  home.  No  previous  com- 
petition had  involved  me  in  such  an  amount  of 
labour. 

I  do  not  know  that  my  general  architectural 
design  was  of  much  merit,  though  I  think  that  it 
was  fully  as  good  as  any  recent  work  I  know  of 
by  any  other  architect.  Of  its  parts,  I  am  bold 
to  say,  that  many  exceeded  in  merit  anything  that 
I  know  of  among  modern  designs.  I  say  this 
especially  of  the  portico  towards  the  Strand,  of 
the  internal  cloister,  and  of  the  domed  central 
hall ;  nor  were  other  parts  devoid  of  merit,  but  I 
refer  to  the  drawings  (some  of  which,  by  the  way, 
were  spoiled  and  vulgarized  by  bad  colouring, 
through  which  much  exquisite  outline  drawing  was 
unhappily  ruined).  The  two  surveyor-assessors 
awarded  the  greatest  number  of  marks  to  Mr-. 
Edward  Barry,  and  the  second  greatest  number 
to  myself,  while  the  heads  of  law  offices  awarded 
the  greatest  number  to  me,  and  the  second  to 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  275 

Mr.  Water-house.  The  competition  judges  wishing 
to  follow  the  advice  of  the  assessors  (now  added 
to  their  own  number),  desired  to  give  their  verdict 
in  favour  of  Mr.  Barry,  but  as  his  architecture  was 
approved  of  by  no  one,  they  conceived  the  idea 
of  linking  on  to  him  some  other  architect,  in  whose 
architectural  powers  they  had  more  confidence, 
and  they  pitched  upon  Mr.  Street,  whose  arrange- 
ments no  one  had  ever  spoken  in  favour  of. 

I  at  once  protested  against  this  as  a  palpable 
departure  from  the  conditions,  which  were,  not  to 
take  the  sum  of  two  men's  merits  and  balance  this 
aggregate  against  the  single  merits  of  others,  but 
to  weigh  each  man's  merits  one  against  another. 
Mr.  Street  complained  of  my  protest,  and  I  then 
wrote  to  the  government,  stating  that  if  the  judges 
reaffirmed  their  decision,  I  should  abide  by  it. 

They  did  very  unjustly  reaffirm  it,  but  the  law 
officers  of  the  crown  cancelled  their  decision  as 
unfair.  As,  however,  I  had  engaged  to  stand  by 
the  reconsidered  verdict  of  the  judges,  I  felt  bound 
to  adhere  to  my  promise,  and  I  withdrew  from  the 
competition  ;  though  I  was  vain  enough  to  feel 
convinced  that  my  merits  (architecture  and  plan 
together)  were  greater  than  those  of  any  other 
competitor,  an  opinion  to  which  I  still  adhere. 
Mr.  Waterhouse  was  perhaps  the  closest  rival,  but 
Mr.  Street  had  but  a  poor  plan,  while  his  architec- 
ture was  unworthy  of  his  talent,  and  had  evi- 
dently been  very  much  hurried  ;  while  Mr.  Burges, 
though  his  architecture  exceeded  in  merit  that  of 
any  other  competitor,  was  nevertheless  eccentric 
and  wild  in  his  treatment  of  it,  and  his  plan  was 
nothing. 

T  2 


276  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Laughably  enough  the  competition  ended  in 
Barry,  who  had  been  buoyed  up  by  Street's  archi- 
tecture, being  cut  adrift,  and  Street,  who  had  only 
come  in  under  Barry's  wing,  being  declared  the 
winner ;  as  illogical  and  unfair  a  decision  as 
could  well  have  been  come  to  ;  yet  practically  a 
good  one,  as  it  ensured  a  noble  work  :  for  an  able 
and  artistic  architect  can  surely  make  a  good  plan, 
while  no  amount  of  skill  in  mere  planning  can  by 
itself  enable  a  man  to  produce  a  noble  building. 
I  am  myself  content.  I  was  not  beaten,  for  the 
first  decision,  which  went  against  me,  was  declared 
null  and  void,  while  before  the  final  decision,  I  had 
withdrawn  from  the  competition.  So  ended  the 
effort  of  three  quarters  of  a  year. 

At  first  several  of  the  designs  were  highly  extolled. 
Mr.  Layard  told  me  that  he  thought  mine  one 
of  the  finest  things  he  had  ever  seen.  But  in  time 
some  of  the  great  unknown  of  the  public  press  came 
in  with  their  wretched  revilings,  and  young  Pugin, 
galled  at  not  being  a  competitor,  added  his  vindic- 
tive abuse,  until  at  last  it  was  set  down  as  proved 
that  the  whole  set  of  designs  was  a  parcel  of  use- 
less rubbish. 

I  am  a  partial  witness,  but  I  can  only  say  I  do 
not  believe  a  word  of  it. 

If  it  would  have  been  my  lot  (had  I  succeeded) 
to  have  suffered  the  bullying  and  abuse  which  has 
been  heaped  upon  Mr.  Street,  I  cannot  say  that  I 
regret  my  want  of  success.  That  which  I  had 
suffered  eight  years  before  in  respect  of  the 
government  offices,  was  quite  as  much  as  I 
could  then  bear.  It  is  well  that  this  second  load 
of  persecution  has  fallen  upon  a  man  of  spirit  and 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  277 

nerve  calculated  to  -bear  it.     I   heartily  wish  him 
the  highest  success. 

I  consider  that  this  great  competition  did  me 
harm,  simply  as  a  conspicuous  non-success,  and 
as  exposing  me  to  the  gibes  of  enemies,  whom  I 
had  innocently  supposed  not  to  exist,  but  whom  it 
brought  out  of  their  lurking-places.  I  have  now 
no  doubt  that  beside  the  opposition  provoked  by 
envy  and  jealousy,  I  had  become  unpopular  with 
my  own  party,  through  having  given  way  at  the 
last  in  respect  of  the  style  of  the  government 
offices.  I  had  made  a  desperate  fight,  but  I  sup- 
pose that  many  were  unaware  how  desperate  and 
earnest  a  struggle  I  had  made,  or,  if  aware  of  this, 
would  think  that  when  finally  overcome  I  ought 
to  have  resigned,  rather  than  give  way.  I  have 
already  given  my  reasons  for  not  doing  so.  The 
claim  of  party  had  grown  up  artificially.  I  had 
been  educated  to  classic  architecture,  and  had 
practised  it  early  in  life.  My  tastes,  by  degrees, 
had  led  me  to  abandon  it,  and  my  zeal,  to  aim  at 
supplanting  it  by  the  revived  style,  but  whether 
this  feeling  of  earnest  partisanship  should  over- 
ride the  claims  of  one's  family  in  a  case  in  which 
I  had  fought  to  the  last  gasp,  and  where  the  pro- 
perty of  the  work  had  long  been  mine,  I  leave 
others  to  judge.  After  a  severe  mental  struggle  I 
decided  otherwise,  and  I  think  I  was  right,  but  I 
do  not  blame  those  who  take  the  contrary  view ; 
though  the  course  I  took  has  unquestionably  ren- 
dered me  less  popular  with  the  men  of  my  own 
party,  and  perhaps  also  with  my  opponents,  as  the 
opposition  which  I  encountered  was  almost  as 
much  in  favour  of  others,  as  it  was  against  the 


278  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

style  itself ;  and  its  main  object  was  to  force  me  to 
resign  in  favour  of  one  or  another  of  my  opponents, 
one  at  least  of  whom  took  an  active  personal  part 
in  the  agitation. 

It  should  be  always  remembered  that  not  only 
had  I  been  formally  appointed  architect  to  the 
Foreign  Office,  and  had  subsequently  been  ap- 
pointed (in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Digby  Wyatt) 
architect  to  the  India  Office,  but  that  the  designs 
and  working  drawings  had  been  made,  and 
builders'  tenders  received  for  the  work,  and  that 
nothing  but  this  agitation  about  style  stood  in 
the  way  of  the  immediate  commencement  of  both 
works. 

I  believe  that  the  style  of  domestic  Gothic  which 
I  then  struck  out  has  been  the  nucleus  on  which 
much  which  has  since  been  carried  out  has  been 
founded.  As  Mr.  Ruskin  says  of  his  own  sug- 
gestions, it  has  often  been  barbarized  into  some- 
thing very  execrable,  but  it  has  also  been  the 
foundation  of  much  which  is  fairly  good  ;  so  that  I 
have  not  reaped  the  fruit  of  my  own  labours,  and 
as,  during  the  never-ceasing  changes  of  fashion,  this 
style  has  gone  rather  out  of  vogue  before  I  have 
had  much  opportunity  of  carrying  it  into  execution, 
it  follows  that  when  I  myself  make  use  of  it,  I 
have  often  the  credit  of  being  the  imitator  of  my 
own  copyists. 

A  race  of  detractors  of  me  and  of  my  work  has 
since  arisen,  the  mildest  of  whom  say  that  I  have 
fallen  off  since  my  defeat  by  Lord  Palmerston.  I 
do  not  think  that  they  have  any  ground  for  this 
statement,  as  some  of  my  best  works  are  of  subse- 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  279 

quent  date,  or  were  commenced  about  that  time ; 
e.  g.  Kelham  Hall,  Preston  Town  Hall,  the  Leeds 
Bank,  the  Glasgow  College,  the  Prince  Consort 
Memorial,  the  Midland  Terminus,  the  Albert 
Institute  at  Dundee,  and  St.  John's  College 
Chapel  at  Cambridge. 

My  design  for  the  Albert  Hall  was,  I  think, 
worthy  of  more  consideration  than  it  has  received. 
I  wish  that  I  had  adopted  a  pointed-arch  style 
instead  of  the  round-arch  byzantine,  but  I  was 
warm  on  that  style  at  the  moment,  and  wished,  too 
much  perhaps,  to  propitiate  the  non-gothic  party. 
I  designed  it  during  a  tour  in  Perigord,  among  the 
half  byzantine  churches  of  south-western  France, 
making  it  a  completion  of  the  idea  of  St.  Sophia:  a 
central  pendentive  dome,  surrounded  by  four  semi- 
domes.  I  made  two  other  designs  for  this  hall, 
the  one  Gothic,  the  other  byzantine,  besides  a 
sketched  variety  of  the  main  design  worked  out 
with  pointed  arches.  I  should  mention  that  these 
designs  were  not,  like  that  eventually  carried  out, 
intended  for  a  vast  music  hall,  but  as  what  was 
called  a  "  hall  of  science,"  a  place  for  great  scien- 
tific gatherings. 

During  all  this  period  a  constant  agitation  was 
going  on  at  the  Institute  of  British  Architects, 
upon  the  periodical  election  of  their  president. 
The  Gothic  men  went  in  for  Mr.  Beresford  Hope, 
but  were  twice  defeated,  once  by  Professor  Donald- 
son and  once  by  Mr.  Tite.  At  length,  however, 
the  hopes  of  Hope  were  realized.  After  Mr.  Hope, 
Mr.  Tite  had  a  second  innings,  and  then  the 
Council  in  1870  selected  me  as  their  nominee.  I 
however  declined  to  stand  feeling  that  my  ex- 


280  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

tensive  engagements,  my  distance  from  London,2 
and  the  claims  of  my  family  upon  my  spare  time 
forbade  it.  I  felt  also  that  I  was  not  by  nature 
fitted  for  such  a  post. 

I  have  during  this  period  held  the  office  of 
Professor  of  Architecture  at  the  Royal  Academy. 

Circumstances  have  been  much  against  the  due 
performance  of  my  duties  here.  I  have,  however, 
given  a  good  many  lectures,  but  they  have  been 
interrupted ;  first  by  the  interval  of  rebuilding, 
secondly,  by  my  own  serious  illness  in  1870-71, 
and  in  this  year  by  the  terrible  bereavement  which 
I  have  suffered. 

The  best  of  my  recent  lectures  have  been  those 
on  vaulting,  and  I  was  preparing  for  this  year  a 
course  of  lectures  on  domes. 

I  hope,  if  spared,  to  publish  my  professional  and 
ante-professorial  lectures  with  ample  illustrations 
in  the  style  of  those  in  Viollet  le  Due's  dictionary.3 
The  illustrations  of  all  my  lectures  have  been 
almost  profuse,  and  many  of  them  are  very  ex- 
cellent drawings  by  my  pupils  and  assistants,  my 
sons  and  myself. 

ELY  CATHEDRAL. 

I  was  appointed  to  this,  my  first  Cathedral 
restoration,  in  1847,  mv  special  work  being  the 
re-arrangement  of  the  choir. 

The    original    choir    had    occupied    the    space 

8  My  father  was  then  living  at  Rook's-nest  near  Godstone. 
-Eo. 

5  These  have  been  published  since  my  father's  death  by  Mr. 
John  Murray. — ED. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  281 

beneath  the  tower,  and  extended  (I  think)  two 
bays  into  the  nave.4  When  the  central  tower  fell 
in  1320,  and  Alan  of  Walsingham  built  the  exist- 
ing octagon,  he  left  the  choir  in  the  position  in 
which  he  had  found  it,  extending  across  the  area 
of  his  new  octagon.  Thus  it  remained  until  the 
time  of  Essex  in  the  last  century,  who  wholly  did 
away  with  this  arrangement,  pushing  the  altar  on 
to  the  east  end  of  the  presbytery,  and  making  the 
choir  two  full  bays  short  of  reaching  to  the  octagon. 
(See  Bentham's  two  plans.)  My  work  was  not  to 
carry  the  choir  westward  to  its  old  place  under 
the  crossing,  inasmuch  as  this  would  have  injured 
the  effect  of  the  octagon  ;  at  the  same  time  that 
the  unoccupied  space  eastward  (formerly  devoted 
to  shrines)  would,  as  things  now  are,  have  been 
useless. 

I  contented  myself  with  leaving  the  choir  and 
sanctuary  to  occupy  the  eastern  arm  of  the  cross, 
with  the  exception  of  two  bays  to  the  east,  left  as 
an  ambulatory.  I  wished  this  to  have  occupied 
three  bays,  but  to  this  the  Chapter  would  not 
consent. 

I  re-used  Walsingham' s  stalls,  as  far  as  they 
would  go,  designing  new  desk-fronts,  &c. 

This  was  the  first  case  in  which  an  open  screen 
had  been  adopted  in  our  cathedrals,  and  I  devoted 
infinite  pains  to  its  design.  There  was  no  ancient 

4  This  position  of  the  choir,  which  we  are  apt  to  regard  as 
exceptional,  is  in  reality  the  old  and  normal  one,  the  tradition 
of  the  Basilica,  and  of  the  earliest  Christian  Churches.  Thus 
St.  Alban's,  Gloucester,  and  Westminster  represent  the  primitive 
tradition,  while  Lincoln,  York,  and  Salisbury  exhibit  the  more 
modern  and  abnormal  arrangement,  the  great  ecclesiological 
innovation  of  the  middle  ages. — ED. 


282  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

choir  screen  remaining.  I  returned  only  one  stall 
on  either  side,  as  is  (now)  the  arrangement  in  Henry 
VII. 's  chapel.  The  stall  usually  occupied  by  the 
Dean  is  here  the  Bishop's  throne.  He  thus  repre- 
sents the  Abbot,  and  has  done  so  since  A.D.  1 109, 
while  the  Dean,  since  the  dissolution  of  the  monas- 
tery, has  represented  the  Prior, 

The  Bishop  wanted  much  to  have  a  throne  in 
the  usual  position,  but  I  would  not  consent  to  the 
obliteration  of  an  early  tradition. 

I  suggested  the  filling  in  of  the  wide  niches 
over  the  stalls,  with  reliefs,  which  has  been  gradually 
carried  out  and  is  now  complete. 

I  placed  the  organ,  partly  in  the  triforium  and 
partly  overhanging  the  choir,  founding  its  design 
upon  those  of  mediaeval  organs  (e.g.  Strasburg), 
and  I  placed  the  organist  in  a  gallery  in  the  aisle, 
passing  the  trackers  upwards. 

Subsequently  I  refitted  St.  Mary's  chapel  as  a 
parish  church. 

Under  my  suggestion,  and  with  my  co-operation, 
the  ceiling  of  the  nave  was  painted  by  Mr.  Le 
Strange  and  Mr.  Gambier  Parry.  I  suggested  to 
Mr.  Le  Strange  the  ceiling  of  St.  Michael's  at 
Hildesheim  as  a  model.  The  pulpit,  the  restora- 
tion of  the  western  doorway,  the  pavement  of  the 
nave,  the  strengthening  of  the  west  tower,  the 
restoration  of  the  lantern  tower,  and  the  strengthen- 
ing of  the  south  side  of  choir  and  east  side  of 
south  transept,  have  since  been  carried  out  under 
my  direction. 

The  design  of  the  central  lantern  I  most  care- 
fully investigated  from  ancient  evidences,  and 
can  speak  of  most  of  it  with  much  certainty. 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  283 

The  great  evidences  were  the  mortices  and  the 
carpenters'  marks.  It  was  clearly  proved  by 
Dean  Goodwin  to  have  been  a  belfry,  as  I  had 
supposed,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Le 
Strange. 

The  interior  of  the  timber  lantern  has  been  deco- 
rated by  Mr.  Gambier  Parry,  but  with  this  I  have  had 
nothing  to  do.  I  am  now  completing  the  great 
turrets  and  pinnacles  of  the  octagon.  I  have  made 
a  strong  move  towards  rebuilding  the  lacking  north 
wing  of  the  west  front,  but  it  has  not  hitherto  been 
vigorously  taken  up.  I  wrote  a  paper  on  Ely 
Cathedral  while  abroad  in  1873.  This  was  read  at 
the  bisex-centenary  festival  of  St.  Etheldreda's 
foundation,  in  my  absence,  by  my  eldest  son.  It  is 
published  in  a  book  upon  the  festival. 

These  works  were  mainly  carried  out  under  my 
dear  friend,  Dean  Peacock,  one  of  the  noblest  of 
men :  the  lantern  work  was  a  memorial  to  him. 
The  actual  restoration  of  the  fabric  of  the  choir 
had  been  commenced  before  my  appointment,  and 
was  managed  up  to  that  time  by  the  Dean  and 
Professor  Willis.  The  internal  work  of  the  western 
tower  had  already  been  completed  by  them,  and  the 
reconstruction  of  the  apse  of  the  south-western 
transept  went  on  only  partially  under  my  direction. 
Indeed,  coming  in,  as  I  did,  in  the  midst  of  these 
works,  my  connexion  with  them  generally  was  but 
partial,  though  it  increased  as  they  went  on.  I 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  works  at  Prior  Craw- 
den's  chapel,  which  were  carried  out  by  a  minor 
canon,  a  disciple  of  Willis,  and  were  nearly 
finished  when  I  was  appointed.  I  was  assured,  by 
the  clerk  of  the  works,  that  the  seat  behind  the 


284  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

altar  was  deliberately  carried  out  wrongly  as  a  little 
bit  of  annoyance  to  the  Ecclesiological  Society. 
It  looks  now  as  if  there  had  been  no  altar. 

I  gave  very  much  study  to  this  cathedral  apart 
from  actual  works  executed,  and  many  matters  of 
interest  turned  up  from  time  to  time.  The  screen, 
stall-work,  pulpit,  &c.,  were  executed  by  Messrs. 
Rattee  and  Kett. 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

I  was  appointed  to  this  charge,  I  think,  in  1849. 
This  is  an  appointment  which  has  afforded  me 
more  pleasure  than  any  other  which  I  have  held. 
My  work  here  has  been  very  much  a  matter  of 
investigation,  and  up  to  a  certain  date  is  fairly 
chronicled  in  "The  Gleanings."  Since  that  time, 
however,  many  other  things  have  come  to  light. 
I  may  mention  the  bases  of  the  piers  of  the  Con- 
fessor's church,  in  the  sanctuary  ;  a  compartment 
and  numerous  capitals  from  the  Norman  cloister ; 
and  some  fragments  belonging  to  the  shrine  of  St. 
Edward,  e.  g.  a  piece  of  the  return  of  the  cornice 
of  its  western  end  over  the  reredos.  The  fact  has 
also  been  ascertained  that  the  whole  of  the  shrine 
had  been  taken  down,  and  had  been  rebuilt  in 
Queen  Mary's  reign,  and  that  even  the  steps  had 
been  reset  and  misplaced,  the  marks  worn  by  pil- 
grims' knees  (still  very  distinguishable)  being  quite 
out  of  their  proper  places. 

We  have  found  too,  among  other  things,  a  com- 
partment of  ancient  grisaille  glazing,  the  hatch  of 
the  kitchen,  the  kitchen  itself,  the  lower  parts  of 
St.  Catherine's  chapel,  extensive  fragments  of  terra 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  285 

cotta  figures  walled  up  in  the  westernmost  part  of 
the  triforium,  a  beautiful  fragment  of  Torregiano's 
Ciborium,5  and  other  objects  of  interest. 

I  had,  almost  immediately  after  my  appointment 
as  architect  of  the  Abbey,  devoted  a  great  amount 
of  time  to  investigating,  and  making  measured 
sketches  of,  the  Chapter-house,  then  occupied  as  a 
record  office,  and  I  was,  therefore,  well  prepared 
when,  many  years  later,  the  work  was  actually 
placed  in  my  hands.  I  may  truly  say  that  this 
was  a  labour  of  love,  and  that  not  a  point  was 
missed  which  would  enable  me  to  ascertain  the 
actual  design  of  any  part,  nor  was  any  old  feature 
renewed  of  which  a  trace  of  the  old  form  remained. 
I  know  of  no  parts  which  are  conjecturally  restored 
but  the  following : — the  external  parapet,  the  pin- 
nacles, the  gables  of  the  buttresses  and  the  roof. 

In  my  drawing,  made  long  before,  I  had  shown 
the  shortened  window  over  the  internal  doorway 
as  of  five  lights.  I  did  so  because  some  of  the 
bases  of  the  mullions  remained  which  showed  the 
window  to  have  been  of  five  lights.  Why  then,  it 
may  well  be  asked,  in  the  restoration,  has  it  been 
made  of  only  four  lights  like  the  other  windows  ? 
I  will  explain  why. 

All  the  other  windows  have  ancient  iron  ties  at 
or  near  their  springings.  These  are  of  round  iron, 
but  hammered  flat  where  they  pass  the  mullions. 
Now  the  west,  or  shortened  window,  had  lost  all 

5  This  baldachino,  which  is  figured  by  Sandford,  in  his 
"  Genealogical  History  of  the  Kings  of  England,"  p.  470,  and 
is  described  by  him  as  the  tomb  of  Edward  Vlth  (whose  body 
was  laid  beneath  the  altar  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  which  it 
adorned),  was  destroyed  during  the  Great  Rebellion. — ED. 


286  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

its  tracery,  and  was  walled  up  with  voussoirs  of 
the  vaulting  ribs.  On  removing  these,  however, 
we  found  the  iron  tie  still  in  its  place,  and  it  was 
flattened,  like  the  others  for  three  (not  four) 
mullions.  It  was  clear,  therefore,  that  the  west 
window  had  been  like  the  others.  How 'comes  it, 
then,  that  the  bases  of  mullions  tell  another  tale  ? 
Why,  it  was  clear,  from  fragments  of  tracery  found, 
that  the  window  had  been  renewed  by  Abbot  Byr- 
cheston,  when  he  rebuilt  the  bays  of  the  cloisters 
opposite  to  the  chapter-house  entrance,  and  in 
the  same  style  with  them.  He  therefore  had 
altered  it  from  a  four  to  a  five-light  window,  and 
had  moved  the  mullion  bases,  although  he  left 
the  old  tie  in  its  place,  flattened  out  for  three 
mullions,  as  he  had  found  it. 

The  cloister  has  been  partially  restored  with 
much  care.  The  mosaic  pavement  of  the  sanc- 
tuary has  been  restored,  where  it  had  been  short- 
ened eastward,  the  old  matrices  having  been  found 
and  refilled.  A  concrete,  containing  chips  of  glass 
mosaic,  was  found  under  the  altar  pavement. 

The  reredos,  which  I  found  in  plaster,  has 
been  restored  in  alabaster  and  marble,  with  great 
care  and  precision.6  The  five  central  canopies 
were  found  to  be  modern,  and  to  occupy  the 
space  of  a  recess,  intended  no  doubt  for  a 
rich  retabulum.  This  has  been  restored.  Some 
curious  papering  was  found  behind  the  masonry  of 
the  reredos,  where  it  abutted  against  the  pillars, 
on  which  were  painted  coats  of  arms. 

During  this  time  Abbot  Ware's  Customary 7  has 
come  to  light,  and  has  been  examined,  together 

6  In  1866. — ED.  7  Liber  consuetudinarius. — ED. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  287 

with    many    other   documents    bearing   upon   the 
history  of  the  church  and  buildings. 

The  mason  of  the  Abbey,  when  I  was  first  ap- 
pointed, was  Mr.  Cundy :  subsequently  Messrs. 
Poole  have  occupied  this  post,  who  have  also 
carried  out  the  restoration  of  the  Chapter-house. 

My  own  works  at  the  Abbey  have  not  been 
extensive.  They  consist  of  two  pulpits,  three 
grilles,  an  altar-rail,  the  gable  and  pinnacles  of 
the  south  transept,  sundry  tops  of  pinnacles,  a 
new  altar-table  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  church, 
and  another  in  Henry  VII. 's  Chapel ;  but  the 
most  satisfactory  has  been  the  hardening  of  the 
decayed  internal  surfaces  with  shellac  dissolved 
in  spirits  of  wine.  The  Abbey  has  also  been 
warmed,  which  will  tend,  I  hope,  to  its  durability. 
The  bronze  effigies  of  kings  and  others  have  been 
cleaned,  and  the  ancient  gilding  exposed. 

I  have  planned  a  great  sepulchral  cloister  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Abbey  buildings,  extending 
along  College  Gardens  ;  but  I  see  no  prospect  of 
its  being  carried  into  execution. 

We  are  now  engaged  in  restoring  the  eastern- 
most of  the  portals  (in  this  case  a  quasi-portal)  of 
the  north  transept.  We  have  found  them  to  be 
gabled,  as  shown  in  Loggan's  view,  and  we  find 
very  much  of  the  evidences  of  the  old  design. 
May  I  be  spared  to  see  them  all  perfected.8 

I  commenced  these  works  under  Dean  Buck- 
land,  whose  place  was  soon  taken  by  Lord  John 
Thynne,  who  has  retained,  as  sub-dean,  a  general 

8  The  work  is  still  in  progress,  and  the  western  portal  of  this, 
so-called,  Solomon's  porch  is  now  approaching  completion,  but 
the  great  central  one  has  not  yet  been  commenced. — ED. 


288  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

directing  power.  Dean  Stanley,  however,  has  now 
assumed  the  lead,  and  takes  infinite  interest  in  the 
works. 

HEREFORD  CATHEDRAL. 

The  western  towers  having  fallen  about  1796, 
the  nave  had  been  wretchedly  dealt  with  by 
Wyatt. 

When  I  was  first  appointed  to  continue  this 
restoration,  the  former  work,  carried  on  under  Mr. 
Cottingham,  had  been  suspended  for  many  years. 

He  had  repaired  the  nave,  the  internal  crossing 
with  its  piers,  the  interior  of  the  sanctuary  (from 
the  crossing  to  the  altar- space  enclosure),  the  east 
end  of  the  Lady  Chapel  externally,  and  also  most  of 
the  interior  of  the  same.  The  parts  through 
which  I  had  to  carry  on  the  work  were  the  tran- 
septs, the  choir-aisles,  the  eastern  transepts,  and 
the  north  porch  ;  together  with  the  rearrangement 
of  the  choir,  and  the  replacement  of  the  monu- 
ments removed  during  Mr.  Cottingham's  work. 

The  reparations  were  carried  on  with  the  most 
scrupulous  regard  for  evidence,  and  with  the  least 
possible  displacement  of  old  stone :  the  last  being 
rendered  most  difficult  by  the  extreme  decay  of 
the  external  work,  the  stonework  being  often 
hollowed  out  by  internal  decay,  even  where  it 
appeared  upon  the  surface  comparatively  sound. 
The  present  state  of  the  central  tower-will  illustrate 
this. 

Among  lost  features  recovered,  I  will  mention 
the  circular  windows  which  light  the  eastern  tri- 
forium  of  the  north  transept.  These  had  been 
converted  into  perpendicular  windows,  though 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  289 

retaining  their  early  circular  arches  :  no  sugges- 
tion remained  of  what  they  had  originally  been. 
It  one  day  occurred  to  me  that  they  might  have 
been  circles,  and  being  in  the  green  to  the  east- 
ward of  the  transept,  I  held  up  a  half-a-crown 
piece,  fitting  it,  in  perspective,  to  the  window  arch, 
when  I  found  that  its  lower  edge  just  touched  the 
sill.  This  led  me  to  cut  into  the  inserted  work, 
when  I  discovered  the  circles,  with  even  the 
grooves  for  their  cusps,  and  some  of  the  curious 
pear-shaped  cusps  themselves.  The  restoration 
of  these  is  absolutely  exact.  The  eastern  pin- 
nacles of  the  Lady  Chapel  had  been  rebuilt  by 
Cottingham,  but  the  side  ones  were  wanting. 
Some  of  these  I  found  stowed  away  in  the  crypt, 
and  I  rebuilt  those  on  the  north  side,  partly  out  of 
old  materials.  The  monuments  removed  by  Mr. 
Cottingham  were  scattered  about  in  all  directions, 
and  I  could  not  have  recovered  their  positions  had 
it  not  been  for  the  aid  of  the  Rev.  F.  T.  Havergal, 
one  of  the  Priest  Vicars,  whose  knowledge  and 
research  were  of  the  greatest  possible  importance: 
all  that  we  could  identify  were  replaced  in  their  old 
positions. 

I  was  interested  in  discovering  among  these  a 
monument  to  one  of  my  old  friends,  the  Dentons 
of  Hillesden,9  which  I  replaced  as  near  its  old 
position  as  I  could ;  but  I  subsequently  found, 
to  my  regret,  that  parts  of  its  altar-tomb  and 
heraldic  remains  had  escaped  my  notice.  I 
applied  to  Lord  Leicester,  the  representative  of 
the  family,  for  aid  to  its  more  perfect  restoration, 
but  in  vain. 

9  Cf.  ch.  i.  pp.  45,  46. 

U 


290  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

The  beautiful  stall-work  of  this  cathedral  had 
been  removed  by  Cottingham,  and  had  been, 
for  some  twenty  years,  stowed  away  in  the 
crypt,  all  in  fragmentary  pieces.  It  was  a  part 
of  my  task  to  fit  these  together  and  rearrange 
them. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  was  justified  in  the 
course  which  I  took  with  regard  to  this.  There 
was  at  that  time  a  violent  agitation,  first,  for 
opening  out  the  choirs  of  our  cathedrals  ;  and, 
secondly,  for  making,  where  practicable,  the  choirs 
more  proportioned  to  present  uses,  so  as  to  give 
no  excuse  for  using  them  for  congregational 
purposes.  I  was  so  far  influenced  by  this  fancy 
as  regards  screens,  (be  it  right  or  wrong),  as  to 
have  laid  down  a  rule  for  myself  to  open  out 
choirs  in  cases  where  no  ancient  screens  existed, 
but  not  otherwise.  I  also  yielded  so  far  to  the 
argument  for  choirs,  proportioned  to  practical 
needs,  as  to  think  that,  as  in  this  case  the  old 
dimensions  and  landmarks  had  been  lost  for 
twenty  years,  I  was  at  liberty  to  adopt  what 
seemed  to  be  a  more  convenient  arrangement. 
The  old  choir  had  extended  through  the  cross- 
ing into  the  nave,  the  eastern  arm  forming  only 
the  sanctuary.1 

My  rearrangement  made  the  eastern  arm  the 
choir,  giving  up  the  transepts  as  well  as  the  nave 
to  the  congregation.  Practically,  for  ordinary 
purposes,  this  was  a  gain ;  for  great  diocesan 
uses  it  was  a  loss.  From  an  antiquarian  point  of 
view  it  was  an  error.  I  leave  it  to  others  to  judge 

1  C£  note  on  Ely  Cathedral,  ch.  vii.  p.  281.— ED. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  291 

of  it.  I  confess  I  do  not  think  I  should  now  do 
the  same. 

I  do  not  believe  that  Cottingham  had  found  an 
old  screen :  at  any  rate,  he  left  no  relics  of  it.  The 
metal  screen  in  its  present  form  came  about  in 
this  way :  Mr.  Skidmore  was  anxious  to  have 
some  great  work  in  the  exhibition  of  1862,  and 
offered  to  make  the ,  screen  at  a  very  low  price. 
I  designed  it  on  a  somewhat  massive  scale,  think- 
ing that  it  would  thus  harmonize  better  with  the 
heavy  architecture  of  the  choir.  Skidmore  fol- 
lowed my  design,  but  somewhat  aberrantly.  It  is 
a  fine  work,  but  too  loud  and  self-asserting  for  an 
English  church.  The  reredos  had  already  been 
erected  by  Mr.  Cottingham,  jun.  The  decoration 
of  the  north  transept  was  carried  out  by  Mr. 
Octavius  Hudson. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  carrying  out  this  work 
under  the  kind  and  friendly  assistance  of  my  dear 
friend,  Dean  Dawes,  for  whom  I  conceived  a 
sincere  regard. 

The  tower  is  in  a  very  bad  state,  and  I  hope  its 
restoration  will  soon  be  undertaken.  The  old 
roof  marks  had  been  obliterated  by  Mr.  Cot- 
tingham. 

The  builders  employed  were  Messrs.  Ruddle 
and  Thompson,  of  Peterborough.  The  clerk  of 
the  works  was  Mr.  Chick. 

LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL. 

My  work  here  was  mainly  the  opening  out  and 
rearrangement  of  the  choir. 

I  succeeded,  rather  against  my  will,  Mr.  Sidney 
u  2 


292  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Smirke,  who  had  restored  the  south  aisle  of  the 
nave,  and  had  really  commenced  upon  the  choir. 

This  choir  had  been  dealt  with  by  Wyatt  in 
the  most  extraordinary  manner  possible.  It  had 
originally  been  of  very  early  pointed  work,  almost 
or  quite  transitional  in  character,  but  had,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  been  rebuilt  from  the  arcade 
upwards  in  rather  late  decorated ;  the  outer  order 
of  the  arches  being  also  reconstructed  in  that 
style.  The  older  columns  had  been  octagons 
with  a  triple  shaft  on  every  side.  The  fourteenth- 
century  architect  had  removed  the  shafts  facing 
the  choir,  in  order  to  gain  width,  and  had  corbelled 
his  vaulting  shafts  above  the  stalls.  Wyatt  had 
disregarded  both  of  the  old  dates,  and,  by  the  help 
of  cement,  spikes,  and  tar-cord,  had  converted  the 
columns  and  arches  (towards  the  choir)  into  copies 
of  those  of  the  nave.  When  I  was  first  called  in, 
this  cement  work  had  been  partly  removed,  and 
the  mutilated  work  behind  it  presented  the  most 
difficult  enigma.  I  believe  that  I  recovered  the 
design  absolutely,  but  some  parts  of  it  were  dis- 
covered through  remains  so  slight  that,  though 
conclusive,  their  interpretation  was  of  intense 
difficulty. 

I  was  greatly  aided  in  this  investigation  by  the 
qualities  of  the  stone  employed,  for  the  fourteenth- 
century  architect  had  used  a  different  stone  from 
that  of  the  older  work. 

Wyatt  here,  as  at  Salisbury,  had  removed  the  old 
altar-screen,  and  had  extended  the  choir  through 
the  Lady  Chapel  to  the  extreme  east  end.  He 
had  enclosed  the  area  thus  formed,  by  blocking  up 
its  arches  with  wood-work  and  glazing;  so  that  the 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  293 

choir  could  not  be  seen  at  all  from  the  nave.  He 
had  left  the  old  choir-screen  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, but  this  had  unhappily  been  taken  down 
before  I  was  called  in,  and  I  do  not  recollect  that 
the  idea  of  replacing  it  was  ever  suggested.  I 
erected  an  altar-screen  on  the  site  of  the  ancient 
one,  and  put  up  a  metal  screen  between  the  choir 
and  the  nave.  No  old  stalls  remaining,  new  ones 
were  introduced,  over  which  it  was  always  intended 
to  place  grilles,  but  this  has  never  been  carried 
out ;  so  that  this,  from  being  the  closest  of  quires, 
is  now  the  most  open. 

Colouring  was  found  about  the  bosses  of  the 
groining,  which  I  desired  to  have  restored  by 
Mr.  Octavius  Hudson,  but  this  was  not  approved 
by  the  chapter. 

The  work  has,  at  a  later  period,  been  extended 
to  the  Chapter-house  and  the  Lady  Chapel,  and  it 
is  now  contemplated  to  extend  it  to  the  exterior  of 
the  west  front.  Wyatt  had,  by  the  help  of  Ber- 
nasconi,  translated  this  fine  work  into  Roman 
cement :  we  hope  to  retranslate  it  into  stone.2 

I  have  had  the  privilege  of  working  at  Lichfield- 
under  several  very  marked  men.  The  greater 
work  was  carried  out  in  the  time  of  Dean  Howard, 
but,  from  his  great  infirmity,  he  was  not  able  to 
take  so  active  a  part  as  he  would  otherwise  have 
done.  Nothing,  however,  was  decided  upon  but 
in  the  fullest  consultation  with  him,  and  he  threw 
himself  into  it  with  all  possible  zeal  and  with  the 
greatest  mental  energy.  He  was  a  most  charming 
man,  and  kept  up  a  cheerful,  lively,  and  even 
jocose  and  buoyant  spirit,  under  circumstances  of 
2  This  work  is  now  in  progress. — ED. 


294  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

very  great  bodily  suffering,  which  he  bore  with  the 
most  Christian  and  heroic  submission.  I  may  indeed 
say  that  he  rose  above  his  sufferings  in  a  manner 
of  which  the  mere  recollection  is  quite  edifying. 

His  second  in  command  was  Mr.  Precentor 
Hutchinson,  a  really  wonderful  man.  I  had 
known  him  for  years  as  a  great  promoter  of 
church  extension  in  the  diocese,  and  when  he 
joined  the  chapter  he  rose  at  once  to  the  circum- 
stances, and  did  his  work  right  nobly.  I  do  not 
know  how  to  describe  him,  as  he  united  in  a  mar- 
vellous manner  the  finest  disposition  and  temper, 
the  richest  humour,  and  the  most  energetic  ac- 
tivity and  zeal.  I  delighted  in  him,  and,  I  need 
not  say,  deeply  deplored  his  unexpected  loss. 

He  was  succeeded  as  precentor  by  another  right 
wonderful  man,  Archdeacon  Moore.  Again  I  am 
unable  to  describe  him.  Dean  Stanley  has  done 
so  to  the  life.  A  grander  man  I  never  knew.  He 
seemed,  in  conversation,  to  unite  in  himself  the 
characteristics  of  Lichfield's  two  great  men,  John- 
son and  Garrick  ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  blend 
with  them  the  great  charm  of  the  generous  open- 
hearted  man  of  the  world.  Two  such  precentors 
have  rarely  succeeded  one  another. 

He  also  is  gone,  but  he  enjoyed  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three  all  the  vigour  and  life  of  middle  age ; 
indeed,  very  far  more  than  often  falls  to  the  lot  of 
a  man  at  any  age. 

Dean  Champneys  I  saw  but  seldom.  I  always 
found  him  a  very  kind  and  agreeable  man.  Lately 
the  Deanery  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  my  valued 
friend  and  patron  Dr.  Bickersteth,  formerly  Arch- 
deacon of  Bucks,  under  whom,  I  hope,  the  west 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  295 

front,  the  great  gem  of  the  cathedral,  now  set  in 
paste,  will  be  reset  in  genuine  stone. 

An  intensely  vexatious  circumstance  occurred 
during  the  earlier  period  of  my  connexion  with 
Lichfield. 

The  ordinary  work  of  the  cathedral  was  carried 
on  by  a  staff  of  masons,  permanently  engaged, 
under  a  foreman.  At  that  time  Professor  Willis 
went  to  Lichfield  to  prepare  himself  for  a  lecture 
on  the  cathedral.  He  did  not  communicate  with 
me,  but  carried  on  his  examinations  with  the 
assistance  of  the  foreman  of  masons.  I  sub- 
sequently learned  that,  while  in  company  with 
this  man,  he  had  discovered,  upon  the  upper 
surface  of  the  string  course  of  the  triforium  of  the 
transepts,  the  marks  of  the  setting-out  of  the 
groining  shafts  of  the  early- English  work,  which 
from  that  level  upwards  was  removed,  or  altered,  in 
the  fifteenth  century.  No  communication  what- 
ever was  made  to  me  upon  the  subject,  and  the 
first  I  heard  of  it  was  from  a  complaint,  made  I 
think  by  Professor  Willis  himself,  that  the  stones, 
on  which  these  invaluable  evidences  had  existed, 
had  been  removed  by  this  very  foreman,  who,  with 
the  exception  of  the  professor  himself,  was  the 
only  man  who  was  aware  of  their  existence.  The 
man's  excuse  was,  that  as  Professor  Willis  had 
taken  notes  of  them  he  did  not  think  there  was 
any  need  to  preserve  them,  and,  as  his  men  had 
nothing  else  to  do  in  the  winter,  and  the  stones  were 
somewhat  out  of  repair,  he  had  set  them  at  work 
to  renew  them.  I  must  say  I  think  the  professor 
was  exceedingly  blameable  in  entrusting  such  evi- 
dence, thus  discovered,  to  the  sole  guardianship  of 


296  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

an  ignorant  mason,  and  in  making  no  communica- 
tion whatever  to  me,  as  the  architect  to  the  cathe- 
dral; but  the  occurrence  is  more  important  as  show- 
ing the  danger  of  keeping  on  these  staffs  of  masons, 
who,  if  they  have  nothing  else  to  do,  employ  them- 
selves in  doing  irreparable  mischief.  What  has 
now  become  of  the  professor's  notes  I  know  not. 
I  never  saw,  or  at  the  time  heard  of,  these  interest- 
ing relics,  and  now  they  are  irrecoverably  lost. 

In  the  Lady  Chapel,  the  wall  arcades  had  been 
much  tampered  with  by  Wyatt,  and  plaster  but- 
tresses and  pinnacles  had  been  introduced,  having 
no  reference  at  all  to  the  original  design.  This 
was  made  sufficiently  clear  by  the  jointing  of  the 
masonry,  and  has  since  been  restored  as  closely 
as  evidences  would  permit  or  guide.  The  eastern 
bay  was  occupied  by  a  sort  of  reredos  made  up  by 
Wyatt,  partly  out  of  old  details  (probably  from 
the  choir  or  altar-screen)  and  partly  in  cement 
from  his  own  design.  I  did  not  wish  to  remove  this, 
but  the  chapter  had  it  taken  down  ;  when  it  was 
found  that  this  bay  had  been  a  plain  wall  without 
arcades,  intended  no  doubt  to  leave  a  space  for 
some  rich  retabulum.3 

The  west  window  was  an  odd  affair,  put  up,  I 
think,  by  James  II.,  when  Duke  of  York.  This 
has  been  replaced  by  a  window  more  in  character, 
though  possibly  a  little  too  late  in  detail. 

The  interior  of  the  nave  has   been  cleared  of 

The  removal  of  Wyatt's  reredos  has  rendered  necessary  the 
completion  of  the  fine  flemish  renaissance  glass  with  which  the 
eastern  window  (as  are  also  the  side  windows  of  the  apse)  is 
filled.  This  work  has  been  carried  out  with  great  care  by 
Mr.  Thomas  Grylls.— ED. 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  297 

whitewash  and  repaired.  I  always  hold  this  work 
to  be  almost  absolute  perfection  in  design  and  de- 
tail. It  is  parallel  in  style  to  the  eastern  part  of 
Lincoln  Minster,  the  Chapter-house  at  Salisbury, 
Bishop  Bridport's  tomb  there,  and  the  ruined  front 
of  Newstead  Abbey.  The  exterior  of  the  south  side 
of  this  exquisite  nave  had  been  renewed  some  years 
before  my  connexion  with  Lichfield,  under  Mr. 
Sidney  Smirke.  The  north  side  remains  nearly 
untouched  (at  least  in  modern  times),  including 
the  northern  return  of  the  north-western  tower. 
This  part  is  in  a  very  sad  state  of  decay,  yet  it  is 
such  a  precious  gem  of  architecture  that  I,  some 
years  back,  urged  that  instead  of  restoring  it,  the 
chapter  should  have  perfect  drawings  and  photo- 
graphs made  of  its  details,  so  that  if  these  should 
eventually  perish,  records  would  be  kept  of  them. 
This  was  pretty  fairly  effected. 

More  recently,  a  monument  to  Bishop  Lonsdale 
has  been  erected  to  the  north  of  the  altar,  and  sedi- 
lia  formed  of  some  of  the  old  canopies,  formerly 
belonging  to  the  choir-screen,  have  been  con- 
structed to  the  south  ;  at  the  back  of  which,  in  the 
aisle,  is  erected  a  monument  to  Dean  Howard, 
with  a  canopy  formed  from  the  same  source. 

The  effigy  of  the  bishop  is  by  Watts,  and  that 
of  the  dean  by  Armstead. 

The  woodwork  of  the  choir  was  executed  by 
Mr.  Evans,  of  Ellaston,  who  will  be  known  to  the 
admirers  of  "  Adam  Bede  "  and  its  authoress. 

Lichfield  necessarily  reminds  me  of  dear  old 
Mr.  Louis  Petit.  I  always  regret  that  I  was  not  on 
more  intimate  terms  with  him.  I  opened  acquain- 
tance with  him  (in  1841, 1  think),  by  a  controversy 


298  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

about  St.  Mary's,  Stafford ;  and  the  odd,  and 
somewhat  perverse,  line  which  he  frequently  took, 
in  parallelism  with  his  more  natural  and  congenial 
vein,  led  him  always  to  fancy  me  to  be  an  oppo- 
nent ;  whereas  I  really  had  a  sincere  affection  and 
an  immense  admiration  for  him.  He  was  of  a 
noble,  generous  nature,  with  fine  gifts,  both  as  a 
scholar,  as  a  gentleman,  and  as  a  most  original 
artist ;  and  though,  as  an  architectural  critic,  he 
was  too  much  led  away  by  a  talented  but  less 
genial  friend  (also  departed),  he  was  nevertheless 
a  grand  creature,  and  as  noble-hearted  a  man  as 
ever  lived.  His  very  face  was  a  charming  picture. 

PETERBOROUGH  CATHEDRAL. 

Here  I  have  done  comparatively  little.  I  had 
many  years  back,  in  Dean  Butler's  time,  under- 
pinned the  foundations  of  a  part  of  the  church 
towards  the  north-east.  At  a  later  period  I  did 
the  same  to  the  eastern  aisles  of  the  transepts, 
which  were  giving  way,  and  added  buttresses  to 
them.  About  the  same  time  some  decoration  was 
carried  out  in  the  ceiling  of  the  choir,  and  generally 
the  whitewash  has  been  cleaned  from  most  of  the 
interior. 

A  few  years  back  my  attention  had  been  called 
to  some  unquestionable  evidences  of  continued, 
and  increasing,  subsidence  all  along  the  north  side 
of  the  church.  These  parts  had  long  since  shown 
signs  of  considerable  sinking,  but  these  new  proofs 
were  of  an  alarming  character.  I  strongly  advised 
that  the  north  aisle  of  the  nave  should  be  securely 
shored,  and  this  was  done,  but  for  a  very  long 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  299 

time  the  chapter,  with  one  brilliant  exception, 
did  all  in  their  power  to  shut  their  own  eyes,  and 
those  of  the  public,  to  the  truth.  They  called  in 
another  architect,  who  preached  "  Peace  !  peace  !  " 
They  then  sent  for  a  third,  who  at  the  first  was 
almost  "  carried  away  with  their  dissimulation," 
but  was  obliged  at  last  to  admit  the  danger.  This 
aisle  has,  therefore,  been  thoroughly  underpinned. 
Still  the  central  tower,  which  had  been  affected  by 
the  general  movement  northwards,  and  also  the 
north  aisle,  of  the  choir  are  in  a  very  sad  state,  and 
nothing  is  doing.  Some  of  the  chapter,  when 
their  eyes  were  unwillingly  opened,  wanted  to  go 
beyond  me,  and  to  have  flying  buttresses  built 
against  the  north  aisle  wall.  I  did  not  like  this, 
because  it  would  so  seriously  affect  its  aspect.  I 
trust  that  what  we  have  done  may  prove  effectual. 
My  knowledge  of  Peterborough  Cathedral  had 
begun  in  1831  during  my  first  considerable  archi- 
tectural tour.  Blore  had  then  just  completed  the 
rearrangement  of  the  choir.  My  visits  to  Boston 
brought  me  in  frequent  contact  with  it.  When  I 
used  to  go  down  by  the  Boston  mail,  if  it  were 
summer,  I  always  had  a  run  round  the  cathedral, 
while  the  coach  stopped  for  half  an  hour.  The 
view  as  we  came  from  the  east,  along  the  north 
side,  used  to  charm  me  more  than  almost  any 
other  that  I  know  of.  There  were  at  that  time  a 
few  lofty  poplars,  and  trees  of  other  forms,  which 
added  a  wonderful  charm  to  the  remarkable  group 
forming  the  north-west  angle  of  the  cathedral,  as 
seen  from  the  east.  These  have  disappeared, 
perhaps  from  natural  decay ;  and  partly  perhaps 
from  a  strange  prejudice  against  Lombardy  pop- 


3oo  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

lars,  which,  though  possibly  well  grounded  where 
there  are  too  many  of  these  trees,  without  the 
relief  of  other  kinds,  is  a  great  error  where  they 
rise  from,  or  among,  trees  of  other  forms.  I 
remember  hearing  a  man  say  that  when  he  came 
upon  the  view  of  this  group  he  felt  as  if  he  should 
like  to  die  on  the  spot :  his  more  prosaic  com- 
panion replied  that  such  a  sight  was  just  what 
gave  him  the  strongest  desire  to  live. 

I  often  wonder  that  the  interior  of  Peterborough 
Cathedral  does  not  excite  to  stronger  expressions 
of  admiration.  It  seems  to  me,  next  to  Durham, 
to  be  the  finest  Norman  interior  that  we  have. 
Not  only  the  nave,  but  also  the  transepts,  with 
the  remarkable  variation  between  their  eastern 
and  western  sides,  have  always  filled  me  with  the 
highest  admiration,  and  this  is  renewed  by  every 
visit. 

SALISBURY  CATHEDRAL. 

I  was  appointed  to  this  work,  I  think,  about 
1859.  I  have  made  several  reports  upon  it,  to 
which  I  refer. 

The  first  work  undertaken  was  that  of  external 
repair.  The  stone,  though  generally  in  fair  pre- 
servation, was  partially  decayed,  and  the  whole 
building  was  gone  through  carefully  and  conser- 
vatively, replacing  only  such  stones  as  were  irre- 
coverably perished. 

I  made  a  very  careful  survey  of  the  Chilmark 
and  Tisbury  quarries,  and  selected  nearly  all  the 
stone  to  be  used  from  what  is  called  the  "  trough 
bed  "  at  Chilmark,  which  is  a  bed  but  little  used 
in  the  old  work,  though  superior  in  strength  and 


CHAP.  VIL]  Recollections.  301 

durability  to  any  of  the  others.  It  is  almost  a 
pure  limestone,  very  shelly  and  hard,  and  was  left 
unused  by  the  old  masons  simply  because  the 
quarries  were  subterraneous,  and  this  bed  formed 
their  ceiling.  There  is  a  corresponding  bed  in 
one  of  the  quarries  at  Tisbury  (that  nearest  to  the 
village),  but  it  is  not  so  hard  or  good  as  that  one 
bed  at  Chilmark.  The  quarries  at  Teffont  I  do 
not  know,  but  I  believe  that  they  also  contain  this 
bed. 

The  foundations  were  extensively  examined  all 
round  the  church,  and  underpinned  or  repaired 
where  found  necessary.  They  have  been  through- 
out defended  by  a  mass  of  concrete  surrounding 
them,  with  a  channel  formed  above  it. 

Our  next  great  work  was  the  strengthening  of 
the  tower.  The  original  thirteenth-century  builders 
had  erected  a  central  tower,  rising  sufficiently  high 
to  receive  the  roofs  of  the  four  arms  of  the  church. 
The  storey  against  which  these  roofs  abutted  is  a 
very  light  structure,  and  was  intended  to  be  visible 
from  within.  It  is  perforated  in  its  thickness  by  a 
triforium  gallery,  leaving  externally  a  wall  of  little 
more  than  two  feet  in  thickness,  while  the  interior 
consists  of  a  light  arcade  with  Purbeck  marble 
shafts.  The  corner  turrets  have  each  a  staircase, 
rendering  them  mere  shells. 

On  this  frail  structure  the  fourteenth-century 
builders  carried  up  the  vast  tower,  some  eighty  feet 
high,  with  walls  nearly  six  feet  thick,  and  upon  this  a 
spire  rising  180  feet  more.  It  need  not  then  be 
wondered  that  the  older  storey,  so  unduly  loaded, 
should  have  become  shattered.  Subsequent 
builders  have  bolstered  it  up  by  flying  buttresses, 


302  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

and  by  every  form  of  prop  that  they  could  invent, 
till,  as  Price  calculated,  the  sectional  area  of  the 
added  supports  exceeded  that  of  the  original 
structure.  Still,  however,  the  crushing  went  on, 
and  when  I  examined  it,  it  had  proceeded  to  very 
alarming  lengths.  I  proposed  to  bond  it  together 
(in  addition  to  the  numerous  ties  it  already  had)  by 
diagonal  iron  ties,  and  then  gradually  to  insert  new 
stones  in  place  of  those  which  were  shattered. 

The  Chapter,  for  further  satisfaction,  called  in 
the  aid  of  an  engineer  eminent  for  iron  construc- 
tion, Mr.  Shields,  whose  opinion  very  much 
coincided  with  my  own.  To  him  was  confided  the 
arrangement  and  construction  of  the  iron-work, 
which  was  admirably  carried  out  under  his 
direction  by  Messrs.  James  of  London.  It  con- 
sists '  mainly  of  two  heights  of  diagonal  ties, 
branching  out  towards  their  ends  and  passing 
round  the  stair  turrets,  and  so  grasping  them 
firmly,  through  a  height  of  several  feet,  in  which 
space  they  are  connected  by  vertical  irons  placed 
upon  the  exterior  faces.  When  this  system  of  ties 
was  once  firmly  fixed,  I  felt  that  we  could  safely 
proceed  with  the  reparation  of  the  stonework. 
This  was  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  my 
excellent  superintendent,  Mr.  Hutchins.  Nearly 
all  the  steps  of  the  four  staircases  were  shattered, 
and  had  to  be  taken  out  and  renewed,  and  the 
same  was  the  case  with  a  very  great  amount  of 
the  stonework.  This  was  effected  almost  stone  by 
stone,  so  that  small  parts  only  were  disturbed  at 
once  :  a  very  lengthy  process,  but  the  only  safe 
one.  It  spread  over  many  months,  till  at  last 
every  crushed  stone  had  been  replaced  by  one 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  303 

stronger  than  the  old  one  had  ever  been,  and  set 
firmly  in  cement,  so  that  by  the  time  we  had  done, 
the  work  was  stronger  than  it  had  been  when 
new. 

Reparations  of  a  minor  kind  were  effected  through- 
out the  tower  and  even  to  the  top  of  the  spire, 
where  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  inspecting  them  up 
to  the  very  vane. 

We  dare  not  do  anything  to  the  bent  piers  which 
carry  the  tower.  Their  curvature  seems  to  have 
arisen  from  two  causes,  first,  from  the  pressure  of 
the  arcades  upon  their  flanks,  and  secondly,  from 
their  backs  or  flanks  not  consisting,  as  do  their 
fronts,  of  Purbeck  marble  closely  bedded,  but  of 
compressible  rubble  walling.  These  two  causes 
acting  together  would  almost  necessarily  produce 
flexure.  This  had  been  remedied  in  the  north  and 
south  arches  at  an  early  date  by  building  arches 
across  them  at  (say)  half-height.  The  same  might 
have  been  effected  by  a  stone  screen  in  the 
eastern  arch,  but  in  the  western  it  would  produce 
an  inconvenient  obstruction.  I  have  advised  the 
authorities  to  keep  a  watch  over  the  piers,  and  if 
any  increased  curvature  should  be  observed,  to 
take  some  precaution,  such  as  the  insertion  of  iron 
beams  from  pillar  to  pillar. 

On  the  death  of  Bishop  Hamilton  (in  1869)  a 
fund  was  raised  for  the  restoration  of  the  interior 
of  the  choir  as  a  memorial  to  him.  With  this  fund, 
and  amounts  otherwise  obtained,  the  stonework  of 
the  choir  and  its  aisles  has  been  thoroughly  re- 
paired, and  the  choir  fittings  brought  back,  as 
closely  as  possible,  to  what  may  be  supposed  to 
have  been  their  original  state.  All  the  desk-fronts 


304  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

were  modern,  and  no  traces  of  the  old  ones  re- 
mained. The  canopies  were  of  modern  deal.  The 
reredos  was  the  gift  of  Lord  Beauchamp ;  the 
choir-screen  of  Mrs.  Lear. 

During  the  restoration  of  the  choir,  the  colouring 
discovered  under  the  coating  of  yellow  wash  was 
in  part  restored.  That  of  the  Lady  Chapel  was 
repainted  in  the  winter  of  1870-1,  while  I  was  laid 
up  by  serious  illness.  I  do  not  think  that  it  was 
very  faithfully  reproduced  from  the  old  remains. 
I  was  able,  in  the  spring  of  1871,  to  go  and 
examine  the  evidences  of  the  painting  of  the  choir 
ceiling.  This,  as  was  always  known,  was  decorated 
with  medallions  containing  busts  of  prophets. 
These  had  been  visible  until  the  time  of  Wyatt, 
who  covered  them  with  yellow  wash,  which  never- 
theless allowed  them  to  be  slightly  seen.  There 
is  an  interesting  correspondence  about  this  in  the 
Gentleman 's  Magazine,  at  the  time  that  they  were 
being  washed  over.4 

We  very  carefully  removed  the  colour-wash  and 
disclosed  a  considerable  part  of  the  paintings, 
together  with  the  legends  that  accompany  them. 
The  rest  of  the  subjects  we  selected  as  well  as  we 
could  to  continue  the  series.  They  represent 
prophets,  with  legends  from  their  several  books, 
relating  to  the  coming  of  our  Lord.  Those  in  the 
crossing  of  the  eastern  transept  show  our  Lord  in 
Glory  (a  "  Majesty  "),  together  with  the  Apostles 
and  Evangelists.  Eastward,  over  the  presbytery, 
are  depicted  the  employments  proper  to  the  several 
months  of  the  year. 

4  Cf.  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1789, pp.  874, 1065,  1195.— ED. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  305 

In  the  eastern  transepts  are  other  medallions 
which  have  not  yet  been  investigated. 

The  arches  and  walls  of  the  whole  choir  and 
presbytery  were  richly  decorated.  Messrs.  Clay- 
ton and  Bell  made  a  tentative  restoration  of 
some  parts,  but  not  (as  I  now  find)  very  accu- 
rately. I  have  quite  recently  (1877)  made  a  care- 
ful investigation  of  these  decorations  with  the  help 
of  my  talented  assistant  Mr.  S.  Weatherly. 

An  interesting  controversy  arose  last  year  (1876) 
respecting  the  true  position  of  the  high  altar. 
It  was  started  by  the  Rev.  H.  T.  Armfield,  an 
antiquarian,  who  laid  great  stress  upon  the  falling 
off  in  dignity  in  the  decorations  of  the  vaulting 
after  passing  eastward  of  the  crossing,  as  being 
inconsistent  with  the  assumed  position  of  the  high 
altar,  eastward  of  that  spot.  I  refer  to  papers  on 
the  subject,  and  to  a  printed  report  by  myself  and 
my  eldest  son,  which  showed  that  there  were  so 
many  arguments  for  the  received  position,  that  the 
contrary  arguments  were  outweighed ;  though  the 
difficulties  which  they  suggest  have  never  been 
fully  explained. 

The  whole  of  these  lengthened  works  have  been 
carried  out  under  Dean  Hamilton,  assisted  by  the 
chapter  and  by  a  general  committee.  Dean 
Hamilton  deserves  all  possible  praise  and  grati- 
tude, both  from  myself  and  from  all  lovers  of  the 
cathedral.  I  do  not  know  how  to  speak  of  him  as 
he  deserves,  and  it  would  be  simply  impossible  to 
speak  of  him  too  highly.  Beginning  this  great 
work  when  he  was  entering  upon  old  age,  he  has 
continued  it  with  unflagging  energy,  liberality,  and 
devotion,  to,  I  believe,  the  venerable  age  of  eighty- 


306  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

three,  and  though  his  bodily  health  has  all  along 
been  feeble,  and  has  sometimes  wholly  failed  him, 
he  has  never  for  a  moment  shrunk  from  the  work, 
nor  has  the  clearness  of  his  insight  into  all  its 
bearings  for  a  moment  abated.  Personally  I  feel 
the  highest  and  most  sincere  gratitude  to  him  for 
his  uniform  kindness  and  support.  His  latest  act 
has  been  a  new  subscription  of  3ooo/.  towards  the 
repairs  of  the  interior  of  the  nave.  The  whole 
may  most  literally  and  truthfully  be  called  Dean 
Hamilton's  work. 

He  has,  I  fear,  been  sadly  galled  by  the  want  of 
pecuniary  support  from  many  of  the  great  men  of 
the  diocese,  but  these  great  names,  so  conspicuous 
by  their  absence,  it  is  not  my  place  to  enumerate. 

The  two  bishops  of  this  period,  Bishop  Hamil- 
ton and  Bishop  Moberly,  I  must  refer  to  with 
admiration  and  regard.  I  will  also  mention  a 
humbler  name,  that  of  the  late  Mr.  Fisher,  a 
retired  professional  man,  who  devoted  several 
years  of  his  life  to  collecting  and  administering 
funds  for  the  restoration  of  the  cathedral.  Next 
to  the  Dean,  he  really  claims,  as  I  think,  the 
highest  place  among  its  promoters.  One  of  his 
especial  works  was  the  collecting  of  gifts  for 
figures  to  be  placed  in  the  niches  of  the  west 
front,  which  were  executed,  at,  I  fear,  too  low  a 
price,  by  that  very  promising  sculptor,  Mr.  Red- 
fern,  whose  early  death  we  have  such  deep  cause 
to  lament.  This  artist  was  of  humble  birth,  a 
native  of  the  hills  above  Dove  Dale,  wrhere  his 
talent,  while  he  was  but  a  boy,  became  known  to 
Mr.  Beresford  Hope,  who  brought  him  to  London, 
and  placed  him  with  Mr.  Clayton.  He  subse- 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  307 

quently  studied  at  Paris.  I  had  thought  him  a 
successful  man,  but  it  turns  out  now  that  his 
spirits  were  broken  by  pecuniary  distress,  and  that 
he  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  cruel  usurers,  who 
made  his  life  a  torment  to  him,  and  this  so  under- 
mined his  health  that  he  fell  a  victim  to  some, 
otherwise  slight,  attack  of  indisposition.  He  was 
one  of  four  sculptors  whom  I  have  known  to  die  in 
poverty  within  about  two  years. 

I  may  mention  two  small  works  at  Salisbury,  in 
which  I  took  an  especial  interest.  One  of  these 
was  the  restoration  of  the  screens  which  part  the 
smaller  transepts  from  the  choir.  These  had  ori-* 
ginally  been  plain  walls  with  very  high  copings  (as 
was  the  case  with  all  the  early  surroundings  of  the 
choir  and 'presbytery)  and  were  each  pierced  by  a 
good  early  english  doorway. 

That  on  the  south  side  had  been  enriched 
externally  in  the  fourteenth  century,  at  the  time 
when  the  transept  arches  were  strengthened,  by  a 
series  of  very  elaborate  niches.  These  niches  had 
been  built  up  solid,  and  the  doorways  so  far 
destroyed  that  no  trace  remained  of  their  original 
form.  By  removing  modern  work  we  found  traces 
of  the  design,  both  of  these  doorways,  and  of  the 
niche  work,  which  by  long  and  careful  study  was 
developed  into  certainty,  and  they  have  been  now 
restored  to  their  true  forms.  I  have  some  idea 
that  the  niches  had  at  one  time  been  arcaded 
towards  the  choir,  but  this  was  not  proved  with 
certainty. 

The  other  was  the  restoration  to  its  original 
place  of  the  effigy  attributed  to  Bishop  Poore. 
This  had  occupied  the  position  of  a  founder's 

X    2 


308  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

tomb  to  the  north  of  the  high  altar,  under  a  part 
of  the  thick  screen-wall,  which  was  arcaded  to 
receive  it :  as  is  shown  by  Carter,  both  in  his 
architectural  book,  and  by  his  sketch  made  in 
1781,  which  was  published  by  Dr.  Milner.  Wyatt 
swept  away  the  whole  of  this,  and  placed  the 
effigy  in  the  north-east  transept  upon  a  fifteenth 
century  altar-tomb  belonging  to  some  one  else. 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  retranslating  it  to  its 
old  position,  and  of  re-erecting  the  arcaded  screen- 
wall  over  it ;  in  doing  which  I  was  aided  by  some 
beautiful  fragments  recently  discovered,  which, 
though  probably  not  parts  of  the  tomb,  very  much 
resemble  Carter's  sketch. 

Where  Wyatt  deposited  the  body  found  in  the 
tomb  no  one  knows.  As  to  the  question  whether 
this  was  or  was  not  Bishop  Poore's  tomb,  I  would 
refer  to  a  correspondence  between  myself  and 
Canon  Jones,  of  Bradford,  as  also  to  a  letter 
addressed  by  me  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  in  1876,  and  to  the  report  already 
referred  to  upon  the  position  of  the  high  altar. 

I  may  mention  that  the  tablet  described  by 
Leland  states  that  Bishop  Poore  was  buried  at 
Durham.  A  document  in  the  "  Fcedera  "  says,  I 
believe,  the  same.  Matthew  Paris,  Matthew  of 
Westminster,  and  a  document  in  the  hands  of 
Canon  Jones,  all  say  that  the  bishop  was  buried 
at  Tarrant.  Bishop  Godwin  says  the  same,  but 
his  editor  states  that  Poore  desired  to  be  there 
interred,  but  that  the  Salisbury  people  claimed 
his  body  and  left  only  his  heart  at  Tarrant.  Dr. 
Milner  adopts  this  view.  A  body  was,  anyhow, 
found  by  Wyatt  in  the  tomb. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  309 

CHICHESTER  CATHEDRAL. 

I  was  called  in  after  the  fall  of  the  central 
tower5  to  reconstruct  what  had  fallen  ;  but  not 
wishing  to  displace  Mr.  Slater,  the  architect  in 
whose  hands  the  work  had  previously  been,  I 
voluntarily  associated  him  with  myself,  and  shared 
the  payments  with  him.  He  was  not,  however, 
acknowledged  by  the  restoration  committee. 

The  work  was  carried  out  under  a  general  com- 
mittee, of  whom  the  Duke  of  Richmond  was 
chairman.  It  was,  I  think,  the  finest  committee 
I  ever  worked  under ;  extremely  numerous,  and 
consisting  of  an  admirable  set  of  men,  among 
whom  I  may  mention  Bishop  Gilbert  and  Dean 
Hook.  I  at  once  made  most  careful  examination 
of  the  remains,  and  stationed  my  son  Gilbert  at 
Chichester  while  the  vast  heap  of  debris  was 
removed.  His  task  was,  by  the  help  of  prints 
and  photographs,  to  "  spot "  and  identify  every 
moulded  and  carved  stone  found  among  the  debris, 
and  to  label  and  register  them  so  that  we  might 
have  every  detail  of  the  old  work  to  refer  to,  and, 
if  sufficiently  preserved,  to  re-use.  He  executed 
this  task  most  admirably,  so  much  so  that  we 
were  not  left  to  conjecture  for  any  detail  of  the 
tower,  and  much  was  refixed  in  the  new  work.6 

We    should,   however,  have  been  uncertain   as 

5  This  took  place  on  February  21,  1861,  at  1.30  p.m. — ED. 

8  Of  this  work  1  had  the  satisfaction  of  superintending  every 
detail,  from  the  foundations  which  I  set  out  myself,  to  the 
weathercock  (the  old  one)  which  I  refixed  with  my  own  hands, 
on  June  z8th,  1866,  upon  which  day  the  completion  of  the  spire 
was  celebrated  by  a  solemn  Te  Deum,  sung  in  the  presence  of 
the  Bishop. — ED. 


^io  Sir  Gilbert* Scott. 

\j 

to  some  actual  dimensions,  had  it  not  been  that 
a  former  resident  architect7  had  made  perfect 
measured  drawings  of  the  whole,  which  drawings 
had  come  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Slater  :  these 
my  association  with  him  had  given  me  the  use  of. 
This  was  a  most  happy  circumstance,  and  enabled 
us  to  put  together  upon  paper  all  the  fragments 
with  certainty  of  correctness :  so,  one  thing  with 
another,  the  whole  design  was  absolutely  and  indis- 
putably recovered.  The  only  deviation  from  the 
design  of  the  old  steeple  was  this.  The  four  arms 
of  the  cross  had  been  (probably  in  the  fourteenth 
century)  raised  some  five  or  six  feet  in  height,  and 
thus  had  buried  a  part  of  what  had  originally  been 
the  clear  height  of  the  tower,  and  with  it  an  orna- 
mental arcading  running  round  it.  I  lifted  out 
the  tower  from  this  encroachment  by  adding  five 
or  six  feet  to  its  height ;  so  that  it  now  rises  above 
the  surrounding  roofs  as  much  as  it  originally  did. 
I  also  omitted  the  partial  walling  up  of  the  belfry 
windows,  which  may  be  seen  in  old  views. 

The  new  work  was  carried  out  with  great  solidity. 
The  foundations  were  sunk  to  a  considerable  depth  ; 
in  doing  which  we  found  many  Roman  remains, 
fragments  of  mosaic  pavements,  pottery,  &c.,  and 
also  several  boars'  tusks. 

The  foundation  of  each  pier  was  a  square  bulk 
of  masonry  surrounded  by  stepped  buttresses  and 
immense  footings,  all  built  of  great  blocks  of 
Purbeck  stone,  and  laid  on  a  mass  of  cement 
concrete. 

The  piers  to  some  height  above  the  floor  of  the 
church  are  wholly  of  Purbeck  stone  set  in  cement, 

7  Mr.  Joseph  Butler,  surveyor  to  the  chapter  property. — ED. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  311 

but  as  this  was  found'  ruinously  costly  they  were 
carried  up  above  that  level  with  dressings  of  Port- 
land stone,  but  the  mass  of  Purbeck.  The  super- 
structure was  partly  of  Chilmark  stone  and  partly 
of  the  rag  from  Purbeck. 

No  part  of  the  piers  or  other  portions  bearing 
concentrated  weight  have  any  rubble  walling,  but 
are  wholly  of  block  stone ;  that  of  the  piers  and  a 
good  deal  more  being  laid  in  cement. 

The  tower  was  carried  up  to  the  base  of  the 
spire  independently  of  the  old  structure,  being 
steadied  by  massive  shoring.  When  we  had 
reached  that  height,  the  arches,  walls,  &c.,  con- 
necting the  four  arms  of  the  cross  were  completed, 
thus  uniting  the  new  tower  with  the  old  structure. 
This  done,  the  spire  was  carried  up.  I  do  not 
think  that  a  settlement  of  a  hair's  breadth,  shows 
itself.  This  is  as  admirable  a  piece  of  masonry  as 
ever  was  erected,  and  as  faithful  a  restoration. 

The  foundations  and  the  lower  part  of  the  piers 
were  built  by  Mr.  Bushby,  of  Littlehampton ;  the 
rest  of  the  work  by  Messrs.  Beanland,  of  Bradford, 
in  Yorkshire.  The  clerk  of  the  works  was  Mr. 
Marshall,  now  in  business  at  Chichester. 

I  have  since,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Slater, 
carried  on  the  restoration  of  the  Lady  Chapel, 
and  of  a  chapel  to  the  east  of  the  south  transept. 

The  fitting  up  of  the  choir,  &c.,  were  wholly 
Mr.  Slater's  work.  I  had  nothing  to  do  with 
these. 

ST.  DAVID'S  CATHEDRAL. 

I  had  visited  St.  David's  before  I  was  called  in 
there,  and  had  sketched  most  of  its  details.  I  had 


3 1 2  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

also  read  and  reviewed  Basil  Jones  and  Freeman's 
history  of  it,  so  that  I  was  fairly  prepared  for  my 
work,  which  has  been  a  very  interesting  and 
arduous  one. 

My  first  report  will  show  in  what  condition  I 
found  the  church,  and  my  second,  addressed  to 
Bishop  Thirlwall,  the  nature  of  the  principal 
works.  The  most  difficult  of  these  was  the  repa- 
ration of  the  tower,  which  involved  little  short 
of  the  reconstruction  of  its  two  western  piers. 
This  was  carried  out  with  admirable  care  and 
energy  by  the  builder,  Mr.  Wood  of  Worcester, 
under  my  very  excellent  clerk  of  the  works,  Mr. 
Clear,  who  had  just  completed  a  similar  work  for 
me  on  a  smaller  scale  in  Darlington  Church. 

The  cathedral  had  been  erected  by  Bishop 
De  Leia  in  the  latter  years  of  the  twelfth  century, 
but  the  tower  had  fallen,  through  the  failure  of  its 
two  eastern  piers  about  1220.  In  rebuilding  it 
the  two  western  piers  were  left  standing,  so  that 
the  tower  was  supported  on  piers  of  unequal 
strength. 

During  the  six  centuries  which  have  passed  since 
this,  the  height  and  weight  of  the  tower  had  been 
vastly  increased ;  and  while  the  two  eastern  piers 
have  borne  it  well,  the  two  western  ones  had 
gradually  become  crushed  literally  to  fragments. 
At  one  time  a  vast  wall  had  been  erected  between 
the  piers,  displacing  half  the  width  of  the  choir 
screen,  but  the  abutment  was  insufficient.  One 
transept-arch  had  also  been  walled  up,  as  I  think 
had  been  the  nave  arch,  though  this  had  been  re- 
opened before  I  was  called  in.  Not  only  were  the 
two  older  piers  thus  shattered,  but  very  much  of 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  313 

the  superstructure  also,  while  the  later  storeys 
above  were  split  from  top  to  bottom  by  gaping 
cracks  of  vast  width.  I  trust  the  tower  is  now 
perfectly  sound. 

Besides  this  great  work,  the  church  has  been 
put  into  substantial  repair  throughout,  excepting  a 
part  of  the  south  transept  and  the  porch.  The 
aisles  of  the  eastern  arm,  once  in  ruins,  have  been 
roofed,  repaired  and  re-united  with  the  church. 

The  east  end  had  originally  a  fine  triplet  of 
lancet  windows  of  very  early  style  and  over  these 
four  lancets  of  somewhat  later  date.  The  former 
had  been  blocked  up  by  the  addition  in  front  of 
them  of  Bishop  Vaughan's  chapel.  The  latter  had 
(excepting  their  outer  jambs)  been  replaced  by  a 
perpendicular  window  embracing  the  width  of  the 
four  older  lancets.  This  perpendicular  window 
was  of  inferior  stone,  and  was  so  decayed  as  to 
need  renewal.  I  discovered  when  I  came  to  deal 
with  it,  that  the  sills  of  the  four  lights  remained 
beneath  the  later  sill,  and  that  the  internal  com- 
prising arch  was  formed  of  the  internal  arch  stones 
of  the  older  lancets.  I  further  discovered  that  a 
certain  heightening  of  the  side  walls,  added  in  the 
fifteenth  or  sixteenth  century,  contained  the  debris 
of  the  original  east  windows.  I  determined  on  a 
bolder  course  than  usual,  and  took  down  the  added 
walling  for  the  treasure  buried  in  it,  and,  having 
secured  that  treasure,  rebuilt  it.  This  gave  me 
the  details  of  the  eastern  lancets  perfectly,  as  to 
design,  and  in  a  great  measure  the  actual  stone- 
work fit  to  be  re-used,  so  that  the  lights  are  now 
replaced,  in  part  with  their  old  material,  wholly  of 
their  old  design. 


314  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

We  found  that  the  rafters  of  the  flat  roof 
of  the  eastern  arm  had  belonged  to  the  high 
roof  of  early  times.  I  determined,  however  not 
to  replace  them  as  a  high  pitched  roof  because 
the  later  roof  was  of  good  design  and  capable 
of  reparation.  Mr.  E.  A.  Freeman  says  he  would 
either  have  retained  the  perpendicular  window 
or  else  have  "  gone  the  whole  hog"  arid  re- 
stored the  high  roof.  I  reply,  i.  The  perpen- 
dicular window  was  rotten,  and  I  had  found  the 
older  one.  2.  The  perpendicular  roof  was  hand- 
some and  susceptible  of  reparation,  and  the  old 
one  was  of  plain  square  timbers.  3.  I  knew  what 
the  east  end  had  been  up  to  the  foot  of  the  gable, 
and  thus  far  I  could  restore  it  with  absolute 
certainty,  and  in  a  considerable  degree  with  its 
own  actual  material  and  workmanship,  but  I  knew 
nothing  whatever  of  the  design  of  the  older 
gable.  I  therefore  took  the  intermediate  course, 
preserving  and  replacing  all  I  knew  of  the 
earlier  work,  and  beyond  this  preserving  the 
later. 

One  thing  that  I  did  was  non-conservative. 
The  two  stories  over  the  tower  arches  had  formed 
an  open  lantern,  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies below,  and  of  the  fourteenth  above.  Timber 
groining  had  however  been  introduced  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  cutting  across  the  windows  and 
spoiling  this  fine  feature.  I  lifted  this  groining  to 
the  top  of  the  lantern,  and  by  doing  so  at  once  pre- 
served it,  and  exposed  to  view  the  lantern  windows. 

The  whole  of  the  church  had  been  prepared  for 
stone  groining,  but  none  of  it  erected,  excepting 
in  the  eastern  chapels  (now  mostly  ruined).  The 


CHAP,  viz.]  Recollections.  315 

north  transept  roof  being  very  rough  and  un- 
sightly, I  have  ventured  to  complete  the  groining 
beneath  it,  but  only  in  oak.  I  should  wish  to  do 
the  same  in  the  south  transept.  The  beautiful 
oak  ceiling  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  the  nave  has 
been  thoroughly  repaired. 

I  should  have  mentioned  above  that  the  walled- 
up  eastern  triplet  has  been  filled  with  enamel 
mosaic,  and  the  four  lancets  over  it  with  stained 
glass,  at  the  expense  of  my  late  dear  friend  the 
Rev.  John  Lucy  of  Hampton  Lucy,  as  a  memorial 
to  Bishop  Lucy. 

I  am  now  preparing  to  restore  the  west  front 
(which  was  mainly  rebuilt  by  Mr.  Nash),  as  a 
memorial  to  Bishop  Thirlwall. 

This  work  has  been  carried  on  under  a  general 
committee  of  which  the  Bishop  has  been  chair- 
man. The  secretary  has  all  along  been  Mr. 
Charles  Allen  of  Tenby,  a  very  talented  and 
business-like  gentleman,  who  was  formerly  in 
India  and  was  private  secretary  to  Lord  Dalhousie 
when  Governor- General.  The  Dean  has  taken  but 
little  part  in  it. 

The  leading  Canon  when  I  undertook  the  work 
was  a  most  eccentric  man,  aristocratic  and  gen- 
tlemanly by  nature,  but,  as  one  must  suppose, 
somewhat  touched  in  his  mind.  His  mono- 
mania was  hatred  of  the  Dean  and  of  most  of 
the  Canons,  which  he  carried  to  a  most  amusing 
extent.  Next  to  that  came  hatred  of  all  that  is 
Welsh,  though  a  Welshman  himself ;  and  lastly,  a 
general  hatred  of  the  human  race :  sentiments, 
however,  expressed  with  the  greatest  amount  of 
bonhomie  and  joviality;  which  made  him  an 


3 1 6  Sir  Gilbert  Scoff. 

amusing,  though  tiresome  companion,  but  a  man 
little  suited  to  promote  a  great  work  like  this. 
Indeed,  he  sometimes  used  to  say  that  he  wished 
the  whole  Cathedral  was  pulled  down  and  a  new 
one  built.  Happily  we  have  a  canon  now  in  his 
place  who  is  the  very  reverse,  a  thorough  pro- 
moter of  the  work  not  only  by  his  influence  but 
by  his  example,  as  he  has  undertaken  the  north 
transept  at  his  own  cost.8 

When  we  have  restored  the  west  end  and  the 
south  transept,  the  work  still  remaining  will  be 
the  recovery  from  a  state  of  ruin  of  the  eastern 
chapels  :  and  a  most  important  work  it  will  be. 

BANGOR  CATHEDRAL. 

Never  was  so  dreary  a  work  undertaken  as  this 
looked  at  first  sight.  I  used  to  say  that  Bangor 
Cathedral  contained  nothing  worth  seeing  but 
three  buttresses. 

I  saw  it  first  some  seven  or  eight  and  twenty 
years  ago,  when  travelling  in  Wales,  in  search  of 
green  slate,  with  Mr.  Moffatt.  These  noble 
buttresses  struck  me  so  much  that  I  obtained  leave 
to  excavate  round  one  of  their  bases,  which  had 
been  deeply  buried  by  the  accumulation  of  soil. 

When  a  few  years  since  I  was  appointed  archi- 
tect to  the  restoration  I  again  felt  a  desire  to  see 
this  buried  base,  forgetting  for  the  moment  that  I 
had  taken  measured  sketches  of  it  more  than 
twenty  years  before.  There  chanced  to  be  a 
crowd  in  the  churchyard  owing  to  the  funeral  of 
some  person  of  note,  and  my  excavation  was 
mobbed.  When  standing  between  the  crowd  and 
8  Canon  Allen,  now  Dean  of  St.  David's. — ED. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  317 

the  hole,  I  heard  a  Welshman  behind  me  exclaim, 
"I — mind — Scott — and — Moffatt — digging — there 
— before,"  which  called  to  my  mind  my  former 
researches  which  I  had  so  strangely  forgotten  ; 
though  I  had  often  referred  to  and  made  use  of 
my  sketches  then  made. 

On  more  careful  examination  I  saw  reason  to 
hope  that  a  careful  search  would  bring  to  light 
more  work  of  the  age  of  these  buttresses,  and  this 
hope  has  been  amply  realized. 

The  cathedral  seems  to  have  been  built  (so  far 
as  concerns  its  oldest  existing  remains)  about  the 
time  of  King  Stephen.  It  was  probably  damaged 
during  the  Edwardian  Wars,  and  its  eastern  part, 
or  rather  perhaps  its  transepts,  rebuilt  wholly  or 
in  part  after  their  termination.  A  century  or  more 
later  it  was  burnt  by  Owen  Glendower,  and  lay  in 
ruins  for  most  of  the  fifteenth  century,  till  restored 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  VII. 

Since  that  time  it  has  passed  through  a  course 
of  gradual  degradation,  up  to  the  period  of  the 
commencement  of  the  works  still  in  progress. 

We  soon  found  that  the  more  modern  walls, 
whether  of  Henry  the  Seventh's  time,  or  of  later 
date,  contained  vast  quantities  of  the  debris  of  the 
church  partially  destroyed  by  Glendower,  and  as 
the  state  of  repair  of  these  parts  demanded  the 
removal  of  much  of  the  work  of  this  later  date,  we 
were  enabled  to  exhume  these  remains.  We  found 
among  them  enough  to  complete  the  design  of  the 
two  great  transept  windows,  and  to  reconstruct 
them,  in  part,  with  their  own  materials.  We  found 
also  portions  of,  I  think,  seven  other  buttresses  of 
nearly  the  same  design  with  the  original  three, 


3 1 8  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

besides  very  numerous  other  details,  such  as  the 
corbel-tables  of  the  transepts  and  chancel,  the 
jambs,  bases  and  caps  to  the  arches  of  the  cross- 
ing, and  of  the  other  arches  opening  into  the 
transepts,  &c.,  &c.,  most  of  which  have  been 
followed,  and  often  the  stones  themselves  re-used. 

Nearly  the  only  exception  is  the  design  of  the 
crossing-piers,  which  were  originally  too  weak,  and 
these,  though  following  in  part  the  ancient  design, 
have  been  increased  in  size. 

We  found  also  much  of  the  tile  pavement ;  also 
the  plan  of  the  earlier  Norman  piers  of  the  cross- 
ing, and  generally  of  the  central  portion  of  the 
Norman  church.  The  south  transept  is  carried 
out  exactly  according  to  the  evidences  found,  but 
we  were  obliged  to  raise  the  level  of  the  floor  of 
that  on  the  north,  owing  to  its  having  been,  for 
some  reason,  placed  impracticably  low. 

The  transept-crossing,  with  preparations  for  a 
central  tower,  are  complete,  as  also  is  the  structure 
of  the  chancel ;  in  which  I  have  retained  the  work 
of  Henry  the  Seventh's  time,  though  I  have  added 
the  earlier  buttresses  which  we  discovered. 

I  beg  to  refer  to  the  second  report  which  I 
made  when  the  work  had  attained  a  certain  degree 
of  forwardness.  It  is  still  going  on,  thanks  mainly 
to  the  liberality  of  Lord  Penrhyn. 

ST.  ASAPH  CATHEDRAL. 

This  has  not  been  an  interesting  work.  It  is 
one  of  a  minor  class,  consisting  of  (i)  The  re- 
arrangement of  the  choir;  (2)  The  external  re- 
modelling of  the  eastern  arm  of  the  church ; 
(3)  The  opening  out  of  the  clerestory  of  the  nave 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  319 

and  the  internal  improvement  of  its  roof ;  with  a 
few  other  smaller  matters. 

The  chancel,  with  the  exception  of  its  late  deco- 
rated east  window,  had  been  externally  renewed  in 
costly  stone  but  horrid  architecture,  early,  I  sup- 
pose, in  this  century ;  not  the  smallest  trace  of  its 
old  design  being  left.  There  were  extant  early 
prints  of  it,  and  from  these  I  made  a  design  for  its 
restoration,  but  accompanied  it  by  earnest  advice, 
not  to  act  upon  it  until  the  whole  work  had  been 
stripped  of  its  modern  concealment,  and  evidences 
of  its  original  design  searched  after.  This  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  ignored,  saying  that  they  could  not 
have  their  cathedral  disturbed  earlier  than  was 
necessary,  and  1,  in  an  evil  moment  of  weakness, 
yielded.  I  introduced  two  couplets  on  either 
side,  designed  as  closely  as  I  could  from  the 
prints  ;  when  at  length,  as  the  work  approached  the 
central  tower,  to  our  dismay  the  old  details  made 
their  appearance.  Whether  to  welcome  their 
apparition,  as  I  am  wont  so  heartily  to  do,  or  to 
deprecate  it  as  the  Tiemesis  I  so  fully  deserved,  I 
did  not  know.  I  could  not  well  ask  for  money  to 
re-do  all  I  had  done,  and  yet  I  could  not  repeat  it 
in  the  face  of  facts  such  as  these.  I  therefore 
restored  the  remaining  windows  on  either  side  cor- 
rectly, and  left  the  others  to  take  their  chance : 
monuments  of  weak  compliance,  and  beacons  to 
warn  others  against  such  foolish  conduct.  There 
ought  to  be  a  brass  plate  set  up  recording  our 
shame  and  our  repentance. 

I  found  the  old  stalls  arranged  in  the  structural 
chancel,  and  wretched  deal-grained  copies  of  them 
placed  under  the  crossing.  I  removed  the  real 


320  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

stalls  into  the  crossing;  but,  1  regret  to  say, 
seated  the  eastern  arm,  a  step  which  was  pressed 
upon  me  against  my  wish. 

I  think  it  might  have  been  better  to  have 
kept  them  where  they  were,  and  to  have  thrown 
the  crossing  into  the  nave  as  I  am  doing  at  Ban- 
gor.  Both  had  originally  their  stalls  in  the  cross- 
ing ;  but  at  Bangor  they  were  removed  (or  placed) 
eastward  in  the  re-arrangement  under  Henry  the 
Seventh. 

The  nave  had  a  modern  roof  with  plaster  ceiling 
of  an  arched  form  hiding  the  curious  clerestory. 
The  roof  itself  was  substantial,  and  as  it  lent  itself 
well  to  a  form  which  would  show  the  windows  (a 
form  founded  on  that  of  the  transepts  of  York),  I 
adopted  that  treatment,  and  I  think  with  fair  suc- 
cess. 

ST.  ALBANS  ABBEY, 

August  8//z,  1872. 

IT  was  many  years  ago — I  forget  how  many — that 
I  was  first  appointed  architect  to  St.  Albans 
Abbey,  and  it  was  many  yearafe  before  that  that  I 
had  first  visited  it,  and  still  longer  since  I  had 
begun  to  entertain  a  romantic  interest  for  it.  It 
was  while  I  yet  lived  at  Gawcott  that  my  enthu- 
siasm was  first  stirred  up  towards  St.  Albans  by 
Henry  Rumsey,  my  father's  pupil.  He  promised 
to  get  my  uncle  King  to  take  me  there  from 
Latimers ;  but  this  never  came  off.  Still  earlier  I 
can  recollect  hearing  from  my  old  aunt  Gilbert  the 
nursery  rhyme, — 

"  When  Verulam  stood 

St.  Albans  was  a  wood  ; 

Now  St.  Albans  is  a  town 

Verulam's  thrown  down ;" 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  321 

and  later  my  interest  was  excited  by  hearing  that 
two  places  in  our  neighbourhood  had  to  send  their 
children  there  for  confirmation,  because  they  were 
peculiars  of  London,  and,  as  I  now  know,  because 
Offa  had  granted  them  to  St.  Albans  Abbey. 

When  I  first  turned  my  attention  to  architecture 
I  almost  dreamed  of  St.  Albans.  I  so  inspired 
my  fellow-pupil,  though  not  much  of  a  gothicist, 
that  he  walked  there  with  his  brothers  and  saw  it 
before  me.  He  was,  however,  punished  for  his 
temerity  by  being  apprehended  as  an  incendiary. 
It  was  in  the  days  of  "  Swing."9 

I  forget  whether  it  was  in  1827  or  1828 — my 
first  or  my  second  year  in  London — that  I  planned 
with  my  brother  John,  then  articled  at  Chesham, 
to  meet  him  at  St.  Albans,  and  to  walk  on  to 
Gawcott  (for  our  holiday)  together.  I  recollect 
well  the  romantic  feeling  I  attached  to  the  con- 
cluding clause  of  one  of  his  letters  : — "  Adieu  ! 
till  we  meet  at  the  '  Woolpack '  " — that  being 
a  hostelry  at  St.  Albans.  However,  by  some 
shifting  of  the  cards,  we  met  in  London,  and  got 
to  St.  Albans,  part  of  the  way  on  foot,  and  part  by 
coach.  It  was,  I  know,  on  the  27th  of  May,  as  I 
remember  the  oak-apples  worn  two  days  after,  but 
I  forget  the  year.  I  well  remember  the  intensity 
of  my  delight  at  this  visit. 

What,  however,  I  referred  to  at  starting  was  my 

9  This  was  a  period  of  great  discontent  among  the  agricul- 
tural labourers,  owing  in  part  to  the  introduction  of  machinery, 
and  in  part  to  the  severity  with  which  the  Game  Laws  were 
enforced.  Incendiary  fires  were  common,  and  threatening 
letters  were  employed  as  a  means  of  coercing  farmers  and 
landlords.  These  letters  usually  bore  the  signature  of  a  feigned 
"  Captain  Swing."— ED. 

Y 


322  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

being  called  in  to  report  on  the  Abbey  many  years 
back.  The  immediate  cause  of  this  was  the  hope, 
then  entertained,  that  St.  Albans  would  shortly  be 
erected  into  a  see.  Subscriptions  were  raised  on 
the  condition  of  this  taking  place,  and  on  the 
failure  of  the  scheme  were  returned ;  all  but  a 
portion  which  had  been  given  unconditionally, 
which  was  expended  on  some  ordinary  repairs, 
mainly  of  the  north  arcade  of  the  nave,  and  on 
some  parts  of  the  north  transept. 

My  report  was  printed,  and  is  extant.  I  shortly 
afterwards  gave  a  walking-lecture  at  the  Abbey : 
this  was  in  part  written,  but  is  now  lost,  excepting 
such  fragments  as  Dr.  Nicholson  gathered  for  his 
guide-book  (since  greatly  amplified).  I  was  called 
in  again  last  year  to  report  afresh,  owing  to  a  new 
movement  for  the  restoration  of  the  church.  A 
public  meeting  was  held  in  London,  and  funds  were 
raised  to  somewhere  about  one-quarter  of  what 
was  needed. 

The  present  work  commenced  about  1870-1, 
owing  to  the  dangerous  condition  of  the  central 
tower.  I  may  refer  to  Mr.  Chappie's  printed 
paper,  giving  an  account  of  the  reparation  of  the 
tower.  The  tower  was  giving  way  seriously  at 
its  north-eastern  corner,  and  also  in  the  walls 
abutting  upon  that  angle.  This  angle  especially, 
but  also  the  tower  generally,  was  thoroughly 
shored.  I  was  laid  by  at  the  time  with  the  illness 
I  was  attacked  with  at  Chester,  and  could  not  go 
at  first  to  inspect  the  system  of  shoring,  but  com- 
municated my  views  to  Chappie  through  my  eldest 
son,  who  was  of  great  service  in  arranging  the 
system  of  shoring.  Early  in  the  spring  I  was  able 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  323 

to  go  myself  and  inspect  it ;  also  to  attend  a 
public  meeting  at  Willis'  Rooms  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  work. 

We  had  first  to  apply  a  vast  system  of  shoring, 
and  then  carefully  to  remove  the  defective  parts, 
replacing  them  with  hard  brickwork  in  cement  and 
running  the  pier  everywhere  full  of  liquid  cement ; 
we,  at  the  same  time,  made  good  the  orders  of 
brickwork  which  had  been  cut  away  :  some  parts 
are  said  to  have  been  cut  out  to  a  depth  of  seven 
feet.  On  the  opposite  side  we  had  to  underpin 
the  foundation,  which  had  been  undermined  by 
burials,  and  to  sustain  it  with  a  vast  mass  of 
cement  concrete. 

The  same  process  in  a  minor  form  was  applied 
to  the  other  piers,  though  we  did  not  restore  the 
inner  orders  to  the  western  piers,  inasmuch  as  we 
supposed  that  they  had  been  cut  away  to  allow  the 
stalls  of  the  monks  to  be  carried  past  them. 

We  found  under  the  south-east  pier  the  evidence 
of  a  marvellous  fact.  Its  foundations  had  been 
excavated  into  a  sort  of  cave,  some  five  or  six  feet 
in  diameter,  which  was  filled  in  with  rubbish  (mere 
dust,  with  some  timber  struts  among  it).  I  can 
only  conceive  that  this  had  been  done  with  the 
intention  of  destroying  the  building  by  setting  fire 
to  the  struts,  but  that  the  process  had  been 
suspended.1 

The  superstructure,  which  was  much  shattered 
and  rent,  has .  been  carefully  and  substantially 

1  It  appears  that  when  the  work  of  destruction  was  counter- 
manded, no  pains  were  taken  to  make  good  the  mischief  already 
done,  and  the  tower  has  remained  propped  up  on  short  oaken 
struts  from  the  "Reformation"  until  the  recent  repair.— ED. 

Y    2 


324  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

repaired  and  bound  together  by  iron  rods.  The 
north  transept  had  been  affected  by  the  general 
failure,  and  is  now  being  repaired :  its  north-east 
angle  has  been  underpinned  to  a  considerable 
depth.  Its  abutting  walls  eastward  have  also 
been  strengthened  ;  so  that  I  trust  the  old  tower 
is  now  safe  and  sound  again. 

We  are  now  engaged  in  the  repairs  of  the  choir 
and  the  restitution  of  the  two  very  curious  en- 
trances to  the  sanctuary  from  the  choir  aisles  with 
the  very  remarkable  tabernacle  work  which  they 
once  sustained.  This  I  had  discovered  on  a 
former  occasion,  having  found  the  fragments  of 
the  tabernacle  work  of  the  southern  entrance 
made  use  of  to  block  up  the  entrance  itself.  This 
I  and  my  assistant,  Mr.  Burlison,  had  put  to- 
gether and  found  nearly  perfect.  It  is  now  being 
erected  in  situ. 

On  the  other  side,  though  we  have  found  no 
fragments,  we  have  discovered  the  traces,  on  the 
wall,  of  similar  tabernacles. 

I  ought  to  have  mentioned  that,  previous  to  the 
commencement  of  the  present  movement,  the 
eastern  chapels,  so  long  alienated,  had  been  re- 
covered to  the  church,  by  making  over  the  old 
gate-house,  long  used  as  a  prison,  to  the  grammar 
school,  which  had  hitherto  occupied  the  Lady 
Chapel.  They  at  present  remain  desolate,  and 
the  footpath  still  perforates  them,  but  surely  this 
cannot  continue.2 

Our  great  discovery  I  have  now  to  relate.  I 
one  day  directed  the  removal  of  the  blocking  up 
of  a  recess  under  one  of  the  windows  of  the  south 
2  This  scandal  has  now  ceased. — ED. 


CHAP,  vii.]  Recollections.  325 

choir  aisle ;  this  was  followed  up  after  I  had  left, 
and  a  number  of  fragments  of  the  substructure 
of  the  shrine  of  St.  Alban  were  found. 

I  will  here  mention  that,  very  long  ago,  Dr. 
Nicholson  had  removed  the  walls  which  blocked 
up  two  of  the  five  arches  formerly  opening  into 
the  eastern  chapels,  and  had  found  (among  other 
things)  a  number  ,  of  beautiful  purbeck  marble 
fragments  which  we  concluded  to  belong  to  this 
structure.  I  bargained  with  him  that  when  he  held 
such  another  field-day  I  should  be  sent  for,  but  he 
died  before  it  occurred,  and  I  was  cheated  out  of 
this  piece  of  archaeological  sport  by  my  zealous 
assistant,  Mr.  Micklethwaite,  who,  like  William  De 
Valence  in  Hatfield  Park,3  killed  the  bucks  during 
my  absence,  so  that  when  I  went  down  thirsting 
for  the  chase  I  found  it  over  and  the  quarry 
taken. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  marble  shrine  (erected 
early  in  the  fourteenth  century)  was  recovered,  and 
is  now,  by  the  ingenuity  of  the  foreman  and  the  clerk 
of  the  works,  set  up  again,  exactly  in  its  old  place, 
stone  for  stone,  and  fragment  for  fragment :  the 
most  marvellous  restitution  that  ever  was  made. 
The  old  site  was  marked  by  the  impressions  of  the 
feet  and  knees  of  the  pilgrims,  and  by  the  sockets 
of  the  pillars,  and  to  these  marks  the  veritable 
stones  are  now  fitted  as  if  they  had  never  been 
removed.  It  is  a  magnificent  piece  of  work,  and 
its  recovery  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  facts  of 
modern  archaeology.  It  is  fair  to  all  parties  to  say 
that  I  got  snubbed  by  the  committee  because  a 
little  of  their  money  was  spent  on  the  discovery, 
3  Cf.  Matthew  Paris  (Bohn's  tr.),  ii.  534. 


326  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

and  was  ordered  to  make  no  more  such  researches 
at  their  expense.  Several  special  subscriptions 
have,  however,  been  made,  and  Mr.  Ruskin,  on 
hearing  of  the  discovery,  guaranteed  the  whole 
cost,  if  needful :  so  that  now  pilgrimages  may  be 
made  again  to  the  shrine  of  the  proto-martyr  of 
Britain. 

This,  however,  is  not  all ;  we  have  also  found, 
and  in  part  set  up,  the  shrine  of  St.  Amphibalus.4 
This  is  of  a  little  later  date,  and  of  common  stone, 
and  it  agrees  with  the  old  description  discovered 
by  Mr.  Mackenzie  Walcott. 

Numerous  other  fragments  were  also  discovered 
which  are  not  yet  appropriated  to  their  places  and 
objects. 

May  the  work  prosper. 

I  ought  to  pay,  in  passing,  a  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  Dr.  Nicholson,  the  late  rector.  No 
man  has  been  more  zealous  for  the  conservation 
and  restoration  of  the  church  than  he.  During  a 
long  period  he  not  only  preserved  the  church  from 
increasing  dilapidation,  but  carried  on  many  effi- 
cient reparations  and  restorations  out  of  the  scan- 
tiest resources.  To  him,  too,  we  owe  the  dis- 
covery of  the  extensive  and  most  interesting  wall- 
paintings,  and  of  many  other  objects  of  interest. 

*  The  priest,  for  concealing  whom  St.  Alban  was  arrested, 
and  to  whom  he  owed  his  conversion. — ED. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

August  ^th,  1872,  Portsmouth. — I  have  been  this 
day  to  Osborne  to  be  knighted. 

I  have  had  a  very  agreeable  day.  I  was  sum- 
moned to  Osborne  to  the  council,  and  was  invited 
to  go  down  by  the  special  train  at  nine  o'clock. 
At  the  station  I  met  Lord  Ripon,  Mr.  Cardwell, 
Mr.  Childers,  the  Lord  Advocate  of  Scotland,  and 
Sir  Arthur  Helps.  We  went  down  together  to 
Gosport,  where  we  adjourned  to  a  large  man-of- 
war's  boat  of  twelve  oars,  and  were  rowed,  under 
the  command  of  an  officer,  to  the  mouth  of  the 
harbour.  Here  we  embarked  on  a  fine  steamer, 
and  proceeded  towards  the  Isle  of  Wight.  After 
a  little  time  our  attention  was  called  by  an  officer 
to  a  mass  of  smoke  far  ahead.  It  was  the  American 
fleet,  which  had  been  for  some  time  lying  in  the 
Southampton  water,  saluting  the  Queen  in  passing 
Osborne.  We  presently  met  them,  one  after 
another,  five  vessels.  On  coming  off  Osborne, 
we  were  landed  in  the  ship's  boat,  and  found 
carriages  in  waiting  to  take  us  up  to  the  house. 
The  Prince  of  Wales' s  two  boys  were  at  the  water- 
side on  their  ponies. 

On  reaching  the  house,  after  a  little  walking 
about,  I  was  asked  to  go  with  the  ministers  to- 


328  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

wards  the  presence  chamber.  Among  them  was 
Lord  Bridport  with  a  sword,  which  'he  informed 
me  was  to  be  used  on  me.  We  waited  on  a  stair- 
case a  long  time,  while  Lord  Ripon,  as  the  Pre- 
sident of  the  Council,  and  I  think  Sir  Arthur 
Helps  as  the  Secretary,  were  with  the  Queen,  and 
while  we  waited  there  the  Prince  of  Wales  passed 
through  the  staircase.  He  shook  hands  with  and 
congratulated  me. 

Presently  Lord  Ripon  came  out  and  told  me  that 
my  business  would  come  on  last :  then  the  council 
were  called  in,  but  their  business  did  not  occupy 
more  than  a  few  minutes,  and,  at  length,  I  was 
summoned.  Having  made  my  bows,  the  sword 
was  handed  to  the  Queen.  She  touched  both  my 
shoulders  with  it  and  said  in  a  familiar  gentle  way, 
"  Sir  Gilbert."  Then  she  held  out  her  hand,  I 
kneeled  again  and  kissed  it,  and  backed  out,  the 
whole  taking  something  less  than  half  a  minute. 

I  should  say  that,  previously,  Mr.  Cardwell  had 
come  out  and  asked  me  which  of  my  names  I 
chose  to  be  called  by,  when  I  chose  "  Gilbert." 

I  thank  God  for  the  honour. 

We  then  adjourned  to  luncheon  with  some  of 
the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  Court. 

I  had  been  there  once  before,  and  had  lunched 
there  then  in  the  same  way  :  this  was  some  nine 
years  ago,  when  my  design  for  the  Prince  Consort 
memorial  was  first  adopted.  Excellent  Sir  Charles 
Phipps  was  there  then  ;  now  Sir  Thomas  Biddulph 
took  his  place.  Sir  John  Cowell,  one  of  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Court,  and  a  member  of  our 
committee,  treated  me  with  much  kindness.  Mr. 
Doyne  Bell  was  also  there. 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  329 

We  returned  to  the  water's  edge,  and  went  back 
to  Gosport  as  we  had  come.  I  then  took  leave 
of  the  members  of  council,  and  crossed  over  to 
Portsmouth  on  my  way  home,  the  twelve-oar  with 
its  officer  taking  me  over. 

I  had  not  seen  the  Prince  of  Wales  since  his 
illness.  He  looks  stouter  and  fairly  well,  yet 
showing  traces  of  the  attack  in  a  more  languid 
tone  and  manner,  but  I  hope  this  will  soon  pass 
off. 

All  the  members  of  council  were  very  kind  and 
agreeable. 

February  zist,  1877. — It  is  four  and  a  half 
years  since  I  wrote  anything  in  this  book. 

Since  that  time  I  have  returned  from  Rook's- 
nest  to  my  old  house  at  Ham,  and  have  lived 
there  three  years  with  my  son  John,  and  his  wife 
and  family,  beside  my  two  younger  sons. 

I  had  a  severe  attack  of  illness  six  months  after 
my  return,  which  led  me  to  make  a  long  stay 
abroad.  I  went  with  my  son  Dukinfield,  and  my 
good  servant  Pavings  to  the  Engadine.  I  had 
just  before  been  elected  President  of  the  Institute 
of  British  Architects,  and  waited  in  England  in 
order  to  perform  some  preliminary  acts  of  hospi- 
tality and  good  fellowship.  We  started  on  July 
loth  (or  rather  on  the  nth,  for  it  was  at  one  in 
the  morning),  from  Harwich  and  went  by  Rotter- 
dam, Cologne,  and  Heidelberg  to  Freiburg,  and 
thence  through  the  Black  Forest  to  Schaff- 
hausen,  then  by  the  Lake  of  Constance  to  Chur, 
and  on  by  the  Albula  pass  to  Samaden,  whence 
we  moved  to  Sils,  and  stayed  there  some  five 
weeks. 


330  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

Here  my  brother  John  and  his  son,  and  my 
own  son  Alwyne,  joined  us,  and  we  travelled  by 
the  Splugen  to  Andermatt  and  Lucerne,  thence 
to  Interlachen  and  eventually  to  Evian  on  the 
lake  of  Geneva.  Here  I  was  strongly  recom- 
mended to  extend  my  tour  and  to  go  to  Rome ; 
so,  being  left  by  my  sons,  I  went  first  to  Lyons, 
then  to  Le  Puy,  Nismes,  Aries,  and  Avignon,  and 
thence  to  Genoa  and  on  by  Piacenza,  Parma, 
Bologna,  Ravenna,  Pistoja  and  Lucca  to  Florence, 
and  again  by  Perugia  and  Assisi  to  Rome. 

Here  I  spent  five  weeks  very  agreeably,  being 
very  much  in  the  company  of  my  old  friend  John 
Henry  Parker.  I  went  thence  to  Naples,  and  to 
Pompeii,  Herculaneum  and  Baiae,  returning  by 
water  to  Genoa  and  from  there  by  Marseilles 
and  Paris,  to  London,  reaching  home  on  New 
Year's  Day,  1874. 

The  next  year  my  son  John  and  I  had  a  trip 
first  through  Normandy,  and  afterwards  to  Ham- 
burg, whence  I  went  with  my  youngest  son  (who 
had  joined  us  at  Brussels)  to  the  Hartz,  the  Saxon 
Switzerland,  Vienna,  Saltzburg,  Munich,  &c.,  and 
home  by  way  of  Strasburg  and  Rheims. 

During  the  autumn  of  this  year  I  determined  to 
remove  to  London,  whether  wisely  or  not  God 
knows !  We  did  not  actually  leave  Ham  until  a 
year  later. 

CHESTER  CATHEDRAL. 

I  commenced  this  work,  so  far  as  related  to  the 
interior  of  the  Lady  Chapel,  many  years  since  in 
conjunction  with  Mr.  Hussey,  who  was  then  archi- 
tect to  the  cathedral.  I  think  so  far  as  we  went 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  331 

the  work  was  fairly  successful,  and  it  was  well 
decorated  in  colour  by  the  late  Octavius  Hudon. 

We  did  not  at  that  time  do  much  external  work, 
but  I  commenced  a  careful  study  of  its  probable 
design,  which  I  afterwards  continued  with  great 
earnestness  for  a  very  long  time. 

The  exterior  had  been  so  cut  to  pieces  that  it 
was  only  by  study,  spread  over  several  years,  that 
its  beautiful  design  was  at  all  recovered. 

I  will  here  refer  to  my  report,  drawn  up  at  the 
time  when  I  was  appointed  successor  to  Mr. 
Hussey,  upon  his  resignation,  and  also  to  a  paper 
read  before  the  local  architectural  society  and 
printed  (now  very  scarce),  which  contains  a  state- 
ment of  what  had  been  done  up  to  its  date. 

The  most  interesting  part  of  the  work  is  that 
already  alluded  to,  the  Lady  Chapel..  The  con- 
nexion between  this  part  of  the  cathedral  and  the 
eastern  parts  of  Bangor,  will  be  found  detailed  in 
the  paper  I  have  mentioned.  This  was  made 
clear  by  the  bases  of  the  buttresses,  and  more  so 
by  a  fairly  complete  buttress,  which  was  found 
embedded  in  the  wall  of  the  later  chapel  on  each 
side  :  that  on  the  north  side  still  remains.  The 
beautiful  cornice  existed  under  the  roofs  of  these 
chapels.  Portions  of  the  open  parapet  were  dis- 
covered, and  were  fitted  into  sockets  found  cut  in 
the  cornice,  and  into  sinkings  in  the  east  walls 
of  the  choir.  Other  details  gradually  developed 
themselves,  the  marks  of  the  buttress-gables  re- 
mained against  the  walls,  breaking  through  the 
cornice;  and,  eventually,  nearly  every  iota  was 
discovered,  up  to  the  top  of  the  cornice,  as  well  as 
the  parapet  over  it.  The  eastern  gable  and  pin- 


332  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

nacles  were  worked  from  conjecture.  The  curious 
mode  in  which  the  roof  springs  from  an  inner  wall 
behind  the  parapet  is  genuine,  that  wall  having 
remained.  The  windows  gave  themselves  almost 
perfectly. 

The  paper  alluded  to  details  the  discovery  of 
the  spire-like  roof  of  the  south-east  apse  of  the 
choir-aisle.  This  was  proved  beyond  all  question 
by  portions  still  remaining  in  place,  and  by  very 
numerous  fragments  found  embedded  in  the  walls. 

The  same  paper  gives  my  reasons  for  departing 
from  my  customary  rule  in  removing  one  of  the 
side  chapels,  which  had  at  a  late  date  been  added 
to  the  Lady  Chapel,  while  I  left  the  other.  It  was 
horribly  decayed,  it  spoiled  that  side  of  the  beauti- 
ful Lady  Chapel,  it  had  destroyed  the  apse  of  the 
choir-aisle,  and  its  walls  were  the  burial  place  of 
the  details  of  the  finer  work  which  it  had  dis- 
placed ;  while  its  design  was  the  same  as  that  of 
the  north  chapel  which  I  left. 

In  its  walls  were  found  the  windows  of  the  apse, 
and  almost  every  detail  of  its  design,  many  of 
which  were  put  up  in  their  proper  places.  I  leave 
others  to  judge  of  the  result,  only  adding  that  the 
structure  is  exact  to  the  old  design,  except  the 
scaling  of  the  spire-like  roof,  of  which  no  evidence 
was  found  ;  but  it  was  so  strongly  pressed,  that  I 
ventured  upon  it.  The  buttress  which  severs  the 
apse  from  the  aisle,  and  the  pinnacle  upon  it,  were 
merely  conjectural. 

The  external  stonework  of  this  cathedral  was  so 
horribly  and  lamentably  decayed,  as  to  reduce  it  to 
a  mere  wreck,  like  a  mouldering  sandstone  cliff. 
The  most  ordinary  details  could  often  only  be 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  333 

found  in  corners  more  protected,  through  accidental 
circumstances,  than  the  rest.  I  can  assert  for 
myself,  and  for  my  able  and  lamented  clerk  of  the 
works,  Mr.  Prater,  that  not  a  stone  retaining  any- 
thing like  its  old  surface  has  been  wilfully  dis- 
placed, nor  a  single  evidence  of  detail  disregarded. 
I  am  the  more  specific  on  this  point,  because  the 
frightful  extent  of  the  decay  forced  upon  me, 
most  unwillingly,  very  considerable  renewal  of  the 
stonework.  I  can  aver,  however,  that  this  was 
unavoidable,  unless,  indeed,  I  was  willing,  and  my 
employers  too,  to  leave  the  cathedral  a  mere  ruin. 
The  present  state  of  the  south-west  angle  of  the 
south  transept  will  show  how  matters  stood : 
though  this  is  not  nearly  so  much  decayed  as  was 
the  tower,  and  some  other  portions.  Other  parts 
were  better,  and  have  been  left  to  speak  for  them- 
selves. We  rebuilt  the  south  walk  of  the  cloister 
exactly  on  its  old  lines.  It  had  long  since  been 
taken  down,  but  was  essential  as  an  abutment  to 
the  aisle  of  the  nave.  I  have  noticed  that  a  news- 
paper scribbler  speaks  of  my  having  "  destroyed 
the  cloister."  Any  one  would  suppose  from  this, 
that  I  had  pulled  down  the  three  remaining  sides  ; 
but  what  this  man  means  by  destruction,  is  the  re- 
instatement of  the  part  which  had  been  destroyed, 
the  other  sides  not  having  been  so  much  as 
touched. 

We  added  the  stone  vaulting  to  the  nave  aisles, 
which  had  been  prepared  for,  but  not  carried  out. 
The  same  was  the  case  with  the  nave  itself.  I 
did  not  venture  upon  adding  stone  vaulting  here, 
but  completed  the  work  in  oak  upon  the  lines 
given  by  the  stone  springers. 


334  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

The  choir  had  been  groined  in  timber  and 
plaster  by  my  predecessor,  upon  the  old  springers. 
I  advised  merely  to  substitute  oak  boarding  for 
the  plaster,  as  the  ribs  were  of  wood,  but  the 
chapter  pressed  its  entire  reconstruction  in  oak, 
owing  to  its  lines  not  being  quite  perfect.  It  has 
been  decorated  by  Clayton  and  Bell.  The  beau- 
tiful stall- work  has  been  carefully  restored.  It  was 
essential  to  the  scheme  that  the  choir  should  be 
opened  out.  I  felt  averse  to  this,  because  the 
stone  screen,  though  not  beautiful,  was  ancient,  ex- 
cepting its  doorway.  I,  however,  consented  to 
remove  it,  and  set  up  its  old  portions  in  the  side 
arches  behind  the  stalls,  and  without  further  dis- 
turbance of  the  canopies  of  the  return  stalls  than 
opening  out  their  panels,  I  have  applied  to  the 
western  side  an  open  screen  founded  on  their  own 
design. 

The  substructure  of  the  shrine  of  St.  Werberg 
had  been  made  into  a  bishop's  throne.  We  have 
removed  it  into  the  south  choir  aisle,  adding  to  it 
some  parts  recently  discovered,  and  have  made  a 
a  new  throne. 

The  arches  of  the  presbytery  are  at  present 
open,  but  will  eventually  have  metal  grilles. 

The  whole  of  the  interior  has  been  carefully 
denuded  of  its  coatings  of  yellow  wash,  without 
disturbing  the  surface  of  the  stone. 

The  old  sedilia  have  been  completed  according 
to  their  own  evidence,  and  one,  which  had  a 
modern  canopy  (though  far  from  new),  has  been 
replaced  by  the  original  one,  strangely  discovered 
among  the  ruins  of  St.  John's  Church.  This  seems 
to  prove  that  all  of  them  came  from  thence. 


CHAP.  VIIL]  Recollections.  335 

The  groined  chambers  to  the  north-east  of  the 
cloister,  which  had  been  subdivided  and  applied  to 
mean  purposes,  have  been  thrown  together  and 
appropriated  as  the  priest-vicars'  vestry. 

The  fine  Norman  crypt  on  the  west  side  of  the 
cloister,  once  the  substructure  of  the  abbot's 
hall,  has  very  unhappily  been  made  over  to  the 
grammar  school,  a  very  ill-judged  proceeding. 

The  site  of  the  abbot's,  and  more  recently  the 
bishop's,  residence  has  also  been  made  over  to  the 
grammar  school,  now  built  anew. 

The  great  work  still  crying  out  to  be  undertaken 
is  the  restoration  of  the  vast  south  transept,  known 
as  St.  Oswald's  Church.  The  sides  of  this  have 
already  been  externally  repaired,  but  the  beautiful 
south  front  was  refaced  with  most  barbarous  work 
early  in  this  century. 

I  have  made  a  design,  founded  on  the  remains 
of  its  aisle  fronts  and  on  old  prints,  for  its  restora- 
tion— a  noble  work  for  any  wealthy  neighbour  to 
undertake.  Its  interior  waits  to  be  dealt  with 
like  that  of  the  nave. 

The  whole  of  these  works,  excepting  the  in- 
terior of  the  Lady  Chapel  (and  not  excepting  the 
whole  of  this)  have  been  carried  out  under  the 
zealous  and  energetic  direction  of  Dean  Howson, 
whose  never-flagging  labour  has  raised  some 
8o,ooo/  for  the  work.  May  he  live  to  see  it  nobly 
completed. 

Another  suggested  work  is  the  addition  of  a 
spire  to  the  central  tower.  This  was  intended  and 
prepared  for  by  its  builders,  early  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  I  do  not  propose  to  venture  on  stone, 
but  have  designed  a  spire  of  timber  covered  with 


336  Sir  Gilbert  Scot  I. 

lead.  This  is  sadly  needed  to  render  the  cathe- 
dral conspicuous  from  the  surrounding  country, 
whence  it  is  either  invisible  or  marked  out  only  by 
the  dull  and  heavy  outline  of  its  tower. 

I  had  here  been  represented  for  several  years 
by  the  most  faithful  and  laborious  of  clerks  of  the 
works,  Mr.  Frater,  whose  early  decease  we  have 
all  had  to  lament  with  very  deep  sorrow.  A  better, 
more  talented,  or  more  conscientious  man  could 
not  be  found  for  such  a  position.  He  was  justly 
respected,  and  is  sincerely  regretted  by  all  who 
knew  him. 

In  the  course  of  our  works  we  made  many  dis- 
coveries relating  to  the  Norman  church.  Mr. 
Hussey  ha'd  long  since  discovered  the  bases  of 
the  pillars  of  the  Norman  apse  (though  unfor- 
tunately he  removed  them).  We  found  parts  of 
the  walls  and  the  responds  of  the  apses  to  the 
aisles,  and  also  the  lower  courses  of  the  apsidal 
chapel  projecting  from  the  north  transept ;  also 
one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Norman  choir  and  some 
parts  of  the  outer  walls  of  the  choir  aisles,  which 
as  far  as  possible  we  have  left  exposed  to  view. 
We  also  found  very  numerous  fragments  of  all 
periods,  some  of  them  very  interesting,  all  of 
which  have  been  preserved. 

The  restoration  of  the  south-east  angle  of 
the  south  transept  involved  immense  study, 
and  though  it  is  no  doubt  as  correct  as  prac- 
ticable, what  we  had  to  work  from  was  a  mere 
wreck. 

GLOUCESTER  CATHEDRAL. 
This  cathedral  was  formerly  under  the  manage- 


CHAP.  VIIL]  Recollections.  337 

ment  (as  to  its  repairs,  &c.)  of  Messrs.  Fulljames 
and  Waller,  architects  of  Gloucester. 

I  was  long  since  called  in  to  report  upon  the 
general  scheme  for  its  reparation  drawn  out  by 
those  gentlemen,  and  especially  by  Mr.  Waller,  a 
man  of  considerable  talent.  At  a  subsequent  date, 
Mr.  Waller  having  retired  owing  to  ill-health,  I 
became  associated  with  Mr.  Fulljames,  and,  later 
still,  upon  that  gentleman's  retirement,  I  took  his 
place.  These  works  were  gradually  carried  on 
under  a  clerk  of  works  (Mr.  Ashbee)  and  a  staff 
of  masons  ;  but  subsequently  the  larger  work  was 
undertaken  of  the  internal  reparation  and  partial 
re-arrangement  of  the  choir.  This  was  carried  out 
with  all  due  regard  to  the  beautiful  woodwork 
which  remained.  The  stalls  and  canopies  have 
been  carefully  restored,  and  as  there  were  no  old 
desk-fronts,  &c.,  these  were  designed  anew,  making 
use  of  some  remains  which  had  been  removed  to 
the  lady  chapel,  both  as  guides,  and  also  as  a  part 
of  the  work. 

The  side  galleries  were  removed.  The  choir- 
screen  (a  modern  one)  remains  untouched,  with 
the  organ  upon  it.  The  Dean  objects  to  opening 
out  the  screen,  and  as  the  return-stalls  are  com- 
plete, I  am  not  at  all  anxious  to  do  so.  The 
organ  is  a  good  seventeenth-century  one,  and  I 
am  very  desirous  to  retain  it,  though,  as  is  usual, 
all  parties  there  condemn  it. 

Among  other  things  we  ascertained,  by  removing 
the  floor  eastward  of  the  beautiful  encaustic  tile- 
floor  of  the  altar  space,  the  position  of  the  inner 
altar  screen,  which  had  been  long  since  done 
away  with.  On  this  site  a  new  reredos  was  erected, 

z 


338  Sir  Gilbert  Scott: 

leaving  a  space  between  the  two  screens,  as  in  old 
times.  Of  the  actual  reredos  little  trace  remained, 
except  fragments  of  details,  and  the  outer  jambs 
of  its  two  doorways.  We  discovered  the  curious 
sunk  area  behind  the  reredos  (with  steps  leading 
into  the  same)  from  which  was  an  entrance  to  the 
space  beneath  the  high  altar.  This  is  now  exposed 
to  view. 

In  making  these  investigations  we  found  the 
bases,  and  lower  parts  of  the  shafts,  of  two  great 
round  pillars  of  the  Norman  apse,  which  still 
remain  beneath  the  floor. 

The  canopies  of  the  beautiful  sedilia  have  been 
restored,  mainly  from  their  own  evidence. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Waller,  having  happily  been 
restored  to  health,  resumed  practice,  and  his  aid  was 
of  very  important  service  in  the  restoration  of  the 
porch,  of  which  he  had,  years  before,  made  careful 
measured  drawings,  since  which  time  the  progress 
of  decay  had  obliterated  much  which  had  then 
existed.  He  was  also  very  useful  in  respect  of 
the  sedilia.  He  has  now  for  some  years  been 
reinstated  in  his  position  of  resident  architect,  I 
retaining  that  of  consulting  architect.  His  in- 
vestigations of  the  history  of  the  church  have  been 
carried  on  with  much  care  and  success,  and  he 
exercises  a  wise  and  important  guardianship  over 
the  fabric,  in  which  he  has,  since  resuming  office, 
carried  out  some  very  important  works  of  repara- 
tion. 

The  choir  vaulting  has  been  decorated  by  Messrs. 
Clayton  and  Bell,  as  I  think,  very  judiciously  and 
successfully,  though  Mr.  Gambier  Parry  thinks  the 
reverse. 


CHAP.  VIIL]  Recollections.  339 

This  gentleman  had  decorated  a  chapel  adjoin- 
ing the  south  transept,  and  had  reported  upon  the 
system  to  be  adopted  for  the  choir  vaulting.  As 
it  would  have  been  too  much  to  decorate  both  the 
ribs,  and  the  intervening  spaces,  while  the  walls 
below  remained  uncoloured,  he  had  recommended 
that  the  spaces  should  be  decorated  and  the  ribs 
left  plain.  I  thought  this  wrong,  because  this 
vaulting  is  an  intricate  system  of  ribs,  an  absolute 
net-work,  in  which  the  figure  of  the  ribs  is  every- 
thing and  the  forms  of  the  intervening  spaces 
nothing.  I  therefore  recommended  to  decorate 
the  ribs  and  leave  the  spaces,  for  the  most  part, 
plain.  This  has  been  done,  the  only  exception 
being  the  star-like  arrangement  of  panels  over  the 
altar,  and  another  over  the  choir  proper :  these 
twro  portions  have  decoration  in  the  spaces.  To 
my  eye  the  effect  is  most  satisfactory. 

RIPON  CATHEDRAL. 

As  to  this  work,  I  refer  to  my  reports  and  also 
to  my  paper  on  it  in  the  Archceological  Journal 
of  1874.  This  cathedral  is  of  transitional  work, 
altered  at  several  periods.  The  choir  unfor- 
tunately had  long  been  converted  into  a  parish 
church,  which  greatly  embarrassed  our  work.  It 
could  not  be  opened  out  to  the  nave,  having  a 
massive  ancient  screen,  serving  perhaps  as  a  but- 
tress to  the  tower  piers.  The  altar-screen,  once  (as 
at  Selby)  a  bay  in  advance,  had  been  removed 
and  the  altar  pushed  back  to  the  east  wall. 

The  choir  was  galleried  and  had  beneath  the 
galleries  a  set  of  boxes  or  closets  for  leading 
families,  though  remains  of  the  side  screens  still 

Z    2 


34O  Sir  Gilder i  Scott. 

existed.  A  part  of  the  beautiful  stall-work  had 
been  injured,  and  repaired  in  an  heterogeneous 
style  when  the  central  spire  fell. 

The  choir  had  been  prepared  for  groining  in  the 
fourteenth  century  (or  late  in  the  thirteenth)  when 
it  was  lengthened.  I  think  it  received  oak  groin- 
ing then,  though  at  a  late  date  this  had  been 
renewed  in  lath  and  plaster  ;  but  this  late  groining 
had  magnificent  oak  bosses  with  figure  subjects 
carved  on  them. 

The  transepts  had  been  groined  in  plaster  and 
papier-mache  some  thirty  or  forty  years  back  by 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners.  The  nave  had 
a  flat  deal  ceiling.  The  nave-aisles  were  prepared 
for  groining,  but  it  had  never  been  carried  out. 

We  substituted  oak  groining  for  the  plaster- 
work,  re-using  the  ancient  bosses.  We  raised  the 
choir  roof  and  the  eastern  gable  to  its  old  pitch. 
We  removed  the  papier-mache  groining  from  the 
transepts,  and  exposed  and  restored  the  old  oak 
roof.  We  (at  a  later  date)  added  oak  vaulting  to 
the  nave,  adapted  to  the  old  corbels  and  imitated 
from  the  transepts  at  York. 

They  could  not  afford  to  raise  the  roof  to  its 
proper  pitch,  but  I  hope  that  this  may  one  day 
follow. 

The  arrangement  of  the  choir  was  difficult  and 
unsatisfactory.  The  old  rood-screen  remaining, 
I  acted  on  my  principle  of  not  disturbing  it,  but 
as  the  cathedral  is  also  a  parish  church,  the 
whole  parochial  congregation  has  to  be  crammed 
into  the  eastern  arm.  I  found  this  effected,  as  I 
have  said,  by  side  galleries  and  a  kind  of  stage- 
boxes,  but  now  all  are  seated  on  the  floor. 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  34! 

We  cleared  away  the  galleries,  &c.,  from  the 
choir,  and  did  what  we  could  for  it,  considering  the 
serious  hindrance  of  its  being  used  as  a  Parish 
Church,  and  we  restored  the  damaged  stall-work. 
The  organ  retains  its  old  place,  but  is  now  being 
rebuilt  (too  big,  I  fear,  as  usual). 

The  altar  had  formerly  stood  one  bay  in  advance 
of  the  east  wall,  as  at  Selby,  but  had  been  moved 
back.  This  modern  position  we  retained,  and 
removed  the  sedilia  to  suit  it. 

Our  greatest  work,  however,  was  the  strengthen- 
ing of  the  three  towers,  all  of  which  were  danger- 
ous. The  western  towers  had  sunk  dreadfully,  and 
were  split  from  top  to  bottom  on  three  sides  (if 
not  four).  The  cracks  were  nearly  a  foot  wide. 
We  underbuilt  the  walls  for  some  twelve  feet  below 
their  old  foundations,  propping  them  up  meanwhile 
with  an  enormous  mass  of  timber  shoring.  The 
danger  was  terrific.  At  one  time  a  perfect  ava- 
lanche of  rubble  roared  in  upon  the  men  engaged 
below  from  the  centre  of  the  wall  over  their  heads. 
Thank  God,  however,  it  was  effected  in  safety. 
Each  tower  was  tied  with  iron  in  every  storey,  the 
cracks  built  up  and  bonded  across,  and  the  towers 
are  now  sound  and  strong. 

The  central  tower  was,  and  is,  a  curious  union  of 
twelfth  and  fifteenth  century  work,  two  sides  of  each 
date.  It  had  given  way  from  this  strange  union, 
the  older  work  falling  away  from  the  later.  We 
have,  I  think,  succeeded  in  making  it  strong  again. 

In  some  places  my  over-zealous  clerk  of  works 
introduced  too  much  new  stone.  One  ought  to  be 
always  on  the  spot  effectually  to  prevent  this. 

This,  however,  I  may  say,  that  had  we  not  taken 


342  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

it  in  time,  the  building  would  probably  not  have 
stood  long. 

I  have  been  blamed  for  my  treatment  of  the  five 
western  early  english  windows,  which,  with  the 
flanking  towers  and  portals,  form  a  perfect  fa9ade 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  These  five  wide  lights 
had  been  turned  into  two-light  windows  (each)  in 
the  fourteenth  century.  The  mullions  and  tracery 
then  added  (and  which  may  be  seen  in  any  old 
view  of  this  front)  were  of  an  inferior  stone,  and 
had  decayed  and  given  way  so  as  to  be  only  pre- 
vented from  precipitating  themselves  into  the  nave 
by  beams  of  wood  placed  across  them.  I  found 
them  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  repair,  and  having 
once  taken  them  out,  the  beauty  of  the  earlier  de- 
sign was  so  apparent,  that  it  seemed  barbarous  to 
introduce  new  ones,  so  the  windows  now  retain 
their  original  design.  Persons  may  differ  as  to 
this.  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  finding,  unasked 
for,  the  full  approval  of  that  eminent  antiquary 
Mr.  Edmund  Sharpe,  whose  death  we  have  just 
now  to  deplore. 

The  main  works  were  carried  out  under  Dean 
Goode,  to  whom  it  is  just  to  say  that  he  zealously 
promoted  them.  The  contractors  were  Messrs. 
Ruddle  and  Thompson  of  Peterborough,  the  clerk 
of  works,  Mr.  Clarke,  who  so  entirely  lost  his 
health  from  his  exposure  there,  that  for  several 
years  he  was  laid  by,  and  supposed  to  be  so  for  life  ; 
but  happily  he  has  recovered,  and  has  now  been 
two  or  three  years  at  work  again. 

WORCESTER  CATHEDRAL. 
This  work  was  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Perkins,  the 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  343 

local  architect,  a  pupil  of  Rickman.  I  had  been 
occasionally  consulted  by  the  Dean,  but  not  to  any 
great  extent,  so  that  the  entire  structural  reparation 
and  restoration  was  Mr.  Perkins's  sole  work. 

When,  however,  the  internal  work  of  the  choir 
was  taken  in  hand,  I  was  called  in,  and  I  acted,  so 
far  as  that  was  concerned,  jointly  with  Mr.  Perkins. 

The  structural  work  was  in  the  main  already 
done,  including  some  things  which  I  regretted, 
such  as  the  removal  of  the  perpendicular  screens. 
I  fear  I  am  jointly  responsible  for  the  removal  of 
the  Jacobean  and  Elizabethan  canopies,  and  of  the 
choir  screen,  but  I  forget  now  how  this  was. 

The  ancient  stalls  remain.  Strangely,  as  an 
effect  of  divided  responsibility,  I  forget  whether 
the  returned  stalls  were  ancient. 

My  work  comprised  the  stall-fronts  and  desks, 
the  screens  behind  the  stalls,  the  choir  screen,  the 
presbytery- screen,  the  reredos,  altar-rails,  &c.,and 
the  decoration  of  the  vaulting.  Subsequently  to 
Mr.  Perkins'  death,  or  partly  so,  I  carried  out 
sundry  works  in  the  nave. 

I  had  proposed  to  make  a  double  open  screen 
to  the  choir,  and  to  place  on  it  the  key-board  of 
the  organ,  and  the  choir  organ  itself,  drafting  off 
the  heavier  parts  to  the  blank  walls  on  .either  side, 
east  of  the  tower-piers,  but  this,  though  recom- 
mended by  Sir  Frederick  Ouseley,  was  foolishly 
overruled,  and  the  organ  has  been  placed  in  the 
aisle,  in  the  usual  awkward  position. 

The  paving  of  the  aisles  of  the  choir  was  Mr. 
Perkins'  work,  that  of  the  choir  and  nave  was  mine. 
The  decoration  of  the  choir  vaulting  I  both  designed 
and  drew  out. full  size,  to  a  great  extent,  while  laid 


344  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

up  by  long  illness  in  the  winter  of  1870-71.  I 
unluckily  left  that  of  the  choir-aisles  to  Mr.  Hard- 
man,  who  made  it  too  monotonous.  I  did  not 
volunteer  the  decoration  at  all,  but  Mr.  Perkins 
had  stripped  off  the  plastering  of  the  choir-vaulting, 
and  by  doing  so  had  exposed  some  very  rough 
rubble-work  of  reddish  tufa.  This  Lord  Dudley 
very  much  disliked,  so  the  groining  was  replastered 
and  decorated  in  colour.  I  aimed  in  designing 
this  at  a  non-perspicuous  effect,  which  should 
allow  of  a  slight  difficulty  in  discerning  the  pattern 
at  first  sight,  which  I  thought  would  tend  to 
enhance  the  effect  of  height,  as  it  unquestionably 
does.  I  confess  I  think  the  choir  ceilings  very 
successful. 

The  great  organ  in  the  south  transept  I  opposed 
as  useless  and  obtrusive,  but  I  believe  that  my 
letter  on  the  subject  was  suppressed,  for  want  of 
courage  to  withstand  the  munificence  of  Lord 
Dudley,  a  feeling  in  which  I  sympathize,  from  a 
sense  of  his  grand  generosity. 

This  work,  though  carried  out  at  first  under  the 
dean  and  chapter,  was  made  over,  early  in  its 
progress,  to  a  general  committee,  of  which  the 
dean  was  chairman,  Lord  Dudley,  Lord  Lyttelton, 
and  Sir  John  Packington  (now  Lord .  Hampton) 
being  among  its  leading  members. 

I  have  to  regret  the  removal  of  the  elegant 
sounding-board  from  the  choir-pulpit.  I  much 
desired  its  retention.  With  it,  unknown  to  me  at 
the  time,  was  removed  the  interesting  representa- 
tion of  the  New  Jerusalem  below  it.  Owing  to 
divided  responsibility,  my  colleague  being  the 
practical  agent,  and  very  timid,  this  was  done, 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  345 

and  the  column,  into  which  it  had  been  inserted, 
restored,  long  before  it  came  to  my  knowledge — 
all  the  more  stupid  I  ! 

I  actually  sent  a  carver  to  study  it  as  an  exam- 
ple for  another  object,  when  he  found  it  conspicuous 
only  by  its  absence.1 

I  may  mention  that  the  perpendicular  screen, 
which  occupied  the  place  now  taken  up  by  the 
new  reredos,  did  not  belong  to  that  position, 
but  had  been  placed  there  within  the  memory  of 
man,  having  been  removed  from  the  north-east 
transept. 

The  woodwork  was  executed  by  Farmer  and 
Brindley,  and  the  grilles,  &c.,  by  Skidmore. 

EXETER  CATHEDRAL. 

I  had  been  consulted  here  many  years  ago,  upon 
some  matters  by  the  then  architect,  the  late  Mr. 
Cornish  of  Exeter,  a  very  kindly  and  excellent  old 
gentleman,  and  a  thorougly  practical  man  ;  but  at 
a  later  period  I  was  appointed  architect  to  the  in- 
ternal restorations,  my  commission  being  limited 
to  these. 

Immense  opposition  arose  to  what  was  pro- 
posed on  the  ground  that  I  retained  the  choir- 
screen.2  The  architectural  society  and  two  local 
architects  were  furious  about  it,  but  I  held  hard 
and  fast  to  it.  At  length  we  so  far  yielded  as  to 
pierce  the  backs  of  the  altar  recesses  on  either 
side  of  the  screen,  which,  without  sacrifice  of  any 

1  It  is  figured  in  Pugin's  "  Specimens,"  vol.  ii. — ED. 

2  My  principle  is  not  to  destroy  an  old  close  screen  nor  to 
erect  a  new  one. 


346  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

architectural  feature,  has  in  some  degree  opened 
out  the  choir  to  the  nave. 

In  the  choir  nothing  remained  of  the  old  fittings, 
except  the  bishop's  throne,  the  sedilia,  the  side 
screens  of  the  presbytery,  and  the  misereres. 
The  stall  elbows  were  of  some  semi-modern 
date,  and  the  rest  of  the  work  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. 

The  screen-walls  behind  the  stalls  were  of  brick 
plastered,  but  were  finished  by  a  beautiful  four- 
teenth-century, double-embattled,  coping  and  freize, 
not  unlike  those  of  D'Estria's  screens  at  Canter- 
bury. I  suppose  that  they  had  been  taken  down 
in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  (possibly  owing  to  some 
sculpture  which  they  contained)  and  rebuilt  in 
plastered  brick,  the  old  copings  being  re-used.  I 
substituted  for  the  brick  wall  an  open  screen,  with 
the  oak  canopy  work  of  the  stalls  attached  to  it, 
and  re-set  the  beautiful  coping.  The  stall-work, 
all  but  the  misereres,  is  new,  with  return  stalls 
against  the  great  screen.  The  doorway  of  the 
screen  towards  the  choir  is  the  old  one,  restored 
even  to  its  colouring,  much  of  which  is  original. 
The  modern  parapet  of  the  screen  has  been 
removed. 

There  was  a  great  discussion  about  the  age  of  this 
screen.  Archdeacon  Freeman,  who  sympathised 
with  the  opposition,  wished  to  prove  it  to  be  of  late 
date,  arguing  from  the  old  accounts,  which  con- 
tain extensive  entries  for  iron-work  and  tiles,  that 
there  had  originally  been  an  open  iron  screen;  but  1 
found  all  the  iron  thus  described  to  exist  in  the  pre- 
sent structure,  used  for  ties,  and  the  tiles  also,  used 
as  the  floor  of  the  loft,  so  that  at  length  the  Arch- 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  347 

deacon  admitted  that  it  was  Bishop  Stapledon's 
screen  of  I32O.3 

We  found  evidences  that  the  original  reredos,  or 
altar-screen,  had  gone  as  high  as  the  arches  of  the 
side  arcades.  It  had  been  destroyed  after  the 
Reformation,  and  the  screen  which  was  existing 
when  we  commenced  work  was  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. We  could  not  think  of  reproducing,  from 
imagination,  the  old  altar-screen,  which  would  have 
blocked  out  the  arches  at  the  east  end,  but  I  was 
overpressed  in  the  contrary  direction,  and  made 
the  reredos  too  inconsiderable,  though  not  so 
much  so  as  to  disarm  opposition.  I  need  not  go 
into  the  history  of  the  "  Exeter  Reredos "  case : 
suffice  it  to  say  that  the  common-sense  decision 
was  come  to,  that  the  injunctions  of  the  sixteenth 
century  for  the  destruction  of  imagery  were  at  first 
directed  against  such  imagery  as  had  been  abused 
to  superstitious  purposes,  and  were  only  rendered 
general  on  the  ground  of  the  difficulty  found  in 
deciding  as  to  which  had,  and  which  had  not,  been 
thus  abused,  and  therefore  could  not  be  applied  to 
new  sculpture  intended  for  no  such  purposes.  I 
subsequently  rather  increased  the  height  of  the 
reredos,  which  was  a  very  great  gain. 

The  restoration  of  the  throne  was  carried  out 
with  the  utmost  care  and  study  of  the  evidences. 
The  lower  part  was  nearly  all  modern,  and  much 
of  it  was  in  plaster.  Evidence  existed  of  the  old 
design  of  this  portion  :  indeed,  some  important  parts 
of  the  old  work  remained,  and  these  indications  have 
been  precisely  followed,  excepting  that  I  yielded  to 
pressure  in  making  the  front  open.  There  were 

3  The  style  is  quite  that  of  Bishop  Stapledon's  date.— ED. 


348  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

no  evidences  one  way  or  another,  but  it  had  most 
probably  been  close.  This  front  is  magnificently 
carried  out,  in  exact  imitation  of  the  old  work  at  its 
angles,  which  still  existed :  the  sides  and  back  are 
simpler,  and  follow  evidences  attached  to  the 
several  angle  buttresses.  The  whole  of  the  old 
work  was  cleansed  of  its  paint  and  varnish,  but 
where  it  had  been  decorated  in  colour  this  was 
preserved  and  restored. 

This  work  is  attributed  in  all  the  histories  to  the 
fifteenth  century,  but  Archdeacon  Freeman  found 
proof  that  (as  its  style  evinces)  it  was  contemporary 
with  other  works  in  the  choir. 

The  decoration  of  the  vaulting  of  the  Lady 
Chapel  is  an  exact  restoration  of  what  was  found. 
In  the  side  chapels,  Mr.  Clayton  weakly  departed 
from  the  old  design,  so  far  as  to  add  some  foolish 
patterns  to  the  mouldings,  otherwise  it  would  have 
been  correct. 

Of  the  decoration  of  the  choir-roof  very  slight 
indications  were  found,  excepting  on  and  around  the 
bosses.  The  painting  of  the  ribs  is  imitated  from 
that  of  the  Lady  Chapel,  counterc hanging  the 
colours. 

In  all  this  work  I  was  greatly  thwarted  by  the 
Dean,  but  I  think  the  result  is  good. 

The  stonework  generally  has  been  carefully 
divested  of  its  coatings  of  yellow  wash  without 
disturbing  its  surface.  The  Purbeck  marble-work, 
however,  demanded  very  extensive  reparation, 
being  sadly  decayed  and  mutilated. 

The  pavement  of  the  fifteenth  century  was 
found,  in  part,  beneath  the  modern  flooring,  and 
has  been  useful  in  determining  levels,  though  I  am 


CHAP,  yiii.]  Recollections.  349 

inclined  to  think  we  are  a  step  too  low  as  regards 
the  altar  platform. 

I  think  the  interior  of  this  cathedral  will,  after 
all  is  done,  be  as  charming  as  any  in  England. 

The  organ  retains  its  old  place,  and  is  only 
altered  in  appearance  by  a  moderate  increase  in 
depth  from  front  to  back.  It  is,  however,  vexa- 
tious that,  in  renewing  the  pipes  of  the  choir-organ 
which  were  decayed,  they  have  not  reproduced  the 
embossed  patterns.  I  fear  now  they  will  never 
do  it. 

ROCHESTER  CATHEDRAL. 

I  had  been  called  in  once  before  on  some  minor 
matters,  but  was  commissioned  in  1871  to  under- 
take the  greater  work. 

Externally  the  work  consisted,  in  the  first  place, 
of  the  restoration  of  the  north  side  and  east 
end  of  the  choir  and  presbytery.  This  part  was 
terribly  decayed,  mutilated,  and  altered,  but  by  care- 
ful study  it  has  been  brought  back  to  its  old  state 
with  a  great  amount  of  certainty.  At  the  east  end 
a  perpendicular  window  had  been  inserted,  and  the 
lower  range  of  lancets  had  been  filled  in  with 
tracery  of  late  date.  These  parts  had  been 
renewed  some  forty  years  back,  and  the  question 
arose  whether  it  would  not  be  best,  as  the  old 
design  was  evident,  to  bring  it  back  to  its  original 
form.  The  great  argument  in  favour  of  this  step 
was  the  extreme  ugliness  of  the  great  perpendicular 
window,  which  was  very  offensive  to  the  Dean  and 
others.  This  course  was  determined  on,  and 
carried  out. 

A  question  then  arose  as  to  whether  the  roofs 
and  gables,  which  had  all  been  lowered,  should 


350  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

be  raised  to  their  ancient  pitch.  There  was  not 
money  enough  to  raise  the  roofs,  but  I  persuaded 
the  chapter  to  raise  the  gables,  hoping  that  the 
roofs  might  follow,  but  as  yet  they  have  not.  The 
design  of  the  gabled  roof,  which  formerly  existed 
over  the  east  side  of  the  eastern  transepts,  was  dis- 
covered by  my  son  Gilbert,  and  has  been  restored 
to  the  north  transept.  There  is  a  confusion  of  design 
in  the  windows  of  this  transept,  owing  to  my  having 
left  the  jambs  of  some  later  windows  which  had 
been  inserted  there. 

The  levels  of  the  choir  and  presbytery  have 
been  regulated  by  clear  evidence  which  remained 
beneath  the  modern  floors.  The  tile  paving  is 
founded  largely  on  portions  of  the  old  tiling  then 
discovered,  some  of  which  have  been  preserved. 
The  position  of  the  high  altar  was  ascertained  and 
followed. 

The  decoration  of  the  walls  behind  the  side 
stalls,  and  of  the  screen  behind  the  returned  stalls, 
followed  exactly  evidences  clearly  found,  excepting 
that  the  shields  of  which  we  did  not  discover  the 
bearings,  have  been  filled  with  the  arms  of  the 
Bishops  of  Rochester,  worked  out  by  the  kind  aid 
of  the  herald,  Mr.  S.  T.  Tucker,  Rouge  Croix. 

There  was  also  another  curious  exception  :  at 
the  back  of  the  sub-dean's  stall  there  was  a  patch 
of  some,  older  decoration  of  a  very  singular  kind, 
a  sort  of  plaid  pattern.  This  the  Dean  would 
not  permit  to  remain,  but  it  has  been  taken  out 
and  preserved  in  a  frame,  I  think  in  the  chapter- 
room. 

The  painting  on  the  wooden  screen  had  been 
covered  over  with  renaissance  decoration,  but 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  351 

some  parts  had  been  left  uncovered,  and  all  was 
traceable. 

The  screen  itself  is  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  of  oak.  The  original  panelling  is  visible  on 
its  western  side,  that  toward  the  east  is  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  stone  screen  in  front  is 
also  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  two  together 
supporting  the  rood-loft. 

The  great  transept  on  each  side  (south  and 
north)  has  been  restored  externally.  It  had  been 
most  monstrously  "  transmogrified,"  yet  parts  of 
the  old  work  remained,  though  in  an  advanced  state 
of  decay :  in  fact  it  had  almost  perished.  The 
design  has  been  recovered  from  these  remains, 
aided  by  old  prints.  The  interior  of  the  south 
transept,  with  its  timber  groining,  has  been  repaired, 
as  has  a  projecting  building  on  its  eastern  side. 
The  clerestory  and  triforium  of  the  nave,  which 
were  becoming  seriously  dangerous,  have  been 
strengthened. 

The  north  and  south  walls  of  the  nave  aisles 
are  almost  wholly  of  the  date  of  some  150  years 
back.  They,  no  doubt,  had  gone  over  so  much 
that  they  were  then  rebuilt.  Their  foundation 
was  of  loose  chalk  and  had  given  way.  This  is 
now  banked  up  (underground)  with  concrete. 

Mr.  Irvine,  the  clerk  of  works,  discovered  many 
interesting  matters  underground,  and  has  con- 
structed theories  on  them  which  I  feel  unable  to 
explain.  I  think  he  supposes  Bishop  Gundulph 
to  have  begun  to  build  the  nave,  and  that  some 
of  the  bases  are  of  his  work,  but  that  the  super- 
structure is  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century 
later. 


352  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

WINCHESTER  CATHEDRAL. 

Here  I  have  done  nothing  but  the  opening  out 
of  the  screen.  I  was  called  in  about  this  several 
years  back,  but  declined  the  task,  thinking  it  im- 
possible to  effect  it  without  altering  old  work. 

In  1874!  was  again  called  in,  and  on  close  exa- 
mination, I  found  that  the  work  forming  the  back 
of  the  returned  stalls,  and  practically  the  east  side 
of  the  screen,  terminated  precisely  in  a  plane, 
flush  with  the  back  of  the  stalls,  this  plane 
bisecting  all  the  mouldings  as  if  they  had  been 
sawn  down  their  axes  ;  so  that  it  was  quite  possible 
to  open  out  the  choir  by  simply  removing  the 
stone  screen,  which  was  modern,  and  the  rough 
timber  framing  against  which  the  boarding  behind 
the  stalls  was  fixed. 

This  at  once  formed  an  open  screen,  and  needed 
little  more  than  the  repetition  of  the  same  features 
on  the  west,  which  already  existed  on  the  east,  to 
make  it  a  sightly  and  consistent  design.  The 
screen,  being  thus  bisected  by  a  plane,  wanted 
only  the  other  half  supplied  to  make  it  complete, 
and  that  without  touching  the  existing  work. 

This  is  a  rough  definition  of  what  was  done.  It 
is  not  an  exact  or  exhaustive  one,  but  I  may  state 
that  no  old  work  was  disturbed,  and  that  the  new 
western  face  is,  in  all  parts  which  applied,  an 
exact  reproduction  of  the  work  on  the  eastern 
side.  Its  use,  however,  has  been  stupidly  marred 
by  filling  in  the  openings  with  plate  glass. 

DURHAM  CATHEDRAL. 

I  was  only  engaged  here  on  internal  work  in  or 
about  the  choir. 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections,  353 

The  stalls  and  screen  were  of  Bishop  Cosin's 
time.  The  screen  had  been  removed  twenty-five 
years  back,  and  the  canopies  of  the  stalls  divided 
into  lengths,  and  pushed  back  between  the 
columns.  The  side  stalls  are  now  set  right,  and 
a  very  open  screen  placed  where  the  old  one 
stood.  There  is  also  a  new  pulpit  and  pavement, 
for  which  I  am  responsible. 

The  altar-screen  had  formerly  a  Purbeck  slab, 
as  a  sort  of  retabulum,  on  which  we  know  that  rich 
embroidery  was  hung.  This  had  been  covered  over 
by  a  piece  of  very  bad  sculpture  twenty-five  years 
back,  which  we  removed,  and  have  placed  needle- 
work there  again. 

I  suspect  that  the  floor  between  the  stalls 
(which  rises  two  steps  above  that  of  the  nave) 
is  a  step  too  high,  as  it  leaves  no  "  Gradus 
Presbyterii." 

The  lectern  is  also  new.  The  organ-case  and 
the  repairs  of  the  stalls  are  the  work  of  Mr.  C.  H. 
Fowler,  the  chapter  architect. 

A  violent  opposition  was  raised  against  this  work 
by  certain  of  the  canons,  who  thought  thereby  to 
curry  favour  with  the  bishop.  The  Dean  and 
Archdeacon  Bland  were  the  great  supporters  of 
the  work. 

ST.  ALBANS. 

To  return  to  St.  Albans,  much  has  been  done 
since  I  last  mentioned  it.  The  repairs  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  main  building  are  generally 
completed,  and  the  Marchioness  of  Salisbury 
having  undertaken  to  raise  funds  towards  the 
restoration  of  the  eastern  chapels,  much  has  been 

A  a 


354  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

done  to  them  also  :  I  may  refer  here  to  my  report 
addressed  to  Lady  Salisbury. 

At  the  present  moment  the  work  is  in  abeyance, 
but  no  doubt  it  will  soon  be  resumed,  as  the  new 
see  is  nearly  established  and  fresh  funds  are  being 
raised. 

I  gave  a  dinner  at  St.  Albans  in  1875  to  the 
Council  of  the  Institute,  and  many  other  friends, 
and  we  had  a  delightful  field-day  in  the  abbey. 

The  tower  had  been  thoroughly  repaired  and 
strengthened  in  1871,  as  had  been  also  its  two  abut- 
ting walls  to  the  north-east  and  north-west.  The 
openings  made  in  modern  times  in  these  two  eastern 
walls  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  had  been  walled 
up,  and  the  two  ancient  entrances  reopened  ;  that 
on  the  north  side,  however,  being  strengthened 
by  reducing  its  width,  though  without  concealing 
its  earlier  dimensions.  The  opening  in  the  south 
wall  had  been  investigated  as  to  its  internal  design 
many  years  before,  when  we  had  found  its  materials 
pulled  down  and  used  to  wall  up  the  opening. 

These  details  had  been  carefully  stored  up 
during  the  long  interval,  and  were  now  built  up  in 
their  original  places  with  exact  precision  :  thus 
recovering,  and,  to  a  large  extent,  with  its  own 
materials,  a  very  curious  feature,  a  projecting 
doorway  surmounted  by  a  range  of  three  taber- 
nacles, in  a  style  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
Eleanor  crosses,  though  probably  a  little  earlier  in 
actual  date. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  presbytery  a  careful 
examination  showed  the  traces  of  a  similar 
arrangement  to  that  of  the  south  doorway,  though 
not  precisely  opposite  to  it.  Here,  however,  we 


CHAP  VIIL]  Recollections.  355 

had  not  the  copious  stored-up  fragments  which 
enabled  us  to  reconstruct,  so  largely  with  its  own 
materials,  the  southern  one.  There  was  in  fact 
but  one  small  fragment  of  the  doorway,  but  there 
were  considerable  marks  of  the  rest,  marks  which 
would  have  been  of  themselves  unintelligible,  but 
with  the  aid  of  the  other  side  quite  clear  and  in- 
disputable. As  we  were  compelled  to  reopen  this 
doorway,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  walling  up  its 
modern  supplanter  (one  bay  eastward)  for  security, 
I  copied  the  north  doorway. 

Later  on  we  discovered  the  veritable  pinnacles 
of  the  tabernacle  work  over  this  doorway,  and  we 
then  removed  those  which  had  been  copied  from 
the  work  on  the  opposite  side,  and  substituted  the 
true  ones,  with  their  coloured  decorations  upon 
them.  They  differ  in  design  from  those  of  their 
opposite  neighbours,  showing  that,  while  doing 
two  things  substantially  alike,  the  builders  indulged 
in  variety  in  the  details. 

A  doubt  has  suggested  itself  to  me  since  then 
as  to  whether  the  doorway  itself  was  not  different 
in  design.  The  circumstances  are  these. 

In  the  north  aisle  of  the  presbytery  there  were 
two  external  doorways  :  one  of  early  perpendicular 
character,  clearly  introduced  at  the  time  which  its 
style  indicates,  the  other  as  clearly  of  modern 
introduction,  but  made  up  extensively  of  old 
details,  mostly  of  a  style  agreeing  with  the  date 
of  this  eastern  arm  of  the  church,  1280-90.  This 
latter  doorway  was,  as  I  have  said,  clearly  a  modern 
insertion,  though  strangely  enough  inserted  at  a 
point  where  a  small  original  doorway  had  always 
existed.  In  fact,  when  in  modern  times  this  main 

A  a  2 


356  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

approach  to  the  church  from  the  town  had  been 
made,  the  place  of  this  old  small  doorway  was 
found  to  be  more  convenient  than  that  of  the  later 
perpendicular  one,  so  the  latter  was  walled  up  and 
the  former  enlarged.  Oddly  enough  they  had  a 
doorway  of  the  thirteenth  century  date  on  hand,  and 
this  they  inserted,  making  up  some  of  its  orna- 
mental details  from  fragments  of  the  nave- screen. 
I  fancied  at  the  time  that  the  doorway  thus  used 
had  been  an  outer  doorway  of  the  eastern  chapels, 
and  I  thought  that  if  its  place  could  be  found,  we 
might  re-insert  it.  Unluckily  while  thinking  aloud, 
in  presence  of  the  clerk  of  the  works,  he  took  me 
toa  hastily  at  my  word,  and  removed  the  inserted 
doorway,  before  I  was  aware  of  it.  We  afterwards 
found  precisely  the  inner  design  of  the  old  door- 
way, which  formed  an  opening  in  the  wall-arcading. 
This  we  have  restored,  but,  finding  no  trace  of  its 
outside  form  (excepting  that  the  base-moulds 
returned  to  make  way  for  it)  I  did  not  make  any 
attempt  at  restoring  the  actual  opening. 

Meanwhile  we  examined — by  excavation — the 
walls  of  the  eastern  chapels,  only  to  discover  that 
there  never  had  been  any  doorway  to  them,  and 
thus  we  were  left  with  a  fine  contemporary  door- 
way on  our  hands,  and  so  remain  to  this  day. 

Suspicions  have  grown  upon  me  that  this  was 
in  reality  the  doorway  of  the  north  side  of  the  pres- 
bytery, far  richer  and  somewhat  larger  than  its 
southern  neighbour.  This  has  not  yet  been  suffi- 
ciently investigated.  I  mention  it  with  some  shame 
as  an  antiquarian  failure,  arising  from  going  on  too 
fast,  and  ahead  of  full  investigation.  I  repent  and 
confess. 


CHAP,  viii.]  Recollections.  357 

The  great  triumph  of  our  work  has  been,  of  course, 
the  recovery  and  the  putting  together  of  the  sub- 
structure of  the  shrine  of  St.  Alban.  The  second 
has  been  the  like  discovery  of  that  of  St.  Amphibalus, 
which  I  hope  will  also  be  soon  set  up  in  its  old 
place.4  Careful  descriptions  of  these  shrines  ought 
to  be  written. 

I  forbear  to  say  anything  of  our  operations  in  the 
nave,  till  they  are  more  advanced,  and  the  difficulty 
occasioned  by  the  leaning  of  the  five  western  bays 
on  the  south  side  of  the  nave  is  passed.  God 
grant  us  success.6 

I  am  in  this,  as  in  other  works,  obliged  to  face 
right  and  left  to  combat  at  once  two  enemies  from 
either  hand,  the  one  wanting  me  to  do  too  much, 
and  the  other  finding  fault  with  me  for  doing 
anything  at  all. 

The  leader  of  the  latter  party  is  Mr.  Loftie, 
whom  I  have  answered  twice  in  the  Guardian, 
in  1875,  and  also  in  Macmillarfs  Magazine  in 
this  year  (1877).  He  seems  irrepressible,  for  no 
matter  how  often  a  statement  of  his  is  refuted, 
he  reiterates  it  just  as  if  no  such  refutation  had 
been  made.  Happily  he  is  an  Irishman,  and  his 
own  bulls  are  his  best  refutation. 

The  leader  among  those  who  wish  me  to  do 
what  I  ought  not  to  do  is  Sir  Edmund  Becket. 

4  This  has  been  done.    It  now  stands  in  its  original  place  in 
the  ante-chapel  of  the  Lady  Chapel. — ED. 

5  This   great   engineering   work,  to  which   my  father   had 
devoted  immense  pains,  and  all  the  details  of  which  he  had 
most  carefully  contrived,  was  carried  out  with  complete  success 
only  a  few  weeks  after  his  death. — ED. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  ANTI-RESTORATION  MOVEMENT 
(October,  1877). 

I  CAN  hardly  say  that  this  movement  expresses  a 
sentiment  which  is  new  to  me,  for  in  the  case  of 
the  first  considerable  restoration  placed  in  my 
hands,  that  of  St.  Mary's  Church  at  Stafford, 
I  was  assailed  nearly  on  the  same  principle  by  Mr. 
Petit.  My  correspondence  with  that  highly-gifted 
gentleman  was  lithographed,  and  I  would  refer  to 
it  as  a  very  early  discussion  of  this  question,  dating 
as  it  does  about  1840  or  1841.  The  expression 
which  I  see  has  been  made  use  of  in  the  latest 
deliverance  of  opinion  on  the  subject,  to  the  effect 
that  more  harm  has  been  done  by  modern  restora- 
tion than  by  three  centuries  of  contempt,  &c.,  was 
originated  by  myself  during  that  correspondence 
thirty- six  years  ago. 

Some  seven  years  later  I  wrote  my  paper  on 
faithful  restoration,  wholly  on  the  side  of  con- 
servatism ;  but  in  a  note,  added  in  1858,  I 
combated  the  extreme  views  of  Mr.  Ruskin 
against  any  form  of  restoration.  Much  later 
I  wrote  a  paper  on  restoration,  again  wholly 
on  the  side  of  conservatism,  which  was  read 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  359 

before  the  Institute  of  British  Architects  and 
printed.  I  have  drawn  up  directions  to  builders 
and  clerks  of  the  works  employed  on  such  works, 
have  helped  in  framing  those  of  the  Institute,  and 
in  my  three  opening  papers,  delivered  while  Presi- 
dent of  that  body,  I  have  expressed  myself,  as 
strongly  as  words  would  enable  me,  on  the  same 
subject,  nor  have  I  failed  on  all  possible  minor 
opportunities  to  do  the  same. 

It  is  therefore  rather  hard  to  bear  that  I  should 
now  be  made  the  butt  of  an  extreme  party,  who 
wish  to  make  me  out  to  be  the  ring-leader  of 
destructiveness. 

I  have  said  enough  in  every  paper  I  have 
written,  and  on  every  occasion  on  which  I  have 
spoken  on  the  subject,  to  show  that,  whatever 
view  one  may  take  of  the  anti-restoration  move- 
ment, I  cannot  for  a  moment  assert  that  it  is  un- 
provoked. On  the  contrary,  I  hold  that  there 
never  was  a  case  of  vmore  intense  and  aggravating 
provocation. 

The  country  has  been,  and  continues  to  be, 
actually  devastated  with  destruction  under  the 
name  of  restoration.  For  years  and  years  the 
vast  majority  of  the  churches  to  be  restored  have 
been  committed  to  men,  who  neither  know,  nor  care 
anything  whatever  about  them,  and  out  of  whose 
hands  they  have  emerged  in  a  condition  truly 
deplorable,  stripped  of  almost  everything  which 
gave  them  interest  or  value;  while  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  best  of  us  have  been  blame- 
able,  and  that  even  our  conservatism  has  been 
more  or  less  destructive. 

The  three  great  grounds  of  complaint  against 


360  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  new  party  are — (i)  That  they  have  remained 
absolutely  silent  while  all  this  destruction  and 
barbarism  has  been  perpetrated,  never  giving  one 
word  of  encouragement  to  the  few  who,  though 
inadequately,  have  been  for  years  raising  their 
voices  against  it :  (2)  That  now,  after  having 
stood  silently  by,  witnessing  all  this  devastation 
without  complaint  or  protest,  they  suddenly  turn 
round  and  visit  it  all  on  those  whose  protests  they 
have  all  along  refused  to  support :  that  they  do 
not  scruple  to  load  with  false  accusations  and  to 
hold  up  to  execration,  as  the  authors  of  all  the 
mischief,  the  very  persons  who  have  (however 
feebly)  endeavoured  to  mitigate  it,  and  who  have 
never  received  the  smallest  expression  of  sympathy 
from  those  who  now,  when  all  the  mischief  is  done, 
raise  their  voices  to  vilify  the  men  whose  efforts 
they  had  throughout  declined  to  aid  :  (3)  That 
they  now  take,  what  they  must  well  know  to  be,  an 
impracticable  line,  advocating,  not  any  reasonable 
mode  of  treatment  of  ancient  buildings,  but  the 
mere  abstaining  from  doing  anything  whatever  to 
them  beyond  the  barest  sustenance. 

This  long-continued  silence  on  their  part  has 
made  them  in  truth  participes  criminis :  this 
treatment  of  those  who  have  all  along  protested 
is  the  most  culpable  injustice  :  and  this  imprac- 
ticability of  view  makes  one  doubt  the  sincerity  of 
the  opinions  thus  tardily  proclaimed.  Yet,  if  they 
would  adopt  a  reasonable  and  practicable  line, 
they  might  even  yet  effect  great  good. 

I  have  at  this  moment  to  fight  a  double  battle. 
I  have,  as  throughout,  to  be  fighting  against  those 
who  would  treat  old  buildings  destructively,  and  I 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  361 

have,  on  the  other  hand,  to  defend  myself  against 
those  who  accuse  me  of  the  principles  against 
which  I  contend,  and  who  oppose  one's  doing 
anything  at  all. 

The  last  paper  I  had  occasion  to  write,  and  that 
not  a  month  back,  was  in  opposition  to  Sir  Edmund 
Becket,  who  argues  that  we  ought  to  deal  with 
old  buildings  as  the  mediaeval  builders  them- 
selves did ;  in  point  of  fact,  to  treat  them 
as  we  should  do  any  modern  building,  doing  to 
them  just  what  is  right  in  our  own  eyes.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  are  told  by  the  anti-restoration 
party  that  we  have  no  right  to  do  anything  to  them 
beyond  the  barest  reparation.  Thus  everything 
which,  previous  perhaps  to  the  present  century, 
was  done  to  them  has  become  sacred  as  a  matter 
of  history,  and  claims  as  much  regard  as  the 
noblest  architecture  of  their  earlier  days. 

These  conflicting  views  are  to  my  mind  almost 
equally  mistaken. 

My  answer  (written  the  other  day)  to  the  first 
view  is  that  these  old  buildings  have  become,  by 
the  general  consent  of  those  best  able  to  judge, 
antiquarian  and  historical  monuments,  which  fact 
severs  them  from  the  merely  common-sense  treat- 
ment, to  which  other  buildings  are  subjected. 

But  surely  there  must  be  a  limit  to  this  sever- 
ance. The  principle  can  hardly  be  supposed  to 
extend  to  alterations  so  modern,  as  to  be  contem- 
porary with  buildings  which  have  no  claim  to  such 
exception. 

If,  for  example,  a  house  of  comparatively 
modern  date,  standing  by  the  side  of  an  an- 
cient church,  needs  alteration  or  enlargement 


362  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

to  suit  it  to  its  present  uses,  not  even  our  critics 
would  affirm  that  no  such  alterations  should  be 
permitted.  They  would  only  say,  if  the  house  has 
any  character,  the  better  parts  of  it  should  be 
spared,  and  the  alterations  which  may  be  necessary 
should  be  carried  out  in  reasonable  harmony  with 
them.  Why,  then,  if  the  church  has  features  in  it 
of  only  the  same  period  with  the  house,  should 
those  features  claim  any  greater  respect  ?  More 
than  this,  these  features  may  be  not  only  altogether 
out  of  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  church,  but 
may  be  at  variance  with  its  uses,  may  disfigure 
the  original  structure,  and  may  be  the  result  of 
abuses  which  by  common  consent  should  be 
abolished.  Surely,  then,  the  fact,  that  the  church 
itself  has  become  an  historical  monument,  cannot 
reasonably  be  pleaded  in  favour  of  its  compara- 
tively modern  disfigurements.  True,  these  more 
modern  features  may  have  merits  and  claims  of 
their  own,  and  these  should  be  respected,  but 
their  claims  are  wholly  different  from  those  of  the 
ancient  fabric  itself. 

Take  for  instance  the  case  of  Ely  Chapel  (St. 
Etheldreda's)  in  Holborn. 

The  palace  to  which  it  belonged  was  destroyed 
in  1776,  after  which  houses  were  built  against 
either  side  of  it  towards  the  east,  blocking  up  two 
of  its  side  windows.  The  east  and  west  windows 
only  suffered  from  some  minor  vandalism,  but  the 
rest  of  the  side  windows  were  deprived  of  their 
mullions  and  traceries,  galleries  were  built  on  each 
side  of  the  chapel,  and  two  at  its  west  end,  and 
the  area  was  pewed  in  the  most  wretched  manner. 

The  blocked-up  windows  were  some  years  back 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  363 

partially  opened  out,  and  the  beautiful  tracery  dis- 
covered. The  Anti-restoration  Society  now  protest 
against  that  of  the  remaining  side-windows  being 
replaced  according  to  the  design  thus  discovered. 
Whether  they  disapprove  of  the  removal  of  the 
galleries  and  pews,  I  know  not,  but  they  oppose 
any  of  the  mutilated  architecture  being  reinstated, 
proclaiming  the  execrable  wooden  window-frames 
of  the  end  of  the  last  century  to  be  just  as  his- 
torical as  the  charming  tracery  of  Bishop  de  Luda ; 
and,  as  I  suppose,  blaming  the  removal  of  the 
historical  lath  and  plaster  which  had  concealed  the 
two  remaining  ancient  windows. 

This  is  a  fair  example  of  the  lengths  to  which 
this  new  society  will  go,  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  the  palm  for  sound  sense  lies  with  the 
architects  employed,  who  are  replacing  the  lost 
traceries,  while  avoiding  the  reparation  of  features 
which  have  only  suffered  from  decay. 

There  are,  however,  many  questions  connected 
with  the  treatment  of  ancient  buildings  which  are 
far  more  reasonably  open  to  discussion,  and  I  wish 
that  some  really  judicious  men  would  take  these, 
fairly  and  dispassionately,  under  consideration.  I 
have  long  and  often  urged  that  such  doubtful  cases 
should  be  submitted  to  the  decision,  in  each  case, 
of  some  independent  and  competent  body,  which 
should  unite  the  archaeological  and  the  ecclesio- 
logical  elements  in  due  proportions,  not  neglecting 
the  claims  of  architecture  and  good  taste. 

November  igth,  1877. 

The  promoters  of  this  hue  and  cry  against  all 
restoration,  seem  to  direct  themselves  especially 


364  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

against  the  architects,  as  if  they  were  the  prime 
movers  in  the  matter :  they  go  so  far  as  to  lay  it  to 
our  charge,  as  if  it  was  our  love  of  employment 
which  led  to  our  engagement  in  such  works. 

The  case,  however,  is  quite  otherwise.  In  no 
instance  do  I  remember  acting  as  prime  mover  in  a 
restoration:  on  the  contrary,  I  am  sent  for  by  others 
who  feel  its  necessity,  or  are  so  convinced  of  its 
desirability  that  they  apply  to  me  to  report  on  the 
condition  of  the  building.  True,  if  I  were  convinced 
that  restoration  were  in  itself  wrong,  I  ought  at 
once  to  say  so,  and  to  decline  to  report,  or  to  do 
anything  to  further  such  wish  or  intention  ;  but 
not  having  this  conviction,  my  aim  has  been  to 
recommend  the  course  which  I  feel  to  be  the  best, 
and  if  the  work  is  carried  out,  to  do  it  in  the  best 
manner  which  my  experience  and  judgment  suggest 
to  me. 

I  have  not  read  Professor  Colvin's  article,  but  in 
an  extract  which  I  saw  the  other  day  in  a  news- 
paper, I  see,  that  in  speaking  of  me,  he  says  that 
I  proclaim,  Conservatism,  Conservatism,  and  again 
Conservatism,  to  be  my  principle,  but  that  he  sees 
no  real  difference  between  my  principle,  and  that 
against  which  I  declaim. 

I  was  almost  going  to  say  that  if  there  is  no 
such  difference,  "  Then  I  have  cleansed  my  heart 
in  vain,  and  washed  my  hands  in  innocency."  I 
do  not  however  say  this ;  for  though  this  has  been 
my  aim,  bad  judgment,  the  urgent  influence  of 
clients,  the  constant  endeavour  of  those  who  work 
under  me,  whether  as  clerks  of  works,  builders, 
or  workmen,  the  tumbling  down  of  portions  of 
ancient  buildings  which  I  most  wished  to  preserve, 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  365 

and  a  thousand  other  circumstances  cut  the 
grounds  of  this  all  too  boastful  claim  from  under 
one.  Yet  surely  there  must  be  a  great  difference 
between  the  works  of  those  who  long,  and  who 
labour,  to  act  conservatively,  and  those  of  men  who 
have  no  such  desire,  or  if  they  had,  are  too  igno- 
rant to  know  how  to  carry  out  their  own  aims.  If 
Mr.  Colvin  does  not  see  such  difference,  surely  it  is 
owing  to  his  own  want  of  knowledge  of  the  subject 
rather  than  to  the  absence  of  such  a  distinction. 

Is  there  no  difference  forsooth  between  stone- 
work, gently  cleansed  of  its  coating  of  whitewash, 
leaving  every  mark  of  the  old  mason's  tool  as 
distinct  as  when  first  wrought,  and  work  rudely 
scraped  or  re-tooled,  so  as  to  leave  no  trace  of  its 
original  surface  ?  These  critics  see  none. 

Is  there  no  difference  between  a  restored  roof 
which  retains  all  its  ancient  timber,  excepting  the 
rotten  parts  which  threatened  its  speedy  ruin,  and 
whose  existence  has  been  indefinitely  prolonged, 
by  most  careful  and  only  needful  reparation  ;  and 
a  roof  entirely  destroyed,  whose  place  is  occupied 
by  a  new  one,  perhaps  of  deal,  and  probably 
having  no  reference  whatever  to  the  old  design  ? 
These  men  see  none. 

Is  there  no  difference,  again,  between  a  build- 
ing carefully  and  learnedly  studied,  and  its  parts 
investigated  with  the  most  anxious  and  studious 
care,  and  one  ignorantly  dealt  with,  without  investi- 
gation, without  anxiety,  without  knowledge.  These 
people  see  none. 

I  should  care  less  for  this  wilful  blindness,  were  it 
not  for  its  mischievous  result ;  and  here  again  these 
critics  will — and  are  welcome  to — accuse  me  of 


366  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

vulgar  selfishness.  The  result  I  refer  to  is  this. 
Seeingthat  pretended  judges  proclaim  that  no  differ- 
ence exists  between  the  work  of  devoted  and  earnest- 
minded  men,  and  that  of  the  ignorant  herd  who 
have  usually  to  deal  with  ancient  works — seeing 
that,  on  the  contrary,  the  works  of  the  former  are 
held  up  systematically  to  execration,  while  those 
of  the  latter  are  passed  by  unnoticed — the  public 
who  are  utterly  careless  of  the  whole  matter,  will 
place  future  works  in  the  hands  of  ignorant 
tyros,  in  preference  fo  employing  men  who  have 
devoted  themselves  to  the  earnest  study  of  the 
subject. 

An  advocate  of  the  "do  nothing"  system  of 
medical  treatment  declaims  equally  against  the 
most  eminent  physician  and  the  most  ignorant 
quack ;  both  alike  doctor  their  patients,  and  both 
alike  are  wrong  in  doing  so.  The  public,  not 
quite  convinced  that  nothing  should  be  done,  are 
thereby  encouraged  to  employ  the  first  doctor 
that  may  turn  up,  instead  of  the  learned  and 
judicious  physician.  But  here  we  have  a  wholesome 
safeguard,  "  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his 
life,"  and  the  folly  of  the  critic  falls  harmless  to 
the  ground.  Such  safeguard,  however,  does  not 
exist  in  the  case  of  ancient  buildings. 

On  the  contrary,  the  majority  of  men  prefer  the 
worst  architect,  and  the  most  slap-dash  way  of  deal- 
ing with  the  work,  and  would  give  anything  to  be 
rid  of  the  restraint  which  a  conscientious  architect 
imposes  upon  their  wishes.  I  can  truly  say  that 
my  life  is  burdened  with  the  constant  outcry  made 
against  me  for  endeavouring  to  keep  a  check 
upon  the  vandalism  of  my  employers,  and  upon 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  367 

the  earnest  pressure  on  all  sides  to  destroy  or 
alter  something  which  this,  that,  or  the  other 
man,  has  a  fancy  against ;  and  I  feel  no  doubt 
that  the  practical  result  of  this  outcry  against 
doing  anything  will  be  the  encouragement  of  de- 
structiveness.  I  would  here  refer  to  my  speech 
and  to  a  long  paper  in  reply  to  Mr.  Stevenson  in 
the  transactions  of  the  Institute,  also  to  my  reply 
to  Mr.  Loftie  in  Macmillaris  Magazine?  and  to 
the  following  letter  to  Sir  Edmund  Lechmere  re- 
specting an  attack  on  me  by  Mr.  Morris  (all  in 
1877):- 

My  dear  Sir  Edmund, — I  thank  you  for  sending 
me  the  number  of  the  Athenceum. 

I  have  been  told  that  I  am  systematically  and 
very  bitterly  traduced  by  writers  in  that  paper  ;  but 
as  I  know  that  I  do  not  deserve  it,  I  never  seek 
to  see  these  articles,  much  less  to. answer  them. 

You,  my  dear  Sir  Edmund,  know  whether  I  am 
"destroying"  the  church,2  or  contemplating  such 
treatment  of  it  as  is  intended  by  that  term.  You 
know  whether  I  am  "  hopeless,  because  interest, 
habit,  and  ignorance  bind  "  me.  Nay,  you  know 
whether  I  have  obliterated  a  single  chisel-mark  of 
the  old  masons,  and  whether  I  have  not,  lovingly 
and  carefully,  traced  out  the  almost  obliterated 
evidence  and  relics  of  much  of  their  work,  and 
shown  by  every  possible  means,  my  love  of  a 
building  of  the  class,  of  which  "  the  newly  invented 
study  "  is  "  the  chief  joy  "  of  my  life. 

Nevertheless,   painful    and   galling   as    it   is,    I 

1  Both  these  papers  will  be  found  in  Appendix  C. — ED. 

2  Tewkesbury  Abbey.— ED. 


368  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

rejoice  in  such  letters  and  protests  :  for  true — 
most  dreadfully  true — it  is  that  what  "  modern 
architect,  parson,  and  squire  call  restoration,"  has 
wrought  wholesale  ruin  among  our  ancient  build- 
ings. I  have  lifted  up  my  voice  on  this  subject 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  and,  though  not  fault- 
less, have  striven  with  all  my  might  to  avoid  such 
errors,  and  to  prevent  their  commission  by  others. 
I  feel  more  deeply  on  this  subject  than  on  any 
other,  and  never  lose  an  opportunity  of  protesting 
against  barbarisms  of  this  kind,  in  season  and  out 
of  season. 

I  am,  therefore,  willing  to  be  sacrificed  by  being 
made  the  victim  in  a  cause  which  I  have  so  in- 
tensely at  heart. 

I  do  fear,  however,  that  these  indiscriminating 
letters  defeat  their  own  object ;  for  I  observe 
that  they  rarely  attack  any  but  the  works  of 
those  who  strive  to  act  conscientiously ;  and 
most  of  all  attack  me  who,  I  am  bold  to  say, 
am  amongst  the  most  scrupulously  conservative 
of  restorers,  and  have  the  greatest  conceivable  love 
of  ancient  remains.  Thus,  by  abusing  the  archi- 
tect who  more  than  others  has  lifted  up  the 
standard  of  conservatism,  and  by  sparing  those 
(whose  name  is  legion)  who  have  filled  the  country 
with  havoc  and  destruction,  they  encourage  the 
increasing  disposition  to  commit  these  works  to 
the  hands,  not  of  conservatives  but  of  destroyers, 
by  thus  assuring  "squires  and  parsons"  that  the 
latter  will  be  dealt  with  mercifully,  or  winked  at, 
while  the  former  will  have  to  suffer  in  their 
stead. 

I  dare  say  people  may  be  low-minded  enough  to 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  369 

say  that  my  protests  against  the  destructiveness 
of  others  is  self-interested.  I  leave  such  minds 
to  enjoy  their  own  fallacies. 

Anyhow,  restorations  or  reparations  are  neces- 
sary,  but  I  think  it  wholesome  that  those  who 
carry  them  out  should  live  in  constant  danger. 

Herodotus  (I  think)  tells  us  that  the  Egyptians, 
while  religiously  scrupulous  as  to  having  the  bodies 
of  their  relations  embalmed,  so  soon  as  the  process 
was  over,  pursued  the  unhappy  embalmer,  and 
if  they  caught  him,  slew  him.  This  is  somewhat 
like  the  lot  of  the  embalmers  of  ancient  monu- 
ments :  so  if  I  suffer  among  those  who  deserve 
it,  I  only  trust  it  will  impel  me  to  strive  not  to 
deserve  it.  If  so,  "  all's  well  that  ends  well." 
Yours  very  faithfully, 

GEORGE  GILBERT  SCOTT. 

It  seems  to  be  the  opinion  of  some,  in  whose 
ranks  I  may  place  Sir  Edmund  Becket,  (who, 
however,  puts  himself  out  of  the  pale  by  boasting 
that  he  is  no  antiquary,  and  by  condemning  per- 
sons who  are  so,  and  who  bring  their  knowledge  to 
bear  upon  restoration,  as  steeped  in  antiquarianism), 
that  the  rule  of  action  in  dealing  with  mediaeval 
buildings  is,  to  act  as  the  mediseval  builders  them- 
selves did  ;  in  fact  precisely  in  the  same  manner 
as  that  in  which  we  treat  modern  buildings.  We 
ought,  they  consider,  freely  to  make  such  alterations 
in  them  as  we  deem  best  calculated  to  suit  them  to 
our  own  convenience,  and  even  to  ourown  taste,  with- 
out showing  any  special  respect  for  their  architec- 
ture, beyond  what  harmony  and  good  sense  suggest ; 
much  less  any  special  regard  for  them  as  links  in 

B  b 


370  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

the  history  of  art,  or  in  history  of  any  kind.  We 
should  not,  as  they  think,  bring  to  bear  upon  their 
treatment  any  of  that  class  of  feeling  which  we 
call  "  sentiment,"  unless  it  be  some  slight  tribute 
of  respect  for  a  noted  architect,  founder,  or  bene- 
factor. 

Now  I  view  this  theory  applied  to  ancient 
monuments  as  wholly  wrong.  As  regards  modern 
buildings  it  is  obviously  (within  certain  reasonable 
limits)  right ;  and  it  is  natural  that  persons  who 
eschew  antiquarianism,  historical  associations,  and 
"  sentiment,"  should  apply  it  equally  to  the  treat- 
ment of  ancient  buildings  still  in  use,  especially 
when  their  object  is  the  defence  of  some  favourite 
scheme  of  their  own. 

The  anti-restoration  party,  on  the  contrary,  take 
the  extreme  reverse  of  this  view ;  claiming  for  all 
ancient  buildings  and  works,  and  for  some  which 
are  not  very  ancient,  so  intense  an  amount  of 
veneration  as  almost  to  forbid  even  reparation, 
and  absolutely  to  forbid  anything  approaching  to 
restoration  or  any  treatment  calculated  to  render 
them  fitter  for  their  present  uses. 

I  infinitely  prefer  the  last  named  view,  though 
I  believe  it  to  be  such  an  exaggeration  as  would 
defeat  its  own  objects ;  but  the  former  I  hold  to 
be  a  most  dangerous  error. 

I  have  recently  met  in  an  old  pamphlet  on 
Restoration  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Freeman,  written  in 
i852,3  with  the  following  passage,  in  which  he 
defines  well  the  difference  between  the  claims 
of  old  and  modern  buildings  : — 

3  The  pamphlet  is  entitled  "The  preservation  and  restora- 
tion of  ancient  monuments." — ED. 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  371 

"  Antiquity  is  the  science  of  the  past ;  it  is  the  study  of  things 
and  events  sufficiently  removed  from  us  to  have  acquired  an 
extrinsic  value,  as  witnesses  to  a  state  of  things  no  longer  exist- 
ing. We  look  upon  an  ancient  church  or  castle,  not  merely  as 
a  work  of  art,  but  as  the  relic  and  witness  of  a  former  age,  of 
sentiments,  institutions,  and  states  of  society  which  have  passed 
away.  Feelings  like  these  could  not  have  existed  in  the 
middle  ages  with  regard  to  any  of  the  great  works  of  Roman- 
esque or  Gothic  architecture.  For  in  the  first  place,  they  did 
not  represent  a  past  state  of  things  but  a  present;  all  the 
forms  of  Gothic  architecture,  and,  for  this  purpose,  we  may 
add,  of  Romanesque  also,  were  parts  of  one  living  whole,  con- 
tinually changing,  developing,  improving,  or  corrupting,  but 
never  becoming  completely  extinct.  So  too  with  those  religious 
and  political  sentiments  and  circumstances  of  which  those  forms 
of  architecture  were  the  material  expression ;  the  building  to 
be  destroyed  did  not  at  any  period  speak  of  an  entirely  past 
state  of  things.  The  age  of  William  the  Conqueror  and  the 
age  of  Henry  VHIth  were  indeed  widely  different,  more 
widely  different,  in  some  important  respects,  than  the  latter  is 
from  our  own  ;  but  the  change  between  them  was  gradual  and 
imperceptible  ;  no  one  period  was  separated  from  any  other  by 
the  same  impassable  gulf  which  separates  us  from  the  whole 
they  constitute  ;  no  single  event  from  the  Conquest  to  the  Re- 
formation ever  produced  the  total  revulsion  of  taste  and  senti- 
ment, which,  speaking  widely,  we  may  call  the  result  of  the 
latter.  Had  William  of  Wykeham  devoted  himself  to  archseo 
logical  research,  the  works  of  Poore  or  even  of  Gundulf  could 
not  have  appeared  to  him  in  the  light  of  antiquities.  They 
were  merely  modern  erections,  claiming  no  respect  beyond 
what  intrinsically  belonged  to  them  as  works  of  art,  and  which, 
if  he  thought  he  could  improve  upon  them,  he  would  sacrifice 
with  as  little  scruple  as  we  should  any  structure  of  the  last  age. 
The  venerable  rust  of  antiquity  had  as  yet  hardly  gathered  even 
upon  the  swords  of  the  crusaders  ;  its  consecrating  mould  had 
still  to  settle  upon  the  frowning  towers  of  London  and  of 
Rochester,  upon  the  massive  arches  of  Southwell  and  St.  Albans. 
Had  a  past  existed  to  him,  in  the  sense  in  which  his  age  is  the 
past  to  us,  that  past  could  hardly  have  been  looked  for  in  any 
remains  more  recent  than  the  camps  and  walls  and  gateways, 
which  remained  then  probably  in  far  greater  abundance  than 
at  present,  to  bear  witness  to  the  universal  sway  of  the  Imperial 

City." 

B    D    2 


372  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

THE  "  QUEEN  ANNE"  STYLE. 

January,  1878. 

The  movement  in  favour  of  this  style,  or  family 
of  styles,  has  been  no  doubt  a  vexatious  disturber 
of  the  Gothic  movement. 

The  ardent  promoters  and  sharers  in  the  Gothic 
movement  had  fondly  flattered  themselves  that 
theirs  was  a  preternatural  heaven-born  impulse  ; 
that  they  had  been  born,  and  by  force  of  circum- 
stances trained,  and  led  on,  by  a  concurrence 
of  events  wholly  apart  from  their  own  choice  and 
will,  to  be  instruments  under  Providence  in  effect- 
ing a  great  revival.  They  viewed  that  revival  as 
in  part  religious,  and  in  part  patriotic. 

For  myself,  I  felt  conscious  of  having  been  led 
to  love  Gothic  architecture  in  my  youth  spon- 
taneously, without  any  external  inducement,  and 
without  any  selfish,  or  even  hopeful  aim.  I  fol- 
lowed up  Gothic  architecture  from  every  book  I 
could  find,  and  every  old  building  I  could  meet 
with,  just  as  practically  and  just  as  much  in  detail, 
while  I  had  no  thought  of  ever  using,  or  aiding  in 
reviving  it,  as  I  have  done  since  it  became  the 
employment  of  my  life.  So  that  the  sketches  which 
I  made,  and  the  details  and  measurements  which  I 
took,  while  I  had  no  practical  object  in  view,  are  as 
useful  to  me  in  my  professional  work,  as  those  I 
have  since  made  with  a  direct  view  to  practical  use. 

I  did  not  attempt  in  my  early  practice  to  use 
what  I  had  thus  gathered,  but  while  working  con- 
tentedly in  modern  styles,  continued,  as  time  and 
opportunity  would  permit,  to  sketch  and  take 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections. 


373 


details,  for  the  mere  love  of  it,  from  ancient 
buildings. 

Later  on  I  took  to  designing  churches,  and  then 
found  my  acquired  knowledge  useful,  though  in  a 
state  little  serviceable,  from  my  never  having 
thought  much  of  it  from  a  practical  point  of  view. 

I  was  awakened  from  my  slumbers  by  the  thunder 
of  Pugin's  writings.  .  I  well  remember  the  enthu- 
siasm to  which  one  of  them  excited  me,  one  night 
when  travelling  by  railway,  in  the  first  years  of 
their  existence.  I  was  from  that  moment  a  new 
man.  Old  things  (in  my  practice)  had  passed 
away,  and,  behold,  all  things  had  become  new,  or 
rather  modernism  had  passed  away  from  me  and 
every  aspiration  of  my  heart  had  become  mediaeval. 
What  had  for  fifteen  years  been  a  labour  of  love 
only,  now  became  the  one  business,  the  one  aim, 
the  one  overmastering  object  of  my  life.  I  cared 
for  nothing  as  regarded  my  art,  but  the  revival  of 
gothic  architecture.  I  did  not  know  Pugin,  but 
his  image  in  my  imagination  was  like  my  guardian 
angel,  and  I  often  dreamed  that  I  knew  him. 

In  later  years  I  fully  thought  that  my  experience, 
and  that  of  some,  perhaps  many,  others  pointed  to 
a  special  interposition  of  Providence  for  a  special 
purpose,  and  often  have  I  expressed  this  in  writing, 
as  in  a  paper  entitled  the  "  Gothic  Renaissance,"4 
in  my  first  R.A.  lecture,  and  in  my  inaugural 
address  in  1873  as  President  of  the  Institute  of 
British  Architects. 

The  course  which  the  revival  was  at  one  time 
taking  was  first  disturbed  by  the  Italian  mania, 
arising  from  Mr.  Ruskin's  writings ;  then  by  the 
4  Published  by  Saunders  and  Otley,  in  1860. 


374  •  S*r  Gilbert  Scott. 

French  rage,  coming  in  with  the  Lille  Cathedral 
competition  ;  and  later  on  by  the  revulsion  against 
this,  which  might  have  set  things  right  again,  had 
not  many  who  had  been  most  ardently  French — so 
much  so  that  no  moderate  man  could  hold  his 
own  for  their  gallomania — become  as  furiously 
anti-gothic ;  and  to  carry  out  their  new  views  turned 
round  in  favour  of  seventeenth- century  work,  and 
finally  of  "Queen  Anne." 

I  have  no  right  to  expose  this  frivolity,  for  I 
was  myself,  in  a  measure,  carried  away  with  some 
of  the  earlier  rages  ;  and  also  because  when  beaten 
out  of  my  gothic  by  Lord  Palmerston  in  the  matter 
of  the  Government  Offices,  I  felt  compelled,  in  the 
interests  of  my  family,  to  succumb,  and  to  build 
them  in  classic,  for  which  my  early  training  had 
fairly  fitted  me.  It  did,  however,  seem  hard  that 
the  very  men  who  had  once  goaded  me  for  not 
being  Gothic  or  French  enough,  should  be  the 
very  men  to  forsake  gothic  (for  secular  buildings 
at  least)  at  the  moment  when  its  success  was  the 
most  promising.  I  had  always  resented  my  classic 
opponents  calling  our  mediaeval  enthusiasm  a  mere 
"  fashion,"  but  this  change  did  really  appear  no 
better  than  a  tailor's  change  in  the  cut  of  a  coat, 
and  the  trifles  which  gave  rise  to  it  seem  to  be 
evinced  by  the  strange  vagaries  in  dress,  &c.,  by 
which  it  was  accompanied. 

When,  however,  one  considers  the  results,  the  case 
is  not  so  bad.  Though  many  buildings  may  be 
erected  in  the  so-called  "  Queen  Anne  "  style,  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  gothic,  the  majority  of 
such  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  erected  in  the  ver- 
nacular style  of  the  day,  and  so  far  the  change 


CHAP,  ix.]  Recollections.  375 

has  been  an  unquestionable  gain  :  we  have  rich 
colour  and  lively,  picturesque  architecture  in  lieu 
of  the  dull  monotony  of  the  usual  street  archi- 
tecture, and  more  than  this  the  style  is  half-way 
between  gothic  and  classic  in  its  effect,  and  goes 
all  the  way  in  its  use  of  material. 

The  style  of  Queen  Anne's  time  was  really  the 
domestic  variety  of  the  architecture  of  Sir  Chris- 
topher Wren,  and  a  very  good  style  it  really  was  ; 
but  the  style  now  known  by  that  name  embraces 
all  varieties,  from  the  close  of  the  Elizabethan 
period  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
with  a  preference  for  that  most  resembling  Eliza- 
bethan, so  that  it  really  brings  in  very  much  which 
is  highly  picturesque  and  artistic  in  character 
such  as  no  "  Gothic  man  "  would  fail  to  appreciate. 

Again,  it  has  the  advantage  of  eluding  the  popular 
objections  to  gothic,  when  used  for  secular  pur- 
poses. It  meets  the  prejudices  of  the  modern 
halfway,  and  turns  the  point  of  his  weapons. 
When  first  taken  up  it  was  really  more  like  the 
true  Queen  Anne,  than  it  has  since  become : 
its  use  of  common  sash  windows  was  one  of  its 
popular  points,  and  the  difficulties,  assumed  to  be 
felt  in  accommodating  gothic  windows  to  modern 
use,  were  urged  as  an  argument  in  its  favour. 
Once,  however,  in  the  saddle,  the  Queen  Anne-ites 
soon  threw  off  this  disguise,  and  freely  adopted 
lead  lights,  iron  casements,  and  all  kinds  of  old 
fashions  which  a  gothic  architect  would  have 
hardly  dared  to  employ,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that 
a  so-called  "  Queen  Anne  "  house  is  now  more  a 
revival  of  the  past  than  a  modern  gothic  house. 

In  my  book,  written  about   1859,  my  object  was 


376  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

to  show  that  gothic  would  admit  of  any  degree  of 
modernism.  The  aim  of  the  Queen  Anne  architects 
now  seems  to  be  to  show  that  nothing  can  be  too 
old-fashioned  for  their  style. 

I  heartily  wish  them  all  success  in  this,  and 
when  they  have  succeeded,  I  trust  we  Goths  may 
be  allowed  to  pick  up  a  few  crumbs  of  their  revived 
old  fashions,  and  to  use  them  in  our  style,  without 
being  taunted  as  the  revivers  of  obsolete  customs, 
or  with  making  our  houses  look  -like  churches. 


EXPLICIT. 


APPENDIX   A. 


THE  latest  date  which  appears  in  the  "  Recollections "  is 
January,  1878.  My  father  departed  this  life  on  the  27th  of 
the  following  March.  A  few  words  seem  needed  to  complete 
the  story. 

The  following  works  of  importance  were  in  progress  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  beside  those  which  are  referred  to  in  the 
"  Recollections :  "— 

The  refitting  of  the  choir  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  as  to 
which  some  controversy  has  arisen,  as  will  be  seen  from  certain 
passages  in  the  papers  on  the  subject  of  restoration  printed  as 
Appendix  C  ;  the  restoration  of  Tewkesbury  Abbey  ;  the  erec- 
tion of  the  Great  Hall  of  Glasgow  University,  for  which  the  plans 
had  been  prepared,  and  which  is  now  about  to  commence ; 
the  Cathedral  of  Edinburgh,  the  nave  of  which  has  just  been 
consecrated.  The  restoration  of  the  nave  of  St.  Alban's 
Abbey,  still  in  progress,  is  a  work  which  has  on  several 
accounts  excited  general  interest.  The  great  work  of  forcing 
back  to  the  perpendicular  by  mechanical  means  the  south 
wall  of  the  nave  for  some  105  feet  of  its  length,  a  wall  66  feet 
in  height,  which  in  the  centre  of  the  length  to  be  dealt  with 
overhung  its  base  to  the  extent  of  2  feet  3  inches,  is  an  ex- 
ample of  architectural  engineering  upon  a  large  scale,  which 
has  attracted  much  attention ;  the  more  so,  perhaps,  since 
he  who  had  devised  the  whole  plan,  which  has  been  carried 
out  with  such  complete  success,  did  not  live  to  enjoy  the 
satisfaction  of  it.  The  repair  of  John  De  Cella's  magnificent 
portals,  and  the  restoration  of  Abbot  Trumpington's  nave  roof, 
were  also  pending  at  the  time  of  Sir  Gilbert's  death,  and 
have  given  occasion  to  warm  controversies.  The  choir  screen 


378  Appendix. 

at  Beverley  Minster,  the  Hook  Memorial  Church  at  Leeds, 
and  the  restoration  of  the  Parish  Church  of  Halifax,  may  also 
be  mentioned ;  as  well  as  the  restoration  of  the  west  fronts 
of  Lichfield  and  St.  David's  Cathedrals,  and  of  the  nave  of 
Salisbury.  The  restoration  of  the  Chapel  of  New  College  was 
also  in  progress,  and  that  of  St.  Margaret's  Church,  West- 
minster ;  while  in  the  Abbey  itself  the  work  of  bringing  back 
the  noble  portals  of  the  north  transept  to  their  original  design 
had  been  commenced,  and  is  still  in  course  of  execution. 
Among  many  other  works  of  more  or  less  general  interest, 
which  were  similarly  in  progress  at  the  time  of  Sir  Gilbert's 
death,  and  which  it  has  been  left  to  his  sons  to  carry  on  to 
completion,  may  be  mentioned  the  Cathedral  of  Graham's 
Town  in  South  Africa. 

Of  the  last  few  days  of  my  father's  life,  a  very  minute 
account  has  been  preserved  by  John  Pavings,  who  had  long 
acted  as  his  valet,  and  for  whom,  from  his  constant  and  faith- 
ful service,  my  father  had  a  high  regard.  Although  of  his 
four  sons  then  living  two  resided  under  the  same  roof  with 
him,  and  the  others  but  a  few  miles  away,  yet  so  little 
anticipation  was  there  of  any  danger  on  the  part  of  the  medical 
men  or  of  others,  that  only  one  of  us — my  brother  John — was 
with  him  at  all  during  the  last  days  of  his  life,  and  he,  from 
one  cause  and  another,  saw  but  little  of  him. 

It  was  on  Tuesday  the  igth  of  March  that  my  father  first 
began  to  ail.  He  had  long  suffered  from  varicose  veins  in  the 
left  leg.  On  this  day  they  caused  him  much  discomfort,  and 
Dr.  Westlake,  who  was  called  in,  ordered  him  to  keep  to  his 
bed.  So  little,  however,  was  thought  of  this,  that  on  Wednesday 
morning  my  brother  and  his  wife,  who  resided  with  my  father,  left 
town  for  four  days,  and  on  the  Saturday  following  my  youngest 
brother,  who  also  lived  at  home,  went  down  into  Suffolk  for  some 
fishing,  intending  to  return  on  the  zyth,  and  leaving  no  address. 
On  the  Friday  Dr.  Westlake  saw  my  father  again,  and  said  in 
answer  to  an  inquiry,  "  Sir  Gilbert  will  be  about  again  in  a 
week."  On  Saturday  he  felt  well  enough  to  leave  his  bed 
for  the  sofa. 

On  Sunday  he  suffered  somewhat  from  rheumatism,  situated, 
as  Dr.  Seton,  his  regular  medical  adviser,  ascertained,  in  the 
muscles  between  the  ribs.  In  spite  of  this,  he  was,  as  usual, 
full  of  fun.  A  nephew,  a  medical  student,  happening  to  call, 


Appendix. 

my  father  sent  out  word,  "Ask  Doctor  Alfred  to  come  in." 
"  Is  there  a  guinea  ready?  "  was  the  reply ;  to  which  my  father 
sent  back,  "Ask  him  for  his  diploma."  On  this  day  he  kept 
his  bed,  but  on  the  Monday  he  got  up  and  had  an  interview 
in  his  study  with  two  members  of  Glasgow  University  on  the 
subject  of  the  Bute  Hall.  He  had  acted  against  medical 
advice  in  leaving  his  bed  while  suffering  as  he  was  from  the 
veins  in  his  leg;  and  now,  instead  of  returning  to  it,  he 
decided  to  sit  down  to  lunch  with  Dr.  Allan  Thomson  and  his 
companion.  To  his  man,  who  ventured  a  remonstrance,  he 
said,  "  I  feel  perfectly  well ;  why  should  I  be  mewed  up  here  ? 
I  shall  enjoy  lunching  with  them,  and  it  will  do  me  good." 
There  is  reason  to  fear  that  this  imprudence  cost  him  his  life, 
the  exertion  bringing  about  that  disaster  against  which  his 
medical  advisers  had  distinctly  warned  him, — the  detachment 
of  a  blood-clot  from  the  inflamed  vein,  and  its  passage  into  the 
circulation,  and  eventually  to  the  heart.  Still,  although,  as  his 
man  expresses  it,  "  done  up,"  he  was  in  good  spirits.  "  I  am 
going,"  he  said  to  Pavings,  "to  the  Academy  meeting  for 

the  election  of ."     "  What  shall  you  do  with  your 

leg,  then,  Sir  Gilbert  ?  "  "  Take  it  with  me,  I  hope,"  was  the 
reply.  "  If  you  go,  I  shall  go  to  take  care  of  you,"  said  his 
man.  "  So  you  may,"  rejoined  my  father.  "  Sir  Francis  always 
takes  his  butler  with  him,  and  he  tucks  him  up.  You  shall  do 
the  same  for  me."  A  little  later,  speaking  with  Pavings  of 
Cromwell  and  the  Roundheads,  "  round-heads,"  he  said, 
"  like  yours ;"  and  calling  for  his  rule  he  measured  his  own 
and  Pavings'  heads.  Sir  Gilbert's  was  an  inch  the  longer,  but 
his  man's  was  the  wider  by  one  finger-breadth. 

This  evening  Dr.  Seton  saw  him  for  the  last  time.  Though 
strongly  urging  the  necessity  of  perfect  rest,  he  yet  thought  so 
favourably  of  the  case  that  he  did  not  call  on  the  following  day. 
The  next  morning  (Tuesday  the  26th)  my  father  recounted 
to  his  man  a  quaint  dream  which  he  had  had,  over  which  they 
had  a  good  laugh  together.  "  In  the  course  of  it,"  said  my 
father,  "  I  saw  my  dear  wife ;  I  never  saw  her  more  plainly 
in  my  life,"  and  he  seemed  quite  to  brighten  up  on  thinking 
of  it.  All  this  day  he  lay  in  bed,  but  saw  several  persons  on 
business  in  his  bedroom,  and  enjoyed  his  meals  as  usual. 

After  dinner  a  letter  arrived  from  one  whom  my  father  had 
often  assisted,  a  Roman  Catholic  architect  who  had  had  great 


380  Appendix. 

misfortunes  and  was  lying  ill.  Pavings  was  disposed  to  blame 
the  man,  but  Sir  Gilbert  said,  "  It  is  very  wicked  to  speak 
harshly  of  poor  people,"  and  wrote  out  a  cheque  at  once. 
This  was  the  last  time  that  my  father  put  pen  to  paper.  Some 
seven  hours  later  he  was  called  to  his  account,  and  by  a 
touching  coincidence  he,  on  whose  behalf  he  last  employed 
his  pen,  survived  his  benefactor  but  a  single  day.  After  this 
an  allusion  to  a  person  of  humbler  position,  whose  necessities 
my  father  had  constantly  relieved,  led  him  to  remark  upon  the 
law  of  Moses  concerning  the  jubilee,  and  to  apply  to  the  case 
of  such  pensioners  the  passage  in  Deuteronomy  (xv.  13,  14), 
"  Thou  shalt  not  let  him  go  away  empty :  thou  shalt  furnish 
him  liberally :  of  that  wherewith  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  blessed 
thee  thou  shalt  give  unto  him."  This  led  to  a  long  conversa- 
tion upon  the  story  of  the  Exodus,  in  the  course  of  which  Sir 
Gilbert  answered  many  difficulties  which  had  occurred  to 
Pavings.  On  his  saying,  "  How  did  Moses  get  up  to  the  top 
of  that  mountain  ?  "  my  father  laughingly  replied,  "  Moses  had 
not  such  a  game  leg  as  I  have." 

Between  nine  and  ten  that  night  my  brother  John  was  with 
him,  but  stayed  only  for  a  short  time,  as  Sir  Gilbert  seemed 
tired  and  wished  to  go  to  sleep. 

A  little  later  his  leg  appeared  to  trouble  him,  for  remarking 
that  the  doctor  had  not  called  that  day,  he  said,  "  My  leg  is 
no  better ;  if  it  does  not  soon  get  better,  it  will  do  for  me." 
Still  he  was  cheerful,  chatting  with  Pavings  about  Stowe  at 
the  time  that  the  present  Duke  was  christened,  and  about  his 
native  village,  which  led  to  his  telling  the  following  story : — 
Mr.  Law  was  a  pious  but  absent-minded  farmer,  who  was 
occasionally  invited  to  dine  at  the  parsonage  on  Sundays. 
On  one  occasion — my  grandfather  being  away — Mr.  Law  had 
to  say  grace,  which  he  did  at  great  length.  He  also  happened 
in  the  course  of  the  same  meal  to  get  confused  among  the 
various  cruets  on  the  table,  and  sprinkled  the  sugar  upon  his 
meat.  After  he  had  gone,  the  eldest  of  the  brothers  was 
laughing  at  his  long  grace,  when  Miss  Gilbert,  his  aunt,  re- 
proved him,  saying,  "  My  dear,  Mr.  Law's  grace  was  '  seasoned 
with  salt'"  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "and  his  meat  with  sugar." 
I  give  this  story  not  for  its  own  sake,  but  as  illustrating  the 
almost  child-like  love  of  fun  which  my  father  exhibited  to  the 
very  last.  An  allusion  in  the  course  of  conversation  to  the 


Appendix.  381 

old  stage-coachmen,  recalled  to  his  mind  a  song  they  used  to 
sing  forty  years  ago  :  "  All  round  my  hat  I  wear  a  green 
willow,"  and  he  sang  a  line  or  two  of  it  to  give  Pavings  the 
tune. 

He  talked  cheerfully  until  about  eleven  p.m.,  when  his  man 
handed  him  his  Bible  and  hymn-book,  and  left  him  for  a  little. 
He  returned  for  a  few  minutes.  "It  is  pleasant,"  said  my 
father,  "  to  see  your  fat  face.  Good  night.  Schlafen  Sie  wohl." 

About  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  his  bell  rang.  Pavings 
finding  him  coughing  violently  gave  him  some  brandy,  and 
at  Sir  Gilbert's  request  prepared  a  poultice.  While  thus 
engaged,  my  father  said  to  him,  "  Your  had  better  make  up  a 
bed  on  the  sofa ;  for  if  you  leave  me,  you  will  find  me  gone  in 
the  morning."  The  instant  the  poultice  was  placed  over  the 
region  of  the  heart,  my  father  called  out,  "Oh,  it  is  come 
again  !  Lift  me  up."  My  brother  John  was  summoned  at 
once,  but  my  father  never  recovered  consciousness,  and  died 
some  twenty  minutes  afterwards.  A  little  before  he  died  he 
opened  his  eyes,  and  lifted  them  upwards,  as  though  in  prayer. 
This  was  the  last  gesture  he  made  :  the  eyelids  fell,  and  after 
a  few  heavy  moans  all  was  over. 

He  was  interred  on  Saturday,  the  6th  of  April,  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  The  Dean  of  Westminster,  anticipating  the  ap- 
plication from  Sir  Gilbert's  colleagues  of  the  Institute  of  British 
Architects,  intimated  to  us  immediately  after  my  father's  death 
the  wish  that  his  body  should  be  laid  to  rest  within  the  walls  of 
the  Abbey,  by  the  grave  of  Sir  Charles  Barry,  and  beside  the 
great  nave  pulpit  which  he  had  himself  designed. 

The  Abbey  Church  of  Westminster  was,  of  all  others,  the 
place  in  which,  even  apart  from  the  honour  of  such  a  resting- 
place,  my  father  would  have  desired  to  be  laid.  Of  all  the 
great  churches  of  England  with  which  he  had  been  connected, 
this  was  the  one  which  he  best  loved.  The  works  upon  which 
he  was  from  time  to  time  engaged  about  the  Abbey,  and  the 
investigation  of  its  antiquities  in  their  minutest  detail,  was  to 
him  a  source  of  unfailing  delight.  He  one  day  remarked  to 
his  valet,  "When  I  get  old  and  past  work,  I  shall  take  a  house 
near  the  Abbey,  so  as  to  be  able  to  attend  the  daily  service 
there,  and  to  wander  about  the  dear  old  place,"  and,  he  added, 
"I  think  that  I  shall  be  very  happy."  But  a  still  happier  lot 


382  Appendix, 

was  to  be  his.  A  kindly  Providence  spared  him  the  sad  con- 
sciousness of  failing  powers,  the  weariness  of  enfeebling  old 
age,  and  the  slow  misery  of  a  lingering  sickness.  Too  soon, 
alas  !  for  those  to  whom  he  was  most  dear,  but  for  himself,  in 
truest  kindness,  not  too  late,  he  was  called  away,  and  where  he 
had  thought  to  wander  as  a  worn-out  old  man  he  now  lies  at 
rest,  taken  from  us  in  the  fulness  of  his  powers,  which  years 
had  ripened  to  maturity,  and  age  had  not  commenced  to 
wither. 

The  coffin  bore  the  following  inscription  :  — 

Georgii  Gilberti  Scott,  equitis 
viri  probi  architecti  peritissimi 

parentis  optimi  reliquiae  hie 

in  fide  Jesu  Christi  resurrectionem 

expectant.     Obiit  xxvii0.  die  Martis 

anno  Salutis  MDCCCLXXVIII".  setatis  LXVII°. 

By  order  of  Her  Majesty,  one  of  the  royal  carriages  attended 
the  funeral  procession.  In  the  church  the  pall  was  borne  by 
Mr.  A.  B.  Mitford,  who  represented  the  First  Commissioner  of 
Works;  Lord  John  Manners,  M.P.,  the  Postmaster-General; 
Mr.  R.  Redgrave,  R.  A.,  representing  the  President  of  the  Royal 
Academy ;  Mr.  Charles  Barry,  the  President  of  the  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects ;  Mr.  Frederic  Ouvry,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  ;  and  Mr.  A.  J.  B.  Beresford 
Hope,  M.P.,  President  of  the  Council  of  the  Architectural 
Museum.  The  Royal  Academy,  the  Institute  of  Architects, 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  the  Council  of  the  Architectural 
Museum  were  further  represented  by  numerous  deputations,  as 
were  also  the  Archaeological  Institute,  the  London  and  Mid- 
dlesex Archaeological  Society,  the  Ecclesiological  Society,  the 
Architectural  Association,  the  Turners'  Company,  of  which 
Sir  Gilbert  was  a  member,  and  many  other  public  bodies  con- 
nected with  art  and  learning.  On  the  Sunday  following  the 
interment,  the  Dean  of  Westminster  preached  in  the  Abbey 
Church  the  funeral  sermon,  which  by  his  kind  permission  is 
reprinted  in  the  following  Appendix. 

I  am  also  happy  to  be  permitted  to  close  this  story  by  an 
extract  from  a  lecture  delivered  before  the  Royal  Academy  in 
January  last,  by  Mr.  Edward  M.  Barry,  R.A.,  who  succeeded 
my  father  in  the  chair  of  architecture  : — 

"  In  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  a  great  movement  has  lost  a  representa- 


Appendix.  383 

tive  man,  intent  on  the  reproduction  of  the  forms  of  old 
English  architecture.  Few  advocates  of  change,  amounting 
almost  to  revolution,  have  experienced  as  large  an  amount  of 
practical  success,  and  he  lived  to  see  the  Gothic  revival,  of 
which  he  was  a  leader,  to  a  great  extent  triumphant.  Heartily 
identified,  however,  as  he  was  with  the  revival,  Sir  G.  Scott 
was  not  an  artistic  bigot.  He  could  spare  some  of  his 
admiration  for  the  architecture  of  Greece  and  Rome,  of  which 
he  expressed  in  his  Academy  lectures  'no  stinted  or  cold- 
hearted  eulogy.'  With  the  calmness  of  judgment  which  dis- 
tinguished him,  he  admitted  that  the  Renaissance  style  had 
many  merits,  and  that  it  possessed  at  least  one  feature,  the 
dome — the  noblest  and  '  most  sublime '  achievement  of  archi- 
tecture— which  had  found  no  abiding  place  in  English  mediaeval 
art.  His  remarks  on  the  internal  treatment  of  this  crowning 
achievement  of  Renaissance  architecture  have  a  special  interest 
at  the  present  time,  when  a  renewed  attempt  is  being  made  to 
induce  some  of  our  best  painters  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
glorious  task  of  decorating  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's.  Identifying 
himself  with  the  revival  of  the  Gothic  architecture  of  his  own 
country,  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  distrusted  the  introduction  of  prin- 
ciples of  composition  and  details  borrowed  from  abroad,  and 
thus  remained,  as  he  began,  an  essentially  English  architect. 
The  Albert  Memorial  in  Hyde-park  may  be  described  as  an 
exception  to  Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  usual  practice  in  this  respect. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century  an  age  of  no 
architecture  had  supervened  on  the  first  classical  revival  of 
Inigo  Jones  and  Wren,  and  had  brought  us  to  what  may  be 
called  the  Dismal  Period  :  the  era  of  Bloomsbury  streets  and 
Batty  Langley's  gothic.  When  men  demanded  something 
better,  they  were  invited  to  choose  between  two  renaissances 
— the  Classic,  and  the  Gothic.  Then  arose  the  battle  of  the 
styles,  a  conflict  which  cannot  be  said  to  be  yet  over,  and 
which,  perhaps,  may  never  be  decided.  Sir  Gilbert  Scott 
adopted  the  latter,  and  became  the  principal  church  architect 
of  his  day.  The  Gothic  revival  was  not,  however,  only,  or 
even  chiefly,  an  architectural  movement,  being  warmly  sup- 
ported by  the  clergy,  who  rejoiced  to  see  the  national  interest 
awakened  in  its  sacred  buildings.  Atonement  was  demanded 
for  past  days  of  ecclesiastical  carelessness,  and  the  Cambridge 
Camden  Society  arose,  with  its  suggestive  motto, ' Donee  templa 


384  Appendix. 

refeceris.'1  A  great  impetus  was  given  to  the  new  taste  by  the 
erection  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  in  the  Gothic  style,  and 
by  the  labours  of  Pugin  and  others  in  the  education  of  work- 
men in  the  old  mediaeval  traditions.  Sir  Walter  Scott  had 
previously  paved  the  way  by  entrancing  a  nation  (already,  alas  ! 
half  forgetful  of  him)  and  turning  their  thoughts  to  the  history, 
customs,  and  architecture  of  olden  times.  New  Gothic 
churches  and  other  ecclesiastical  edifices  arose  throughout  the 
country,  and  the  cry  for  restoration  increased  in  volume. 
Cathedrals  were  repaired  and  thrown  open  to  the  people, 
services  were  multiplied  and  rendered  more  attractive,  and  it 
was  found  that  our  old  buildings  could  once  more  be  filled  with 
overflowing  congregations.  In  the  architectural  part  of  this  great 
movement  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  occupied  the  foremost  place.  To 
effect  so  great  a  change,  enthusiasm  is  necessary,  and  when  men 
are  much  in  earnest,  enthusiasm  may  easily  lead  to  extravagance. 
So-called  revivals  are  often  difficult  to  distinguish  from  prac- 
tical innovations,  and  many  a  fierce  theological  conflict  has  been 
waged  over  architectural  details  in  our  churches.  Sir  Gilbert 
Scott  was  neither  by  taste  nor  temperament  an  innovator.  In  the 
midst  of  controversy  his  works  showed  sobriety  of  design,  and 
moderation  of  judgment.  The  Tractarian  movement  and  the 
Gothic  revival  went,  indeed,  hand  in  hand;  but  he  was  too 
earnest  a  champion  to  wish  his  cause  to  be  identified  with  any 
single  party.  Like  many  High  Churchmen,  he  desired  to 
tread  the  '  via  media,'  very  much  as  did  the  late  Dean  of  Chi- 
chester ;  so  that  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  may  almost  be  termed  the  Dr. 
Hook  of  the  Gothic  revival  In  the  early  stage  of  the  latter,  it 
was  by  a  design  for  the  parish  church  at  Camberwell,  that  the 
name  of  Scott  attracted  notice,  and  at  a  subsequent  period  he 
had  the  satisfaction  of  distancing  all  competitors  at  Hamburg, 
thus  winning  for  English  architects  conspicuous  international 
distinction.  In  his  own  country,  he  secured  an  amount  of 
employment  scarcely  paralleled  in  professional  annals.  In  a 
few  years  great  changes  had  arisen  in  the  public  taste.  A 
time  of  architectural  carelessness  had  been  followed  by  an  era 
of  activity,  an  age  of  neglect  by  an  outburst  of  restoration. 
Complaints  have  lately  been  much  urged  against  restorations ; 
doubtless  with  truth  in  certain  cases.  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  had  too 
much  to  do,  to  expect  to  escape  criticism.  An  architect's  deeds 
are  never  hidden,  and  all  can  have  their  say  upon  them.  Few, 


Appendix. 

however,  have  dwelt  more  than  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  on  the  necessity 
of  a  conservative  spirit  of  reverence  for  the  past.  In  so  doing, 
he  carried  out  the  teaching  of  his  predecessors  at  the  Royal 
Academy,  and  particularly  that  of  Professor  Cockerell.  In 
regard  to  restorations,  it  should  be  remembered  that  architects 
have  serious  responsibilities  from  which  their  critics  are  free, 
and  however  great  may  be  their  reverence  for  the  past,  they 
must  recognize  the  practical  requirements  of  their  own  time. 
Our  old  buildings  must  not  be  allowed  to  fall,  while  we  are  dis- 
cussing, as  an  abstract  principle,  the  propriety  of  restoration. 
Architects,  nevertheless,  should  be  jealous  of  unnecessary 
change,  and  the  question  is  well  dealt  with  in  the  following 

sentence  from  one  Of  the  discourses  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  : 

'  Ancient  monuments,  having  the  right  of  possession,  ought  not 
to  be  removed  unless  to  make  room  for  that  which  not  only  has 
higher  pretensions,  but  such  pretensions  as  will  balance  the 
evil  and  confusion  which  innovation  always  brings  with  it.' 
The  Gothic  revival  has  now  attained  a  respectable  age,  and  we 
may  begin  to  inquire  as  to  its  results.  It  has  apparently 
settled  the  question  that,  for  the  present  at  least,  our  ecclesias- 
tical architecture  is  to  be  Gothic.  For  secular  buildings,  no 
such  decision  has  been  accepted.  Important  works  are  daily 
carried  out  in  both  the  rival  styles,  and  there  are  not  wanting 
signs  of  an  increasing  feeling  in  favour  of  the  classic  Renaissance 
or  certain  developements  of  it.  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  erected  his  most 
important  civic  building,  the  Public  Offices,  in  the  latter  style, 
although  under  protest,  at  the  bidding  of  Lord  Palmerston. 
This  was  probably  the  greatest  disappointment  of  a  long  and- 
successful  career,  and  to  be  regarded  as  an  episode  only,  as  his 
name  will  ever  be  indissolubly  associated  with  the  Gothic 
revival  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Victoria.  His  memory  will  live, 
not  only  in  stately  cathedrals,  but  in  many  a  lowly  village,  as 
the  great  ecclesiastical  architect  of  our  time.  Too  learned  to 
be  over-confident,  he  was  ever  a  student,  and  conspicuous  for 
a  modest  and  unassuming  manner.  Architect  of  his  own 
fortune,  his  mortal  remains  were  fitly  interred  in  that  famous 
Abbey  which  he  loved  so  well — the  national  Campo  Santo  of 
Westminster.  His  grave  is  side  by  side  with  that  of  Sir  Charles 
Barry,  to  whose  place  he  succeeded  in  the  Royal  Academy  on 
the  death  of  the  latter  in  1 860.  The  career  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott 
was  in  some  respects  unique,  and  the  exact  circumstances  of 

c  c 


386  Appendix. 

the  revival,  under  which  it  was  possible,  can  scarcely  recur.  It 
may,  however,  supply  encouragement  to  architectural  students. 
Great  reputations  are  not  indeed  to  be  lightly  won,  or  easily 
supported;  but  every  young  student  may  at  least  determine 
that  the  noble  art  of  architecture  shall  not  suffer  in  his  hands 
by  any  lack  of  devotion,  hard  work,  and  perseverance.  All 
may  follow,  though  it  may  be  at  a  distance,  in  the  steps  of  the 
great  men  who  have  passed  before,  and  thus  may  endeavour  to 
deserve,  if  it  be  not  given  to  them  to  achieve,  success  which  may 
compare  with  theirs." 


APPENDIX   B. 


FUNERAL  SERMON  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  SIR  GIL- 
BERT SCOTT,  PREACHED  IN  WESTMINSTER 
ABBEY,  APRIL  6xH,  1878, 

BY  ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.D., 
DEAN  OF  WESTMINSTER. 

"I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord." — PSALM  cxxii. 

"  THE  house  of  the  Lord."     It  is  an  expression  which  we  at 
once  recognize  as  figurative.     "  Behold  the  heaven  of  heavens 
cannot  contain  Thee ;  how  much  less  this  house  that  I  have 
builded !  "     So  it  was  said  even  in  the  Jewish  dispensation. 
In  the  Christian  dispensation  it  is  still  more  strongly  expressed 
that  the  only  fitting  temple  of  the  Most  High  is  the  sacred 
human  conscience,  or  the  community  of  good  men  throughout 
the  world,  or  that  vast  unseen  universe  which  is  the  true  taber- 
nacle, greater  and  more  perfect  than  any  made  by  hands. 
Nevertheless,  like  all  familiar  metaphors,  the  expression  "  the 
house  of  God  "  has  a  deep  root  in  the  human  heart  and  mind. 
Our  idea  of  the  invisible  almost  inevitably  makes  for  itself  a 
shell  or  husk  from  visible  things.     This  is  the  germ  of  religious 
architecture.     This  is  the  reason  why  the  most  splendid  build- 
ings in  the  world  have  been  temples  or  churches.     This  is  the 
reason  why  even  the  most  spiritual,  even  the  most  Puritanical, 
religion  clothes  itself  with  the  drapery  not  only  of  words,  and 
sounds,  and  pictures,  but  of  wood,  and  stone,  and  marble.     A 
Friends'  meeting-house  is  as  really  a  house  of  God,  and  there- 
fore as  decisive  a  testimony  to  the  sacredness  of  architecture, 

C  C   2 


388  Appendix. 

as  the  most  magnificent  cathedral.     The  barbaric  artificers  of 
the  rude  tabernacle  in  the  desert  were  as  really  inspired  in 
their  rude  manner  as  the  Tyrian  architects  of  the  temple  of 
Solomon.     Who  is  there  that  does  not  feel  a  glow  of  enthu- 
siasm, when  coming  back  after  long  absence,  it  may  be  like 
him  who  addresses  you  to-day,  long  illness,  he  finds  himself 
once  more  in  the  old  familiar,  venerable  sanctuary,  which  has 
become  the  home  of  his  affection,  the  outward  and  visible  sign 
of  his  country's  and  of  his  own  hopes  and  duties?     Who  is 
there  that,  having  grown  with  the  growth  and  strengthened 
with  the  strength  of  an  institution  like  this,  does  not  feel  that 
it  is  part  of  himself —that  its  honour  or  dishonour  is  his  own 
glory  or  his  own  shame?     That  which  a  sentiment  usually 
ascribed  to  the  witty  Canon  1  of  a  neighbouring  cathedral,  with 
singular  humour,  treated  as  an  impossibility,  is  in  fact  the  sim- 
ple truth.      We  who  live  under  the  hull  or  framework,  the 
vaults  or  the  dome  of  a  building  like  Westminster  Abbey  or 
St.  Paul's,  are  conscious  of  a  thrill  of  satisfaction  when  the  hand 
of  an  approving  public  is  placed  on  our  outward  shell ;   a 
thrill  which  penetrates  to  our  inmost  souls,  because  we  within, 
and  that  superb  shell  without,  constitute  but  one  and  the  same 
living  creature.     It  is  the  consciousness  of  this  intimate  con- 
nexion between  the  spiritual  and  the  material  temple,  between 
the  grandeur  of  religion  and  the  grandeur  of  its  outward  habi- 
tation, which  gives  a  living  interest  to  the  thought  which  I 
would  this  day  bring  before  you — the  religious  aspect  of  the 
noble  science  and  art  of  the  architect.      We  yesterday  laid 
within  these  walls  the  most  famous  builder  of  this  generation. 
Others  may  have  soared  to  loftier  flights,  or  produced  special 
works  of  more  commanding  power ;  but  no  name  within  the 
last  thirty  years  has  been  so  widely  impressed  on  the  edifices  of 
Great  Britain,  past  and  present,  as  that  of  Gilbert  Scott    From 
the  humble  but  graceful  cross,  which  commemorates  at  Oxford 
the  sacrifice  of  the  three  martyrs  of  the  English  Reformation, 

1  It  is  told  of  Sydney  Smith  that  he  once  said  to  a  child  who  thought 
that  it  was  pleasing  a  tortoise  by  stroking  the  shell,  "You,  might  as  well 
hope  to  please  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  St.  Paul's  by  patting  the  dome." 
("Memoirs  of  Sydney  Smith,"  vol.  i.  324.)  It  would  seem,  however,  that 
the  story  had  an  earlier  origin.  The  remark  was  made,  at  least  in  the  first 
instance  or  simultaneously,  by  the  present  Sir  Frederick  Pollock  to  his 
brother. 


Appendix.  389 

to  the  splendid  memorial  of  the  prince  who  devoted  his  life  to 
the  service  of  his  Queen  and  country ;  from  the  Presbyterian 
University  on  the  banks  of  the  Clyde,  to  the  college  chapels  on 
the  banks  of  the  Isis  and  the  Cam  ;  from  the  proudest  minster 
to  the  most  retired  parish  church ;  from  India  to  Newfoundland 
— the  trace  has  been  left  of  the  loving  eye  and  skilful  hand  that 
are  now  so  cold  in  death.  Truly  was  it  said  by  one,  who  from 
the  distant  shores  of  a  foreign  land  rendered  yesterday  his  sorrow- 
ing tribute  of  respect,  that  in  nearly  all  the  cathedrals  of  Eng- 
land there  must  have  been  a  shock  of  grief  when  the  tidings 
came  of  the  sudden  stroke  which  had  parted  them  from  him, 
who  was  to  them  as  their  own  familiar  friend  and  foster-father. 
Canterbury,  Ely,  Exeter,  Worcester,  Peterborough,  Salisbury, 
Hereford,  Lichfield,  Ripon,  Gloucester,  Manchester,  Chester, 
Rochester,  Oxford,  Bangor,  St.  Asaph,  St.  David's,  Windsor,  St. 
Alban's,  Tewkesbury,  and  last,  not  least,  our  own  Westminster, 
in  which  he  took  most  delight  of  all  buildings  in  all  the  world, 
are  the  silent  mourners  round  the  grave  of  him  who  loved  their 
very  stones  and  dust,  and  knew  them  to  their  very  heart's  core. 
But  it  is  good  on  these  occasions  to  rise  above  the  personal 
feelings  of  the  moment  into  those  more  general  lessons  which 
his  career  suggests. 

I.  It  was  the  singular  fortune  of  that  career  that  it  coincided 
with  one  of  the  most  remarkable  revolutions  of  taste  that  the 
world  has  witnessed.  That  peculiar  conception  of  architectural 
beauty  which  our  ancestors  in  blame,  and  not  in  praise,  called 
Gothic,  was  altogether  unknown  to  Pagan  or  Christian  anti- 
quity. It  was  unknown  alike  to  the  builders  of  the  Pyramids 
and  the  Parthenon,  to  the  builders  of  the  Roman  Basilica,  or 
the  Byzantine  St.  Sophia.  Born  partly  of  Saracenic,  partly  of 
German  parentage,  it  gradually  won  its  way  to  perfection  by  the 
mysterious  instinct  which  breathed  through  Europe  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  It  nourished  for  four  centuries,  and  then  died 
as  completely  as  if  it  had  never  existed.  Another  style  took 
its  place.  By  Catholic  and  Protestant  it  was  alike  repudiated. 
By  the  hands  of  English  or  Scottish  prelates,  no  less  than  by 
English  or  Scottish  Reformers,  its  traces  wherever  possible  were 
obliterated.  Here  and  there  a  momentary  thrill  of  admiration 
was  rekindled  by  the  high-embowed  roof,  or  by  the  stately  pil- 
lars of  our  ancient  churches,  as  in  the  "  Penseroso"  of  Milton, 
or  as  in  the  "  Mourning  Bride  "  of  Congreve.  But  as  a  general 


3QO  Appendix. 

rule  it  was  regarded  as  a  lost  art — and  our  poets  of  the  six- 
teenth century  make  no  more  allusion  to  it  than  if  they  had 
been  born  and  bred  in  the  new  world  of  America. 

"  Look  through  the  popular  writers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  uncon- 
scious exponents  of  the  sentiments  of  the  age  that  followed  the  Reformation  ; 
examine  the  writings  of  Spenser,  for  instance,  and  Shakespere,  the  many- 
sided,  to  whom  all  the  tones  of  thought  of  all  ages  seem  to  have  been 
revealed  and  familiarized  ;  of  Chapman  and  Marlow  and  the  rest,  and  I 
question  whether  you  will  find  a  line  or  a  word  in  any  one  of  them  indicat- 
ing the  slightest  sympathy  with  the  aesthetics  of  ecclesiastical  architecture, 
which  exercise  such  a  fascination  over  ourselves.  Not  one  line,  not  one 
word,  I  believe,  of  the  charms  of  cloistered  arcades  and  fretted  roofs,  and 
painted  windows,  and  the  dim  religious  light  of  the  pensive  poets  of  our 
later  ages.  No  wail  of  despair,  no  murmur  of  dissatisfaction  reaches  us 
from  the  generation  that  witnessed  the  dire  eclipse,  in  which  the  labour  of 
so  many  ages  of  artistic  refinement  became  involved.  Their  children  have 
betrayed  to  us  no  remembrance  of  the  stifled  sorrows  of  their  fathers.  As 
far  as  regards  its  taste  for  ecclesiastical  monuments,  the  literature  of  Eliza- 
beth might  have  been  the  production  of  the  rude  colonists  of  the  Antilles  or 
of  Virginia."  2 

Here  and  there  an  antiquarian,  like  Gostling  at  Canterbury 
or  Carter  at  Westminster,  allowed  the  genius  of  the  place  to 
overpower  the  tendencies  of  the  age.  And  if  a  protest  came 
at  last  against  the  indiscriminate  disparagement  of  mediaeval 
art  from  Horace  Walpole,  it  was  more  in  deference  to  his  rank 
than  from  conversion  to  his  sentiments,  that  the  authorities  in 
church  and  state  consented  to  preserve  what  else  they  would 
have  doomed  to  destruction.  At  last,  in  the  first  half  of  this 
century,  a  new  eye  was  given  to  the  mind  of  man.  Gradually, 
imperfectly,  through  various  channels — in  this  country  chiefly 
through  the  minute  observations  of  a  Quaker  student — the 
visions  of  the  strange  past  rose  before  a  newly  awakened 
world.  The  glory  and  the  grace  of  our  soaring  arches,  of  our 
stained  windows,  of  our  recumbent  effigies,  were  revealed,  as 
they  had  been  to  no  mortal  eyes  since  the  time  of  their  erec- 
tion. To  imitate,  to  preserve  this  ancient  style  in  its  remark- 
able beauty  was  the  inevitable  consequence,  we  might  say  the 
overwhelming  temptation,  of  this  new  discovery.  The  hour 
was  come  when  the  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  the  past  was 
to  be  roused  from  its  long  slumber,  and  with  the  hour  came 
the  man.  We  do  not  forget  that  splendid  if  eccentric  genius 

2  Sermon  preached  on  the  Founder's  Day,  at  Harrow,  October  10,  1872, 
by  Charles  Merivale,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Ely. 


Appendix.  391 

who  gave  himself,  though  not  with  undivided  love,  to  the 
service  of  another  communion.  We  cannot  but  remember  the 
gifted  architect  who  raised  the  stately  halls  and  the  command- 
ing towers  of  the  palace  of  the  imperial  legislature,  and  who 
was  laid  long  years  ago — in  fit  proximity  to  his  own  great 
works — within  these  walls,  and  where  he  has  now  been  followed 
by  him  of  whom  I  now  would  speak.  For  there  was  one  who, 
if  younger  in  the  race,  and  at  the  time  less  conspicuous  than 
either  of  them,  was  destined  to  exercise  over  the  growth  of 
Gothic  architecture  in  this  country  a  yet  more  enduring  and 
extensive  influence. 

When  in  this  Abbey  the  first  note  of  that  revival  was  struck 
by  the  erection  of  Bernasconi's  plaster  canopies  in  the  place  of 
the  classic  altar-piece  given  by  Queen  Anne,8  a  boy  of  fourteen 
years  old  was  in  the  church  watching  the  demolition  and  the 
reconstruction  with  a  curious  vigilance,  which  from  that  time 
never  flagged  for  fifty  years.  That  was  the  earliest  reminis- 
cence which  Gilbert  Scott  retained  of  Westminster  Abbey : 
that  was  the  first  inspiration  of  the  Gothic  revival  which  swept 
away  before  its  onward  progress  not  only  the  plaster  reredos 
of  this  Abbey,  but  a  thousand  other  crudities  of  the  same  im- 
perfect period.  He  impersonated  the  taste  of  the  age.  Anti- 
quarian no  less  than  builder,  he  became  to  those  fossils  of 
mediaeval  architecture  what  Cuvier  and  Owen  have  been  to  the 
fossils  of  the  earlier  world  of  nature.  It  may  be  that  others 
will  succeed  on  whom  the  marvellous  bounty  of  Providence 
shall  bestow  other  gifts  of  other  kinds.  But  meanwhile  we 
bless  God  for  what  we  have  had  in  our  departed  friend  and 
his  fellow-workers.  The  recovery,  the  second  birth,  of  Gothic 
architecture,  is  a  striking  proof  that  the  human  mind  is  not 
dead,  nor  the  creative  power  of  our  Maker  slackened.  We 
bless  alike  the  power  which  breathed  this  inspiration  into  the 
men  of  old,  and  which  even  from  their  dry  bones  has  breathed 
it  once  again  into  the  men  of  these  latter  days. 

II.  But  it  is  not  enough  that  a  great  gift  should  be  resus- 
citated or  a  great  style  imitated.  We  must  ask  wherein  its 
greatness  consisted,  and  in  what  relation  it  stood  to  the  other 
gifts  of  the  Creator.  There  are  many  characteristics  of  the 
mediaeval  architecture,  as  of  the  mediaeval  mind,  which  have 

3  "  Memorials  of  Westminster  Abbey,"  p-53°- 


392  Appendix. 

totally  perished,  or  which  ought  never  to  be  revived,  which 
represent  ideas  that  for  our  time  have  lost  all  significance,  and 
purposes  which  are  doomed  to  extinction.  The  Middle  Ages 
have  left  on  the  intellect  of  Europe  few,  very  few,  enduring 
traces.  Their  chronicles  are  but  the  quarries  of  later  historians : 
their  schoolmen  are  but  the  extinct  species  of  a  dead  theology. 
Two  great  poems  and  one  book  of  devotion  are  all  which  that 
long  period  has  bequeathed  to  the  universal  literature  of  man- 
kind. But  their  architecture  still  remains 

Of  equal  date 
With  Andes  and  with  Ararat,4 

and  the  reason  of  this  continuance  or  revival  is  this,  that  in  its 
essential  features  it  represented  those  aspirations  of  religion 
which  are  eternal.  As  in  mediseval  Christianity  there  were 
elements  which  belonged  to  the  undeveloped  Protestantism  of 
the  Western  churches,  so  also  in  mediaeval  architecture  there 
are  elements  which  belong  to  the  churches  of  the  Reformation 
as  well  as  to  the  churches  of  the  Papal  system.  Its  massive 
solidity,  its  aspiring  height,  its  infinite  space,  these  belong  not  to 
the  tawdry,  trivial,  minute,  material  side  of  religion,  but  to  its 
sobriety,  its  grandeur,  its  breadth,  its  sublimity.  And  therefore 
it  was  that  when  this  revival  of  Gothic  architecture  took  place, 
it  was  amongst  the  Protestant  churches  of  England,  rather  than 
in  the  Catholic  churches  of  the  continent,  that  its  first  growth 
struck  root.  The  religious  power  of  our  great  cathedrals  has, 
as  has  been  well  remarked,*  not  lost,  but  gained,  in  proportion 
as  our  worship  has  become  more  solemn,  more  simple,  more 
reverential,  more  comprehensive.  There  is  a  cloud  of  super- 
stition doubtless  which,  with  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  has  settled  down  over  a  large  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
world;  but  the  last  places  which  it  will  reach  will  be  the 
magnificent  architectural  monuments  which  defy  the  introduc- 
tion of  trivial  and  mean  decorations,  or,  if  introduced,  condemn 
them  for  their  evident  incongruity  with  other  portions  of  the 
buildings.  The  great  antiquaries,  the  great  architects  of  this 
century,  are  but  too  well  acquainted  with  the  differences 
between  the  loftier  and  the  baser  aspects,  between  the  golden 
and  the  copper  sides  of  their  noble  art,  to  allow  it  to  become 

4  Emerson. 

6  Dean  Milman's  "History  of  Latin  Christianity,"  vol.  vi.  p.  91. 


Appendix.  393 

the  handmaid  of  a  sect  or  party,  or  the  instrument  of  a  senseless 
proselytism. 

And  this  leads  me  to  one  more  point  of  the  marvellous 
revival  of  which  he  who  lies  in  yonder  grave  was  the  pioneer 
and  champion.  For  the  first,  or  almost  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  the  architecture  of  the  nineteenth 
century  betook  itself,  not  to  the  creation  of  a  new  style,  but  to 
the  preservation  and  imitation  of  an  older  style.  With  perhaps 
one  exception,6  every  age  and  country  down  to  our  own  has 
set  its  face  towards  superseding  the  works  of  its  predecessors, 
by  erecting  its  own  work  in  their  place.  The  Normans  over- 
threw the  old  Romanesque  churches  of  the  Saxons.  Henry 
III.  in  this  place  "  totally  swept  away,  as  of  no  value  what- 
ever," the  noble  abbey  of  the  Confessor.  Henry  VII.  built 
his  stately  chapel  in  marked  contrast  to  all  the  other  portions 
of  this  building.  The  great  architects  of  the  cathedrals  of 
St.  Peter  at  Rome,  and  St.  Paul  in  London,  adopted  a  style 
varying  as  widely  from  the  mediaeval,  which  they  despised,  as 
from  the  Grecian,  which  they  admired.  But  now,  in  our  own 
time,  the  whole  genius  of  the  age  threw  all  its  energies  into 
the  reproduction  of  what  had  been,  rather  than  into  the  pro- 
duction of  what  was  to  be.  No  doubt  it  may  be  said  that 
there  is  in  the  original  genius  which  creates  something  more 
stimulating  and  inspiring.  Yet  still  the  very  eagerness  of  re- 
production is  itself  an  original  inspiration,  and  there  is  in  it 
also  a  peculiar  grace  which,  to  the  illustrious  departed,  was 
singularly  congenial.  If  one  had  sought  for  a  man  to  carry 
out  this  awe-striking  retrospect  through  the  great  works  of  old, 
to  gather  up  the  fragments  of  perishing  antiquity,  it  would 
have  been  one  whose  inborn  modesty  used  to  call  the  colour 
into  his  face  at  every  word  of  praise — whose  reverential  attitude 
led  him  instinctively  to  understand  and  to  admire.  And  yet 
in  him  this  very  tendency,  especially  in  his  maturer  age,  took 
so  large  and  generous  a  sweep  as  to  counteract  the  excesses 
into  which,  in  minds  less  expansive  and  less  vigorous,  it  is 
sure  to  fall.  Because  the  bent  of  his  own  character  and  of  his 
own  time  led  chiefly  to  the  restoration  of  mediaeval  art,  he  was 

6  The  continuance  of  the  Pharaonic  style  in  Egypt  by  the  Ptolemaic 
princes  and  Roman  emperors.  There  are  also  a  few  rare  examples  in 
Mediaeval  Architecture,  such  as  the  completion  of  the  nave  in  Westminster 
Abbey. 


394  Appendix. 

not  on  that  account  insensible  to  the  merits  of  the  ages  which 
had  gone  before,  or  which  had  succeeded.  With  that  narrow 
and  exclusive  pedantry  which  would  fain  sweep  out  from  this 
and  other  like  buildings  all  the  monuments  and  memorials 
of  the  three  last  centuries,  he  had  little  or  no  sympathy.  He 
regarded  them  as  footprints  of  the  onward  march  of  English 
history,  and  whilst,  with  a  natural  regret  for  the  inroads  which 
here  and  there  they  had  made  into  the  earlier  glories  of  the 
Plantagenet  and  Tudor  architecture — and  whilst  willing  to 
prune  their  disproportionate  encroachments,  he  cherished  their 
associations  as  tenderly  as  though  they  had  been  his  own 
creations ;  and  he  would  bestow  his  meed  of  admiration  as 
freely  on  the  modern  memorial  of  Isaac  Watts  as  on  the 
antique  effigy  of  a  crusading  prince  or  of  a  Benedictine  abbot. 
It  was  this  loving,  yet  comprehensive  care  for  all  the  hetero- 
geneous elements  of  the  past,  this  anxious,  unselfish  attention 
to  all  their  multifarious  details,  which  made  him  so  wise  a 
counsellor,  so  delightful  a  companion,  in  the  great  work  of  the 
reparation,  the  conservation,  the  glorification  of  this  building, 
which,  amidst  his  absorbing  and  ubiquitous  duties,  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  was  his  first  love,  his  chief,  his  last,  his 
enduring  interest. 

Such  is  the  loss  which  the  whole  church  and  country  de- 
plore, but  which  we  of  this  place  mourn  most  of  all.  We 
cannot  forget  him.  Roof  and  wall,  chapter-house  and 
cloister,  the  tombs  of  the  dead  and  the  worship  of  the  living, 
all  speak  of  him  to  those  who  know  that  his  hand  and 
his  eye  were  everywhere  amongst  us.  But  these  very 
trophies  of  what  he  did  for  us  must  render  us  more  alive 
to  do  what  we  can  for  him.  His  memory  must  stimulate 
us  who  remain  to  carry  on  with  unabated  zeal  those  works 
in  which  he  took  so  deep  a  concern :  the  completion  of 
the  chapter-house  by  its  long-delayed  and  long-promised  win- 
dows of  stained  glass ;  the  northern  porch,  which  he  desired 
above  all  things  to  see  restored  to  its  pristine  beauty ;  the 
new  cloister,  which  he  had  planned  in  all  its  completeness 
as  the  link  for  another  thousand  years  between  the  illustrious 
dead  of  the  generations  of  the  past,  and  those  of  the  genera- 
tions of  the  future.  So  long  as  these  remain  unfinished,  his 
grave  will  continue  to  reproach  us.  When  they  shall  be  accom- 
plished, they  will  be  amongst  the  noblest  monuments  of  him 


Appendix.  395 

whose  ambition  for  his  glorious  art  was  so  far-reaching,  and 
whose  requirements  of  what  was  due  to  this  national  sanc- 
tuary were  so  exacting. 

But  there  is  yet  a  more  sacred  and  solemn  thought  which 
attaches  to  the  immediate  remembrance  of  so  faithful  a 
servant  of  this  State  of  England,  of  so  honoured  a  friend  of 
this  church  of  Westminster. 

It  has  been  sometimes  said  that  it  was  by  a  strange  irony  of 
fate  that  the  great  leader  in  the  revival  of  mediaeval  archi- 
tecture should  have  been  the  grandson  of  that  venerable  com- 
mentator who  belonged  to  the  revival  of  evangelical  religion. 
Yet  in  fact,  from  another  point  of  view,  it  was  a  fitting  con- 
tinuity.    It  is  always  useful  to  be  reminded  that  the  revival,  or, 
as  we  may  better  put  it,  the  increase,  of  sincere  English  re- 
ligion, belongs  to  a  generation  and  a  tendency  long  anterior 
to  the  multiplication  of  those  external  signs  and  symbols  of 
which  our  age  has  made  so  much ;  and  in  the  deep  sense  of 
that  inward  religion,  that  simple  faith  in  the  Great  Unseen, 
the  grandson  who  multiplied  and  disclosed  the  secrets  of  the 
visible  sanctuaries  of  God  throughout  the  land,  was  not  an 
unworthy   descendant   of  the   grandfather  who  endeavoured, 
according  to  the  light  of  his  time,  to  draw  forth  the  mysteries 
of  the  Book  of  books..    We  in  this  place,  who  knew  him  and 
valued  him,  who  leant  upon  him  as  a  tower  of  strength  in  our 
difficulties,  who  honoured  his  indefatigable  industry,  his  child- 
like humility,  his  unvarying  courtesy,  his  noble  candour,  we 
who  remember  with  gratitude  his  generous  encouragement  of 
the  students  of  the  rising  generation,  and  who  know  how  he 
loved  and   valued    the  best  that  we  also  have  loved  and 
valued,  we  all  feel  that  in  him  we  have  lost  one  of  those 
just,   gentle,   guileless   souls  who  in  their  lives  have  lifted, 
and   in   their   memories   may   still    lift,   our   souls    upwards. 
And   when   we    speak   of  the   work    which    such    a    career 
bequeaths    to    those  that  remain,  let  us  remember  that  al- 
though, as  we  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  discourse,  the 
shell,     the    framework,  of   a  great  building  like  this,  is  an 
inestimable  gift  of  God,  its  creation  and    preservation    one 
of  the  noblest  functions  of  human  genius  and    national  en- 
terprise, yet  on  us  who  dwell  within  it,  to  whose  charge  it  is 
committed,  depends  in  no  slight  manner  its  continuance  for 
the  future,  its  glory  and  its  usefulness  for  the  present.     There 


396  Appendix. 

are  some  eager  spirits  of  our  time,  in  whom  the  noble  passion 
for  reform  and  improvement  has  been  stifled  and  suspended 
by  the  ignoble  passion  for  destruction,  who  have  openly  avowed 
their  desire  to  suppress  all  the  expressions  of  worship  or  of 
teaching  within  this  or  like  edifices,  and  keep  them  only 
as  dead  memorials  of  the  past — better  silent  with  the  solitude 
of  Tintern  or  of  Melrose,  than  thronged  with  vast  congre- 
gations, or  resounding  with  the  music  of  the  Psalmist,  or  the 
voice  of  the  preacher.  It  is  for  us  so  to  fulfil  our  several 
duties,  so  to  people  this  noble  sanctuary  with  living  deeds,  and 
words  of  goodness  and  of  wisdom,  that  such  dreams  of  the 
destroyer  may  find  no  place  to  enter,  no  shelter  or  excuse  from 
our  neglect,  or  ignorance,  or  folly.  The  grave  of  our  great 
architect  is  close  beside  the  pulpit,  which  he  erected  to  com- 
memorate the  earliest  establishment  of  services  and  of  sermons 
in  the  nave,  which  for  the  first  time  were  then  set  on  foot  by 
my  predecessor,  and  which  have  since  spread  throughout  the 
whole  country.  That  reminds  us  of  the  kind  of  support  which 
we,  the  guardians  and  occupants  of  abbeys  and  cathedrals,  can 
give  even  to  their  outward  fabric.  It  has  been  well  said  by  a 
gifted  author,  who,  if  any  of  his  time,  has  been  devoted  to  the 
passionate  love  of  art,  that  in  the  day  of  trial  it  will  be  said 
even  in  those  magnificent  buildings,  not  "  See  what  manner  of 
stones  are  here,"  but  "  See  what  manner  of  men." 7  Clergy, 
lay-clerks,  choristers,  teachers,  scholars,  vergers,  guides,  alms- 
men, workmen — yes,  and  all  you  who  frequent  this  church — 
every  one  of  us  may  have  it  in  our  power  to  support  it,  by  our 
reverence  and  devotion,  by  our  eagerness  to  profit  by  what  we 
hear,  by  our  sincere  wish  to  give  the  best  that  we  can  in  teach- 
ing and  preaching,  by  our  honest  and  careful  fulfilment  of  the 
duties  of  each  day's  work,  by  our  scrupulous  care  to  avoid  all 
that  can  give  needless  annoyance  or  offence,  by  our  constancy 
and  belief,  by  our  rising  above  all  paltry  disputes  and  all  vulgar 
vices.  In  the  presence  of  this  great  institution  of  which  we 
are  all  members,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Most  High  God, 
whom  it  recalls  to  our  thoughts,  and  in  whose  presence  we  are, 
equally  within  its  walls  and  without  them — every  one  of  us  has 
it  in  his  power  to  increase  the  glory,  to  strengthen  the  stability, 
to  insure  the  perpetuity  of  this  abbey.  That  is  the  best  memo- 

7  Ruskin's  "Lectures  on  Art,"  118. 


Appendix.  397 

rial  we  can  raise,  that  is  the  best  service  we  can  render,  to  all 
those,  dead  or  living,  who  have  loved,  or  who  still  love,  this 
holy  and  beautiful  house,  wherein  our  fathers  worshipped  in 
the  generations  of  the  past,  and  wherein,  if  we  be  but  true  to 
its  glorious  mission,  our  children  and  our  children's  children 
shall  worship  in  the  generations  that  are  yet  to  come. 


APPENDIX   C. 


REPLY  BY  SIR  GILBERT  SCOTT,  R.A.,  TO  MR.  J.  J. 
STEVENSON'S  PAPER  ON  "ARCHITECTURAL 
RESTORATION  :  ITS  PRINCIPLES  AND  PRAC- 
TICE." 

(Read  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Institute  of  British  Architects,  28th  May,  1877.) 

GENTLEMEN, —  I  have  to  apologize  for  again  addressing  you, 
after  having  spoken  once  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  Stevenson's 
Paper ;  but,  on  consideration  of  that  Paper,  and  having  ob- 
served from  what  was  said  by  several  speakers  that  it  was 
viewed  by  them  as  being  especially  directed  against  myself,  I 
have  thought  it  right  to  crave  your  kind  indulgence  in  not  rest- 
ing satisfied  with  what  I  said  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  and 
in  reading  a  written  comment  on  the  Paper. 

Why  / — who  have  laid  myself  out  to  protest  against  the 
havoc  which  has  been  made  through  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land  under  the  name  of  Restoration — should  be  singled 
out  as  the  special  butt  of  this  yet  stronger  protest,  it  is  not  easy 
to  say.  In  accepting  this  challenge,  I  may  claim  a  somewhat 
back-handed  compliment.  When  Napoleon  III.  was  told  that 
a  prophetic  authority  had  pronounced  him  to  be  Anti-Christ, 
he  replied,  "He  does  me  too  much  honour /"  Much  the  same  is 
the  honour  intended  to  be  conferred  on  me.  Yet — be  it 
honour  or  affront — I  feel  it  incumbent  on  me,  as  its  selected 
recipient,  to  state  carefully  how  far  I  agree  and  how  far  I 
differ  from  the  sentiments  expressed  in  that  Paper,  and  the 
more  especially  as — whether  formally  or  not — it  is  actually  the 
manifesto  of  the  Society  recently  formed  for  the  prevention  of 
restoration. 

It  is  but  fair,  at  the  outset,  to  say  candidly  that  there  has 


Appendix. 

been  every  possible  provocation  to  the  line  taken  by  this  new 
Society ;  and  that— up  to  a  certain  point— I  heartily  sympa- 
thize with  their  views.  I  wish  this  to  be  thoroughly  understood  j 
or,  while  only  finding  fault  with  the  views  promulgated  by  the 
Society  on  the  ground  of  exaggeration  and  unfairness,  I  may  be 
supposed  to  be  taking  a  side  in  the  argument  wholly  at  variance 
with  my  own  known  sentiments.  No  over-statement  on  their 
part,  no  personal  accusations  against  myself,  will,  I  trust,  for 
a  moment  betray  me  into  disloyalty  to  the  side  which  I  have 
for  years  advocated,  or  into  ceasing  to  protest  against  the 
course  of  vandalism,  which  has  justly  made  the  very  word 
"  Restoration  "  a  by-word  and  a  reproach,  and  which  has  robbed 
England  of  a  large  portion  of  her  antiquities.  So  far,  then,  from 
objecting  to  the  general  aim  of  Mr.  Stevenson's  Paper,  if 
purged  from  certain  excesses  and  over-statements,  I  will  at  once 
say  that  a  very  large  number  of  the  sentiments  and  remarks 
contained  in  it  are  simply  reiterations  of  those  which  I 
have,  for  not  less  than  thirty-six  years,  expressed ;  though  so 
exaggerated,  and  pressed  to  such  an  extreme,  as  greatly  to 
destroy  their  practical  value,  and  then  adroitly  turned  against 
myself  and  those  who  have  similarly  protested.  This  is  no 
doubt  a  somewhat  annoying  form  of  warfare,  but  others  have 
had  to  bear  it  before  us.  William  Wilberforce  lived  to  be 
viewed  by  his  over-ardent  disciples  as  the  great  clog  in  the  way 
of  negro  emancipation,  and  Wilkes  was  constrained  to  proclaim 
himself  to  be  no  Wilkesite  ;  and  so  it  is  a  mere  truism  to  say 
that,  although  I  have  protested  against  unfaithful  and  overdone 
and  ignorant  restoration,  I  have  myself  largely  transgressed 
what  Mr.  Stevenson  enunciates  as  the  correct  view — i.e.,  that 
there  should  be  no  restoration  at  all. 

I  have  myself  (as  he  quotes  me)  said  I  could  wish  the  name 
were  expunged  and  "  reparation  "  substituted :  but,  whether 
called  by  one  name  or  the  other,  it  is  clear  that  I  should  have 
been  wasting  my  breath  in  attempting  to  suggest  rules  and  limi- 
tations, if  no  such  thing  at  all  were  to  be  permitted !  I  there- 
fore at  once  admit  that,  notwithstanding  all  my  outcry  against 
bad  restoration,  I  have  somewhat  largely  infringed  the  new  rule 
which  forbids  any  restoration,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent  I  will 
now,  at  the  risk  of  egotism,  show  by  a  few  extracts  from  my  own 
poor  writings  what  have  been  my  sentiments  at  different  periods 
of  my  professional  life. 


4OO  Appendix. 

In  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Petit  in  1841,  I  said, — 

"  It  has  often  struck  me  that,  viewing  an  ancient  edifice  as  a  national 
monument,  as  an  original  work  of  the  great  artists  from  whom  we  learn  all 
we  can  know  of  Christian  architecture,  and  as  a  work  which  when  once 
restored,  however  carefully,  is  to  a  certain  extent  lost  as  an  authentic  exam- 
ple, it  is  hardly  right  that  the  fate  of  such  a  building  should  be  left  wholly 
to  the  local  committee  or  their  architects,  but  that  it  would  be  well  if  they 
could  call  in  to  their  aid  two  or  three  non-professional  and  disinterested 
parties,  well  known  to  understand  the  subject,"  who,  on  hearing  arguments, 
&c.,  would  "be  able  to  give  such  opinion  as  would  set  all  questions  at  rest, 
and  would  ensure  our  doing  justice  to  the  subscribers  and  the  public." 

Again — 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  lay  it  down  as  a  general  rule  that  good  taste  requires 
that  every  alteration  which  from  age  to  age  has  been  made  in  our  churches 
should  be  obliterated,  and  the  whole  reduced  to  its  ancient  uniformity  of 
style.  These  varieties  are  indeed  most  valuable,  as  being  the  standing  his- 
tory of  the  edifice,  from  which  the  date  of  every  alteration  and  repair  may 
be  read  as  clearly  as  if  it  had  been  verbally  recorded  ;  and  in  many  cases 
the  later  additions  are  as  valuable  specimens  of  architecture  as  the  remains 
of  the  original  structure,  and  merit  an  equally  careful  preservation.  I  even 
think  that  if  our  churches  were  to  be  viewed,  like  the  ruins  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  only  as  original  monuments  from  which  ancient  architecture  is  to  be 
studied,  they  would  be  more  valuable  in  their  present  condition,  however 
mutilated  and  decayed,  than  with  any,  even  the  slightest  degree  of  restora- 
tion. But  taking  the  more  correct  view  of  a  church  as  a  building  erected 
for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  use  of  Man  (and  which  must  therefore  be  kept 
in  a  proper  state  of  repair),  and  finding  it  in  such  a  state  of  dilapidation  that 
the  earlier  and  later  parts — the  authentic  and  the  spurious — are  alike  decayed 
and  all  require  renovation  to  render  the  edifice  suitable  to  its  purposes,  I 
think  we  are  then  at  liberty  to  exercise  our  best  judgment  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  if  the  original  parts  are  found  to  be  '  precious  '  and  the  late  inser- 
tions to  be  '  vile,'  I  think  we  should  be  quite  right  in  giving  perpetuity  to 
to  the  one,  and  in  removing  the  other.  As,  however,  an  erroneous  judg- 
ment might  lead  to  unfortunate  results,  this  is  just  one  of  those  points  on 
which  the  opinion  of  a  kind  of  Antiquarian  Commission  might  advan- 
tageously be  taken." 

Again — 

"I  have  long  and  most  painfully  felt  that  the  modern  system  of  radical 
restoration  is  doing  more  towards  the  destruction  of  ancient  art  than  the 
ravings  of  fanaticism,  or  the  follies  of  churchwardens  have  succeeded  in 
effecting.  The  existence  and  authenticity  of  these  invaluable  relics  is 
invaded  on  both  sides  :  on  the  one  by  neglect,  mutilation,  and  wanton 
destruction ;  and  on  the  other,  by  the  extreme  to  which  well-meant  restora- 
tions are  too  frequently  carried." 

It  is  difficult  to  say  from  which  side  the  greatest  danger  is  to 
be  apprehended,  but  between  the  two  I  feel  convinced  that 


Appendix.  40 1 

greater  havoc  has  been  made  among  sacred  edifices  in  our  own 
time— boasting  as  we  do  of  a  revived  taste  for  their  beauties— 
than  they  had  experienced  from  three  centuries  of  contemp- 
tuous neglect.  It  is  desirable  for  the  sake  of  guarding  against 
both  these  sources  of  danger,  that  those  who  have  a  true  feeling 
for  the  subject  should  endeavour  to  come  to  an  understanding 
among  themselves,  and  to  compare  their  own  views ;  so  that 
their  differences  of  opinion  may  not  be  taken  advantage  of  by 
those  who  are  glad  of  any  excuse  for  withholding  their 
contributions,  or  those,  on  the  other  hand,  whose  love  of 
change  is  equally  on  the  watch  for  an  opportunity  of  in- 
dulging itself.  With  this  object  I  have  used  my  humble 
endeavours  "  to  show  the  necessity  for  some  such  ordeal  as  I 
proposed."  For,  "  while  acknowledging  the  dangers  to  which 
others  are  exposed,  we  are  too  apt  to  fancy  that  we  are  ourselves 
individual  exceptions." 

In  1848  I  wrote  a  Paper  on  "The  Faithful  Restoration 
of  Ancient  Churches,"  in  which  I  entered  an  earnest  protest 
against  Radical  Restoration,  and  urged  the  most  Conservative 
treatment,  winding  up  with  a  quotation  from  a  poetical  friend 
of  Mr.  Petit's — 

"It  \vere  a  pious  work,  I  hear  you  say, 
To  prop  the  falling  ruin  and  to  stay 
The  work  of  desolation.     It  may  be 
That  ye  say  right ;  but,  O  !  work  tenderly  ! 
Beware  lest  one  worn  feature  ye  efface  ; 
Seek  not  to  add  one  touch  of  modern  grace  ; 
Handle  with  reverence  each  crumbling  stone, 
Respect  the  very  lichens  o'er  it  grown  ; 
And  bid  each  ancient  monument  to  stand 
Supported  e'en  as  with  a  filial  hand. 
Mid  all  the  light  a  happier  age  has  brought, 
We  work  not  yet  as  our  forefathers  wrought." 

While  this  Paper  was  in  the  press,  two  years  later,  Mr. 
Ruskin's  "Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture"  came  into  my 

hands. 

On  his  condemnation  of  all  restoration  (a  notion  which,  as 
you  see,  I  had  anticipated  and  answered  eight  or  nine  years 
earlier),  I  added  in  a  note  as  follows  :— 

"  Were  our  old  churches  to  be  viewed  merely  as  monuments  of  the  archi- 
tecture of  bygone  days,  I  confess  that  I  should  cordially  agree  with  hi 
for  who  would  dream  of  restoring  the  sculptures  of  the  Parthenon,  or  the 

D  d 


402  Appendix. 

hieroglyphics  of  Thebes  ?  Again,  were  it  possible  by  present  care  to  nul- 
lify the  effects  of  past  neglect,  I  would  heartily  fall  in  with  his  advice.  I 
would  '  watch  an  old  building  with  an  anxious  care. '  I  would  '  guard  it 
as  best  I  might,  and  at  any  cost,  from  the  influence  of  dilapidation.'  I 
would  '  count  its  stones  as  you  would  the  jewels  of  a  crown  ;  set  watches 
about  it  as  if  at  the  gates  of  a  besieged  city  ;  bind  it  together  with  iron 
where  it  loosens  ;  stay  it  with  timber  when  it  declines/  or  do  anything  and 
everything  I  could  to  preserve  it  from  the  influences  of  time  or  the  hand  of 
the  spoliator.  But,  alas  !  the  damage  is  already  effected ;  the  neglect  of 
centuries  and  the  spoiler's  hand  has  already  done  its  work  ;  and  the  building 
being  something  more  than  a  monument  of  memory,  being  a  temple  dedicated 
— so  long  as  the  world  shall  last — to  the  worship  and  honour  of  the  world's 
Creator,  it  is  a  matter  of  duty,  as  it  is  of  necessity,  that  its  dilapidations  and 
its  injuries  shall  be  repaired  ;  though  better  were  it  to  leave  them  untouched 
for  another  generation  than  commit  them  to  irreverent  hands,  which  seek 
only  the  memory  of  their  own  cunning  while  professing  to  think  upon  the 
stones,  and  take  pity  upon  the  dust  of  Sion." 

"  Yon  ancient  wall — 
Better  to  see  it  tottering  to  its  fall 
Than  decked  in  new  attire  with  lavish  cost, 
Form,  dignity,  proportion,  grace,  all  lost  ! " 

In  1863  I  read  my  Paper  before  this  Institute  from  which 
Mr.  Stevenson  has  largely  quoted,  and,  he  will  forgive  my  saying, 
the  spirit  of  which  he  has  most  ingeniously  misinterpreted.  Of 
this  I  will  only  say,  Read  it  and  judge  for  yourselves. 

In  my  inaugural  address  as  President  of  this  Institute  in 
1873,  after  some  remarks  on  the  marvellous  inequality  in  merit 
and  demerit  of  the  architecture  of  our  own  day  as  compared 
with  its  uniformity  of  merit  in  previous  ages,  I  add  : — 

"There  is,  however,  a  yet  sadder  inequality  to  be  recorded — sadder 
because  irreparable  in  the  injury  inflicted.  The  million  ugly  houses,  or 
even  the  majority  of  them,  may  go  to  decay,  or  be  rebuilt ;  but  a  single 
ancient  edifice  destroyed  or  ruined  by  ignorant  'restoration?  can  never  be 
recovered.  It  is  unquestionable  that  the  ancient  structures,  from  the  study 
of  which  a  knowledge  of  our  mediaeval  styles  has  been  resuscitated,  had 
suffered  for  the  most  part  so  severely  from  neglect,  ill-usage,  and  decay, 
as  to  demand  the  aid  of  a  loving  and  careful  restoration ;  and  this  they 
have  happily,  in  very  many  instances,  received.  The  knowledge  and  skill 
of  our  neo-mediseval  architects  has  often  been  devoted  with  admirable 
success  to  this  grateful  work,  and  from  among  the  restorations  of  ancient 
buildings  may  be  instanced  many  of  the  most  happy  results  of  the  Gothic 
revival  But  here,  again,  the  unhappy  diversity  I  have  alluded  to,  as 
existing  in  new  works,  is  found  to  exist  in  its  most  aggravated  form.  Our 
old  buildings  too  often — nay,  in  a  majority,  I  fear,  of  cases — fall  into  the 
hands  of  men  who  have  neither  knowledge  nor  respect  for  them,  while, 
even  amongst  those  who  possess  the  requisite  knowledge,  there  has  too 
often  existed  a  lack  of  veneration,. a  disposition  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the 


Appendix.  403 

works  of  their  teachers,  a  rage  for  alteration  to  suit  some  system  to  which 
they  had  pledged  themselves  in  their  own  works,  and  even  the  pre- 
posterous idea  that  the  ancient  examples  they  were  called  upon  to  repair 
were  a  fitting  field  for  the  display  of  their  own  originality. 

"  Nor  have  the  official  guardians  of  our  ancient  buildings  exercised  much 
restraint  upon  these  vagaries  :  on  the  contrary,  they  have  too  often  been 
most  culpably  careless  as  to  the  hands  to  which  they  have  committed  their 
trust,  and  are  usually  the  inciters  to  ignorant  tampering,  the  needless 
removal  of  valuable  features,  and  even  the  condemnation  and  destruction 
of  the  buildings  under  their  charge.  The  result  has  been  truly  disastrous  ; 
so  much  so  that  our  country  has  actually  been  robbed  of  a  large  proportion 
of  its  antiquities  under  the  name  of '  restoration  ;'  and  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion and  spoliation  still  goes  on  merrily  ;  while  at  the  public  festivities  by 
which  each  auto-da-fe  is  celebrated,  we  find  ecclesiastical  dignitaries, 
clergy,  squires,  and  architects  congratulating  one  another  on  the  success 
of  the  latest  effort  of  Vandalism.  Our  Institute  has  done  itself  infinite 
honour  by  appointing  a  standing  committee  to  investigate  and  protest,  and 
by  publishing  a  code  of  excellent  suggestions  as  to  the  mode  of  dealing 
with  ancient  remains ;  but  still  the  work  goes  on,  and  the  equivocal 
motto  of  the  Ecclesiologist — 'Donee  Templa  refeceris'1 — seems  likely  to 
prove  well-nigh  the  death-knell  of  our  ecclesiastical  antiquities." 

In  my  second  opening  address  in  1874,  the  same  subject 
was  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Ruskin's  refusal  of  the  Gold  Medal, 
on  the  ground  of  the  prevalence  of  destructive  restoration.  On 
this  I  offered  the  following  remarks  : — • 

"  Now,  all  this  may  be  viewed  from  two  very  different  points.  We 
may,  on  the  one  hand,  very  fairly  protest  against  the  injustice  of  being 
made  in  any  degree  responsible  for  acts  in  which  we  have  had  no  hand, 
over  which  we  had  no  control,  and  against  which  we  should  protest  as 
loudly  as  Mr.  Ruskin  :  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we,  being  the  incorporated 
representatives  of  architectural  practice,  may,  in  a  certain  sense,  be  held 
to  represent  its  vices  as  well  as  its  virtues,  and  in  the  eyes  of  a  self- 
constituted  censor,  and  one  who  from  his  first  appearance  before  the  public 
has  devoted  himself  wholly  to  protest  and  warning,  we  can  hardly  wonder 
that,  if  he  holds  us  thus  responsible,  he  should  not  think  it  a  time  for  us 
to  be  playing  at  compliments  with  our  censor. 

"  Read  for  a  moment  his  expressions  of  righteous  indignation  uttered 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  back,  and  imagine  what  must  be  his  feelings 
wherever  he  directs  his  steps.  If  he  travels  in  France,  he  finds  restoration 
so  rampant  that  nothing  which  shows  much  of  the  hand  of  time  is  con- 
sidered  worthy  of  continued  existence,  but  must  be  re-worked  or  renewed, 
cleverly,  artistically,  and  learnedly  perhaps,  but  nevertheless  as  new  work 
taking  the  place  of  the  old,  or  old  work  re-tooled  till  scarce  a 
vestige  of  the  surface  on  which  the  old  men  wrought  so  lovingly  is 
allowed  to  remain.  If  he  goes  into  Italy,  much  the  same  meets  his  eye. 
In  his  own  Venice  the  Fondaco  dei  Turchi,  the  most  venerable  secular 
Byzantine  work,  is  rebuilt.  At  Rome  he  would  observe  an  area  of  some 
half  a  square  mile  excavated  and  carted  away,  which  contained- 
covered  only  to  be  in  great  measure  destroyed— the  ancient  wall  of 

D  d    2 


404  Appendix. 

Tullius,  twelve  feet  thick,  of  solid  masonry,  and  against  it  a  second 
Pompeii  of  antique  Roman  houses,  hardly  explored,  but  merely  disinterred 
and  carted  away  as  rubbish.  At  Assisi  he  would  find  the  works  of  Cimabue 
and  Giotto  in  the  hands  of  the  restorer,  though,  as  I  trust,  with  better 
promise.  In  Belgium  he  would  find  ancient  buildings  chipped  over  and 
made  to  look  like  new ;  or,  as  is  the  case  with  the  wonderful  church  of  the 
Dominicans,  at  Ghent,  deliberately  destroyed.  And  is  the  case  much 
better  in  our  own  country  ?  Has  not  the  hand  of  a  false  and  destructive 
restoration  swept  like  a  plague  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land, 
and  are  not  those  churches  which  have  been  treated  with  veneration  and 
care  a  mere  gleaning  among  those  which  have  been  dealt  with  in  careless 
ignorance  of  any  value  to  be  attached  to  them?  To  Mr.  Ruskin's  eye  the 
best  of  our  restorations  are  mere  vandalisms,  for  he  protests  against  them 
root  and  branch  ;  and  to  him  all  the  difficulties  and  disappointments  met 
with  in  carrying  them  out  would  be  only  so  many  reasons  for  reproaching 
us  for  having  undertaken  them  at  all.  Anyhow,  he  would  find  in  England 
far  more  than  one  half  of  our  ancient  churches  to  have  been  so  dealt  with 
by  ignorant  and  sacrilegious  hands  that  one  is  ready  to  curse  the  day  when 
the  then  youthful  Cambridge  Camden  Society,  all  too  sanguine  and  ardent, 
adopted  for  their  motto  the  ominous  words  so  sadly  realized,  '  Donee 
Templa  refeceris.'  But  restoration  has  not  laboured  alone  in  the  work 
of  Vandalism  :  deliberate  destruction  has  been  rife  amongst  us.  Has  not 
one  great  cathedral  body  deliberately  pulled  down  its  ancient  hospital  hall 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  another  its  stupendous  tythe  barn  of  the 
thirteenth?  Near  another  cathedral,  where  the  episcopal  palace  is  formed 
out  of  a  vast  Norman  hall  (the  sole  remaining  instance  of  a  hall  of  that 
age  supported  by  original  timber  pillars  and  arcades),  I  have  only  just 
now  seen  some  of  these  timber  arches  lying  as  old  material  in  a  builder's 
yard,  having  been  turned  out,  I  fear  under  the  eye  of  a  Fellow  of  this 
Institute,  for  the  purpose,  to  use  Mr.  Ruskin's  own  words,  of  '  temporary 
convenience. ' " 

In  my  third  annual  address  in  1875, 1  was  dwelling  especially 
on  a  duty  that  I  would  commend  to  the  Society  which  Mr. 
Stevenson  represents — the  duty  of  making  and  preserving 
accurate  drawings  of  perishing  architectural  remains — and,  I 
added : — 

"We,  as  an  Institute,  do  a  great  deal  by  means  of  Jlhe  competition  for 
our  Pugin  Studentship  (which  usually  take  the  form  of  measured  drawings 
of  some  of  these  perishing  art  treasures),  but  we  should  aim  at,  and  strive 
after,  some  more  systematic  method  of  dealing  with  this  most  urgently 
pressing  object.  I  know  many  remains  whose  details  every  time  I  visit 
them,  seem  to  get  dimmer  and  dimmer,  jfrom  the  yearly  falling  away  of 
their  surfaces  in  impalpable  dust,  and  which  another  generation  will  find 
utterly  unintelligible.  Such  is  the  case  with  the  remains  which  surround 
the  cloister  court  of  Fountains  Abbey ;  such,  too,  is  the  case  with  that 
invaluable  remnant  the  sanctuary  of  Tynemouth  Priory,  with  its  ac- 
companying fragments,  perhaps  unequalled  in  their  architecture  by  any 
cotemporary  building  in  England ;  such  is  the  case  in  a  still  more  dis- 
tressing degree  with  Kelso  Abbey,  and  such  is  the  destined  fate,  sooner  or 


Appendix.  405 

later,  of  most  of  the  ruined  structures  which  remain  throughout  our  land 
as  proofs  at  once  of  the  glorious  art  of  our  forefathers  and  our  own  heed- 
lessness.  We  need  not  suppose  that  the  admission  th'at  this  duty  is 
incumbent  on  ourselves  involves  the  consequence  that  the  cost  must 
necessarily  fall  upon  us.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  that  if  we  take  the 
initiative,  funds  will  be  supplied  by  the  very  many  who  take  an  intelligent 
and  zealous  interest  in  the  subject ;  but,  if  we  hold  our  peace,  who  ought 
to  be  the  first  to  speak,  how  can  we  expect  others  to  bestir  themselves  ? 

"When  we  come  to  buildings  still  in  use,  and  especially  to  churches, 
we  have  a  truly  mournful  and  disgraceful  scene  presented  to  us. 

"Our  churches  had,  during  the  three  centuries  between  the  extinction 
and  the  revival  of  Gothic  architecture,  for  the  most  part  been  allowed  to 
fall,  step  by  step,  into  a  state  of  sordid  and  contemptuous  neglect,  decay, 
and  dilapidation ;  while  they  become  encumbered  with  galleries,  pews,  and 
all  manner  of  incongruous  interpolations  : — nothing  being,  in  many  cases, 
considered  too  mean  in  character  for  an  old  Gothic  church.  People 
became  conscious  of  this  before  our  architects  became  fitted  to  correct 
it ;  and,  like  Jack,  in  Swift's  '  Tale  of  a  Tub,'  set  about  ridding  their 
churches  of  disfigurements  before  they  knew  what  to  substitute  for  them, 
and,  with  every  blemish  which  they  removed,  tore  off  some  fragment  of  the 
original  fabric,  and  mended  the  tear  with  work  of  their  own,  if  not  quite  as 
incongruous,  certainly  far  more  nauseating.  Soon,  however,  they  got  to 
think  they  knew  all  about  the  matter  ;  and  boldly  set  about  restorations, 
as  if  the  old  art  had  been  beyond  question  revived.  They  even  disputed 
among  themselves  as  to  whether  restorations  should  be  '  conservative, 
destructive  or  eclectic;'  great  authorities  not  being  wanting  to  defend  even 
the  destructive  system. 

Meanwhile, — even  with  those  best  disposed, — knowledge  was  imperfect, 
and  the  difficulties  of  careful  and  well-considered  treatment  immense. 
The  promoters  of  the  work  were  more  impressed,  perhaps,  with  the 
axiom  of  the  first  church  restorers — that  the  house  of  God  ought  not 
to  be  less  carefully  dealt  with  than  our  own  houses,  than  with  the 
equally  indisputable  fact  that  they  had  a  treasure  of  ancient  art  and 
of  ancient  church  history  to  deal  with,  which  demanded  the  most 
earnest  study  for  its  conservation.  Walls  and  roofs  were  found  decayed, 
and  their  entire  renewal  was  urged  ;  changes  in  our  ritual,  it  was  argued, 
demanded  corresponding  changes  in  arrangement ;  clerks  of  the  works, 
builders  and  workmen  vied  with  each  other  in  opposing  conservative 
measures  ;  and — fight  as  they  would — all  kinds  of  influences  continued,  in 
addition  to  their  own  short-comings,  to  check  or  frustrate  the  efforts  of 
conservative  architects,  so  that  the  result  was,  at  the  best,  a  mixture  of 
successes  with  failures,  of  right  decision  with  compromise. 

"This  has  now  been  going  on  for  years,  so  far  as  concerns  the  best 
among  us,  but  many  well-meaning  restorers,  from  imperfect  knowledge 
and  want  of  firmness,  come  yet  worse  out  of  their  work.  Beyond  these, 
however,  is  a  very  different  set  of  restorers  (so-called),  a  host  of  men  not 
always  architects  even  in  name,  though  occasionally  such,  men  justly  respected 
in  other  branches,  and  who  ought  to  know  better  than  to  touch  this ;  but, 
for  the  most  part,  men  who  have  taken  to  Gothic  architecture,  as  being  a 
style  in  vogue,  and  merely  as  a  part  of  their  stock  in  trade ;  and  into  their 
hands  a  very  large  proportion  of  our  churches  fall.  They  may  be  likened 


406  Appendix. 

to  a  herd,  before  whom  our  precious  pearls  are  cast,  and  who  trample 
them  under  their  feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  all  objectors. 

We  receive,  from  time  to  time,  appeals  to  our  Committee  for  the  Conser- 
vation of  Ancient  Monuments  against  vandalisms  which  one  would  have 
thought  incredible  ;  and  only  within  the  last  few  days  I  have  heard  of  one 
clergyman  selling  to  a  grocer  one  of  the  old  chained-up  books  which  he 
thought  would  disfigure  his  '  restored '  church ;  and  of  another  expelling 
a  famous  series  of  brasses  to  secure  the  uniformity  of  his  encaustic  tile 
floor ;  while  one  hears  of  noblemen  of  the  highest  names  who  make  over 
the  nomination  of  architects  for  the  restoration  of  the  churches  on  their 
estates  as  a  piece  of  patronage  which  is  the  perquisite  of  their  agents. 

"Taking  a  review  of  the  results  of  this  sad  history,  one  may  say  that  a 
certain  proportion  of  our  churches  have  been  carefully  dealt  with  ;  another 
proportion  treated  with  fair  intention  but  less  success  ;  but  that,  as  I  fear, 
the  majority  are  almost  utterly  despoiled,  and  nine-tenths,  if  not  all,  of 
their  interest  swept  away.  Nor  is  a  word  of  remonstrance  raised  against 
this  by  those  whose  position  would  enable  them  to  prevent  it  ;  indeed  I 
can  with  confidence  assert  that  more  objection  is  raised  against  those  who 
labour  hard  to  do  their  duty  carefully,  than  against  the  whole  host  of  those 
who  have  so  ruined  our  old  churches,  as  to  render  a  church-tour  one  of  the 
most  distressing  and  sickening  of  adventures.  Yet,  happily,  a  remnant 
remains  :  a  few  churches  in  each  district  are  still  left  unrestored  ;  and  for 
the  preservation  of  these,  like  the  remnant  of  the  Sibylline  books,  it  is 
worth  while  to  pay  any  price.  I  saw  one  such  church  recently,  on  a 
little  tour  in  the  eastern  counties,  as  if  in  the  still  water  missed  by  the 
tide  of  destructive  restoration  :  its  roof  still  retaining  the  thatch  which 
once  prevailed  through  that  district,  but  admitting  the  rain  in  torrents  ; 
its  timbers  the  veritable  old  ones,  though  partially  decayed ;  its  quaint 
and  beautiful  seating  remaining  almost  entire,  though  preyed  upon  by 
the  worm  ;  its  floor  retaining  beautiful  tiles,  of  varied  geometrical  form 
and  unique  design,  though  loosened  and  displaced;  its  windows  still 
containing  extensive  remnants  of  the  most  beautiful  fourteenth -century 
glass,  exquisite  in  design  and  colouring,  but  ready  to  drop  out  of  its 
leading  ;  the  walls,  happily,  nearly  as  good  as  new,  and  with  windows, 
arcades  and  niches  of  the  most  perfect  design  ;  the  whole  just  wanting 
that  tender,  loving  handling  which  would  preserve  all  which  time  has 
spared,  and  give  it  a  new  lease  of  existence.  Oh,  that  we  could 
search  out  these  last  gleanings  from  the  harvest  of  destruction,  and  save 
them  from  the  destroyer's  hands." 

I  now  come  to  the  Paper  of  suggestions  relative  to  ancient 
buildings  which  was  issued  twelve  years  since  by  our  Institute, 
and  which  Mr.  Stevenson  has  so  boldly  held  up  to  ridicule  and 
reprobation. 

This  Paper  consists,  I  think,  of  contributions  from  different 
members  of  a  sub-committee,  which  will  account  for  some 
trifling  inconsistencies.  I  was  myself  a  contributor,  though — 
strange  to  say — I  do  not  know  that  I  have  till  recently  examined 
it  with  care  in  its  completed  form.  I  really  feared,  from  Mr. 


Appendix,  407 

Stevenson's  alarming  description,  that  I  should  find  it  to  be 
something  which  we  have  just  cause  to  be  ashamed  of.  The 
reverse  is  the  case  ;  for,  subject  to  some  few  inadvertencies  of 
which  he  has  not  failed  to  take  full  advantage,  to  the  extent — T 
will  not  say  of  misrepresenting — but  of  absolutely  reversing  its 
real  aim,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  have  never  met  with  a 
document  more  creditable  to  the  great  Society  from  which  it 
has  emanated,  nor  one  more  truthfully  and  more  wisely  ad- 
vising on  the  course  to  be  taken  by  those  whom  it  addresses. 

It  is  a  plain,  unvarnished  and  unpretending  document.  Mr. 
Stevenson's  Paper — on  the  contrary — is  graced  with  literary 
and  rhetorical  beauty  ;  yet  I  am  bold  to  say  that  the  manifesto 
of  the  Institute  is  worth  a  thousand  of  that  which  holds  it  up 
to  ridicule  and  traduces  its  suggestions.  The  only  point  of 
importance  which  Mr.  Stevenson  has  fairly  made  good  against 
this  document  is  that  in  its  first  clause  it,  strangely  enough,  leaves 
the  clearing  away  of  modern  incumbrances  which  conceal 
ancient  work  to  the  employers  instead  of  their  architects.  This 
is  a  manifest  mistake,  and  it  ought  at  once  to  be  corrected. 
Personally  I  also  object  to  the  clause  about  stripping  off 
plastering  to  show  the  junctions  of  parts  of  differing  date.  This, 
however,  is  inconsistent  with  other  clauses  which  direct  the 
careful  examination  of  old  plastered  surfaces  in  search  for 
colouring— directing  that  "plastered  surfaces  of  ancient  date 
should  be  preserved  if  possible  ;"  and  that,  "  as  a  general  rule, 
ancient  plastering  should  not  be  removed,  but  only  repaired 
where  necessary."  The  clause  in  question  was,  then,  only  in- 
tended for  exceptional  cases.  Subject  to  the  correction  of  such 
inadvertencies  and  of  some  minor  details  as  well  as  to  a  few 
verbal  corrections,  I  boldly  aver  that  I  have  rarely  read  a  docu 
ment  more  characterized  by  experience  and  wisdom,  or  mor* 
diametrically  the  reverse  in  its  tone,  of  the  colouring  which  it} 
critic  has  laid  upon  it.  I  would  further  assert  that  were  thes< 
suggestions  (subject  to  the  minor  corrections  I  have  alluded  to) 
faithfully  followed,  our  churches  would  be  models  of  all  which 
is  excellent  and  to  be  desired. 

As  truthful  would  it  be  to  attribute  the  defects  in  our  Con- 
stitution to  Magna  Charta ;  what  still  remains  of  the  slave- 
trade  to  Wilberforce ;  or  of  small-pox  to  Jenner,  as  to  saddle 
the  guilt  of  the  barbarisms  committed  on  our  old  churches  upon 
the  admirable  code  of  suggestions  which  was  drawn  out  for  the 


408  Appendix. 

express  purpose  of  arresting  the  tide  of  vandalism.  To  hold 
up  such  a  document  to  ridicule  is  not  only  grossly  and  absurdly 
unfair,  but  it  tends  to  give  unbridled  licence  to  the  evils  it 
sincerely  professes  to  deplore  ;  for,  as  the  intended  deduction, 
that  we  are  to  do  nothing,  is  one  which  can  never  be  acted  on, 
it  follows  that  the  holding  up  the  rules  of  action,  and  the 
protests  of  those  who  offer  them,  to  contempt,  is  simply  throwing 
the  reins  upon  the  neck  of  vandalism.  All  honour,  then,  to 
the  Institute,  which  has  (even  with  a  few  imperfections)  pro- 
mulgated such  a  code  of  rules ;  but  what  honour  can  we  award 
to  those  who  seek  to  turn  its  wisdom  into  folly  ? 

Imagine  any  one  quietly  stating  that  "  the  Institute  Paper 
advises  the  destruction  of  Perpendicular  work,"  backing  it  by  a 
reversal  of  the  meaning  of  what  it  does  say,  which  is  dia- 
metrically the  contrary,  and  which  really  goes  too  far  in  urging 
the  exposure  to  view  of  alterations  in  the  later  styles,  and  is 
in  another  place  called  to  account  for  doing  so. 

Imagine,  again,  the  statement  that  it  advises  the  getting  rid 
of  "  the  flat  roofs  of  perpendicular  times,"  and  that  the  "  new 
roof  should  be  made  of  the  same  steep  pitch  as  the  original  roof," 
when  what  it  really  says  is  "if  it  be  found  absolutely  necessary 
to  construct  a  new  roof,  owing  to  the  existing  roof  being  entirely 
decayed  or  modern,  one  of  the  two  following  courses  should  be 
adopted :  either  the  old  roof  where  it  exists  should  be  carefully 
copied,  or  the  new  roof  should  be  made  of  the  same  pitch  as 
the  original  roof."  It  further  suggests  that,  "  where  there  is  a 
clerestory,  it  will  be  well  to  keep  the  pitch  of  the  roof  erected 
at  the  time  it  was  built,"  and  adds,  "  flat  roofs  are  by  no  means 
to  be  condemned."  Again,  imagine  any  one  saying  of  the 
beautiful  western  porch  at  Peterborough  "  that,  as  the  Institute 
Advice  puts  it,  it  is  a  modern  addition  put  up  without  regard  to 
architectural  propriety ; "  while  at  the  same  time  he  criticizes, 
and  with  more  justice,  the  suggestion  "  that  the  whole  of  the 
old  work  should  be  preserved  and  exposed  to  view,  so  as  to 
show  the  history  of  the  fabric  with  its  successive  alterations  as 
distinctly  as  possible." 

This  system  of  misrepresentation  seems  unhappily  held  to  be 
essential  to  the  anti-restoration  movement.  As  a  small  example 
of  it,  our  friend,  though  two  days  before  reading  his  Paper  he 
made  a  special  .journey  to  Canterbury  to  see  what  was  really 
contemplated,  nevertheless  stated  in  his  Paper  that  I  con- 


Appendix,  409 

templated  the  removal  of  the  screen  which  separates  the  choir 
from  the  nave ;  while  the  fact  was  that  we  were  only  talking 
of  the  removal  of  some  comparatively  recent  fittings,  for  the 
sake  of  bringing  that  screen  into  view.1  He  has  since  modified 
that  statement,  so  I  only  notice  it  to  show  that  we  are  viewed 
as  lawful  spoil. 

The  statements  of  writers  in  newspapers  merely  follow  out 
the  same  principle,  actually  bristling  with  inaccuracies  of  the 
grossest  kind,  and,  unlike  Mr.  Stevenson,  they  usually  refuse 
to  correct  them.  I  have  recently  met  with  a  signal  instance 
of  this,  reminding  one  of  a  story  told  by  Lord  Brougham 
in  the  House  of  Lords  to  show  the  uselessness  of  attempting 
to  correct  such  statements.  A  grave  and  correct  parishioner 
had  complained  at  a  parish  vestry  meeting  of  the  state  of 
the  church,  declaring  that  if  not  bettered  he  would  not  con- 
tinue to  attend  that  damp  church.  The  local  paper  reported 
his  words  correctly  excepting  the  word  " damp"  which  they 
changed  for  a  strong  word  of  somewhat  similar  sound.  The 
respectable  parishioner  protested,  but  the  editor  annotated  his 
protest  by  saying  that,  having  consulted  his  reporter,  he  felt  it 
due  to  him  to  say  that  the  speaker  had  not  said  " damp"  but 
had  used  the  objectionable  word  attributed  to  him. 

The  question,  however,  before  us  is  not  the  truth  of  par- 
ticular statements  and  criticisms  (no  doubt  they  are  meant  to 
be  true,  but  things  by  superabundant  zeal  are  seen  through 
a  distorting  medium),  but  rather  what  is  the  true  course  to  be 
followed  ?  We  are  all  agreed  as  to  the  calamity  which  the 
country  has  suffered ;  we  differ  as  to  the  remedy.  We  do  not 
differ  widely  as  to  the  premisses,  though  we  may  as  to  the  con- 
clusion to  be  drawn  from  them.  Mr.  Stevenson's  view  has  an 
unquestionable  prima  fade  advantage.  It  is  certain  that,  if 
restoration  were  from  this  moment  stopped,  no  new  mischief 
would  be  done  by  it !  Many  persons  have  died  from  bad 
doctoring.  If  all  medical  treatment  were  prohibited,  such 
disasters  would  unquestionably  cease.  Nor  is  this  illustration 
imaginary,  for  a  few  years  since  a  medical  (or  anti-medical)  sect 
was  founded,  which,  abhorrent  of  old  allopathy,  and  dis- 
contented with  the  infinitesimal  treatment,  styled  itself  the  "do- 
nothing"  party.  Their  general  acceptance  would  have  done 

1  This  statement  was  afterwards  corrected  in  Mr.  Stevenson's  Paper  at 
the  author's  request. 


4 1  o  Appendix. 

away  for  ever  with  deaths  from  overdosing,  and  who  knows  but 
that  disease  itself  would  have  fled  before  their  frown?  But 
the  movement  unfortunately  failed,  because  misguided  and 
impatient  patients  would  not  be  persuaded  to  allow  themselves 
to  be  let  alone. 

Such  doctors  would  not  have  been  content  with  crying  down 
incompetent  practitioners,  and  would  have  condemned  Hahne- 
rnann  himself  as  a  tamperer  with  the  human  constitution — they 
would  forbid  all  such  meddling ;  and,  had  they  succeeded,  we 
might  have  become  a  race  of  Methuselahs ;  but  human  nature 
is  blind,  and  the  proffered  boon  was  refused  !  O,  fortunati 
nimium,  sua  si  bona  norint ! 

I  could  almost  wish  myself  that  the  "  do-nothing  "  system 
could  be  applied  to  old  buildings,  if  only  as  an  experiment ; 
but  I  fear  it  would  meet  with  the  same  fate  as  when  proposed 
to  human  patients  ;  and  then,  perhaps,  after  all  it  might  be 
found  the  best  course  to  call  in  good  doctors  (if  there  be  any), 
and  for  them  to  stick  to  such  prosaic  rules  as  those  of  the 
Institute  of  British  Architects — reasonably  revised,  and  ren- 
dered as  much  more  stringent  as  may  be, — to  the  pious 
conservation  of  whitewash,  high  pews,  three-deckers,  and 
other  bequests  (if  Mr.  S.  will  have  it  so)  of  the  Reformation, 
or  (as  I  should  say)  of  the  yet  more  blessed  days  of  Queen 
Anne  and  the  Georges. 

I  confess  to  having  tried  this  in  some  degree  myself;  but 
I  have  been  circumvented  by  the  prejudices  of  my  clients.  I 
uniformly  succeed  as  regards  Jacobean  pulpits,  and  I  think 
altar  tables ;  but  am  less  successful  in  my  attempts  in  favour 
of  seventeenth-century  pewing,  unless  it  be  indisputably  fine — 
such  as  we  find  at  Brancepeth,  St.  John's  Leeds,  or  Halifax. 
By  the  way,  I  can  claim  a  share  with  Mr.  Norman  Shaw  (who 
actually  carried  out  the  work)  in  the  credit  of  saving  St.  John's, 
Leeds, — probably  the  most  interesting  church  of  the  Jacobean 
period — from  destruction.  It  was  referred  to  me,  and  on 
taking  leave  of  a  leading  Leeds  architect  as  I  was  starting 
to  inspect  it,  his  last  exhortation  was,  "  Paint  it  black  enough." 
I  painted  it  in  the  most  brilliant  colours  I  was  master  of,  and 
it  was  saved,  all  but  its  pew  doors,  the  loss  of  which  I 
deplore,  for  they  were  beauties.  Sounding-boards  I  strive 
after,  but  often  fail.  I  preserved  one,  however,  recently  in 
spite  of  the  incumbent,  the  parishioners,  and  an  archbishop. 


Appendix.  4  \  \ 

I  set  off  against  this  the  loss  of  another— a  beauty— by  the 
casting  dictum  of  a  bishop,  a  weakness  of  which  I  am  ashamed. 

Returning  to  the  consideration  of  the  do-nothing  system,  I 
will  mention  some  cases  bearing  upon  it.  Mr.  Stevenson  has 
sketched  a  charming  picture  of  an  unrestored  church.  His 
exquisite  language  and  touchingly  pathetic  tone  carried  one 
quite  away.  Certainly  such  a  church  it  would  be  sacrilege  to 
touch !  I  cannot  help  flattering  myself  that  he  founded  this 
beautiful  picture  on  the  lines, of  one  which  I  clumsily  attempted 
to  draw  in  my  own  Paper  read  before  this  Institute ;  but  the 
charm  of  genius  has  given  it  such  beauty  that  one  can  hardly 
recognize  the  resemblance  to  the  rude  original:  I  confess  that 
when  I  sketched  it  T  was  conscious  of  allowing  my  imagination 
to  congregate,  into  one  fancied  church,  charms  which  were 
culled  from  several ;  but  my  friend  has  gone  far  beyond  this. 
A  whole  rural  deanery  would  scarcely  supply  the  raw  material 
for  such  a  church  as  his.  Would  that  he  would  tell  me  of  its 
whereabouts,  under  oath  that  I  would  not  restore  it ! 

This  is  far  different  from  what  we  usually  find.  Sordid 
neglect,  barbarous  mutilation,  and  ruinous  dilapidation  are  the 
most  frequent  characteristics  of  an  unrestored  church,  united, 
it  is  true,  with  the  charm  of  its  traditional  and  untouched 
condition. 

I  made  a  survey  of  such  a  church  a  few  weeks  back ;  no 
architect  had  ever  touched  it ;  only  unsophisticated  country 
builders,  innocent  of  archaeology  and  even  of  the  word  "  resto- 
ration." What  was  its  condition?  The  tower  looked  suffi- 
ciently old  and  rubbishy,  having  no  architectural  features 
whatever.  The  clerk,  a  man  of  sixty,  declared  it  had  not  been 
meddled  with  in  his  day,  or  within  his  hearing  of;  but  an 
octogenarian  whom  we  found,  told  us  that  he  had  himself 
worked  at  the  rebuilding  of  it  during  the  first  years  of  the 
century.  The  windows  of  the  church  seemed  of  doubtful  age, 
and  I  found  that  they  had  been  tinkered  out  of  shape  and  style 
by  a  neighbouring  mason  some  thirty  years  back.  The  octo- 
genarian told  me  that  he  remembered  a  chancel  screen,  through 
which  poor  people  "peeked"  at  the  parson — and  old  oak  seats 
"  with  a  kind  of  ornament  at  the  top  of  the  ends,"  but  these 
had  been  replaced  with  high  deal  pews,  and  he  said  with  a 
humourous  leer  that  he  supposed  the  old  ones  were  burnt. 
The  roofs,  on  the  other  hand,  were  in  a  good  traditional  state ; 


4 1 2  Appendix. 

lowered  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  containing  many  frag- 
ments of  older  work  mingled  with  later  parts,  some  by  no 
means  bad.  There  were  also  a  beautiful  pulpit,  desk,  and  altar 
table  of  the  same  period.  One  clerestory  had  fourteenth- 
century  round  windows,  the  other  mullioned  ones  of  the  seven- 
teenth. Now,  is  it  best  to  let  such  a  church  wholly  alone,  or  to 
preserve  all  old  work,  down  to  the  seventeenth  century  inclu- 
sive, and  try  to  improve  the  rest  ? 

But  I  will  take  a  stronger  case.  Llandaff  Cathedral  had 
been  allowed,  from  the  Reformation  downwards,  to  fall  into 
something  more  than  a  semi-ruinous  state  :  in  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  with  just  as  good  intentions  as  the  man  men- 
tioned by  old  John  Evelyn,  they  set  to  work  to  redeem  it. 
Their  system  was  as  follows  :  they  sent  for  Mr.  Wood,  of  Bath, 
who  had  just  erected  the  Pump  Room  there.  He  seems  to 
have  advised  that  so  much  of  the  eastern  part  as  they  thought 
needful  should  be  cut  out  from  the  rest  and  internally  con- 
verted, so  far  as  might  be,  into  a  double  of  his  Pump  Room.2 
He  found  the  arcades,  projecting  strings,  labels,  &c.,  in  the  way; 
so  he  walled  up  the  arches,  and  chopped  off  projecting  mould- 
ings, and,  as  the  old  walls  might  prove  to  be  damp,  he  battened 
them  over,  cutting  the  grounds  to  which  his  battens  were  nailed 
deep  into  the  walls.  By  this  clever  device,  he  was  able  to  shut 
out  from  view  all  that  was  "  gothic  ; "  and  an  enthusiastic 
clergyman  writes  at  the  time  :  "  The  church,  in  the  inside,  as 
far  as  it  is  ceiled  and  plastered,  looks  exceeding  fine,  and  when 
finished,  it  will,  in  the  judgment  of  most  people  who  have  seen 
it,  be  a  very  neat  and  elegant  church." 

The  rest  he  happily  left  a  ruin,  of  which  the  architecture  is 
as  fine  as  anything  in  this  country. 

Now  when  our  friends  Messrs.  Prichard  and  Seddon  were 
called  in  to  advise,  what  ought  they  to  have  said  ?  An  echo 
answers  "  nothing"  They  did  not  think  so,  but  following  the 
dictates  of  common  sense,  they  did  away  with  the  Pump 

3  Since  this  Paper  was  in  type  I  have  received  a  letter  from  a  friend 
stating  that  it  was  the  Hot  Baths — not  the  Pump  Room,  which  Mr.  Wood 
erected.  Mr.  Freeman's  and  Mr.  King's  accounts  of  Llandaff  Cathedral 
give  particulars  as  to  Mr.  Wood's  works  at  Llandaff.  My  information 
about  his  having  imitated  at  Llandaff  his  own  work  at  Bath  was  oral  and 
may  have  been  mistaken.  The  present  Pump  Room  is  of  far  more  recent 
date.  It  may  have  been  his  Assembly  Room  to  which  the  statement 
referred. 


Appendix.  413 

Room,  re-roofing  and  repairing  the  entire  church,  and  thus 
recovered  a  noble  and  most  charming  interior.  I  am  not 
pledging  myself  to  all  that  was  done,  my  knowledge  of  it  is 
insufficient ;  but  I  confidently  assert  that  they  took  the  only 
right  course.  I  offer  no  opinion  on  the  added  south-west 
tower,  for  I  have  not  seen  it ;  I  speak  only  of  the  manner  in 
which  they  rooted  out  the  barbarism  of  the  eighteenth  century 
and  reinstated  the  beauty  of  the  thirteenth. 

I  am  tempted  to  speak  of  St.  David's.  I  knew  it  well,  long 
before  I  was  professionally  connected  with  it,  and  most  truly 
sordid  was  its  condition.  Not  to  mention  the  eastern  chapels 
which  were,  and  still  are,  in  ruins,  the  choir  aisles  were  walled 
off  and  unroofed  ;  the  roofs  throughout  dripping  water  into  the 
church,  the  walls,  pillars,  arches,  &c.,  running  down  with  wet, 
and  everything  evincing  the  most  abject  and  contemptuous 
neglect. 

When  called  upon  to  advise,  I  found  two  of  the  four  piers  of 
the  central  tower  crushed  in  the  most  fearful  manner,  so  as  to 
threaten  destruction  to  the  whole  building ;  was  this,  I  would 
ask,  a  case  for  doing  nothing  ?  What  I  have  done  has  saved 
the  existence  of  this  most  noble  church,  rendered  the  structure 
safe  and  strong,  made  the  interior  dry  and  wholesome,  brought 
to  light  many  most  interesting  features  before  nearly  lost.  The 
choir  aisles  have  been  re-roofed,  and  their  arcades  re-opened ; 
and  all  this  without  the  loss  of  a  single  ancient  feature,  unless 
it  be  one  quite  decayed  Perpendicular  window  of  whose  early 
English  predecessor  we  found  and  largely  re-used  the  actual 
details.  In  the  same  way  very  many  noble  churches  have 
been  saved  from  utterly  perishing,  by  careful  treatment  applied 
only  just  in  time. 

I  will  take  another  instance.  The  first  considerable  church 
entrusted  to  me  was  placed  in  my  hands  some  thirty-six  years 
back,  almost  in  that  golden  age  when  restoration  was  unknown. 
It  was  a  grand  cruciform  church ;  the  nave  and  crossing  being 
of  noble  Transitional  work,  one  transept  of  developed  Early 
English  of  the  finest  kind,  the  other  of  exquisite  Decorated  ;  the 
choir  and  its  aisles  of  Early  English  passing  on  into  Decorated. 
The  clerestory  of  the  nave,  with  its  roof,  were  very  good  Per- 
pendicular, and  some  other  parts  had  more  or  less  changed 
their  style.  No  ancient  fittings  remained,  all  having  under- 
gone that  honest  traditional  transformation  so  romantically 


4 1 4  Appendix. 

pourtrayed  by  Mr.  Stevenson  as  the  legitimate  out-spring  of 
the  Reformation.  Here,  surely,  was  a  case  for  nobly  declining 
to  interfere.  But  let  us  look  a  little  further  into  the  condition 
of  the  church  :  the  nave  was  severed  from  the  rest  of  the 
church,  not  by  the  magic  lattice-work  of  screens,  but  by  par- 
titions dividing  the  interior  into  two  separate  buildings.  The 
nave  was  so  deeply  be-galleried  on  the  north,  south,  and  east, 
that  the  galleries  enclosed  the  pillars  of  the  arcading,  so  as 
wholly  to  box  up  their  capitals,  which  being  found  rather  in 
the  way  as  well  as  invisible,  no  scruple  was  felt  about  cutting 
away  their  noble  transitional  foliage  and  mouldings  to  make 
better  room  for  the  timbers ;  their  outer  faces  had,  conse- 
quently, undergone  amputation.  I  have  mentioned  that  the 
cross  gallery  was  at  the  east ;  the  glorious  three-decker  was, 
consequently,  placed  westward,  and  in  that  direction  were  the 
pews  made  to  face.  The  available  church  being  reduced  to 
less  than  half  its  size,  no  room  was  to  be  lost,  so  wherever 
pillar  or  pier  or  arch  came  in  the  way  of  a  sitting  they  had 
been  hollowed  and  mined  into  without  remorse. 

Partly  from  such  causes  and  partly  from  others,  the  piers  of 
the  central  tower—  most  noble  works  of  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century — had  given  way  alarmingly,  and  the  crushing  process 
continued  to  increase.  The  transepts,  usefully  occupied  by 
gallery  stairs  of  great  commodiousness,  had  been  most  beau- 
tiful structures,  especially  that  to  the  south,  but  the  lofty  spire 
having  fallen  across  it  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  it  had  been 
patched  up  in  true  Reformation  style ;  and  aided  by  subse- 
quent neglect  and  decay,  its  "  comeliness  "  had  (as  I  should 
say)  been  "turned  into  corruption,"  or,  as  Mr.  Stevenson  might 
perhaps  say,  into  historical  picturesqueness.  The  exterior  was 
much  marred  by  decay.  Now  was  this  a  case  for  doing 
nothing  ?  In  my  simplicity  I  thought  not ;  so  I  swept  away 
high  pews,  galleries,  three-decker  and  partition  walls — works,  it 
may  be,  of  the  days  of  good  Queen  Anne,  but  more  probably 
of  much  later  date.  Thinking  it  a  case  for  more  than  usual 
care,  I  engaged  as  clerk  of  the  works,  a  talented  young  friend, 
a  son  of  old  George  Gwilt,  the  most  zealous  antiquary  I  knew, 
and  conservative  almost  to  the  level  of  the  anti-restoration  Society. 
We  had  to  lay  out,  I  think,  some  15007.  to  make  the  tower  safe  ; 
and,  some  important  antiquarian  questions  arising,  we  referred 
them  to  the  decision  of  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Societies. 


Appendix.  4 1 5 

Another  church  I  remember,  also  a  cruciform  church,  but 
with  aisles  only  to  its  chancel.  Its  nave  and  transepts  were 
completely  filled  up  with  a  gallery  in  each,  whose  front  crossed 
each  arch  of  the  central  tower,  while  each  chancel  aisle 
was  "similarly  filled  by  other  galleries.  What  would  the  do- 
nothing  theory  say  to  this  ?  In  another  case  -  a  cathedral — 
the  choir  was  cut  off  to  the  very  crown  of  its  arches  on  all 
sides  by  partitions  of  lath  and  plaster  with  a  little  glass,  and 
absolutely  severed  from  the  rest  of  the  church. 

No  trick  was  so  commonly  played  with  a  large  church  in  the 
two  last  centuries  as  cutting  off  a  large  part  of  their  length 
by  a  wood  and  glass  partition  reaching  to  its  very  roof,  and 
gallerying  the  remainder  in  every  possible  way  that  could  be 
contrived.  Very  many  noble  churches  have  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  redeeming  from  such  degradation,  and  reinstating  them  to 
their  original  size.  One  of  these  I  have  seen  so  re-opened  since 
our  last  meeting.  It  had  been  chopped  in  two  as  late  as  1798, 
but  no  one  could  remember  ever  seeing  the  whole  interior  until 
now,  or  had  the  smallest  conception  of  its  grandeur.  One 
poor  man,  a  dissenter,  was  melted  to  tears  at  the  first  sight  of 
it.  The  consequence  of  such  restoration  is  always  a  vast 
increase  in  the  number  of  worshippers;  for  while,  as  Mr. 
Stevenson  says,  "  Men  believed  in  the  preaching  of  the  Word, 
and  the  church  had  been  arranged  with  this  view,"  by  a  strange 
inconsistency  the  "better  classes"  monopolized  that  preaching 
to  themselves,  and,  boxing  themselves  up  in  their  high  pews, 
left  their  poorer  neighbours  to  hear  as  they  could,  or  not 
at  all. 

In  one  glorious  monastic  church,  of  which  only  the  nave  has 
been  spared,  not  only  was  the  church  cut  in  two,  by  such  a 
partition,  but  the  remainder  was  interspersed  with  private 
galleries,  each  containing  the  special  pew  of  a  reputable  family, 
approached  by  its  own  private  staircase.  I  recollect  nearly 
forty  years  ago  being  invited  to  sit  in  the  pew  of  one  of  these 
magnates,  and  on  failing  to  see  where  it  was,  and  finding 
another  place,  I  at  last  spied  out  my  friend  sitting  with  his 
sister  in  a  glazed  gallery  which  seated  only  three,  the  third  seat 
being  kindly  reserved  for  myself.  In  the  same  church,  being 
near  a  watering-place,  each  parishioner  took  the  key  of  his  pew 
in  his  waistcoat  pocket.  I  recollect  being  told  by  an  aged  lady 
visitor  that,  after  waiting  near  a  large  empty  pew,  a  young  man 


4 1 6  Appendix. 

came  and  unlocked  it,  locked  himself  in  alone  in  the  pew,  put 
the  key  again  into  his  waistcoat  pocket,  leaving  her  out  in  the 
cold  !  These  were  the  men  who  "  believed  in  the  preaching 
of  the  Word,"  and  these  were  the  churches  "arranged  with  this 
view."  I  was  at  this  church  only  last  Wednesday,  now  long 
since  opened  out  and  filled  with  open  sittings  from  end  to  end, 
"just  as  if  the  Reformation  was  a  mistake." 

In  another  church,  a  noble  family  held  an  octagonal  glazed 
pew,  hung  like  a  bird-cage  from  the  chancel  arch,  and  so  well 
contrived  that,  by  facing  about  east  or  west,  his  lordship  could 
attend  either  the  nave  or  chancel  service.  Many  of  these 
aristocratic  pews  had  fireplaces,  before  which  the  noble  occu- 
pant was  wont  to  stand  with  his  coat-tails  hooked  over  his 
arms,  as  if  in  a  coffee-room.  But  time  would  fail  to  tell  of 
these  monstrosities,  which  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  new  enthu- 
siastics  should  venerate,  being  the  productions  of  the  days  of 
Queen  Anne  and  the  Georges. 

In  the  north  of  England  the  high  pews,  whether  in  galleries 
or  below,  were  usually  lined  with  green  baize ;  and  where  they 
cross  pillars  or  windows  the  stonework  was  painted  green  to 
match,  up  to  the  same  level  with  the  baize  ! 

The  parish  in  which  I  was  born  had  once  a  noble  church, 
with  a  central  tower  which  swayed  so  much  in  the  wind  as  to 
cause  certain  cracks  to  open  and  shut  so  conveniently  that  the 
boys  are  said  to  have  cracked  nuts  in  them.  One  fine  night — 
the  do-nothing  system  having  prevailed  too  long— the  tower 
fell  and  destroyed  the  whole  church.  In  another,  the  parish 
vestry  at  length  became  alarmed,  and  invited  an  eminent 
engineer  who  was  in  the  neighbourhood  to  meet  them.  He 
declined  because  the  vestry  where  they  met  was  too  near  the 
tower.  It  fell  the  next  week,  and  destroyed  the  church. 
Brunei  is  said  to  have  been  similarly  consulted  about  a  tower, 
and  reported  that  the  only  reason  he  could  give  why  it  should 
not  fall  to-morrow  was  that  it  did  not  fall  yesterday. 

I  have  had  the  happiness  of  saving  several  noble  towers 
imminently  threatened  with  destruction,  among  which  I  may 
mention  St.  Mary's  at  Stafford,  St.  Mary's  at  Nottingham, 
those  of  Aylesbury  and  Darlington  churches,  the  central  towers 
at  St.  David's,  and  St.  Alban's,  and  the  western  towers  at  Ripon. 
Two  which  I  was  desirous  to  save,  were,  after  much  anxious 
thought,  found  to  be  past  recovery,  having  been  neglected  too 


Appendix.  4 1 7 

long.  I  do  not  covet  such  work :— one  sleeps  more  quietly 
without  it.  I  have  surveyed  three  towers  within  the  last  few 
weeks  ;  one  I  pronounced  to  have  nothing  the  matter  with  it, 
two  to  be  in  very  serious  danger. 

I  will  only  trouble  you  with  one  other  case,  and  that  a  more 
agreeable  one.  It  is  that  of  a  church  dearly  loved  by  me,  as 
that  which  first  called  forth  my  reverence  for  architecture.  It 
was,  when  I  first  knew  it,  more  than  half  a  century  ago,  almost 
equal  to  Mr.  Stevenson's  poetical  beau-ideal.  Hard  by  there  had 
once  been  a  mediaeval  mansion  belonging  successively  to  the 
Giffords,  the  De  Veres,  the  Bolbecks,  and  the  Courtenays. 
The  oldest  part  of  the  church — the  unpretending  tower — was 
only  of  early  perpendicular  date,  but  the  exquisite  decorated 
churchyard  cross  showed  the  church  to  have  been  cared  for  at 
an  earlier  period.  The  Courtenays  had  forfeited  the  Manor 
during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  but  had  recovered  it  after  Bos- 
worth  Field ;  when  they  and  a  little  Abbey,  which  held  the 
great  tithes,  rebuilt  the  church  about  1493  in  architecture  just 
as  good  for  a  village  church  as  the  chapel  of  Henry  VII.  is  for 
a  royal  burial-place.  The  Courtenays  were  again  attainted, 
and  the  manor  went  into  another  highly  respected  family, 
which  (excepting  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth)  held  it  till 
the  present  century,  when  it  lapsed  by  the  female  line  into 
another  noted  family,  who  sold  it  within  my  own  memory. 
There  had  not  been  a  resident  incumbent  for  many  centuries, 
and  the  resident  proprietors  had  passed  away,  but  the  church 
as  yet  remained  as  they  had  left  it,  saving  only  the  effects  of 
damp,  decay,  and  neglect.  The  exquisite  screen  and  rood- 
loft  still  secluded  the  beautiful  chancel.  The  old  seating  re- 
mained nearly  throughout ;  but,  of  later  ages,  there  were  the 
long  succession  of  tombs,  the  stately  family  pew,  a  small 
gallery  in  the  tower,  and  Moses  and  Aaron  depicted  in 
gorgeous  array  over  the  rood  loft  All  the  windows  seemed  to 
have  been  filled  with  painted  glass  of  the  very  highest  merit ; 
but  only  the  upper  range  of  lights  of  one  window  remained 
entire,  containing  beautiful  illustrations  of  the  legend  of  St. 
Nicholas;  others  had  fragments  of  noble  figures  of  abbots,  &c., 
while  the  heads  of  the  lights  in  the  chancel  and  its  side  chapel 
contained  most  charming  scraps,  like  some  of  Van  Eyck's,  or 
Hans  Hemling's  backgrounds,  giving  views  of  mediaeval  cities, 
so  faithfully  drawn  that,  if  we  knew  them,  we  might  recognize 

E  e 


4 1 8  Appendix. 

the  individual  steeples.  Here  I  used  to  spend  much  of  my 
time,  when  I  hardly  knew  that  there  was  such  a  profession  as 
ours;  and  later  on  I  used  during  my  holiday-time  to  make 
measured  drawings  of  the  details. 

Well,  nearly  half  a  century  passed  away,  and  I  was  called 
upon  to  survey  the  dear  old  church  with  a  view  to  its  resto- 
ration. During  the  interval  decay,  neglect,  and  mutilation  had 
been  silently  doing  their  deadly  work.  The  panelled  ceiling 
had  almost  all  disappeared,  and  all  sorts  of  things  were  much 
worse  for  half  a  century's  neglect.  I  undertook  the  work,  not 
professionally,  but  as  a  labour  of  love,  and  set  myself  to  pre- 
serve all  which  was  old,  to  restore  some  parts  which  were  lost, 
and  to  put  the  whole  in  so  substantial  a  state  as  indefinitely  to 
prolong  its  existence. 

Some  of  the  mouldings  of  the  lost  ceilings  remained  stowed 
away  in  a  corner ;  and  with  these,  and  the  help  of  sketches  which 
I  had  made  when  a  boy,  I  had  the  happiness  of  reinstating 
them.  Some  fragments  of  stonework  which  had  fallen  from 
their  place  I  had  myself  stowed  away  during  my  youth,  and  they 
came  out  now,  ready  to  guide  the  restitution  of  the  fallen  parts. 
I  had  a  terrible  fight  for  the  family  or  "great  house  "  pew,  put  up 
by  a  chief  justice  in  the  last  century,  and  condemned  as  a  sym- 
bol of  human  pride,  though  the  family  to  whose  pride  it  had 
ministered  had  passed  away.  I  saved  it  by  the  compromise  of 
a  little  of  its  width  to  reopen  the  way  into  the  chancel  aisle — 
the  older  scene  of  family  worship — which  it  had  closed. 

I  was  circumvented  about  Moses  and  Aaron — the  too  canny 
vicar  having  unshipped  them  before  I  was  aware  of  it  He 
also  got  rid  of  the  sounding-board,  the  red  rag  of  the  modern 
cleric,  but  it  was  only  Georgian.  I  plead  guilty  to  the  sacrifice 
of  a  gallery  of  a  like  date.  I  saved  with  difficulty  the  worm- 
eaten  door,  studded  with  the  bullets  of  Cromwell's  soldiers  who 
besieged  and  burnt  the  castle.  I  was  defeated  in  the  next  fight 
for  the  non-removal  of  two  effigies  and  their  aitar  tomb, 
shattered  by  the  Cromwellians,  which  stood  upon  the  altar 
platform,  the  vicar  declaring  them  (not  without  reason)  incom- 
patible with  the  due  performance  of  the  service.  My  defeat, 
however,  was  due  to  his  proving  that  it  was  impossible  that 
this  could  have  been  their  original  position,  and  that  there  was 
no  burial  beneath  them.  It  was  clear,  therefore,  that  their  frag- 
ments had  been  collected  and  placed  here  after  the  Common- 


Appendix. 

wealth ;  and  the  tomb  was  re-erected  without  restoration  in  a 
more  probable  and  less  inconvenient  position. 

The  one  ancient  stained  glass  window  was  rendered  tho- 
roughly strong  and  permanent  without  the  insertion  or  loss  of  a 
single  piece  of  glass,  and  all  shattered  fragments  were  preserved 
m  their  places.  I  had  the  privilege  myself  of  replacing  the 
exquisite  fan  groining  of  the  porch:  and,  one  thing  with 
another,  the  church  was  brought  back  much  into  the  state  it 
was  in  when  Cole,  the  antiquary,  says  of  its  distinguished 
occupant,  after  describing  enthusiastically  the  various  beauties 
of  the  place,  "  but  the  best  thing  belonging  to  the  place  is  its 
master."  For  myself,  who  have  for  half  a  century  loved  it  be- 
yond all  other  parish  churches,  I  can  only  say  that  it  is  one  of  the 
greatest  comforts  of  my  life  to  think  of  its  present  condition. 

I  have  dwelt,  all  too  lengthily,  upon  these  instances,  just  to 
show  how  unavoidable  it  is  that  some  restorations  should  take 
place.  Mr.  Petit,  a  strong  anti-restorationist,  used  to  say  that, 
like  the  measles,  restoration  was  inevitable;  and,  like  children  so 
visited,  he  could  only  wish  the  churches  safe  through  it.  Time 
would  fail  to  tell  of  the  necessities  of  enlargement,  &c.,  to  meet 
present  needs.  These  and  the  desire  to  reinstate  lost  features 
are  the  great  difficulties  of  the  restorer ;.  though  sometimes 
compensated  by  the  discovery  of  lost  and  beautiful  features, 
such  as  the  two  shrines  at  St.  Alban's. 

In  carrying  out  such  works  as  I  have  been  describing,  the 
best  of  us  often  err.  We  are  too  apt  to  be  led  astray  by  siren 
voices  both  from  without  and  within.  We  are — it  may  be  — 
weak,  and  open  to  intimidation.  We  are— possibly— obstinate, 
and  adhere  too  much  to  our  own  fancies.  We  are — perhaps 
— insufficiently  careful,  and  pass  over  things  with  too  little 
thought.  We  are — sometimes — not  sufficiently  severe  with  de- 
structive builders,  clerks  of  the  work,  and  workmen,  whose  bar- 
barisms— found  out  when  too  late— are  often  truly  heart- 
breaking. And — one  evil  influence  with  another — we  are 
guilty  of  all  kinds  of  short-comings  and  over-steppings ;  and  it 
is  most  wholesome  to  have  such  Papers  as  that  under  con- 
sideration to  goad  us  into  more  careful  dealing,  and  to  bring 
our  sins  to  remembrance  :  and  if  the  New  Society  were  to 
abate  somewhat  of  what  I  think  the  exaggeration  of  its  views, 
I  should  welcome  it  as  a  court  of  appeal,  which  we  so  greatly 
need  in  difficult  cases,  and  which  I  called  out  for  as  early  as 

E  e  2 


420  Appendix. 

thirty-six  years  back.  I  dare  say  our  codes  of  rules  are  not  of 
sufficient  stringency,  and  should  be  stiffened.  I  know  that, 
whatever  their  defects,  we  do  not  always  adhere  to  them  as  we 
ought.  I  do  not,  therefore,  complain  of  our  critics  if  their 
little  finger  proves  thicker  than  our  loins  ;  nor  when  we  have 
chastised  others  with  whips,  they  chastise  us  with  scorpions. 

I  will  add  one  more  word :  that  while  wishing  success  to 
the  Society  in  all  their  reasonable  endeavours,  I  would  suggest 
to  them  a  few  most  useful  fields  for  their  exertions. 

1.  To  press  upon  the  proprietors  of  ruined  buildings   the 
duty  of  protecting  them  as  much  as  possible  from  increasing 
decay  by  securing  the  tops  of  the  shattered  walls  from  wet. 

2.  To  find  out  and  oppose,  while  there  is  time,  the  con- 
templated destruction  of  ancient  buildings,  down  even  to  those 
of  the  last  century.     The  losses  we  are  constantly  sustaining  by 
the  actual  destruction  of  old  buildings  is  truly  appalling  !     Of 
timber  buildings,  which  are  constantly  being  taken  down  as 
ruinous,  I  assert  that  timely  and  judicious  reparation   is  the 
only  possible  means  for  their  preservation. 

3.  To  have  measured  drawings  made,  systematically  and 
constantly,  of  all  the  unprotected  architectural  antiquities  of 
our  land,  that  when,  in  the  course  of  nature,  their  architecture 
perishes,  authentic  drawings  may  remain  behind. 

4.  I  am  ready  and  willing  to  take  my  share,  where  I  deserve 
it,  in  the  protests  against  bad  restoration,  but  I  beg  the  Society 
to  recollect  that  (as  I  have  elsewhere  said)  the  great  majority 
of  ancient  buildings  are  committed  to  the  mercy  of  a  herd  who 
trample  them  under  their  feet  and  turn  again  and  rend  all 
objectors.     Let  this  herd  at  least  have  a  share  of  censure,  or 
their   patrons   will  conclude  that  they  have  done  rightly  in 
casting  their  pearls  before  them. 

I  will  only  add,  as  regards  churches,  that  it  will  be  useless 
to  endeavour  to  persuade  seriously  thinking  people  that  it  is 
wrong  "to  restore  churches  from  motives  of  religion."  They 
were  built  from  such  motives,  and  must  ever  be  treated  with 
like  aim.  It  is  equally  useless  to  persuade  them  that  it  is 
wrong  from  "  religious  sanction  "  to  redeem  them  from  "  their 
present  state  of  mutilation,"  that  it  is  right  to  preserve  the  high 
pews  which,  added  by  the  rich  like  "  field  to  field  till  there  be 
no  place,"  have  driven  God's  poor  from  their  own  churches. 
Mr.  Stevenson  talks  of  the  "  dreary  ranges  of  low  benches," 


Appendix.  421 

and  truly  they  do  often  look  dreary  enough,  but  I  do  not  know 
that  they  are  more  so  than  high  pews  which  half  bury  the 
pillars.  Let  us  not,  however,  judge  of  churches  only  when 
empty :  "  empty  benches "  are  proverbially  dreary :  let  us 
rather  see  them  when  thronged  by  devout  worshippers,  and  the 
dreariness  of  the  seat-backs  will  not  much  trouble  either  eye  or 
memory.  Better  see  the  people  than  have  them  buried  to  the 
neck  in  Georgian  "  dozing  pens."  Let  the  Society  make  up 
their  minds  at  once  that  any  attempt  to  banish  religious  motives 
from  the  treatment  of  churches  is  suicidal ;  and  let  them  rather 
aim — this  being  taken  for  granted — at  making  us  do  this 
necessary  and  religious  work  with  the  smallest  possible  sacrifice 
of  history  and  antiquity. 

By  the  bye  !  I  have  good  news  for  the  Society  !  A  clergy- 
man whom  I  met  the  other  day,  and  who  confessed  to  the 
malice  prepense  of  contemplated  "  restoration,"  told  me  that  he 
had  found  his  parishioners  "  too  conservative  to  part  with  their 
money— too  anti-ritualistic  to  part  with  their  square  pews." 


THOROUGH  ANTI-RESTORATION. 

SiRj — On  reading  Mr.  Loftie's  article  on  "  Thorough  Restora- 
tion," in  last  month's  Macmillan,  my  first  reflection  was  that  I 
had  never  felt  more  pointedly  the  truth  of  the  injunction, 
"Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged ;"  since,  after  having  for 
years  been  amongst  the  most  earnest  of  protesters  against  the 
system  he  condemns,  I  find  my  sentiments,  and  almost  my  very 
words  taken  out  of  my  mouth,  and  adduced  to  my  ow  n 
condemnation. 

This  is  the  more  excruciating,  when  I  find  in  a  list  of 
damaged  churches  one,  which  had  filled  me  with  such  wrath 
as  to  provoke  me  (though  without  expressly  naming  it)  to 
introduce  a  most  pungent  paragraph  into  my  inaugural 
address,  when  elected  President  of  the  Institute  of  British 
Architects  ;  and— then  find  one  of  my  own  (which  I  had  rather 
plumed  myself  upon)  introduced  in  the  same  list  This,  how- 
ever, is,  after  all,  a  mere  flea-bite ;  but,  while  Mr.  Loftie  does 
not  think  it  worth  while  to  say  much  about  the  common  run  of 
restoration  (such  as  those  which  have  provoked  my  most  earnest 


422  Appendix. 

protests)  he  devotes  himself  with  a  special  gusto  to  writing 
down  some  of  my  own  which  I  had  flattered  myself  were  un- 
assailable, or  to  which  I  had  at  least  devoted  special  love  and 
earnest  anxiety. 

Now,  how  am  I  to  account  for  this  ?  Am  I  really  such  a 
self-deceiver  as  to  fancy  my  own  works  to  be  honest  and  con- 
scientious, while  in  fact  they  are  just  as  bad  as  those  against 
which  I  have  been  crying  out  "  in  season  and  out  of  season  " 
for  so  many  years  ? — or  do  I  look  at  matters  from  a  different 
stand-point  from  Mr.  Loftie? — or  is  that  gentleman's  per- 
ception warped  or  obscure?  I  cannot  answer  these  questions. 
There  is  only  one  test  that  I  can  think  of.  It  is  clearly  useless 
to  discuss  the  abstract  merits  or  demerits  of  works.  I  can, 
however, -examine  into  questions  of  fact,  and  by  inference  from 
these  it  is  possible  that  some  aid  may  be  obtained  in  judging 
of  questions  of  opinion.  Anyhow,  it  will  be  the  better  for  the 
general  subject  that  it  be  divested  from  any  palpable  errors  of 
this  nature. 

Mr.  Loftie  lays  great  stress  upon  the  restoration,  ten  years 
back,  of  the  church  of  St.  Michael,  near  St.  Alban's.  "  A  very 
bad  case,  indeed,"  says  he,  "  where  one  of  the  oldest  churches 
in  England  has  been  deliberately  ruined."  The  excellent  in- 
cumbent, who  is  absolutely  devoted  to  his  church,  and  well 
knows  every  stone  and  brick  of  it,  says  on  the  contrary,  "  I 
consider  the  restoration  of  the  church  as  thoroughly  conser- 
vative, and  often  point  out  to  visitors  evidences  of  your  great 

anxiety  that  every  old  feature  should  be  distinctly  shown 

Pray  accept  my  best  thanks  for  your  true  and  careful  restoration 
of  the  dear  old  church  of  St.  Michael's." 

Another  competent  person,  who  watched  the  work  through- 
out, says : — "  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  a  more  careful 
restoration  was  never  carried  out,  special  care  to  preserve  every 
portion  of  the  building  being  taken  by  Sir  Gilbert  Scott."  For  my 
own  part  I  can  assert  the  same.  I  took  a  very  particular  in- 
terest in  the  building  and  its  conservation:  and  even  walls 
which  it  seemed  at  first  impossible  to  save,  were  bolstered  up  and 
embalmed,  one  may  say,  against  the  common  decay  of  nature, 
by  being  saturated  internally  with  cementing  matter ;  so  that 
their  surface  remained  identically  as  I  found  it,  with  all  its 
strange  intermixture  of  flint,  stone,  and  Roman  tile.  In  this 
course  of  laborious  conservation,  work,  apparently  Saxon,  con- 


Appendix.  423 

structed  in  Roman  brick,  has  been  discovered  throughout  the 
church.  An  arch  and  doorway  on  the  north  of  the  chancel, 
and  windows  on  either  side  the  nave,  of  this  age  and  material, 
have  been  discovered  and  carefully  opened  out  to  view,  cut 
through  and  ignored  by  the  Norman  arcade,  itself  so  old  that 
Clutterbuck  says  of  the  arches,  that  "  they  bear  a  striking  re- 
semblance to  those  in  part  of  the  nave  in  the  Abbey  Church." 
The  old  roofs  of  the  nave,  the  north  aisle,  and  the  south  chapel 
of  the  nave  have  been  cleared  from  the  lath  and  plaster  which 
largely  concealed  them,  carefully  repaired,  without  in  the  least 
disturbing  their  antiquity,  and  exposed  again  to  sight.  The 
half-timber  work  of  the  south  chapel  has  also  been  opened  out 
to  view  :  while  not  a  wall  or  a  bit  of  wall  has  been  disturbed  or 
renewed,  beyond  a  small  amount  of  reparation  imperatively  de- 
manded for  safety.  Windows  of  later  date,  long  walled  up, 
have  been  opened  out  again  and,  where  necessary,  repaired. 
None,  however,  have  been  renewed  excepting  the  east  window 
of  the  chancel,  which  had  fallen  out  and  had  been  replaced  by  a 
wooden  frame  :  and,  even  in  this  single  renewal,  the  jambs, 
&c.,  are  the  old  ones,  and  the  arch  contains  the  only  old  stone 
which  could  be  found  of  it.  In  fact,  the  loving  pains  taken 
to  preserve  and  hand  down  in  its  identity  this  ancient  fabric,  with 
all  the  changes  in  its  history  not  only  retained,  but  rediscovered 
and  brought  again  to  light,  was  beyond  what  I  can  describe. 
And  this  is  what  Mr.  Loftie  calls  being  "  deliberately  ruined  !  " 
Hitherto,  however,  difference  of  view  may  be  pleaded.  Let 
us  come,  then,  to  more  palpable  questions  of  fact.  He  says — 
still  speaking  of  St.  Michael's — "  the  Elizabethan  entrance, 
ceiling,  and  pews  were  all  relics  of  his  (Lord  Bacon's)  time,  and 
are  all  swept  away,  and  the  chapel  reduced  to  the  level  of  an 
ordinary  chancel  aisle."  These  expressions  evidently  took 
their  rise  from  Mr.  Thorne,  who  probably  trusted  too  much  to 
his  memory,  and  similarly  speaks  of  the  "  Elizabethan  porches, 
ceilings,  and  fittings "  as  "  strengthening  Baconian  associa- 
tions ;"  and  further  says :  "  the  Verulam  Chapel  opposite  the 
tomb,  with  its  Elizabethan  entrance,  ceiling,  and  pews,  had 
quite  a  Baconian  character  before  the  recent  restoration  when 
....  the  chapel  was  reduced  to  an  ordinary  chancel  aisle." 
I  learn  also  that  Mr.  Loftie  speaks  of  a  "  ceiled  pew,"  as  being 
the  very  seat  in  which  Bacon  sat,  "  alluded  to  in  the  touching 
epitaph  " — the  epitaph  containing  the  words,  Sic  sedebat. 


424  Appendix. 

Now,  all  this  is  most  perplexing.  In  the  first  place,  the 
"  ordinary  chancel  aisle "  into  which  I  have  succeeded  in 
reducing  the  "Bacon  chapel"  or  "ceiled  pew"  neither  exists 
nor  ever  did  exist.  The  chancel  has  not  and  never  had  an 
aisle.  Clutterbuck  correctly  describes  the  church,  as  it  was 
then  and  now  is,  as  consisting  (besides  the  tower),  of  "  a  nave, 
north  side-aisle,  a  south  chapel  of  the  nave,  and  a  chancel ; " 
but  no  chancel  aisle  was  there.  Again,  there  was  no  ceiled 
pew  or  anything  of  the  kind;  nor  was  there  any  form  of 
"  Elizabethan  ceiling  "  whatever.  The  chancel,  it  is  true,  was 
ceiled — but  how  ?  Let  us  hear  from  the  clerk  of  the  works. 
"  The  roof  was  for  the  most  part  fir,  some  of  the  rafters  were 
chestnut.  The  whole  of  it  is  in  such  a  rotten  state,  it  was  found 
impossible  to  do  anything  with  it ;  and  but  for  the  modern 
ceiling  shaped  in  fir  to  form  the  same  it  must  have  collapsed." 
This  "  Elizabethan  ceiling  "  was  probably  put  up  "  during  the 
repair  of  the  church,"  which  Clutterbuck  mentions  "in  the  year 
1808."  Mr.  Thorne  mentions  "new  roofs."  The  only  new 
roof  takes  the  place  of  this,  which  was  so  rotten  as  only  to  be 
held  up  by  a  modern  ceiling. 

Let  us  come,  however,  to  the  "  Bacon  chapel  "  or  pew.  I 
never  heard  of  its  having  anything  to  do  with  Bacon,  nor  did 
any  one  I  have  inquired  of,  and  I  utterly  disbelieve  it.  Even 
Mr.  Loftie  can  hardly  believe  it  to  be  identical  with  (hardly 
that  it  contained)  the  handsome  arm-chair  referred  to  in  the 
"  Sic  sedebat  /"  It  was  a  common,  ordinary  pew,  bearing  no 
signs  of  antiquity,  and  was  about  one-third  of  it  in  the  chancel, 
and  two-thirds  in  the  nave :  as  a  consequence,  if  it  is  older 
than  1808,  it  was  severed  in  two  by  the  chancel  screen,  which 
it  seems  was  only  removed  in  that  year.  Besides  this  frustum 
of  the  Gorhambury  pew,  the  main  portion  of  which  (with  its 
fireplace)  was  in  the  nave,  the  chancel  contained  "  three 
ordinary  square  seats  for  the  Gorhambury  servants,"  of  which 
the  incumbent  says  :  "  My  own  opinion  is  that  the  pews  were 
made  by  some  of  the  members  of  the  family  of  the  present 
owners  of  Gorhambury,  the  Grimstons." 

In  corroboration  of  this  opinion  I  have  (in  addition  to  my 
own  memory  and  that  of  a  most  trustworthy  assistant)  the 
testimony  of  the  clerk  of  the  works  that  "  no  remains  of  posts 
were  found  which  could  have  supported  such  a  covering  [or 
'  ceiling '],  but  only  a  curtain  on  brass  rods  :  that  the  framing 


Appendix.  425 

was  in  part  of  deal,  and  some  few  panels  on  the  sides  of  wains- 
cot, but  quite  modern  :  not  small,  square  panels,  with  moulded 
styles  and  rails  like  Queen  Anne's  period,  but  simply  of  a  very 
coarse  moulding."  He  gives  the  section,  which  is  of  quite 
modern  character. 

So  much  for  the  "Bacon  chapel,"  which  I,  for  one,  never  till 
last  month  heard  of.  The  "Elizabethan  porch"  or  "entrance" 
consisted  of  jambs  and  lintel  of  Portland  stone,  in  section  like 
the  nosing  of  a  stone  step,  which  the  clerk  of  the  works  from 
its  own  evidence,  states  to  have  been  "  re-used  " — that  is  re- 
moved here  from  some  place  where  it  had  been  previously 
employed.  "  The  insertion  of  it,"  he  says,  "  caused  the  de- 
struction of  one  half  of  the  decorated  canopy  of  a  tomb  found 
in  the  south  wall  of  the  chancel."  and  now  opened  out  to  view. 
I  do  not  know  that  Portland  stone  was  brought  into  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  London  till  Inigo  Jones's  time,3  which  hardly 
allows  of  these  pieces  having  been  used  and  re-used  before 
Bacon's  decease  in.i626.  The  fact  is  that  this  entire  Baconian 
theory  is  a  mere  mares  nest.  Neither  "  chapel,"  "  ceiled  pew," 
"  porch,"  "  entrance,"  nor  "  ceiling  "  of  Bacon's  time,  existed, 
save  in  the  fertile  imaginations  of  these  zealous  gentlemen. 
Nor  had  the  church  ever  exhibited  its  antiquities  so  profusely 
or  so  plainly  as  has  been  the  case  since  (in  Mr.  Loftie's  lan- 
guage) it  has  been  "  deliberately  ruined." 

I  now  come  to  the  glorious  abbey  church  (now  happily  the 
cathedral)  of  St.  Alban. 

I  may  begin  by  saying  (at  the  risk  of  egotism)  that  for 
scarcely  any  church  have  I  so  strong  and  earnest  a  love  as  for 
this.  It  was  the  day-dream  of  my  boyhood  to  be  permitted  to 
visit  it,  and  on  the  earliest  opportunity  which  offered — only  a 
year  less  than  half  a  century  back — I  made,  with  a  palpitating 
heart,  my  first  pilgrimage  there.  This  was  before  the  repairs 
were  undertaken  by  Mr.  Cottingham,  and  while  the  small 
leaded  spire,  so  characteristic  of  the  district,  still  crowned  the 
central  tower.  Ever  since  that  time  I  have  been  a  not  unfre- 
quent  visitor  and  student,  and  my  various  reports,  as  well  as — 
to  those  who  recollect  them — my  many  peripatetic  lectures,  will 
show  how  earnest  have  been  my  feelings  towards  this,  probably 

3  Mr.  Hull,  the  geologist,  in  his  Treatise  on  Building  Stones,  says  of 
Portland  stone  :  "previously  to  1623  this  stone  docs  not  appear  to  have  at- 
tracted any  attention." 


426  Appendix. 

the  most  interesting  of  all  English  churches;  and  I  can  scarcely 
think  it  possible  for  any  one  to  believe  (whatever  may  have 
been  my  errors  of  judgment)  that  I  should  have  purposely 
injured  a  building  so  dear  to  me. 

Mr.  Loftie  begins  by  saying  that  "  the  works,  as  carried  out, 
have  already  been  the  subject  of  controversy."  No  one  knows 
this  better  than  himself,  for  it  was  he  who  raised  that  contro- 
versy, in  which  he  was,  as  I  think,  signally  discomfited. 

He  begins  with  a  thrice-told  tale  about  the  tower  having 
been  "  stripped  of  its  original  plaster."  This  has  been  more 
than  once  fully  explained,  but  is  too  good  a  stone  to  remain 
unthrown.  Mr.  Loftie  has,  however,  in  the  interval  of  fight, 
forgotten  his  tale.  It  is  clear  that  he  now  thinks  that  it  was 
internal  plaster  which  was  thus  stripped,  for  he  goes  on  to  say 
of  the  exterior  of  the  tower  that  "  the  exquisite  weathering  of 
the  old  bricks"  has  been  "rudely  removed;"  and,  again,  that 
"  there  was  a  venerable  bloom  on  the  bricks."  Now,  will  it  be 
believed  that  this  "  exquisite  weathering"  and  "venerable  bloom" 
are  ascribed  to  brickwork  which  I  was  the  first  to  expose  to  view, 
and  which  had  never  known  what  weather  was  since  the  days 
of  Henry  I.,  when  the  walls  were  coated  with  the  mortar  with 
which  my  critic  accuses  me  of  having  "  daubed  "  them  "  every- 
where"? I  can  hardly  be  blamed  for  destroying  beauties 
which  existed  in  Mr.  Loftie's  brilliant  imagination— and  nowhere 
else. 

The  facts  of  the  case  are  these  :  the  tower,  like  the  rest  of  the 
Norman  structure,  was  built  of  Roman  bricks  from  Verulam, 
and  coated  all  over  with  plastering.  This  plastering  had  often 
gone  out  of  repair,  and  been  patched  again  and  again  in  a  not 
very  slightly  manner.  It  was  once  more  in  bad  order,  and  was 
falling  off  in  large  flakes  when  I  was  repairing  the  tower,  so 
much  so  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  remove  it,  with  the  full 
intention  of  repeating  it.  Here  I  suppose  came  in  what  he 
alludes  to  as  "  the  wishes  of  the  townsmen,"  for  I  recollect 
arguing  against  some  one's  wishes,  and  urging  that  the  tower 
was  always  meant  to  be  plastered.  So  far,  however,  was  I  from 
being  "  led  by  them,"  that  I  obstinately  persisted  in  my  own 
way,  and  began  to  replaster  the  walls,  when  on  my  next  visit  I 
was  so  horrified  at  their  hideousness,  that  I  at  once  restripped 
my  own  plaster,  and  exposed  to  view  the  entire  structure 
of  Roman  brick.  The  "pointing"  alluded  to  was  simply  to 


Appendix.  427 

protect  the  decayed  mortar-joints.  I  do  not  ask  Mr.  Loftie's 
opinion  as  to  its  necessity,  he  has  no  means  of  judging — while 
I  have.  Whether  the  Roman  brick,  or  the  plastering  which 
covered  it,  be  the  best  looking,  I  leave  to  others  :  but  this  being 
the  largest  structure  in  England  of  the  Roman  brick,  the 
interest  attached  to  that  material,  and  the  fact  that  the  con- 
struction is  now  visible,  at  least  make  some  amends  for  the  loss 
of  its  coating  of  mortar. 

As  a  matter  of  taste,  pure  and  simple,  there  is  room  for  two 
opinions.  Sir  Edmund  Becket  likes  it,  Mr.  Stevenson  does 
not,  and  while  Mr.  Loftie  is  not  quite  sure  what  we  have  done 
(whether  plastering  or  unplastering)  he  dislikes  it,  whatever  it 
may  be.  We  find  the  editor  of  Mr.  Murray's  Guide  to  St. 
Albarfs  Cathedral  saying  that  "the  tile-work,  which  is  the 
great  feature  of  St.  Alban's,  is  thus  shown  in  its  integrity,  and 
the  tower  has  infinitely  gained  in  beauty  of  tone  and  colour," 
and  the  editor  of  his  Handbook  to  the  Environs  of  London  (Mr. 
Loftie's  text-book  for  St.  Michael's)  saying  that  "  lastly,  to  the 
great  improvement  of  its  appearance,  the  remaining  cement  was 
stripped  from  the  exterior,  the  mortar  repointed,  and  the  struc- 
tural character  fairly  exposed  to  view." 

Mr.  Loftie  next  attacks  the  interior,  which  he  says  has  been 
"simply  gutted."  By  this  he  means  that  the  pewing,  galleries, 
&c.,  have  been  removed.  He  omits,  however,  to  give  the 
reason  for  their  removal.  This  was  not  done,  in  the  first 
instance,  with  any  notion  about  the  incongruity  of  such  fittings, 
but  simply  because  the  central  tower,  under  or  near  which  most 
of  them  were  placed,  threatened  to  fall,  and  the  space  occupied 
by  them  was  imperatively  required  for  the  timber  shoring, 
excavations,  and  new  foundations  requisite  to  render  it  secure. 
Mr.  Loftie  mentions  the  "  Georgian  oak  panelling."  Any  one 
who  looks  at  Neale's  view  of  the  interior  of  the  choir,  will  at 
once  observe  that  this  panelling  enclosed  the  two  eastern  piers 
of  the  tower,  in  which  the  chief  danger  existed.  How,  then, 
let  me  ask,  were  these  pillars  to  be  repaired  (one  of  them  was 
crushed  for  seven  feet  deep  into  its  substance)  without  removing 
the  panelling?  The  same  was  the  case  with  the  adjoining 
walls  of  the  presbytery.  One,  at  least,  of  them  was  crushed 
throughout  its  length  beneath  the  casing  of  this  "Georgian 
panelling."  How  was  it  to  be  rendered  safe  while  this  re- 
mained ?  It  was  as  much  as  we  could  do  to  save  it  at  all. 


428  Appendix. 

If  the  panelling  had  remained,  the  tower  would  probably  not 
now  be  standing. 

"  But,"  it  will  be  asked,  "  why  not  have  refixed  this  panelling 
when  the  work  was  done  ?  "  One  reason  was  this,  that  it  had 
covered  up  on  either  side  the  ancient  doorways  into  the  pres- 
bytery, the  beautiful  tabernacle-work  over  which  had  been 
ruthlessly  hewn  down,  probably  to  make  way  for  it.  New 
openings  had  been  rudely  cut  through  the  walls  to  the  east- 
ward of  these,  and  it  became  necessary  to  security  that  these 
should  be  solidly  walled  up,  and  consequently  that  the  older 
ones  should  be  re-opened  just  where  the  wainscoting  was.  But 
"  why  not  refix  the  old  pewing,  galleries,  &c.  ? "  Our  work 
had  been  begun  for  the  safety  of  the  building,  but  it  had  grown 
into  restoration.  A  bishopric  was  hoped  for  and  even  promised. 
The  galleries,  &rc.,  had  already  partly  disappeared  before  we 
began,  and  the  organ  shown  at  the  west  end  of  the  choir  in 
Neale's  view  had  yielded  to  one  (on  a  sufficiently  absurd  design) 
in  the  transept.  But  what  need  is  there  of  explanations  ?  Let 
any  reasonable  being  take  a  glance  at  Neale's  or  Clutterbuck's 
views,  and  ask  himself  whether,  when  the  Abbey  Church  should 
become  a  cathedral,  it  would  be  possible  to  retain  such  fittings  ? 
They  dated,  I  believe,  from  1716  to  1 80 1,  with  other  parts 
erected  within  the  last  fifteen  years.  I  know  of  no  "  Eliza- 
bethan "  work  or  "  traces  of  the  Stuart  period  "  earlier  than 
Queen  Anne's  time.  The  pulpit  and  its  sounding-board  will, 
no  doubt,  be  retained. 

I  may  add  that  Mr.  Loftie  speaks  of  the  oak  as  "  black 
with  age."  He  is  not  perhaps  aware  that  oak  does  not 
get  black  with  age,  but  with  oil  and  varnish.  The  "  Watch- 
ing Loft "  is  of  far  greater  age  than  the  work  he  laments, 
but  shows  more  disposition  to  become  white,  than  black,  with 
age. 

Mr.  Loftie  winds  up  his  remarks  on  this  most  venerable 
building  by  saying  that  "  it  would  have  been  impossible,  three 
years  ago,  to  believe  that  it  could  be  made  to  look  so  new  by 
any  expenditure  of  thought  or  money." 

I  write  while  fresh  from  St.  Albans,  and  I  simply  meet  this 
statement  by  denying  it.  True,  that  where  the  tower  piers 
have  been  repaired  to  save  the  building  from  destruction  their 
new  plastering  necessarily  "looks  new."  True,  that  where 
stone  details  of  windows  had  so  perished  that  it  had  for  many 


Appendix.  429 

years  been  thought  hopeless  to  glaze4  them,  the  renewal  or 
repair  of  such  portions  must  necessarily  look  in  part  new. 
True,  that  where  dirt  has  given  place  to  cleanness,  it  may  look 
newer  for  the  operation,  just  as  any  other  building,  when 
repaired,  looks  fresher  than  before.  But  I  assert  that  not 
only  the  real  antiquity,  but  the  old  look  of  the  building  has 
been  thoroughly  respected.  Wherever  the  whitewash  is 
scraped  off  old  paintings  and  inscriptions  appear;  and,  con- 
trary to  what  is  usual,  where  stonework  is  divested  of  its 
whitewash,  its  darker  colour  gives  it  a  look  of  even  increased 
age.  The  building  was  in  a  degree  a  ruin,  and  must  be 
repaired.  Five  whole  bays  of  the  nave  clerestory  had  scarcely 
a  square  yard  of  old  stone  surface  remaining,  while  the  aisle 
roof  below  them  was,  after  each  successive  winter,  strewed 
thickly  with  the  debris  annually  brought  down.  Is  this  state 
of  things  to  remain  because,  forsooth,  some  can  be  found  to 
prefer  ruin  to  reparation  ?  This  glorious  temple  must  not, 
and  so  far  as  I  am  concerned  shall  not,  be  left  to  crumble  on 
to  its  destruction,  but  I  hope  to  redeem  it  at  the  smallest 
possible  cost  of  real,  and  even  apparent,  antiquity. 

I  will  not,  however,  further  defend  my  own  course  as  regards 
this  building.  Mr.  Street,  in  recently  addressing  the  Institute 
of  British  Architects,  said  that  as  to  St.  Alban's  Abbey  he 
(Mr.  Street)  could  only  say  that  the  work  which  had  been 
done  there  under  the  direction  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  was  the 
opening  to  us  of  what  was  practically  a  sealed  book,  and  he 
could  hardly  conceive  that  anybody,  who  at  all  cared  for 
mediaeval  art,  could  object  to  what  had  been  done  there. 

The  rector  of  St.  Alban's,  in  writing  to  express  his  "ad- 
miration "  of  "  the  ingenuity  displayed  "  by  Mr.  Loftie,  goes 
on  to  say :  "  I  can  positively  affirm  that  Mr.  Loftie's  state- 
ment, that  the  exquisite  weathering  of  the  old  bricks  has  been 
rudely  removed,  is  absolutely  untrue.  The  only  external 
portions  of  the  building  in  which  they  were  exposed  to  the 
weather  have  not  been  touched,  while  the  tower,  where  they 
had  been  plastered  over,  and  could  by  no  possibility  have 
gathered  any  bloom,  now  reveals  them;  and  even  the  last 
three  winters  have  given  them  a  weathering  which  will  grow 

4  The  glass  had  been  replaced  by  open  brickwork  which  Mr.  Loftie  has, 
I  believe,  elsewhere  called  Elizabethan  lattice-work,  but  which  has  been 
shown  to  have  been  put  in  by  a  man  now  living. 


43°  Appendix. 

more  charming  as  years  roll  on.  So  far  from  the  tower  looking 
'modern'  (as  it  did  when  it  was  stuccoed)  the  course  after 
course  of  the  tiles  of  old  Verulam  now  exposed  to  view  impart 
an  appearance  of  unique  antiquity,  and  tell  even  the  chance 
beholder  the  story  of  the  pile.  I  shall  never  forget  Charles 
Kingsley's  enthusiastic  admiration  when  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
pointing  this  out  to  him."  After  saying  what  I  have  already 
stated  about  the  old  pulpit,  he  suggests  that  Mr.  Loftie  "  might 
have  told  his  readers  of  the  finding  of  the  shrine  of  St.  Amphi- 
balus ;  of  the  discovery  of  the  charming  perpendicular  door- 
way and  stone  screen  in  the  south  presbytery  aisle ;  also  of  the 
lovely  fourteenth-century  choir  ceiling;  of  the  restoration  of 
the  old  levels,  adding  to  the  height  of  the  interior  of  the  build- 
ing in  some  places  as  much  as  two  feet ;  of  the  discovery  of 
the  foundations  of  the  old  choir  stalls,  whereby  you  have  been 
able  to  replace  their  temporary  successors  on  the  old  lines."  He 
mentions  also  the  ancient  tile  pavements  and  wall  paintings,  the 
presbytery  entrances,  &c,  but  adds  "  only  this  would  not  have 
agreed  with  the  indictment." 

Mr.  Ridgway  Lloyd,  the  great  local  antiquary  of  St.  Albans, 
who  has  done  so  good  a  work  in  elucidating  its  history, 
writes  to  me  also  to  express  his  indignation  at  the  attack. 
After  telling  me  that  watching  the  progress  of  the  work  had 
been  one  of  his  greatest  pleasures  for  several  years,  he 
says : — 

"  With  your  permission  I  will  give  a  few  instances  to  show 
the  conservative  character  of  your  work. 

"  The  Georgian  (not  Elizabethan)  oak  panelling  in  the 
presbytery  was  of  no  great  merit,  and  its  removal  was  most 
fortunate,  since  it  served  to  hide  the  fractures  in  the  north-east 
pier  of  the  lantern  tower,  which  so  nearly  led  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  central  tower,  and  a  great  part  of  the  eastern  limb 
of  the  church.  It  also  concealed  from  view  the  presbytery  door- 
ways as  well  as  the  canopied  structure  over  the  southern  of 
these  doorways.  That  over  the  north  door  is  certainly  new 
[though  following  old  indications],  but  soon  after  it  was 
finished,  some  finials  [pinnacles]  belonging  to  its  predecessor 
were  found  in  the  Saint's  chapel,  and  at  once  the  new  finials 
were  cut  off  and  the  old  ones  substituted. 

"  It  is  true  that  after  the  two  eastern  piers  carrying  the 
lantern  tower  had  been  partly  rebuilt  with  brick  and  cement, 


Appendix.  43  r 

they  were  plastered  over  to  match  their  fellows  on  the  western 
side,  but  who  would  wish  it  otherwise  ? 

"In  the  Lady  Chapel,  in  almost  every  instance  in  which  the 
wall-arcading  has  been  renewed,  old  and  new  work  may  be 
seen  side  by  side,  the  former  by  its  presence  attesting  the 
faithfulness  of  the  latter. 

"  One  most  valuable  of  the  many  discoveries  made  during 
the  restoration  is  that  of  the  ancient  paintings  on  the  ceiling  of 
the  choir.  This  was  until  recently  adorned  with  a  series  of 
seventeenth-century  paintings  indifferently  executed,  but  it 
was  discovered  that  the  panels  bore  an  earlier  design  beneath. 
The  later  painting  having  been  carefully  removed,  a  splendid 
series  of  thirty-two  heraldic  shields  (date  circa  1370)  was  dis- 
closed, showing  the  mediaeval  arms  assigned  to  the  saints 
Alban,  Edward  the  Confessor,  Edmund,  Oswyn,  George,  and 
Louis  ;  to  the  emperors  Richard  (Earl  of  Cornwall)  and  Con- 
stantine ;  to  the  kings  of  England,  Scotland,  Man,  Castile  and 
Leon,  Portugal,  Sweden,  Cyprus,  Norway,  Arragon,  Denmark, 
Bohemia,  Sicily,  Hungary,  Navarre,  France,  and  to  the  Crusader 
king  of  Jerusalem ;  as  well  as  those  of  several  of  the  sons  of 
Edward  III.  There  are  also  several  sacred  devices,  including 
the  coronation  by  our  Lord  of  St.  Mary,  and,  in  addition, 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  Te  Deum  in  Latin,  and  a  number  of 
quotations  from  the  Antiphons  at  Matins  and  Lauds  from  the 
Sarum  Antiphoner.  This  discovery,  which  is  entirely  due  to 
the  work  of  restoration,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  too  highly. 
Among  lesser  '  finds '  may  be  mentioned  the  two  pits  for  heart- 
burial,  one  in  the  Lady  Chapel  and  the  other  in  the  south 
transept :  both  have  been  most  carefully  preserved." 

Of  the  entire  work  of  restoration,  reparation,  or  whatever  we 
may  call  it,  I  may  say  that  it  has  been  replete  with  the  most 
important  discoveries  ;  that  it  has  been  characterized  by  the 
most  studious  conservatism  ;  that  it  has  saved  the  building 
from  destruction  ;  and  that  it  is  gradually  fitting  it  for  its 
advance  to  the  rank  of  a  cathedral,  without  the  loss  of  any 
object  of  antiquity. 

Passing  over  a  number  of  less  important  matters,  we  will 
now  proceed  to  Canterbury  Cathedral. 

Mr.  Loftie  introduces  the  subject  by  giving  an  account  of 
all  the  things  done  to  the  Cathedral  for"  the  last  half-century, 
including  the  erection  of  the  south-west  tower,  which,  with  the 


4  3  2  Appendix. 

reparation  of  its  fellow  tower,  he  mysteriously  describes  as 
being  "  in  the  style  now  universally  recognized  as  that  of 
Camberwell ;"  an  expression  I  do  not  understand,  unless  it  be 
a  means  of  connecting  it  with  myself,  I  having,  thirty-five  years 
back,  built  a  church  at  Camberwell,  though  as  far  as  possible 
from  being  in  the  style  of  this  tower.  I  beg,  however,  to  clear 
the  ground  by  saying  that  I  have  never  carried  out  any  structural 
work  in  connexion  with  Canterbury  Cathedral.  The  question  at 
issue,  however,  relates  to  the  proposed  refitting  of  the  choir, 
and  I  have  elsewhere  stated  it  as  follows  : — 

We  do  not  know  what  were  the  fittings  of  the  choir  at 
Canterbury  after  its  restoration  in  1180.  Very  probably  they 
were  only  temporary.  "  We  have,  however,  records  of  their 
having  been  renewed  by  Prior  De  Estria  about  1304.  He 
is  especially  said  to  have  decorated  the  choir  with  beautiful 
stonework,  a  new  pulpitum  (or  rood  loft),  and  three  doorways. 
The  fittings,  &c.,  then  introduced  continued  undisturbed  till 
after  the  great  Rebellion.  It  is  probable  that  they  had  been 
much  injured  during  that  period ;  and  we  find  that  Archbishop 
Tenison,  in  1702,  removed  all  the  old  stallwork;  concealed 
the  beautiful  side  screens  of  De  Estria  by  classic  wainscoting ; 
and  substituted  pewing  for  the  side  stalls ;  but,  to  the  west, 
erected  new  return  stalls  with  very  rich  canopies,  concealing 
entirely  the  pulpitum  or  rood  screen  of  De  Estria.  The 
wainscoting  of  the  sides  was  removed  about  1828,  leaving  the 
pewing  backed  up  by  De  Estria's  side  screens.  The  Dean 
and  Chapter  now  desire  to  substitute  for  these  pews  as  near  a 
reproduction  as  may  be  of  De  Estria's  stalls.  We  have  found 
parts  of  them  below  the  flooring,  and  trust  to  find  other 
fragments  from  which  their  pattern  may  be  recovered.  The 
difficulty,  however,  is  with  the  western  or  return  stalls  :  for 
behind  them  we  find  De  Estria's  pulpitum  or  rood  screen  with 
its  original  and  rich  colouring,  apparently  complete,  except- 
ing the  stone  canopies  of  the  Priors'  and  Sub-Priors'  stalls, 
which  were  rudely  hewn  off  when  Tenison's  stalls  were  erected. 
We  want  to  preserve  both  the  stalls  and  the  more  ancient 
objects  which  they  conceal.  I  love  Tenison's  stalls  well,  but 
I  love  De  Estria's  pulpitum  more.  Some  probably  take  the 
contrary  view.  Why  should  not  both  be  gratified  ?  " 

Now  this  is  a  very  fair  subject  for  discussion  and  difference 
of  opinion ;   and  the   more  so  as  this  is  practically  "  Queen 


Appendix.  433 

Anne  "  work,  and  to  the  special  lovers  of  that  style  its  removal 
would  naturally  be  exasperating.  For  myself  I  do  not  in  the 
least  degree  wish  its  removal  on  account  of  any  discrepancy 
between  it  and  the  surrounding  architecture.  Some  have  gone 
so  far  as  that ;  for  my  part  I  have  no  sympathy  with  that  feel- 
ing, but  the  reverse.  My  own  leanings  entirely  arose  from  my 
excitement  at  the  discovery  (or  re-discovery)  of  De  Estria's 
pulpitum,  hidden  behind  Tenison's  stalls,  which  I  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  say  filled  me  with  an  enthusiasm  with  which  the  de- 
votees of  Queen  Anne  cannot  be  expected  to  sympathize. 
That  work  is  described  by  those  who  desire  to  minimize  it  as 
small  in  quantity  and  greatly  mutilated.  I  have  devoted  much 
time  to  it,  and  have  to  state  that  it  is  almost  entire,  having 
only  suffered  from  the  mercilessness  of  Archbishop  Tenison's 
workmen,  who,  while  putting  up  the  stalls,  chopped  away  the 
two  canopies  and  much  of  the  mouldings  of  the  central  door- 
way. The  necessity  for  restoring  the  inner  face  of  the  side 
screens  in  1828,  when  Tenison's  wainscoting  was  removed,  no 
doubt  arose  from  its  like  barbarous  treatment  by  the  same  men. 
It  is  droll  to  find  the  enthusiastic  advocates  of  the  style  of  the 
last  century  arguing,  from  the  havoc  made  in  older  work  by 
their  demi-gods, '  that  it  is  hopeless,  to  the  extent  of  being 
beneath  contempt,  to  try  to  recover  the  older  work  from  their 
depredations. 

Putting,  however,  such  considerations  aside,  the  simple  ques- 
tion is  this  :  having  a  Queen  Anne  work  placed  in  front  of  a 
mediaeval  work,  each  possessing  its  own  claSs  of  merit,  ought 
we  to  be  content  with  seeing  one,  or  ought  we  to  endeavour  to 
render  both  visible  ?  I  have  taken  the  latter  view,  and  have  sug- 
gested that  a  worthy  position  should  be  sought  for  Tenison's 
work,  and  that  the  choir  screen, — the  "  pulpitum  "  of  Prior  de 
Estria — should  be  exposed  to  view.  Mr.  Loftie  has  spoken  of 
this  idea  as  "  a  new  design  by  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  founded  on  a 
fragment."  He  speaks  of"  the  portion  of  it  already  restored 
behind  the  altar"  (which  does  not  exist),  and  says  "could  we  be 
certified  that  the  stone  screen  exists  intact  behind  the  panel- 
ling, we  might  hesitate.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  is  asserted. 
A  small  portion  only  remains,  and  from  it  an  eminent  architect 
is  prepared  to  reconstruct  the  whole."  He  has  elsewhere  de- 
scribed what  is  proposed  as  "modern  work  in  imitation  of  some 
fragments  of  a  stone  screen  of  the  fourteenth  century."  Mr. 

F    f 


434  Appendix. 

Morris  speaks  of  it  as  "  Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  conjectural  restora- 
tion," and  again,  as  "  the  proposed  imitation,  restoration,  or 
forgery  of  Prior  Eastry's  rather  commonplace  tracery." 

The  facts  are  that  the  old  screen,  or  "  pulpitum,"  remains 
throughout  its  extent  in  very  fair  condition,  with  its  ancient 
colouring  nearly  complete  and  exceedingly  beautiful.  It  is  true 
that  the  barbarous  mutilations  made  in  putting  up  Tenison's 
work  have  left  a  few  parts  in  some  degree  to  conjecture  ;  but 
the  evidences  left  in  situ,  aided,  it  may  be  fairly  hoped,  by  frag- 
ments still  to  be  found,  will  probably  bring  these  exceptional 
parts  into  the  region  of  certainty,  just  as  the  discovery  of  the 
two  thousand  fragments  of  the  shrine  of  St.  Alban  led  to  the 
re-erection  of  that  structure  without  a  jot  or  tittle  of  new  work 
or  a  single  modicum  of  conjecture.  Anyhow,  what  is  aimed 
at  is  the  exposure  to  view  of  an  actually  existant  and  ancient 
work — not  its  restoration,  for,  with  few  exceptions,  it  is  there, 

Another  reason  in  favour  of  exposing  to  view  this  fine  old 
work  is  that  Canterbury  differed  from  many  other  cathedrals  in 
having  no  canopied  stalls  excepting  those  of  the  two  great 
dignitaries.  In  this  it  agreed  with  the  sister  (or  daughter) 
cathedral  at  Rochester,  where  we  have  evidences  of  the  same 
arrangement.  Tenison  altered  this  by  adding  canopies  to  all 
the  returned  stalls,  and  thus  ignored  the  traditions  of  the  building. 

It  is  the  fashion  of  the  critics  to  under-rate  the  screenwork 
of  De  Estria,  but  I  find  Professor  Willis  describing  it  (the 
side  screens — he  never  saw  the  western  one)  as  consisting  of 
"  delicate  and  elaborately  worked  tracery,"  and  again  saying  of 
it,  "  the  entire  work  is  particularly  valuable  on  account  of  its 
well-established  date,  combined  with  its  great  beauty  and 
singularity."  He  also  speaks  of  "  the  beautiful  stone  enclosure 
of  the  choir,  the  greatest  part  of  which  still  remains."  The 
ancient  obituary  of  Prior  De  Estria  calls  it  "  most  beautiful 
stonework  delicately  carved." 

Those  who  seek  to  under-rate  it  also  try  to  make  the  most 
of  the  restorations  which  followed  the  removal  of  the  wainscot 
work  in  1828;  but  Professor  Willis  speaks  of  it  as  "in  excellent 
order."  Mr.  Parker  tells  us  that  he  saw  and  studied  the  screen 
work  when  unrestored,  and  speaks  of  it  as  "a  very  beautiful 
piece  of  fourteenth-century  work."  No  doubt  it  suffered  much 
from  the  reparation  of  Tenison's  mutilations,  but  if  these 
authorities  speak  so  strongly  of  its  present  beauty,  what  would 


Appendix.  435 

they  say  to  the  parts  still  concealed  which  have  never  been 
touched  by  reparation  ?  Some  parts  of  the  side  screens  them- 
selves retain  their  ancient  colouring,  so  that  even  they  cannot 
be  so  far  gone  from  their  old  state  as  is  described. 

Mr.  Loftie,  in  one  of  his  letters,  says  "  that  very  little  is  left 
of  the  construction  of  Canterbury  Cathedral  older  than  the 
present  reign  "  (!)  but  Mr.  Morris's  fear  is  that  "  before  long 
we  shall  see  the  noble  building  of  the  two  Williams  [of  the 
twelfth  century]  confused  and  falsified  by  the  usual  mass  of 
ecclesiastical  trumpery  and  coarse  daubing."  Let  him  be 
assured  that,  whether  it  be  of  the  twelfth  or  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, there  is  no  idea  of  touching  it  :  on  the  contrary,  in  my 
paper  read  before  the  Institute  of  Architects  in  1862,  the 
following  passage  occurs,  and  the  principles  there  advocated 
for  the  exterior  may  be  supposed  equally  to  actuate  us  in  deal- 
ing with  the  interior  : — 

"  Imagine  for  one  moment,  by  way  of  illustration,  that  un- 
equalled '  history  in  stone,'  the  eastern  half  of  Canterbury 
Cathedral,  so  admirably  described  and  unfolded  by  Professor 
Willis,  if  the  hand  of  undiscriminating  restoration  had  passed 
over  it :  the  works  of  Lanfranc,  of  Conrad,  of  William  of 
Sens,  and  of  the  English  William,  whose  intricate  inter- 
minglings  now  form  a  history  at  once  so  perplexingly  entangled 
and  so  charmingly  disentangled;  and  which  together  present  the 
very  best  illustration  existing  in  this  country  of  the  changes  of 
architectural  detail  from  the  Conquest  to  the  full  establishment 
of  Pointed  architecture;  and  which  must  ever  form  the  very  text- 
book of  the  architectural  history  of  that  period,  as  being  at  once 
the  most  perfect  in  its  steps,  the  most  completely  chronicled, 
and  the  most  admirably  deciphered.  Imagine,  I  would  say,  this 
treasury  of  art-history  reduced  to  an  unmeaning  blank  by  the 
hand  of  the  restorer,  either  all  indiscriminately  renewed,  or  one 
half  renewed  and  the  other  scraped  over  to  look  like  it ;  the 
coarsely-axed  work  of  the  early  Norman  mason,  the  finer  hew- 
ing of  his  successor,  and  the  delicate  chiselling  of  the  third 
period,  all  scraped  down  to  the  semblance  of  the  new  work  by 
the  same  undiscriminating  drag,  or  replaced  by  new  masonry, 
uniting  all  periods  into  one,  or  else  making  a  mimic  copy  of 
their  distinguishing  characteristics  !  I  take  an  extreme  imagi- 
nary illustration,  because  the  work  in  question,  as  it  remains  in 
its  authenticity,  forming  the  most  precious  page  of  our  archi- 


436  Appendix. 

tectural  history,  is  so  well  known  as  to  place  the  principle  I 
am  speaking  of  in  a  clearer  light  than  if  I  took  a  less  marked 
example." 

This  Canterbury  question  is,  however,  as  I  have  before  said, 
a  fair  subject  for  fair  discussion ;  and  I  will  add  no  more  than 
this — that,  while  I  heartily  sympathize  with  the  new  movement 
for  the  preservation  of  ancient  monuments  in  its  leading  aims, 
I  must  protest  against  its  being  carried  to  the  length  of  leaving 
our  ancient  buildings  to  fall  into  ruin,  or  to  retain  (in  all  cases) 
the  effects  of  mutilation,  disfigurement,  and  decay.  And,  as 
quite  a  secondary  objection,  I  would  venture  respectfully  to 
suggest  that  the  legitimate  aims  of  the  movement  are  hardly 
likely  to  be  furthered  by  overstatement  or  misrepresentation. 

GEORGE  GILBERT  SCOTT. 

P.S. — It  is  rather  comical  to  think  how  much  more  is  said 
about  moving  Gibbons's  returned  stalls — if  indeed  they  be 
Gibbons's — from  the  position  they  were  made  for  at  Canter- 
bury, than  about  the  removal  of  his  corresponding  stalls  from 
the  position  they  were  made  for  at  St.  Paul's.  This  may, 
however,  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  of  the  latter  being  a 
fait  accompli ;  but  what  will  be  said  to  spending  4o,ooo/.  on 
obliterating  Thornhill's  paintings  in  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's  in 
favour  of  mosaics  of  our  own  day,  though  arranged  and  directed 
by  a  "  Committee  of  Taste  "  ? 


THE    END. 


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Echoes  of  the  Heart.     See  MOODY. 

Elinor  Dryden.     By  Mrs.  MACQUOID.     Crown  8vo,  6s. 

English  Catalogue  of  Books  (The}.  Published  during  1863  to 
1871  inclusive,  comprising  also  important  American  Publications. 

This  Volume,  occupying  over  450  Pages,  shows,  the  Titles  of 
32,000  New  Books  and  New  Editions  issued  during  Nine  Years,  with 
the  Size,  Price,  and  Publisher's  Name,  the  Lists  of  Learned  Societies, 
Printing  Clubs,  and  other  Literary  Associations,  and  the  Books 
issued  by  them ;  as ,  also  the  Publisher's  Series  and  Collections — 
altogether  forming  an  indispensable  adjunct  to  the  Bookseller's 
Establishment,  as  well  as  to  every  Learned  and  Literary  Club  and 
Association.  y>s. ,  half-bound. 

*#*  Of  the  previous  Volume,  1835  to  1862,  very  few  remain  on 
sale  ;  as  also  of  the  Index  Volume,  1837  to  1857. 

Supplements,   1863,   1864,   1865,  3*.   6d,  each;    1866, 

1867,  to  1879,  5.5-.  each. 

Eight  Cousins.     See  ALCOTT. 

English  Writers,  Chapters  for  Self-Improvement  in  English 
Literature.  By  the  Author  of  ' '  The  Gentle  Life, "  6j. 

Eton.  See  "  Day  of  my  Life,"  "  Out  of  School,"  "  About  Some 
Fellows." 

Evans  (C.)  Over  the  Hills  and  Far  Away.  By  C.  EVANS. 
One  Volume,  crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  icw.  6d. 

A  Strange  Friendship.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  5^. 

TJA1TH  Gartney's    Girlhood.      By  the    Author   of  "The 

•*•  Gayworthy's."     Fcap.  with  Coloured  Frontispiece,  3^.  6d. 

Familiar  Letters  on  some  Mysteries  of  Nature.     See  PHIPSON. 

Family  Prayers  for  Working  Men.  By  the  Author  of  "  Steps 
to  the  Throne  of  Grace."  With  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  E.  H. 
BICKERSTETH,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Christ  Church,  Hampstead.  Cloth,  u. 

Favell  Children  (The).  Three  Little  Portraits.  Four  Illustrations, 
crown  8vo,  cloth  gilt,  4^. 

Favourite  English  Pictures.  Containing  Sixteen  Permanent 
Autotype  Reproductions  of  important  Paintings  of  Modern  British 
Artists.  With  letterpress  descriptions.  Atlas  4to,  cloth  extra,  2/.  2s. 

Fern  Paradise  (The}:  A  Plea  for  the  Culture  of  Ferns.  By  F.  G. 
HEATH.  New  Edition,  entirely  Rewritten,  Illustrated  with  Eighteen 
full-page  and  numerous  other  Woodcuts,  and  Four  permanent  Photo- 
graphs, large  post  8vo,  handsomely  bound  in  cloth,  12s.  6d. 

Fern  World  (The}.     By  F.  G.  HEATH.     Illustrated  by  Twelve 

Coloured  Plates,  giving  complete  Figures  (Sixty-four  in  all)  of  every 
Species  of  British   Fern,  printed  from  Nature ;  by  several  full-page 
Engravings  ;  and  a  permanent  Photograph.      Large  post  8vo,  cloth 
gilt,  400  pp.,  4th  Edition,  I2s.  6d.     In  12  parts,  sewn,  is.  each. 
Feiv  (A)  Hints  on  Proving  Wills.     Enlarged  Edition,  \s. 


io  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  6°  Co.'s 

First  Ten  Years  of  a  Sailor's  Life  at  Sea.     By  the  Author  of 

"All  About  Ships."     Demy  8vo,  Seventeen  full-page  Illustrations, 

480  pp.,  3J1.  (>d. 
Flammarion    (C.)    The    Atmosphere.      Translated    from    the 

French  of  CAMILLE  FLAMMARION.     Edited  by  JAMES  GLAISHER, 

F.R.S.    With  io  Chromo-Lithographs  and  8l  Woodcuts.    Royal  8vo, 

cloth  extra,  30^. 

Flooding  of  the  Sahara  (The).     See  MACKENZIE. 
Food  for  the  People  ;    or,  Lentils  and  other   Vegetable   Cookery. 

By  E.  E.  ORLEBAR.     Third  Thousand.     Small  post  8vo,  boards,  is. 
Footsteps  of  the  Master.     See  STOWE  (Mrs.  BEECHER). 
Forrest  (fohn)  Explorations  in  Australia.      Being  Mr.  JOHN 

FORREST'S  Personal  Account  of  his  Journeys.     I  vol.,   demy  8vo, 

cloth,  with  several  Illustrations  and  3  Maps,  l6j. 
Four  Lectures  on  Electric  Induction.     Delivered  at  the  Royal 

Institution,  1878-9.      By  J.  E.  H.  GORDON,   B.A.   Cantab.      With 

numerous  Illustrations.     Cloth  limp,  square  i6mo,  3^. 
Franc  (Maude  Jeane).     The  following  form  one  Series,  small 

post  8vo,  in  uniform  cloth  bindings : — 

Emily's  Choice.     55. 

Hall's  Vineyard.     45. 

-John's  Wife:  a  Story  of  Life  in  South  Australia. 


—  Marian  ;  or,  the  Light  of  Some  One's  Home.     55-, 

—  Silken  Cords  and  Iron  Fetters.     4$. 

—  Vermont  Vale.     $s. 

—  Minnie's  Mission.     4$. 
Little  Mercy. 


Funny  Foreigners  and  Eccentric   Englishmen.      16   coloured 
comic  Illustrations  for  Children.     Fcap.  folio,  coloured  wrapper,  4^. 

SHAMES  of  Patience.     See  CADOGAN. 

*"7"      Garvagh  (Lord]  The  Pilgrim  of  Scandinavia.      By  LORD 
GARVAGH,  B.A.  Oxford.   8vo,  cloth  extra,  with  Illustrations,  IDJ.  6d. 
Geary  (Grattan).     See  "  Asiatic  Turkey." 
Gentle  Life  (Queen  Edition).     2  vols.  in  i,  small  4to,  los.  6d. 

THE     GENTLE    LIFE    SERIES. 

Price  6s.  each  ;  or  in  calf  extra,  price  icvr.  6J. 

The  Gentle  Life.     Essays  in  aid  of  the  Formation  of  Character 
of  Gentlemen  and  Gentlewomen.     2 1st  Edition. 

"  Deserves  to  be  printed  in  letters  of  gold,  and  circulated  in  every  house." — 
Chambers'  Journal* 

About  in  the  World.     Essays  by  Author  of  "  The  Gentle  Life." 

"  It  is  not  easy  to  open  it  at  any  page  without  finding  some  handy  idea.."— Morn- 
ing Post. 


List  of  Publications.  \\ 


The  Gentle  Life  Series,  continued : — 

Like  unto  Christ.  A  New  Translation  of  Thomas  a  Kempis' 
"  De  Imitatione  Christi."  With  a  Vignette  from  an  Original  Drawing 
by  Sir  THOMAS  LAWRENCE.  2nd  Edition. 

"  Could  not  be  presented  in  a  more  exquisite  form,  for  a  more  sightly  volume  was 
never  seen." — Illustrated  London  News. 

Familiar  Words.  An  Index  Verborum,  or  Quotation  Hand- 
book. Affording  an  immediate  Reference  to  Phrases  and  Sentences 
that  have  become  embedded  in  the  English  language.  3rd  and 
enlarged  Edition. 

"The  most  extensive  dictionary  of  quotation  we  have  met  with." — Notes  and 
Queries. 

Essays  by  Montaigne.  Edited  and  Annotated  by  the  Author 
of  "The  Gentle  Life."  With  Portrait.  2nd  Edition. 

"  We  should  be  glad  if  any  words  of  ours  could  help  to  bespeak  a  large  circula- 
tion for  this  handsome  attractive  book." — Illustrated  Times. 

The  Countess  of  Pembroke's  Arcadia.     Written  by  Sir  PHILIP 
SIDNEY.     Edited  with  Notes  by  Author  of ' '  The  Gentle  Life."   7*.  6d. 
"All  the  best  things  are  retained  intact  in  Mr.  Friswell's  edition." — Examiner. 

The  Gentle  Life.     2nd  Series,  8th  Edition. 

"  There  is  not  a  single  thought  in  the  volume  that  does  not  contribute  in  some 
measure  to  the  formation  of  a  true  gentleman." — Daily  News. 

Varia :  Readings  from  Rare  Books.  Reprinted,  by  permission, 
from  the  Saturday  Review,  Spectator,  &c. 

"The  books  discussed  in  this  volume  are  no  less  valuable  than  they  are  rare,  and 
the  compiler  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  the  public.  "—Observer. 

Tlie  Silent  Hour:    Essays,    Original   and  Selected.     By   the 
Author  of  "The  Gentle  Life."     3rd  Edition. 
"All  who  possess  'The  Gentle  Life  '  should  own  this  volume." — Standard. 

Half-Length  Portraits.      Short  Studies   of  Notable  Persons. 

By  J.  HAIN  FRISWELL.     Small  post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  6.r. 
Essays    on  English     Writers,    for    the    Self-improvement    of 

Students  in  English  Literature. 
"To  all  who  have  neglected  to  read  and  study  their  nativejiterature  we  would 

certainly  suggest  the  volume  before  us  as  a  fitting  introduction." — Examiner. 

Other  People's  Windows.     By  J.  HAIN  FRISWELL.     3rd  Edition. 

"The  chapters  are  so  lively  in  themselves,  so  mingled  with  shrewd  views  of 
human  nature,  so  full  of  illustrative  anecdotes,  that  the  reader  cannot  fail  to  be 
amused." — Morning  Post. 

A  Man's  Tlioughts.    By  J.  HAIN  FRISWELL. 


German  Primer.     Being   an   Introduction  to   First  Steps  in 

German.     By  M.  T.  PREU.     2s.  6d. 
Getting  On  in  the   World ;  or,  Hints  on  Success  in  Life.     By 

W.  MATHEWS,  LL.  D.  Small  post  8vo,  cloth,  2s.  6d.  •  gilt  edges,  3*.  6d* 
Gilliatt  (Rev.  E.)  On  the  Wolds.     2  vols.,  crown  8vo,  2  is. 


12 


Gilpiris  Forest  Scenery.  Edited  by  F.  G.  HEATH,  i  vol., 
large  post  8vo,  with  numerous  Illustrations.  Uniform  with  "The 
Fern  World  "  and  "  Our  Woodland  Trees."  I2s.  6d. 

Gordon  (f.  E.  If.).  See  "  Four  Lectures  on  Electric  Induc- 
tion," "  Practical  Treatise  on  Electricity,"  &c. 

Gouffe.  The  Royal  Cookery  Book.  By  JULES  GOUFFE  ;  trans- 
lated and  adapted  for  English  use  by  ALPHONSE  GOUFF£,  Head 
Pastrycook  to  her  Majesty  the  Queen.  Illustrated  with  large  plates 
printed  in  colours.  161  Woodcuts,  8vo,  cloth  extra,  gilt  edges,  2l.  2s. 

-  Domestic  Edition,  half-bound,  ios.6d. 

"  By  far  the  ablest  and  most  complete  work  on  cookery  that  has  ever  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  gastronomical  world."  —  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

--  The  Book  of  Preserves  ;  or,  Receipts  for  Preparing  and 
Preserving  Meat,  Fish  salt  and  smoked,  &c.,  &c.  I  vol.,  royal  8vo, 
containing  upwards  of  500  Receipts  and  34  Illustrations,  icw.  6d. 

—  -  Royal  Book  of  Pastry  and  Confectionery.  By  JULES 
GOUFF£,  Chef-de-Cuisine  of  the  Paris  Jockey  Club.  Royal  8vo,  Illus- 
trated with  10  Chromo-lithographs  and  137  Woodcuts,  from  Drawings 
by  E.  MONJAT.  Cloth  extra,  gilt  edges,  35^. 

Gouraud  (Mdlle.)  Four  Gold  Pieces.     Numerous  Illustrations. 

Small  post  8vo,  cloth,  2s.  6d.     See  also  Rose  Library. 
Government  of  M.  Thiers.    By  JULES  SIMON.    Translated  from 

the  French.     2  vols.,  demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  32.?. 
Gower  (Lord  Ronald)  Handbook  to  the  Art  Galleries,  Public 

and  Private,  of  Belgium  and  Holland.     i8mo,  cloth,  5-r. 
--  TJie  Castle  Houiard  Portraits.  2  vols.,  folio,  cl.  extra,  61.  6s. 
Greek  Grammar.     See  WALLER. 
Guizofs  History  of  France.     Translated  by  ROBERT  BLACK. 

Super-royal  8vo,  very  numerous  Full-page  and  other  Illustrations.     In 

5  vols.  ,  cloth  extra,  gilt,  each  24?. 
"  It  supplies  a  want  which  has  long  been  felt,  and  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  all 

students  of  history."  —  Times. 

"  Three-fourths  of  M.  Guizot's  great  work  are  now  completed,  and  the  '  History 

of  France,'  which  was  so  nobly  planned,  has  been  hitherto  no  less  admirably  exe- 

cuted. "  —  From  long  Review  of  Vol.  Ill,  in  the  Times. 
"  M.  Guizot's  main  merit  is  this,  that,  in  a  style  at  once  clear  and  vigorous,  he 

sketches  the  essential  and  most  characteristic  features  of  the  times  and  personages 

described,  and  seizes  upon  every  salient  point  which  can  best  illustrate  and  bring 

out  to  view  what  is  most  significant  and  instructive  in  the  spirit  of  the  age  described." 

—  Evening  Standard,  Sept.  23,  1874. 

--  History  of  England.  In  3  vols.  of  about  500  pp.  each, 
containing  60  to  70  Full-page  and  other  Illustrations,  cloth  extra,  gilt, 
24J.  each. 

"  For  luxury  of  typography,  plainness  of  print,  and  beauty  of  illustration,  these 
volumes,  of  which  but  one  has  as  yet  appeared  in  English,  will  hold  their  own 
against  any  production  of  an  age  so  luxurious  as  our  own  in  everything,  typography 
not  excepted.  "  —  Times. 

Gnillemin.     See  "  World  of  Comets." 

Guy  on  (Mde.)  Life.     By  UPHAM.     6th  Edition,  crown  8vo,  6s. 


List  of  Publications.  13 


Guyot  (A.)  Physical  Geography.  By  ARNOLD  GUYOT,  Author 
of  "Earth  and  Man."  In  i  volume,  large  4to,  128  pp.,  numerous 
coloured  Diagrams,  Maps,  and  Woodcuts,  price  ioj.  6d. 

TTABITA  TIONS  of  Man  in  all  Ages.     See  LE-Duc. 

Hamilton  (A.  H.  A.,f.P.}     See  "  Quarter  Sessions." 

Handbook  to  the  Charities  of  London.     See  Low's. 

Principal  Schools  of  England.     See  Practical. 

Half-Hours  of  Blind  Man's  Holiday  ;  or,  Summer  and  Winter 
Sketches  in  Black  &  White.  By  W.  W.  FENN.  2  vols.,  cr.  8vo,  245-. 

Half-Length  Portraits.  Short  Studies  of  Notable  Persons. 
By  J.  HAIN  FRISWELL.  Small  post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  6s. 

Hall(W.  W.}  How  to  Live  Long;  or,  1408  Health  Maxims, 
Physical,  Mental,  and  Moral.  By  W.  W.  HALL,  A.M.,  M.D. 
Small  post  8vo,  cloth,  2s.  Second  Edition. 

Jfans  Brinker-  or,  the  Silver  Skates.    See  DODGE. 

Heart  of  Africa.  Three  Years'  Travels  and  Adventures  in  the 
Unexplored  Regions  of  Central  Africa,  from  1868  to  1871.  By  Dr. 
GEORG  SCHWEINFURTH.  Translated  by  ELLEN  E.  FREWER.  With 
an  Introduction  by  WINWOOD  READE.  An  entirely  New  Edition, 
revised  and  condensed  by  the  Author.  Numerous  Illustrations,  and 
large  Map.  2  vols.,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  15.?. 

Heath  (F.  G.\  See  "Fern  World,"  "Fern  Paradise,"  "Our 
Woodland  Trees,"  "  Trees  and  Ferns." 

Heber's  (Bishop]  Illustrated  Edition  of  Hymns.  With  upwards 
of  100  beautiful  Engravings.  Small  410,  handsomely  bound,  "js.  6d. 
Morocco,  iSs.  6d.  and2U.  An  entirely  New  Edition. 

Hector  Servadac.  See  VERNE.  The  heroes  of  this  story  were 
carried  away  through  space  on  the  Comet  "Gallia,"  and  their  ad- 
ventures are  recorded  with  all  Jules  Verne's  characteristic  spirit.  With 
nearly  100  Illustrations,  cloth  extra,  gilt  edges,  IO.T.  6d. 

Henderson  (A.}  Latin  Proverbs  and  Quotations ;  with  Transla- 
tions and  Parallel  Passages,  and  a  copious  English  Index.  By  ALFRED 
HENDERSON.  Fcap.  410,  530  pp.,  icxr.  6d. 

History  and  Handbook  of  Photography.  Translated  from  the 
French  of  GASTON  TISSANDIER.  Edited  by  J.  THOMSON.  Imperial 
i6mo,  over  300  pages,  70  Woodcuts,  and  Specimens  of  Prints  by  the 
best  Permanent  Processes.  Second  Edition,  with  an  Appendix  by 
the  late  Mr.  HENRY  Fox  TALBOT,  giving  an  account  of  his  researches. 
Cloth  extra,  6s. 

History  of  a  Crime  (The)  ;  Deposition  of  an  Eye-witness.  By 
VICTOR  HUGO.  4  vols.,  crown  8vo,  42J.  Cheap  Edition,  I  vol.,  6s. 

England.     See  GUIZOT. 

France.     See  GUIZOT. 

Russia.    See  RAMBAUD. 


14  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  6°  Co.'s 

History  of  Merchant  Shipping.     See  LINDSAY. 

United  States.     See  BRYANT. 

— — —  Ireland.     By  STANDISH  O'GRADY.    Vol.  I.  ready,  TS.  bd. 
American   Literature.     By  M.   C.  TYLER.      Vols.    I. 

and  II.,  2  vols,  8vo,  24*. 
History  and  Principles  of  Weaving  by  Hand  and  by  Power.  With 

several  hundred  Illustrations.     By  ALFRED   BARLOW.     Royal  8vo, 

cloth  extra,  i/.  5^-. 
Hitherto.     By  the  Author  of  "  The  Gay worthys."    New  Edition, 

cloth  extra,  3^.  6d.     Also,  in  Rose  Library,  2  vols.,  2s. 
Hofmann  (Carl).    A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of 

Paper  in  all  its  Branches.     Illustrated  by  1 10  Wood  Engravings,  and  5 

large  Folding  Plates.     In  I  vol.,  4to,  cloth  ;  about  400  pp.,  3/.  13^.  6d. 
Home  of  the  Eddas.     By  C.  G.  LOCK.     Demy  8vo,  cloth,  i6s. 
How  to  Build  a  House.     See  LE-Duc. 
How  to  Live  Long.     See  HALL. 

Hugo   (Victor)    "Ninety-Three"     Illustrated.     Crown  8vo,  6s. 
Toilers  of  the  Sea.    Crown  Svo.    Illustrated,  6s. ;  fancy 

boards,   2s.  •   cloth,  2s.   6d.  ;   On  large  paper  with  all  the   original 

Illustrations,  IOT.  6d. 

—  See  "  History  of  a  Crime." 


Hundred  Greatest  Men  (  The) .  Eight  vols. ,  2  is.  each.   See  below. 

"Messrs.  SAMPSON  Low  &  Co.  are  about  to  issue  an  important  '  International" 
work,  entitled,  'THE  HUNDRED  GREATEST  MEN;'  being  the  Lives  and 
Portraits  of  the  100  Greatest  Men  of  History,  divided  into  Eight  Classes,  each  Class 
to  form  a  Monthly  Quarto  Volume.  The  Introductions  to  the  volumes  are  to  be 
written  by  recognized  authorities  on  the  different  subjects,  the  English  contributors 
being  DEAN  STANLEY,  Mr.  MATTHEW  ARNOLD,  Mr.  FROCDE,  and  Professor  MAX 
MULLER:  in  Germany,  Professor  HELMHOLTZ  ;  in  France,  MM.  TAINE  and 
RENAN  ;  and  in  America,  Mr.  EMERSON.  The  Portraits  are  to  be  Reproductions 
from  fine  and  rare  Steel  Engravings." — Academy. 

Hunting,   Shooting,   and   Fishing;    A    Sporting    Miscellany. 

Illustrated.     Crown  Svo,  cloth  extra,  7-r.  6d. 
Hymnal    Companion    to    Book     of    Common     Prayer.       See 

BlCKERSTETH. 

ILLUSTRATIONS    of    China    and    its    People.      By    J. 

•*      THOMSON,  F.R.G.S.     Four  Volumes,  imperial  4to,  each  3/.  3.5-. 

In  my  Indian  Garden.  By  PHIL.  ROBINSON.  With  a  Preface 
by  EDWIN  ARNOLD,  M.A.,  C.S.I.,  &c.  Crown  Svo,  limp  cloth,  3^.  6d. 

Irish  Bar.  Comprising  Anecdotes,  Bon-Mots,  and  Bio- 
graphical Sketches  of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  Ireland.  By  J.  RODERICK 
O'FLANAGAN,  Barrister-at-Law.  Crown  Svo,  12s.  Second  Edition. 

rfACQUEMART  (A.)  History  of  the   Ceramic  Art:    De- 

,/       scriptive  and  Analytical  Study  of  the  Potteries  of  all  Times  and  of 

all  Nations.      By  ALBERT  JACQUEMART.      200  Woodcuts  by  H. 


List  of  Publications. 


Catenacci  and  J.  Jacquemart.  12  Steel-plate  Engravings,  and  1000 
Marks  and  Monograms.  Translated  by  Mrs.  BURY  PALLISER.  In 

1  vol.,  super-royal  8vo,  of  about  700  pp.,  cloth  extra,  gilt  edges,  2&r. 

:'  This  is  one  of  those  few  gift-books  which,  while  they  can  certainly  lie  on  a  table 
and  look  beautiful,  can  also  be  read  through  with  real  pleasure  and  profit" Times. 

T£ENNEDY'S  (Capt.  W.  R.)  Sporting  Adventures  in  the 
•*•  v      Pacific.     With  Illustrations,  demy  8vo,  i8j. 

(Capt.  A.    W.   M.    Clark).      See  "To    the    Arctic 

Regions." 

Khedive's  Egypt  (The);  or,  The  old  House  of  Bondage  under 
New  Masters.  By  EDWIN  DE  LEON.  Illustrated.  Demy  8vo,  cloth 
extra,  Third  Edition,  i8j.  Cheap  Edition,  8s.  6d. 

Kingston  (IV.  H.  G.).     See  "Snow-Shoes." 

Child  of  the  Cavern. 

Two  Supercargoes. 

With  Axe  and  Rifle. 

Koldewey  (Capt.)  The  Second  North  German  Polar  Expedition 
in  the  Year  1869-70.  Edited  and  condensed  by  H.  W.  BATES. 
Numerous  Woodcuts,  Maps,  and  Chromo-lithographs.  Royal  8vo, 
cloth  extra,  I/.  i$s. 

T  ADY  Silver  dale's  Sweetheart.     6s.    See  BLACK. 

J  -> 

Land  of  Bolivar  (The)  ;  or,  War,  Peace,  and  Adventure  in  the. 
Republic  of  Venezuela.  By  JAMES  MUDIE  SPENCE,  F.R.G.S., 
F.Z.  S.  2  vols.,  demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  with  numerous  Woodcuts  and 
Maps,  3U.  6d.  Second  Edition. 

Landseer  Gallery  (The).  Containing  thirty-six  Autotype  Re- 
productions of  Engravings  from  the  most  important  early  works  of  Sir 
EDWIN  LANDSEER.  With  a  Memoir  of  the  Artist's  Life,  and 
Descriptions  of  the  Plates.  Imperial  410,  cloth,  gilt  edges,  2/.  2s. 

Le-Duc  ( V.)  How  to  build  a  House.  By  ViOLLET-LE-Duc, 
Author  of  "The  Dictionary  of  Architecture,"  &c.  Numerous  Illustra- 
tions, Plans,  &c.  Medium  8vo,  cloth,  gilt,  12s. 

Annals  of  a  Fortress.     Numerous   Illustrations   and 

Diagrams.    Demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  15^. 

The  Habitations  of  Man  in  all  Ages.  By  E. 

ViOLLET-LE-Duc.  Illustrated  by  103  Woodcuts.  Translated  by 
BENJAMIN  BUCKNALL,  Architect.  8vo,  cloth  extra,  i6j. 

Lectures  on  Architecture.  By  VIOLLET-LE-DUC.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  BENJAMIN  BUCKNALL,  Architect.  In 

2  vols.,  royal  8vo,  3/.  3^.     Also  in  Parts,  IGJ.  (xt.  each. 

Mont  Blanc:  a   Treatise  on   its   Geodesical  and  Geo- 

logical  Constitution — its  Transformations,  and  the  Old  and  Modern 
state  of  its  Glaciers.  By  EUGENE  VIOLLET-LE-DUC.  With  120 
Illustrations.  Translated  by  B.  BUCKNALL.  I  vol.,  demy  8vo,  14*. 


1  6  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  o-  Co.'s 


Le-Duc  (K)  On  Restoration;  with  a  Notice  of  his  Works  by 
CHARLES  WETHERED.  Crown  8vo,  with  a  Portrait  on  Steel  of 
VIOLLET-LE-DUC,  cloth  extra,  2s.  f>d. 

Lenten  Meditations.  In  Two  Series,  each  complete  in  itself. 
By  the  Rev.  CLAUDE  BOSANQUET,  Author  of  "Blossoms  from  the 
King's  Garden."  i6mo,  cloth,  First  Series,  is.  6d.  ;  Second  Series,  2s. 

Lentils.     See  "  Food  for  the  People." 

Liesegang  (Dr.  Paul  JS.)  A  Manual  of  the  Carbon  Process  of 
Photography.  Demy  8vo,  half-bound,  with  Illustrations,  4^. 

Life  and  Letters  of  the  Honourable  Charles  Sumner  (The}. 
2  vols.,  royal  8vo,  cloth.  The  Letters  give  full  description  of  London 
Society  —  Lawyers  —  Judges  —  Visits  to  Lords  Fitzwilliam,  Leicester, 
Wharncliffe,  Brougham  —  Association  with  Sydney  Smith,  Hallam, 
Macaulay,  Dean  Milman,  Rogers,  and  Talfourd  ;  also,  a  full  Journal 
which  Sumner  kept  in  Paris.  Second  Edition,  3&j. 

Lindsay  (W.  S.)  History  of  Merchant  Shipping  and  Ancient 
Commerce.  Over  150  Illustrations,  Maps  and  Charts.  In  4  vols., 
demy  8vo,  cloth  extra.  Vols.  I  and  2,  2is.  ;  vols.  3  and  4,  24^.  each. 

Lion  Jack  :  a  Story  of  Perilous  Adventures  amongst  Wild  Men 
and  Beasts.  Showing  how  Menageries  are  made.  By  P.  T.  BARNUM. 
With  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  price  6s. 

Little  King  ;  or,  the  Taming  of  a  Young  Russian  Count.  By 
S.  BLANDY.  Translated  from  the  French.  64  Illustrations.  Crown 
8vo,  cloth  extra,  gilt,  "js.  6d. 

Little  Mercy;  or,  For  Better  for  Worse.  By  MAUDE  JEANNE 
FRANC,  Author  of  "Marian,"  "Vermont  Vale,"  &c.,  &c.  Small 
post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  4^. 

Long  (Col  C.  Chaille)  Central  Africa.  Naked  Truths  of 
Naked  People  :  an  Account  of  Expeditions  to  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza 
and  the  Mabraka  Niam-Niam.  DemySvo,  numerous  Illustrations,  l8j. 

Lord  Collingwood  :    a   Biographical  Study.      By.  W.  DAVIS. 

With  Steel  Engraving  of  Lord  Collingwood.     Crown  8vo,  2s. 
Lost  Sir  Massingberd.     New  Edition,  i6mo,  boards,  coloured 

wrapper,  2s. 

Lew's  German  Series  — 

1.  The  Illustrated  German  Primer.    Being  the  easiest  introduction 

to  the  study  of  German  for  all  beginners,     is. 

2.  The  Children's  own  German  Book.     A  Selection  of  Amusing 

and  Instructive  Stories  in  Prose.  Edited  by  Dr.  A.  L.  MEISSNER, 
Professor  of  Modern  Languages  in  the  Queen's  University  in 
Ireland.  Small  post  8vo,  cloth,  is.  6d. 

3.  The   First    German  Header,    for   Children    from    Ten    to 

Fourteen.  Edited  by  Dr.  A.  L.  MEISSNER.  Small  post  8vo, 
cloth,  is.  6d. 

4.  The  Second  German  Header.     Edited  by  Dr.  A.  L.  MEISSNER, 

Small  post  8vo,  cloth,  is.  6d, 


List  of  Publications.  1 7 

Low's  German  Series,  continued: — 

Buchheini's  Deutsche  Prosa.      Two  Volumes^  sold  separately :  — 

5.  Schiller's  Prosa.     Containing  Selections  from  the  Prose  Works 

of  Schiller,  with  Notes  for  English  Students.  By  Dr.  BUCHHEIM, 
Professor  of  the  German  Language  and  Literature,  King's 
College,  London.  Small  post  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

6.  Goethe's  Prosa.     Containing  Selections  from  the  Prose  Works  of 

Goethe,  with  Notes  for  English  Students.  By  Dr.  BUCHHEIM. 
Small  post  8vo,  jr.  6d. 

Standard  Library  of  Travel  and  Adventure.     Crown  8vo. 
bound  uniformly  in  cloth  extra,  price  "]s.  6d. 

1.  The  Great  Lone  Land.     By  W.  F.  BUTLER,  C.B. 

2.  The  Wild  North  Land.     By  W.  F.  BUTLER,  C.B. 

3.  How  I  found  Livingstone.    By  H.  M.  STANLEY. 

4.  The  Threshold  of  the  Unknown  Reg-ion.     By  C.  R.  MARK- 

HAM.     (4th  Edition,  with  Additional  Chapters,  IGJ.  6V/.) 

5.  A  Whaling-  Cruise  to  Baffin's  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of  Boothia. 

By  A.  H.  MARKHAM. 

6.  Campaigning-  on  the  Oxus.     By  J.  A.  MACGAHAN. 

7.  Akim-foo:    the  History  of  a  Failure.      By  MAJOR  W.   F. 

BUTLER,  C.B. 

8.  Ocean  to  Ocean.    By  the  Rev.   GEORGE  M.   GRANT.     WTith 

Illustrations. 

9.  Cruise  of  the  Challenger.     By  W.  J.  J.  SPRY,  R.N. 
lo.   Schweinfurth's  Heart  of  Africa.     2  vols.,  15*. 

Low's  Standard  Novels.     Crown  8vo,  6s.  each,  cloth  extra. 

Three  Feathers.     By  WILLIAM  BLACK. 

A  Daughter  of  Heth.  I3th  Edition.  By  W.  BLACK.  With 
Frontispiece  by  F.  WALKER,  A.R.A. 

Kilmeny.     A  Novel.     By  W.  BLACK. 

In  Silk  Attire.     By  W.  BLACK. 

Lady  Silverdale's  Sweetheart.     By  W.  BLACK. 

Alice  Lorraine.     By  R.  D.  BLACKMORE. 

Lorna  Doone.     By  R.  D.  BLACKMORE.     8th  Edition. 

Cradock  Nowell.     By  R.  D.  BLACKMORE. 

Clara  Vaug-han.     By  R.  D.  BLACKMORE. 

Cripps  the  Carrier.     By  R.  D.  BLACKMORE. 

Innocent.     By  Mrs.  OLIPHANT.     Eight  Illustrations. 

Work.  A  Story  of  Experience.  By  LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT.  Illustra- 
tions. See  also  Rose  Library. 

A  French  Heiress  in  her  own  Chateau.  By  the  author  of  "  One 
Only,"  "  Constantia,"  &c.  Six  Illustrations. 

Ninety- Three.     By  VICTOR  HUGO.     Numerous  Illustrations. 

My  Wife  and  I.    By  Mis.  BEECHER  STOWE. 

Wreck  of  the  Grosvenor.     By  W.  CLARK  RUSSELL. 

Elinor  Dryden.     By  Mrs.  MACQUOID. 

Diane.     By  Mrs.  MACQUOID. 


1 8  Sampson  Low,  Mars t 'on,  6°  Co.'s 

Low's  Handbook  to  the  Chanties  of  London  for  1879.  Edited 
and  revised  to  July,  1879,  by  C.  MACKESON,  F.S.S.,  Editor  of 
"  A  Guide  to  the  Churches  of  London  and  its  Suburbs,"  &c.  is. 

J\/TACGAIfAJV  (f.  A.}  Campaigning  on  the  Oxus,  and  the 

•*  *•*•  Fall  of  Khiva.  With  Map  and  numerous  Illustrations,  4th  Edition, 
small  post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  7*.  6d. 

Under  the  Northern  Lights ;  or,  the  Cruise  of  the 

"  Pandora"  to  Peel's  Straits,  in  Search  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  Papers. 
With  Illustrations  by  Mr.  DE  WYLDE,  who  accompanied  the  Expedi- 
tion. Demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  i8.r. 

Macgregor  (John)  "Rob  Roy"  on  the  Baltic.  3rd  Edition 
small  post  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

A   Thousand  Miles  in  the  "Rob  Roy ''    Canoe,     i  ith 

Edition,  small  post  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

Description  of  the  "Rob  Roy"  Canoe,  with  Plans,  &c.,  15-. 

The    Voyage  Alone  in   the  Yawl  "Rob  Roy."      New 

Edition,  thoroughly  revised,  with  additions,  small  post  8vo,  5^. 
Mackenzie  (D).  The  Flooding  of  the  Sahara.     An  Account  of 

the  Project  for  opening  direct  communication  with  38,000,000  people. 

With  a  Description  of  North- West  Africa  and  Soudan.     By  DONALD 

MACKENZIE.     8vo,  cloth  extra,  with  Illustrations,  los.  6J. 
Macquoid  (Mrs.)  Elinor  Dry  den.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  6s. 

Diane.     Crown  8vo,  6s. 

Marked  Life  (A) ;  or,   The  A^^tobiography  of  a   Clairvoyante. 

By  " GIPSY."    Post  Svo,  Sj. 
Markham  (A.  H.)  The  Cruise  of  the  "  Rosario."     By  A.  H. 

MARKHAM,  R.N.     Svo,  cloth  extra,  with  Map  and  Illustrations. 

A    Whaling  Cruise  to  Baffin's  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of 

Boothia.     With  an  Account  of  the  Rescue  by  his  Ship,  of  the  Sur- 
vivors of  the  Crew  of  the  "Polaris;"  and  a  Description  of  Modern 
Whale  Fishing.     3rd  and  Cheaper  Edition,  crown  Svo,  2  Maps  and 
several  Illustrations,  cloth  extra,  7^.  6d. 

Markham  (C.  R.)  The  Threshold  of  the  Unknown  Region. 
Crown  Svo,  with  Four  Maps,  4th  Edition,  with  Additional  Chapters, 
giving  the  History  of  our  present  Expedition,  as  far  as  known,  and  an 
Account  of  the  Cruise  of  the  "Pandora."  Cloth  extra,  los.  6J. 

Maury  (Commander)  Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea,  and  its 
Meteorology.  Being  a  Reconstruction  and  Enlargement  of  his  former 
Work,  with  Charts  and  Diagrams.  New  Edition,  crown  Svo,  6s. 

Men  of  Mark  :  a  Gallery  of  Contemporary  Portraits  of  the  most 
Eminent  Men  of  the  Day  taken  from  Life,  especially  for  this  publica- 
tion, price  is.  6d.  monthly.  Vols.  I.,  II.,  and  III.  handsomely  bound, 
cloth,  gilt  edges,  2$s.  each. 

Mercy  PhilbricKs  Choice.     Small  post  Svo,  35;  6d. 

"The  story  is  of  a  high  character,  and  the  play  of  feeling  is  very  subtilely  and 
cleverly  wrought  out." — British  Quarterly  Revinv. 


List  of  Publications.  19 


Michael  Strogoff.     ios.  6d.     See  VERNE. 

Michie  (Sir  A.,  K.C.M.G.)  See  "Readings  in  Melbourne." 

Mitford  (Miss}.     See  "  Our  Village." 

Mohr  (E.}  To  the  Victoria  Falls  of  the  Zambesi.  By  EDWARD 
MOHR.  Translated  by  N.  D'ANVERS.  Numerous  Full-page  and  other 
Woodcut  Illustrations,  Four  Chromo-lithographs,  and  Map.  Demy  8vo, 
cloth  extra,  24^. 

Montaigne's  Essays.     See  "  Gentle  Life  Series." 

Mont  Blanc.     See  Ls-Duc. 

Moody  (Emma)  Echoes  of  the  Heart.  A  Collection  of  upwards 
of  200  Sacred  Poems.  i6mo,  cloth,  gilt  edges,  3^-.  6d. 

My  Brother  Jack ;  or,   The  Story  of  Whatdyecallem.     Written 
by  Himself.     From  the  French  of  ALPHONSE  DAUDET.    Illustrated 
by  P.  PHILIPPOTEAUX.     Square  imperial  i6mo,  cloth  extra,  7.?.  6d. 
"  He  would  answer  to  Hi  !  or  to  any  loud  cry, 
To  What-you-may-call-'em,  or  What  was  his  name  ; 
But  especially  Thingamy-jig." — Hunting  of  the  Snark. 

My  Rambles  in  the  New  World.     By  LUCIEN  BIART,  Author  of 

' '  The  Adventures  of  a  Young  Naturalist."    Crown  8vo,  cloth  extra. 

Numerous  full-page  Illustrations,  "js.  6cf. 
Mysterious  Island.    By  JULES  VERNE.    3  vols.,  imperial  i6mo. 

150  Illustrations,  cloth  gilt,  y.   6d.    each ;   elaborately  bound,  gilt 

edges,  JS.  6d.  each, 

ATAXES  (Sir  G.  S.,  K.C.B.)  Narrative  of  a  Voyage  to  the 

^  *  Polar  Sea  during  1875-76,  in  H.M.'s  Ships  "Alert"  and  "  Discovery." 
By  Captain  Sir  G.  S.  NARES,  R.  N. ,  K.  C.  B. ,  F.  R.S.  Published  by  per- 
mission of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty.  With  Notes  on 
the  Natural  History,  edited  by  H.  W.  FEILDEN,  F.G.S.,  C.M.Z.S., 
F.R.G.S.,  Naturalist  to  the  Expedition.  Two  Volumes,  demySvo,  with 
numerous  Woodcut  Illustrations,  Photographs,  &c.  4th  Edition,  il.  2s. 

New  Child's  Play  (A).  Sixteen  Drawings  by  E.  V.  B.  Beauti- 
fully printed  in  colours,  4to,  cloth  extra,  12s.  6d. 

New  Ireland.  By  A.  M.  SULLIVAN,  M.P.  for  Louth.  2  vols., 
demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  30^.  One  of  the  main  objects  which  the 
Author  has  had  in  view  in  writing  this  work  has  been  to  lay  before 
England  and  the  world  a  faithful  history  of  Ireland,  in  a  series  of  de- 
scriptive sketches  of  the  episodes  in  Ireland's  career  during  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century.  Cheaper  Edition,  I  vol. ,  crown  8vo,  8s.  6d. 

New  Testament.  The  Authorized  English  Version;  with 
various  readings  from  the  most  celebrated  Manuscripts.  Cloth  flexible, 
gilt  edges,  2s.  6d.  ;  cheaper  style,  2s.  ;  or  sewed,  is.  6d. 

Noble  Words  and  Noble  Deeds.    Translated  from  the  French  of 
E.  MULLER,  by  DORA  LEIGH.    Containing  many  Full-page  Illustra- 
tions by  PHILIPPOTEAUX.     Square  imperial  i6mo,  cloth  extra,  7*.  6d. 
"  This  is  a  book  which  will  delight  the  young.  .  .  .  We  cannot  imagine  a  nicer 
present  than  this  book  for  children." — Standard. 
"  Is  certain  to  become  a  favourite  with  young  people."—  Court  Jouinal. 


20  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  &>  Co.'s 

North  American  Review  (The).     Monthly,  price  zs.  6d. 

Notes  and  Sketches  of  an  Architect  taken  during  a  Journey  in  the 

North- West  of  Europe.     Translated  from  the  French  of  FELIX  NAR- 

JOUX.  214  Full-page  and  other  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  i6j. 

"His  book  is  vivacious  and  sometimes  brilliant.     It  is  admirably  printed  and 

illustrated." — British  Quarterly  Review. 

Notes  on  Fish  and  Fishing.  By  the  Rev.  J.  J.  MANLEY,  M.A. 
With  Illustrations,  crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  leatherette  binding,  IOT.  dd. 

"  We  commend  the  work." — Field. 

"  He  has  a  page  for  every  day  in  the  year,  or  nearly  so,  and  there  is  not  a  dull 
one  amongst  them. " — Notes  and  Queries. 

"  A  pleasant  and  attractive  volume."— G>vr/AzV. 

"  Brightly  and  pleasantly  written." — John  Bull. 

Novels.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  los.  6d.  per  vol. : — 

Mary  Anerley.   By  R.  D.  BLACKMORE,  Author  of  "  Lorna  Doone," 

&C.     3  vols.  [/«  the  press. 

An  Old  Story  of  My  Farming1  Days.   By  FRITZ  REUTER,  Author 

of  "  In  the  Year  '13."     3  vols. 
All  the  World's  a  Stagre.    By  M.  A.  M.  Horpus,  Author  of  "  Five 

Chimnney  Farm."     3  vols. 
Cressida.     By  M.  B.  THOMAS.    3  vols. 
Elizabeth  Eden.     3  vols. 
The  Martyr  of  Qlencree.     A  Story  of  the  Persecutions  in  Scotland 

in  the  Reign  of  Charles  the  Second.     By  R.  SOMERS.     3  vols. 
The   Cat    and    Battledore,    and    other    Stories,   translated    from 

Balzac.     3  vols. 
A  Woman  of  Mind.     3  vols. 
The  Cossacks.     By  COUNT  TOLSTOY.    Translated  from  the  Russian 

by  EUGENE  SCHUYLER,  Author  of  "  Turkistan."    2  vols. 
The  Hour  will  Come  :  a  Tale  of  an  Alpine  Cloister.     By  WILHEL- 

MINE  VON  HILLERN,  Author  of  "  The  Vulture  Maiden."  Trans- 
lated from  the  German  by  CLARA  BELL.     2  vols. 
A  Stroke  of  an  Afghan  Knife.    By  R.  A.  STERN  DALE,  F.  R.  G.  S., 

Author  of  "  Sconce."     3  vols. 
The  Braes  of  Yarrow.     By  C.  GIBBON.     3  vols. 
Auld  Langr  Syne.    By  the  Author  of  ' '  The  Wreck  of  the  Grosvenor. " 

2  vols. 

Written  on  their  Foreheads.     By  R.  H.  ELLIOT.     2  vols. 
On  the  Wolds.     By  the  Rev.   E.   GILLIAT,  Author  of  "Asylum 

Christi."    2  vols. 

In  a  Bash  Moment.    By  JESSIE  MCLAREN.     2  vols. 
Old  Charlton.     By  BADEN  PRITCHARD.     3  vols. 

"Mr.    Baden  Pritchard  has  produced  a  well-written   and  interesting  story." — 
Scotsman. 

Nursery  Playmates  (Prince  of  \  217  Coloured  pictures  for 
Children  by  eminent  Artists.  Folio,  in  coloured  boards,  6s. 

/~\CEAN  to  Ocean  :  Sandford  Flemings  Expedition  through 
U    Canada  in  1872.     By  the  Rev.  GEORGE  M.  GRANT.    With  Illustra- 
tions.   Revised  and  enlarged  Edition,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  "js.  6d. 


List  of  Publications.  2 1 


Old-Fashioned  Girl.     See  ALCOTT. 

Oleographs.     (Catalogues  and  price  lists  on  application.) 

Oliphant  (Mrs.)  Innocent.  A  Tale  of  Modern  Life.  By  Mrs. 
OLIPHANT,  Author  of  "The  Chronicles  of  Carlingford,"  &c.,  &c. 
With  Eight  Full-page  Illustrations,  small  post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  6s. 

On  Horseback  through  Asia  Minor.  By  Capt.  FRED  BURNABY, 
Royal  Horse  Guards,  Author  of  "A  Ride  to  Khiva."  2  vols., 
8vo,  with  three  Maps  and  Portrait  of  Author,  6th  Edition,  38^.  This 
work  describes  a  ride  of  over  2000  miles  through  the  heart  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  gives  an  account  of  five  months  with  Turks,  Circassians, 
Christians,  and  Devil- worshippers.  Cheaper  Edition,  crown  8vo,  ios.6d. 

On  Restoration.     See  LE-Duc. 

On  Trek  in  the  Transvaal ;  or,  Over  Berg  and  Veldt  in  South 
Africa.  By  H.  A.  ROCHE.  Crown  8vo,  cloth,  IQS.  6d.  4th  Edition. 

Orlebar  (Eleanor  E.)  See  "  Sancta  Christina,"  "  Food  for  the 
People." 

Our  Little  Ones  in  Heaven.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  H.  ROBBINS. 
With  Frontispiece  after  Sir  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS.  Fcap.,  cloth  extra, 
New  Edition — the  3rd,  with  Illustrations,  5*. 

Our  Village.  By  MARY  RUSSELL  MITFORD.  Illustrated  with 
Frontispiece  Steel  Engraving,  and  12  full-page  and  157  smaller  Cuts 
of  Figure  Subjects  and  Scenes,  from  Drawings  by  W.  H.  J.  BOOT  and 
C.  O.  MURRAY.  Chiefly  from  Sketches  made  by  these  Artists  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  "  Our  Village."  Crown  4to,  cloth  extra,  gilt  edges, 

2IS. 

Our  Woodland  Trees.  By  F.  G.  HEATH.  Large  post  8vo, 
cloth,  gilt  edges,  uniform  with  "Fern  World  "  and  "  Fern  Paradise," 
by  the  same  Author.  8  Coloured  Plates  and  20  Woodcuts,  I2s.  6et. 

Out  of  School  at  Eton.  Being  a  collection  of  Poetry  and  Prose 
Writings.  By  SOME  PRESENT  ETONIANS.  Foolscap  8vo,  cloth,  3*.  6d. 

DAINTEJRS  of  All  Schools.     By  Louis  VIARDOT,  and  other 

•*         Writers.     500  pp.,  super-royal  8vo,  20  Full-page  and    70  smaller 
Engravings,  cloth  extra,  2$s.     A  New  Edition  is  being  issued  in  Half- 
crown  parts,  with  fifty  additional  portraits,  cloth,  gilt  edges,  31*.  (*/. 
"A  handsome  volume,  full  of  information  and  sound  criticism." — Times. 

"Almost  an  encyclopaedia  of  painting It  may  be  recommended  as  a  handy 

and  elegant  guide  to  beginners  in  the  study  of  the  history  of  art. " — Saturday  Review. 

Palliser  (Mrs.}  A  History  of  Lace,  from  the  Earliest  Period. 
A  New  and  Revised  Edition,  with  additional  cuts  and  text,  upwards 
of  100  Illustrations  and  coloured  Designs.  I  vol.  8vo,  I/,  is. 

"  One  of  the  most  readable  books  of  the  season  ;  permanently  valuable,  always  in- 
teresting, often  amusing,  and  not  inferior  in  all  the  essentials  of  a  gift  book."—  Times. 

Historic  Devices,  Badges,  and  War  Cries.     8vo,  i/.  w. 


22  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  6°  Cols 

Palliser  (Mrs.)  The  China  Collector's  Pocket  Companion.  With 
upwards  of  1000  Illustrations  of  Marks  and  Monograms.  2nd  Edition, 
with  Additions.  Small  post  8vo,  limp  cloth,  $s. 

"  We  scarcely  need  add  that  a  more  trustworthy  and  convenient  handbook  does 
not  exist,  and  that  others  besides  ourselves  will  feel  grateful  to  Mrs.  Palliser  for  the 
care  and  skill  she  has  bestowed  upon  it." — Academy. 

Petites  Lemons  de  Conversation  et  de  Grammaire:  Oral  and 
Conversational  Method ;  being  Little  Lessons  introducing  the  most 
Useful  Topics  of  Daily  Conversation,  upon  an  entirely  new  principle, 
&c.  By  F.  JULIEN,  French  Master  at  King  Edward  the  Sixth's 
Grammar  School,  Birmingham.  Author  of  "The  Student's  French 
Examiner,"  which  see. 

Phillips  (L.)  Dictionary  of  Biographical  Reference.  Svo, 
i/.  us.  (>d. 

Phipson   (Dr.  T.    L.}   Familiar  Letters  on  some  Mysteries  of 

Nature  and  Discoveries  in  Science.     Crown  Svo,  cloth  extra,  Js.  £>d. 
Photography  (History  and  Handbook  of).     See  TISSANDIER. 

Picture  Gallery  of  British  Art  (The).  38  Permanent  Photo- 
graphs after  the  most  celebrated  English  Painters.  With  Descriptive 
Letterpress.  Vols.  i  to  5,  cloth  extra,  iSs.  each.  Vol.  6  for  1877, 
commencing  New  Series,  demy  folio,  3U.  6d.  Monthly  Parts,  is.  did. 

Pike  (N.)  Sub- Tropical  Rambles  in  the  Land  of  the  Aphanapteryx. 
In  i  vol.,  demy  Svo,  i8s.  Profusely  Illustrated  from  the  Author's 
own  Sketches.  Also  with  Maps  and  Meteorological  Charts. 

Placita  Anglo- Normannica.  The  Procedure  and  Constitution  of 
the  Anglo-Norman  Courts  (WILLIAM  I. — RICHARD  I.),  as  shown  by 
Contemporaneous  Records  ;  all  the  Reports  of  the  Litigation  of  the 
period,  as  recorded  in  the  Chronicles  and  Histories  of  the  time,  being 
gleaned  and  literally  transcribed.  With  Explanatory  Notes,  &c.  By 
M.  M.  BIGELOW.  Demy  Svo,  cloth,  2is. 

PlutarclCs  Lives.     An   Entirely   New    and    Library    Edition. 

Edited  by  A.  H.  CLOUGH,  Esq.     5  vols.,  Svo,  zl.  lor. ;  half-morocco, 

gilt  top,   3/.     Also  in  I  vol.,  royal  Svo,  800  pp.,   cloth  extra,   i8.r. : 

half-bound,  2ls. 
Morals.     Uniform  with  dough's  Edition  of  "  Lives  of 

Plutarch."    Edited  by  Professor  GOODWIN.     5  vols.,  Svo,  3/.  3.?. 
Poe  (E.  A.)  The  Works  of.     4  vols.,  zl.  zs. 

Poems  of  the  Inner  Life.  A  New  Edition,  Revised,  with  many 
additional  Poems,  inserted  by  permission  of  the  Authors.  Small  post 
Svo,  cloth,  5.!-. 

Poganuc  People:  their  Loves  and  Lives.  By  Mrs.  BEECHER 
STOWE.  Crown  Svo,  cloth,  los.  6d. 

Polar  Expeditions.  See  KOLDEWEY,  MARKHAM,  MACGAHAN 
and  NARES. 


List  of  Publications.  23 


Pottery :  how  it  is  Made,  its  Shape  and  Decoration.  Practical 
Instructions  for  Painting  on  Porcelain  and  all  kinds  of  Pottery  with 
verifiable  and  common  Oil  Colours.  With  a  full  Bibliography  of 
Standard  Works  upon  the  Ceramic  Art.  By  G.  WARD  NICHOLS. 
42  Illustrations,  crown  8vo,  red  edges,  6s. 

Practical  (A)  Handbook  to  the  Principal  Schools  of  England. 
By  C.  E.  PASCOE.  Showing  the  cost  of  living  at  the  Great  Schools, 
Scholarships,  &c.,  &c.  New  Edition  corrected  to  1879,  crown  8vo, 
cloth  extra,  3-r.  6d. 

"  This  is  an  exceedingly  useful  work,  and  one  that  was  much  wanted.'  — 
Examiner. 

Practical  Treatise  on  Electricity  and  Magnetism.     By  J.  E.  H. 

GORDON,  B.  A.     One  volume,  demy  8vo,  very  numerousjllustrations. 
Prejevalsky  (N.  M.)  From  Kulja,  across  the  Tian  Shan  to  Lob- 

nor.     Translated  by  E.  DELMAR  MORGAN,  F.R.G.S.     With  Notes 

and  Introduction   by   SIR  DOUGLAS   FORSYTH,  K. C.S.I.      I  vol., 

demy  8vo,  with  a  Map. 

Prince  Ritto  ;  or,  The  Four-leaved  Shamrock.  By  FANNY  W. 
CURREY.  With  10  Full-page  Fac-simile  Reproductions  of  Original 
Drawings  by  HELEN  O'HARA.  Demy  4to,  cloth  extra,  gilt,  icxr.  6d, 

Prisoner  of  War  in  Russia.     See  COOPE. 

Publishers'  Circular  (The},  and  General  Record  of  British  and 
Foreign  Literature.  Published  on  the  1st  and  I5th  of  every  Month. 

QUARTER  Sessions,  from  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Queen  Anne: 
Z^     Illustrations    of    Local   Government   and    History.      Drawn    from 

Original  Records  (chiefly  of  the  County  of  Devon).     By  A.  H.  A. 

HAMILTON.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  IQJ.  6d. 

~D ALSTON  (W.   R.   S.)    Early  Russian   History.      Four 
•*••     Lectures  delivered  at  Oxford  by  W.  R.  S.  RALSTON,  M.A.     Crown 

8vo,  cloth  extra,  5-r. 

Rambaud  (Alfred).  History  of  Russia,  from  its  Origin  to  the 
Year  1877.  With  Six  Maps.  Translated  by  Mrs.  L.  B.  LANG.  2 
vols.  demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  38^. 

Mr.  W.  R.  S.  Ralston,  in  the  Academy,  says,  "We  gladly  recognize  in  the 
present  volume  a  trustworthy  history  of  Russia. 

"We  will  venture  to  prophecy  that  it  will  become  the  work  on  the  subject  for 
readers  in  our  part  of  Europe.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Lang  has  done  her  work  remarkably 
well."—  A  thenceum. 

Readings  in  Melbourne ;  with  an  Essay  on  the  Resources  and 
Prospects  of  Victoria  for  the  Emigrant  and  Uneasy  Classes.  By  Sir 
ARCHIBALD  MICHIE,  Q.C.,  K.C.M.G.,  Agent-General  for  Victoria. 
With  Coloured  Map  of  Australia.  Crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  price  ^s.  (xt. 

"  Comprises  more  information  on  the  prospects  and  resources  of  Victoria  than  any 
other  work  with  which  we  are  acquainted." — Saturday  Review.^ 

"  A  work  which  is  in  every  respect  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  instructive 
that  has  ever  been  written  about  that  land  which  claims  to  be  the  premier  colony  of 
the  Australian  group." — The  Colonies  and  India. 


24  Sampson  LowrMarston,  &  Co.'s 

Recollections  of  Samuel  Breck,  the  American  Pepys.  With 
Passages  from  his  Note-Books  (1771 — 1862).  Crown  8vo,  cloth,  IOJ.  6d. 

Recollections  of  Writers.  By  CHARLES  and  MARY  COWDEN 
CLARKE.  Authors  of  "The  Concordance  to  Shakespeare/'  &c.  ; 
with  Letters  of  CHARLES  LAMB,  LEIGH  HUNT,  DOUGLAS  JERROLD, 
and  CHARLES  DICKENS  ;  and  a  Preface  by  MARY  COWDEN  CLARKE. 
Crown  8vo,  cloth,  icw.  6d. 

Reminiscences  of  the  War  in  New  Zealand.  By  THOMAS  W. 
GUDGEON,  Lieutenant  and  Quartermaster,  Colonial  Forces,  N.Z. 
With  Twelve  Portra:ts.  Crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  icxr.  6d. 

"The  interest  attaching  at  the  present  moment  to  all  Britannia's  'little  wars' 
should  render  more  than  ever  welcome  such  a  detailed  narrative  of  Maori  cam- 
paigns as  that  contained  in  Lieut.  Gudgeon's  '  Experiences  of  New  Zealand  War." ' 
— Graphic. 

Robinson  (Phil.}.     See  "  In  my  Indian  Garden." 
Rochefoucatiltfs  Reflections.     Bayard  Series,  2s.  6d. 

Rogers  (S.)  Pleasures  of  Memory.     See  "  Choice  Editions  of 

Choice  Books."    2s.  6d. 
Rohlfs  (Dr.  G.)  Adventures  in  Morocco,  and  Journeys  through  the 

Oases  of  Draa  and  Tafilet.     By  Dr.  G.  ROHLFS.     Demy  8vo,  Map, 

and  Portrait  of  the  Author,  12s. 

Rose  in  Bloom.     See  ALCOTT. 

Rose  Library  (The).  Popular  Literature  of  all  countries.  Each 
volume,  is.  ;  cloth,  2s.  6d.  Many  of  the  Volumes  are  Illustrated — 

1.  Sea-Gull  Bock.     By  JULES  SANDEAU.     Illustrated. 

2.  Little  "Women.    By  LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT. 

3.  Little  Women  "Wedded.     Forming  a  Sequel  to  "Little  Women." 

4.  The  House  on  "Wheels.     By  MADAME  DE  STOLZ.     Illustrated. 

5.  Little  Men.  By  LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT.   Dble.  vol.,  2s. ;  cloth,  y.  6rf. 

6.  The  Old-Fashioned  Girl.    By  LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT.     Double 

vol.,  2s.  ;  cloth,  3-r.  6d. 

7.  The  Mistress  of  the  Manse.     By  J.  G.  HOLLAND. 

8.  Timothy  Titcomb's  Letters  to  Young:  People,  Single  and 

Married. 

9.  Undine,  and  the  Two  Captains.     By  Baron  DE  LA  MOTTE 

FOUQUE.     A  New  Translation  by  F.  E.  BUNNETT.     Illustrated. 

10.  Draxy  Miller's  Dowry,  and  the   Elder's  Wife.     By  SAXE 

HOLM. 

11.  The  Four  Gold  Pieces.     By  Madame  GOURAUD.     Numerous 

Illustrations. 

12.  Work.     A  Story  of  Experience.     First  Portion.     By  LOUISA  M. 

ALCOTT. 

13.  Beginning:  Again.     Being  a   Continuation    of   "Work."      By 

LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT. 

14.  Picciola;     or,   the  Prison   Flower.       By   X.    B.    SAINTINE. 

Numerous  Graphic  Illustrations. 


List  of  Publications.  25 


The  Rose  Library,  continued : — 

15.  Robert's  Holidays.     Illustrated. 

16.  The  Two  Children  of  St.  Domingo.     Numerous  Illustrations. 

17.  Aunt  Jo's  Scrap  Bag:. 

1 8.  Stowe  (Mrs.  H.  B.)  The  Pearl  of  Orr's  Island. 

19.  —  The  Minister's  Wooing-. 

20.  Betty's  Bright  Idea. 

21.  The  Ghost  in  the  Mill. 

22.  Captain  Kidd's  Money. 

23.   "We  and  our  Neighbours.     Double  vol.,  2s. 

24.  My  Wife  and  I.    Double  vol.,  2s.  ;  cloth,  gilt,  $s.  6ct. 

25.  Hans  Brinker ;  or,  the  Silver  Skates. 

26.  Lowell's  My  Study  Window. 

27.  Holmes  (O.  W.)  The  Guardian  Angel. 

28.  Warner  (C.  D.)  My  Summer  in  a  Garden. 

29.  Hitherto.   By  the  Author  of  "  The  Gay worthys."    2  vols.,  is.  each. 

30.  Helen's  Babies.     By  their  Latest  Victim. 

31.  The  Barton  Experiment.    By  the  Author  of  "  Helen's  Babies." 

32.  Dred.     By  Mrs.   BEECHER  STOWE.     Double  vol.,   2s.      Cloth, 

gilt,  3J.  6d. 

33.  Warner  (C.  D.)  In  the  Wilderness. 

34.  Six  to  One.     A  Seaside  Story. 

Russell  (W.  H.,  LL.D.}  The  Tour  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  in 

India,  and  his  Visits  to  the  Courts  of  Greece,  Egypt,  Spain,  and 
Portugal.  By  W.  H.  RUSSELL,  LL.D.,  who  accompanied  the 
Prince  throughout  his  journey  ;  fully  Illustrated  by  SYDNEY  P.  HALL, 
M.A.,  the  Prince's  Private  Artist,  with  his  Royal  Highness's  special 
permission  to  use  the  Sketches  made  during  the  Tour.  Super-royal 
8vo,  cloth  extra,  gilt  edges,  5zr.  <od. ;  Large  Paper  Edition,  84*. 

5ANCTA    Christina:   a  Story  of  the  First   Century.     By 
ELEANOR  E.  ORLEBAR.    With  a  Preface  by  the  Bishop  of  Winchester. 
Small  post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  $s. 

Schweinfurth  (Dr.  G.)  Heart  of  Africa.     Which  see. 

Artes  Africans.  Illustrations  and  Description  of  Pro- 
ductions of  the  Natural  Arts  of  Central  African  Tribes.  With  26 
Lithographed  Plates,  imperial  410,  boards,  281. 

Scientific  Memoirs:  being  Experimental  Contributions  to  a 
Knowledge  of  Radiant  Energy.  By  JOHN  WILLIAM  DRAPER,  M.  D., 
LL.D.,  Author  of  "A  Treatise  on  Human  Physiology,"  &c.  With 
Steel  Portrait  of  the  Author.  Demy  8vo,  cloth,  473  pages,  14*. 

Scott  (Sir  G.  Gilbert.}     See  "  Autobiography." 

Sea-Gull  Rock.  By  JULES  SANDEAU,  of  the  French  Academy. 
Royal  i6mo,  with  79  Illustrations,  cloth  extra,  gilt  edges,  Js.  6d. 
Cheaper  Edition,  cloth  gilt,  2s.  fxi.  See  also  Rose  Library. 


26  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  6f  Co.'s 

Seonee :  Sporting  in  the  Satpura  Range  of  Central  India,  and  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Nerbudda.  By  R.  A.  STERNDALE,  F.R.G.S.  8vo, 
with  numerous  Illustrations,  2ls. 

Shakespeare  (The  Boudoir).  Edited  by  HENRY  CUNDELL. 
Carefully  bracketted  for  reading  aloud ;  freed  from  all  objectionable 
matter,  and  altogether  free  from  notes.  Price  2s.  6d.  each  volume, 
cloth  extra,  gilt  edges.  Contents  : — Vol  I.,  Cymbeline — Merchant  of 
Venice.  Each  play  separately,  paper  cover,  u.  Vol.  II.,  As  You 
Like  It — King  Lear — Much  Ado  about  Nothing.  Vol.  III.,  Romeo 
and  Juliet — Twelfth  Night — King  John.  The  latter  six  plays  sepa- 
rately, paper  cover,  <)d. 

Shakespeare  Key  ( The}.  Forming  a  Companion  to  "  The 
Complete  Concordance  to  Shakespeare."  By  CHARLES  and  MARY 
COWDEN  CLARKE.  Demy  8vo,  800  pp.,  2is. 

Shooting:  its  Appliances,  Practice,  and  Purpose.  By  JAMES 
DALZIEL  DOUGALL,  F.S.A.,  F.Z.A.  Author  of  "Scottish  Field 
Sports,"  &c.  Crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  lor.  dd. 

"The  book  is  admirable  in  every  way We  wish  it  every  success." — Globe. 

"A  very  complete  treatise Likely  to  take  high  rank  as  an  authority  on 

shooting." — Daily  News. 

Silent  Hour  ( The}.     See  "  Gentle  Life  Series." 
Silver  Pitchers.     See  ALCOTT. 
Simon  (Jules).    See  "  Government  of  M.  Thiers." 
Six  to  One.     A  Seaside  Story.     i6mo,  boards,  is. 

Sketches  from  an  Artist's  Portfolio.     By  SYDNEY  P.    HALL. 
About  60  Fac-similes  of  his  Sketches  during  Travels  in  various  parts  of 
Europe.     Folio,  cloth  extra,  3/.  3^. 
"A  portfolio  which  any  one  might  be  glad  to  call  their  own." — Times. 

Sleepy  Sketches  ;  or,  How  we  Live,  and  How  we  Do  Not  Live. 
From  Bombay.     I  vol.,  small  post  8vo,  cloth,  6s. 
"  Well-written  and  amusing  sketches  of  Indian  society." — Morning  Post. 

Smith  (G.)  Assyrian  Explorations  and  Discoveries.  By  the  late 
GEORGE  SMITH.  Illustrated  by  Photographs  and  Woodcuts.  Demy 
8vo,  6th  Edition,  i8j. 

The  Chaldean  Account  of  Genesis.  Containing  the 

Description  of  the  Creation,  the  Fall  of  Man,  the  Deluge,  the  Tower 
of  Babel,  the  Times  of  the  Patriarchs,  and  Nimrod ;  Babylonian 
Fables,  and  Legends  of  the  Gods ;  from  the  Cuneiform  Inscriptions. 
By  the  late  G.  SMITH,  of  the  Department  of  Oriental  Antiquities, 
British  Museum.  With  many  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo,  cloth  extra, 
5th  Edition,  i6j. 

Snow-Shoes  and  Canoes ;  or,  the  Adventures  of  a  Fur-Hunter 
in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Territory.  By  W.  H.  G.  KINGSTON.  2nd 
Edition.  With  numerous  Illustrations.  Square  crown  8vo,  cloth 
extra,  gilt,  "js.  6d. 


List  of  Publications,  2  7 


South  Australia:  its  History,  Resources,  and  Productions. 
Edited  by  W.  HARCUS,  J.P.,  with  66  full-page  Woodcut  Illustrations 
from  Photographs  taken  in  the  Colony,  and  2  Maps.  Demy  8vo,  zis. 

Spain.  Illustrated  by  GUSTAVE  DORE.  Text  by  the  BARON 
CH.  D'AVILLIER.  Containing  over  240  Wood  Engravings  by  DORE, 
half  of  them  being  Full-page  size.  Imperial  410,  elaborately  bound 
in  cloth,  extra  gilt  edges,  3/.  3^. 

Stanley  (H.  M.)  How  I  Found  Livingstone.  Crown  8vo,  cloth 
extra,  Js.  6ct.  ;  large  Paper  Edition,  los.  6d. 

"My   Kaliilu"   Prince,    King,   and  Slave.     A   Story 

from  Central  Africa.    Crown  8vo,  about  430  pp.,  with  numerous  graphic 
Illustrations,  after  Original  Designs  by  the  Author.     Cloth,  Js.  6d. 

Coornassie  and  Magdala.     A    Story   of  Two   British 

Campaigns  in  Africa.     Demy  8vo,  with  Maps  and  Illustrations,  i6s. 
—  Through  the  Dark  Continent,  which  see. 


St.  Nicholas  for  1879.     is.  monthly. 

Story  without  an  End.  From  the  German  of  Carove,  by  the  late 
Mrs.  SARAH  T.  AUSTIN.  Crown  4to,  with  15  Exquisite  Drawings 
by  E.  V.  B.,  printed  in  Colours  in  Fac-simile  of  the  original  Water 
Colours ;  and  numerous  other  Illustrations.  New  Edition,  7-r.  6d. 

square  4to,  with  Illustrations  by  HARVEY,     zs.  6d. 

Stowe  (Mrs.  Beecher)  Dred.  Cheap  Edition,  boards,  2s.  Cloth, 
gilt  edges,  3^.  6d. 

—  Footsteps  of  the  Master.     With    Illustrations   and  red 
borders.     Small  post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  dr. 

Geography,  with  60  Illustrations.     Square  cloth,  4^.  6d. 

Little   Foxes.     Cheap    Edition,   is. ;  Library  Edition, 

4?.  6d. 

Betty's  Bright  Idea.     is. 

My    Wife    and  I ;    or,   Harry  Hendersons  History. 

Small  post  8vo,  cloth  extra,  6s.* 

—  Minister's  Wooing,  $s.;  Copyright  Series,  is.  6d.;  cl.,  2,?.* 

Old  Town  Folk.     6s. :  Cheap  Edition,  2s.  6a. 

Old  Tcnvn  Fireside  Stories.     Cloth  extra,  3^.  6d. 

Our  Folks  at  Poganuc.     IQS.  6d. 

We  and  our  Neighbours,     i  vol.,  small  post  8vo,  6*. 

Sequel  to  "  My  Wife  and  I."* 
Pink  and  White  Tyranny.     Small  post  8vo,  3*.  6d. ; 

Cheap  Edition,  is.  6d.  and  2s. 

Queer  Little  People,     is. ;  cloth,  2s. 

Chimney  Corner,     is. ;  cloth,  is.  6d.  ... 

The  Pearl  of  Orr's  Island.     Crown  8vo,  5*.* 

*  See  also  Rose  Library. 


28  Sampson  Low,  Matston,  6°  Co.'s 

Stowe  (Mrs.  Beecher)  Little  Pussey  Willow.     Fcap.,  2.r. 

Woman  in  Sacred  History.  Illustrated  with  1 5  Chromo- 
lithographs and  about  200  pages  of  Letterpress.  Demy  410,  cloth 
extra,  gilt  edges,  25.?. 

Street  Life  in  London.  By  J.  THOMSON,  F.R.G.S.,  and  ADOLPHE 
SMITH.  One  volume,  4to,  containing  40  Permanent  Photographs  of 
Scenes  of  London  Street  Life,  with  Descriptive  Letterpress,  25^. 

Student's  French  Examiner.  By  F.  JULIEN,  Author  of  "  Petites 
Le9ons  de  Conversation  et  de  Grammaire."  Square  crown  8vo,  clofh 
extra,  2s. 

Studies  from  Nature.     24  Photographs,  with  Descriptive  Letter- 
press.    By  STEVEN  THOMPSON.     Imperial  4to,  35^. 
Sub-Tropical  Rambles.     See  PIKE  (N). 
Sullivan  (A.  M.,  M.P.~).     See  "  New  Ireland." 

Sulphuric  Acid  (A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of}. 
By  A.  G.  and  C.  G.  LOCK,  Consulting  Chemical  Engineers.  With 
77  Construction  Plates,  drawn  to  scale  measurements,  and  other 
Illustrations. 

Summer  Holiday  in  Scandinavia  (A).  By  E.  L.  L.  ARNOLD. 
Crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  IOJ.  dd. 

Sumner  (Hon.  Charles).     See  Life  and  Letters. 

Surgeon's  Handbook  on  the  Treatment  of  Woimded  in  War.  By 
Dr.  FRIEDRICH  ESMARCH,  Professor  of  Surgery  in  the  University  of 
Kiel,  and  Surgeon-General  to  the  Prussian  Army.  Translated  by 
H.  H.  GLUTTON,  B.A.  Cantab,  F.R.C.S.  Numerous  Coloured 
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List  of  Publications.  29 

Tennyson's  May  Queen.  Choicely  Illustrated  from  designs  by 
the  Hon.  Mrs.  BOYLE.  Crown  8vo  (See  Choice  Series),  2s.  6d. 

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Students.  By  the  late  CHARLES  EDWARD  HORSLEY.  Revised  for 
the  Press  by  WESTLEY  RICHARDS  and  W.  H.  CALCOTT.  Small  post 
8vo,  cloth  extra,  3^.  6d. 

Thebes,  and  its  Five  Greater  Temples.     See  ABNEY. 

Thirty  Short  Addresses  for  Family  Prayers  or  Cottage  Meetings. 
By  "FiDELis."  Author  of  "Simple  Preparation  for  the  Holy  Com- 
munion." Containing  Addresses  by  the  late  Canon  Kingsley,  Rev. 
G.  H.  Wilkinson,  and  Dr.  Vaughan.  Crown  8vo,  cloth  extra,  $s. 

Thomson  (J.)  Tfie  Straits  of  Malacca,  Indo- China,  and  China  ; 
or,  Ten  Years'  Travels,  Adventures,  and  Residence  Abroad.  By  J. 
THOMSON,  F.R.G.S.,  Author  of  "  Illustrations  of  China  and  its 
People."  Upwards  of  60  Woodcuts.  Demy  8vo,  cloth  extra,  2is. 

Through  Cyprus  with  the  Camera,  in  the  Autumn  of 

1878.  Sixty  large  and  very  fine  Permanent  Photographs,  illustrating 
the  Coast  and  Inland  Scenery  of  Cyprus,  and  the  Costumes  and  Types 
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pose. By  JOHN  THOMSON,  F.R.G.S.,  Author  of  "Illustrations  of 
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Thorne  (E.)  The  Queen  of  the  Colonies ;  or,  Queensland  as  I 

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