it is upon record, that even in the time of Henry the Second, "the booths that were in the church-yard being taken down, a number of tenements are erected in Long-lane (which must have been upon this very spot) for such as will give great rents *. In tracing the progrefs of architecture from the firft rude cottages of the ancient Britons, which, in point of conftruction, were very little fuperior to the dens of the Oran Outang, the convenience and falubrity of which fo delighted a late philofopher, or the wigwams of the American Indians, to the magnificent palaces of the prefent illuminated era, it very naturally trikes the fpeculative mind, that in the progrefs of architectural (I mean domestic architectural) improvement, may be traced the progrefs of moral refinement, the progrefs of the mental faculties, from the lowelt ftate of favage barbarity, to the very acme of enlightened and elegant civilization. The ancient Britons, as we learn from Diodorus Siculus, lived in houfes made of reeds; and it is generally allowed, that to the ftations and garri fons of the Roman foldiers the firft regular cities and towns in the Ifland owe their origin; but although from thefe, it is faid, they foon after became acquainted with a better ftyle of build. ing, this must be understood only to mean with refpect to public works, fuch as temples, aqueducts, caftles, walls, &c. on which their captives and criminals were employed, without we can believe that they had, fo early as the time of Augutus, commodious inns, manfions, and mutations, for the accommodation of travellers, changing of horses, &c. * Stow : Seymour, Vol. I. p. 747, &c. If it be fo; if the Romans, in the combination of religious folemnity with architectural elegance, and military grandeur with civic accommodation, tranfplanted alfo into this country a mode of constructing houfes which, although upon a lower scale, united fome fall portion of mechanical art with domeftic comfort and convenience; this method of building feems alfo to have totally receded wit them when they left the Inland; for it does not appear that their fucceffors, the Saxons, found many veftiges of former magnificence, or indeed of former utility, in comparifon to what might have been expected from fo polished a people, and those they did find were chiefly adapted for military purposes +. However, though they did not find palaces, or even comfortable houses, prepared for their reception, they were fo fortunate as not to know the use, and confcquently not to feel the want of, thefe conveniencies. Accustomed to live in camps, they found, like their neighbours the Poles t, every luxury that nature required in a rudely-conftructed tent, or in a cottage compofed of fods of earth and hurdles not nearly fo artificially framed as the habitations of the Beaver, and almoft as clofely adapted to their bodies as the shell of a Snail. During the times of the Saxons and Danes, it appears, that the architecture which the former introduced, and which has generally, though in many intances improperly, been termed Gothic,.was confined entirely to churches, caftles, and public buildings, while the houfes that sheltered the lower claffes of fociety were, even in cities, mife Agricola exhorted the Britons, in private, to erect temples, houfes, and places of public refort. After they had adopted the taffe of the Romans in their buildings, their attire, particularly the Togu, alfo became fashionable. As they had thus imitated the architecture and dreis, they proceeded, ftep by step, to copy the vices of their matters. They had magnificent palaces, baths, and exquifite banquettings. Thefe things, which their honeft fimplicity led them to believe were the mere effects of Latian civility, formed a part of their bondage. I have fomewhere read a paffage comparing the houfes of the Polanders (who, confidering the fhort duration and great charge of building, very wifely measured their ftructure by the fize of the bodies that were to inhabit them, and used to say, if they lafted their lives it was enough; let their children build for themselves) with the magnificent palaces of ancient Rome, from which, as from the following obfervation of Seneca, a useful moral may be deduced : "Romæ Olim Culmum liberos texiffe, poftea sub Marmore atque auro fervitutem habitafie.". rable rable cottages, the walls of which were compofed of mud,and the roofs thatched with reeds or ftraw; perhaps, for I think they could not be much worfe, like the cabins in Ireland, the Highland cots, or fome of the hovels which I have feen in Wales, or indeed, to come nearer home, the cells in Nottingham. fhire, where, an ancient Author obferves, the people are true Troglodites, fuch as inhabit the Mountains of the Moon in Ethiopia, who hew their houses out of the rocks *." Under the reigns of the Norman Kings, although the magnificent piles ftill remaining thew the flourishing ftate of Gothic architecture, there feems to have been little improvement in the conttruction of buildings for domestic purposes. I think it was fubfequent to this era that even a fecond story was added to common houfes, the afcent to which was by fteps on the outfide. Many dwellings of this defcription, of tone, though of a later date, are ftill to be feen in the northern parts of this Ifland. In the metropolis, at the early period to which I allude, they were almost entirely conftructed of wood and it is curious to obferve, that although we had immenfe quantities of native timber, the Normandy chefnut, probably under the influence of perfons attached to the Court, and upon the recommendation of Norman architects, came generally into ufe; of which fome of the beams and croflets of the roof and other parts of Weftminster Hall, the ancient timber work in the adjacent Abbey, and in other buildings of that period, are fufficient fpecimens. Many pieces of this wood I obferved when a part of the Exchequer Chambers were taken down in order to widen the communication betwixt the two Palace Yards, teemed, by time and expofure to the air, to have acquired almost the hardnefs of iron, while other pieces, that had been placed in clofe, and probably damp, fituations, were by worms fo curiously and intricately perforated, that, though less regular, they exhibited fomewhat of the appearance of a honeycomb t. However, thete fpecimens of ancient materials ferved to thew, that although the Norman architects had doubtlefs adopted then from motives of intereft, their itability had done credit to their choice. During the reigns of the Plantage. nets, the mode of contructing houles, ftory projecting over itory, fuch as we fee in the Plate which gave rife to this fpeculation, was adopted in England, probably the tile was imported from Paris, with the buildings of which the wars had made our ancestors familiar 1. This general mode continued, without any very great improvement made upon it, except in fome few initances by the introduction of bricks, through the long (eries of years that elapfed until the fire of London; for although feve ral proclamations of Elizabeth, James, and Charles the Firft, enjoined and commanded that the houfes in London fhould be built with tone and brick, and not with lath, plaifter, and wood, and that the regularity and evenness of the streets fhould be attended to, yet, fuch was the attachment of the builders to their old tile and materials, that foon after their promulgation they were generally neglested. So that, fays Howell, an author who wrote about the year 1650, "there is not, in London, the elegance of building as in other cities, nor are their freets fo ftrait and lightfome, by reason that the *The fame might have been faid of the tenants of the cavern houfes near Bridgenorth, and of the Redstone house on the bank of the Severn, a few miles below Bewd. ley; the latter of which, although in a fuperior file from the rock, containing a number of caverns, which are very artificially formed into chambers, is certainly constructed, with respect to rendering it habitable, upon the lame principle. This houfe, which is nearly covered with ivy or other clinging plants, forms, when viewed from the river, on the fore ground of a beautiful landfcape, one of the most picturefque objects that can be imagined. In confequence of this dilapidation, immenfe quantities of ancient tallies of the fame wood were found, perforated by worms, in the fame curicus manner. Jhn Duke of Bedford, Regent of France during the minority of Henry the Sixth, refided in the Palace of Tournelles, Paris, which was only feparated from the Bastille by St. Antoine-treet. This manfion he enlarged and embellished to that degree, that Charles the Seve th preferred it for his refidence to the Hotel of St. Paul, which was oppofite. In fome very ancient prints of the Bastille, a tolerably correct idea is given of the old buildings in this street. Z 2 houfes houfes paunch out, and their stories hang pends, this notice of a place which, as over each other." Of this ancient method of construct ing houfes paunching out, and ftories overhanging each other, the long range of thofe in Long lane is the most perfect fpecimen, if this term may be applied to imperfection, of any that I have feen, for although their fronts may, with refpect to rough cafting or cafe ing, have been more than once altered, it is certain the skeleton timbers, and confequently their original deformity, remains; therefore if an obferver takes his ftand at the firft of these, and confiders the whole feries, think he may form a tolerable idea of a ftreet or lane in the old city. In reflecting upon thefe buildings, and extending his view to a metropolis, the greater part compofed of these kind of fabricks, he will not wonder that fires thould have been frequent, and the devaftation occafioned by them enormous, or that pestilential difeafes should have been engendered, efpecially when we may fuppole that this fuburb was deemed airy in comparifon to what was termed the heart of the city, and certainly had a much freer circulation; but he will wonder in thefe days of general improvement, when fo much dilapidation has taken place, and changes, fuch as the fong, which I fear was intended as a fatire upon projectors, alludes to, are in con. templation, that fuch houfes fhould fo long have stood in fo prodigious a thoroughfare, and, for fuch a long term of years, have impeded the way to the greatest market in the kingdom. As I have, from report, understood, that over the roofs of thefe houses the angel or demon of dilapidation im an appendage to the priory of St. Bartholomew, has been of confiderable importance, may ferve to rescue from oblivion this part of the old city, and, like the defcription of a street recovered from the ruins of Pompeia, may, though of little importance for its elegance, vet as it is connected with common life, and glancing at the Plate to which I have referred, as it leads the mind to reflections on the manners of the times, become an object both of antiquarian and philofophic curiosity. POWIS HOUSE, POWIS WELLS, &c. The fite of Guilford-ftreet was formerly a foot-path, which, leading from the Earl of Rofslyn's houfe, Southampton row, by the back of Queenfquare, and the front of the Foundling Hofpital terminated in Gray's Innlane. Lamb's Conduit-place was erected on the ground occupied by a few ftraggling cottages, one of which, let it be remembered, as an inftance of for. mer frugality, or the cheapnefs of the times, was a Farthing Cheese Cake Houfe. Further on, and, as I think, nearly at the back of the garden of Powis Houfe, ftood Powis Wells. The manfion itself, which, being the most important object, I shall first observe upon, had its front in Great Ormondtreet, and was, within my memory, tenanted by the Earl of Northington and other Lord Chancellors Formerly it was, as its name implied, the refidence of the Earl of Powis. About the year 1734 it was occupied by the Conde Montejo, the Spanish Ambassador, with whofe Lady the Dutchess of Wharton f, who had been one of the Maids of Honour to the Queen of Spain, "We'll carry St. Paul's unto Westminster Hall, This Lady, with whom the Duke became violently in love, and whom he married in Spain, has been represented as a highly-accomplished and moft amiable woman. It has been faid, that for a confiderable time the expreffed the utmost reluctance to this match, but was at last induced to confent, from the hope of reforming him. The event fhewed, that estimable as her talents were, she had rated them too highly, when the fuppofed, that her mild virtues and elegant accomplishments would, for any length of time, influence a temper fo verfatile, and a heart fo depraved, as thofe of her husband. It has been flated, that the Conde Montejo, who paid more attention to political than d meftic arrangements, had fuffered very confiderably by a combination betwixt his fervants and trademen; the latter of whom probably thought, that while haraffing a Spaniard they were ferving their country, and the former, who were many of the English, that, as Chriftians, they were bound to take the franger in, Be Spain, came as a companion. It is fingular enough, that this magnificent houfe was erected at the expence of the King of France (Lewis the XIVth), upon the foundation of one belonging to the Powis family, which was deftroyed by fire in the reign of Queen Anne, during the time that the Duc d'Aumont, then French Amballador, was its inhabitant. It may be curious to recollect, that the front of this building was adorned with a cornice and pilasters of tone, upon walls of very excellent brick work. Over the porch, which was fupported by columns of the Corinthian order, was difplayed the fculptured figure of a Phoenix rifing from the flames, which, though not a very new, was certainly an appropriate emblem of the dreadful accident that had happened upon the fpot, and of the new mantion that had arifen from its ashes. The hall and principal stair-cafe of this magnificent building were painted by Amiconi, and I have been informed, that the ceilings of the grand fuite of apartments were alfo historically or em. blematically painted, in circles and compartments, which were furrounded, divided, and adorned, by fome exquifitely-finished groupes and feftoons of flowers, fuch as now decorate thofe of the British Mufeum, by Baptifte. At the back of the garden wall of this palace, as I obferved in the beginning of this fpeculation, was lowly fituated a houfe of entertainment. It was a little in the cottage stile, indeed confiderably more fo than many which, under that appellation, we fee advertized, which thould, from the florid defcription that follows, be rather termed palaces: it had a long narrow garden, the beds of which were bordered, and the walks curiously inlaid with oysterShells, and was, in days of yore, famous for a chalybeate fpring, which two boards, more than fix feet high, cut into the fhape of grenadiers, and moit furiously emblazoned, ftood to guard. This place, from the adjacent manfion and the falubrious fpring, was called Powis Wells, and, although in a declining state, was kept open till paft the middle of the last century. It was latterly not only frequented by conva lefcents, who ufed every morning to purfue the goddess of health, like a tenuis-ball, from one garden-wall to the other, but was, toward the decline of day, the refort of civic and suburbian family parties, probably many fuch as are defcribed in the third print of Hogarth's graphic Novel of the Four Times of the Day. We were then fo illiterate, fo unpolished, and indeed fo unfortunate, as not to have any Lactariums. We thould then have as foon expected to find a room wherein we might have digefted a fyllabus as fwallowed a fyllabub; but clofe to the gardenpales of the cottage I am celebrating, were cows, cakes, benches, milk.maids, and other rural cates and convenien cies, al fresco. This fmall manfion, it is probable, Be this as it may, thefe dilapidators of the revenue of the Conde the Dutchefs had the agacity to difcover, and the fpirit to fupprefs. After he had, with skill and accuracy, developed the combination and íchemes which had cauted fuch contufion in the domestic affairs of the family, the ordered advertisements to be published, directing thofe that had any pecuniary concerns with the establishment of the Ambaffador to apply to her at Powis Houle. The bills, atter undergoing a fevere fcrutiny, and fuffering a confiderable reduction, were paid; thofe English fervants who had exercited their ingenuity upon the finances of Spain were discharged; the accounts were, from this time, audited every week, and fettled once a month. In confequence of this arrangement, a scene of confusion and extravagance was reduced to a fyltem of regularity and order, and that enormous plunder and peculation which was no lefs a difgrace to the country than to its authors in future prevented, When we confider the talents of this Lady, who feemed exactly the woman formed to correct the vices of the Duke, and to have reftored him to that fituation in the public esteem which his abilities merited, how mult we lament that he did not meet with her before his health, character, and fortune, were fo decayed, blasted, and diffipated, that he did not even himteif teem to think it was worth while to truggle with his pallions, even for a short period, to preferve either, She might, perhaps, had the connexion taken place in carlier life the might- though indeed it is hard to conjecture what effect her genius and her prudence would, at any period, have had upon the mind of a man, who was acknowledged to be a great wit, and confequently, according to the Poet, nearly allied to infanity, would not have been mentioned, had it not prefented to the mind a curious fpeculation, namely, the change that has, within thefe fifty years, been effected in the appearance of its fituation, and its converfion, from being the fcene of mechanic rudenefs, and vulgar hilarity and diffipation, to that fyftem of magnificence, fobriety, order, and decorum, which must be fuppofed to exift, when the elegance of the houfes built upon its fite, and the affluence, and confequently politenefs, of the prefent race of their inhabitants are confidered. It certainly is not prudent in an Author to affront his readers; and I know of no offence against good manners that is confidered much more heinous than carrying their recollection too far back; yet still I hope I fhall be excufed if I prefume that a few of mine can remember, when they were very young, near this fpot, a field, denominated the Long, or rather, from having a pond at the furtheft extremity fomewhat in the shape of that toy, the Kite Field; or perhaps, if upon fo important a fubject one might venture an opinion, from the amutement therein derived from that ingenious play thing, which I conceive to be the medium betwixt the wings of the good Bishop Wilkins, or, if my claffic friends please, of Dedalus and Icarus, and a modern ballcon. Near this fpot was a famous wreft. ling-ground, which, like the area by the ancients termed Pulvis, had fometimes a boundary of line and pofts, wherein the athletic youth, in the manner of the Romans in the Pentathlum, ufed, in flannel dreffes, or naked from the wait upwards, to contend for the prize, either in running, leaping, wrestling, throwing the quoit, or boxing. In the pugilistical art there were many as celebrated as Epeus, who is faid to have been the beft bruifer in his time; and as he was alfo famous for being the conftructor of the wooden horfe, and for making ladders, it is fair to fuppofe that he was, like fome of those heroes, a carpenter. The exhibitions of this fpot, which I have endeavoured to refcue from oblivion, were occafionally varied by the Hibernian diverfion of hurling, from which many a fracture and dillocation has enfued. By the rural fport of prifon-bafe, the manly exercife of cricket, and fometimes by the humane amufements of throwing at cocks and hunting a mad bull, parties engaged in the purfuit of thefe paftimes frequently extended over the fields whereon Ruffel and Brunswick (quares, and other fuperb affemblages of palaces, are now erected or erecting. Thefe calebrations, which were fometimes of fuch importance as to attract the attention of the Magiftrate, it is certain also attracted a vaft influx of company to Powis Wells, from the windows of which, and a prospect place at the top, the diftant fports were unquestionably enjoyed by them while they partook the refreshments the hofpitable roof afforded. When, in confequence of the fe meetings, Powis Wells became firit dif reputable, and then, by reafon of the forfeiture of their licence, were abandoned, the house was dilapidated, after having continued fome time in a ruinous state. By the rife of new buildings, the people, bricked out from their former fcenes of feftivity, were forced to seek more diftant places of amufement, and numerous public gardens arofe. Thus as they changed their fituation, so they did their refreshments. Cakes and ale were metamorphofed into coffee, tea, and hot loaves; a change probably much for the better. Their sports, too, underwent as material an alteration: Boxing, wrestling, prison-base, and cricket, were, by our metropolitan youth, abandoned for the evening walk, and the agreeable fociety of the Ladies. Their manners were refined by female converfation, their hearts foftened by mufic, their minds attuned to rapture by the dulcet ftrains of voices Hebrew or Chriftian, their morals I fhall fay nothing; if any change has been effected in them, I ardently hope it is for the better, efpecially as, from the improvements fo rapidly proceeding, it is not to be expected that the pupils of pleasure will long have thefe Lyceums to refort to, but are likely to be again walled out of their philofophical retreats. When upon the fites of many of our tea-gardens, as has already been the cafe with Dobney's Bowling green and others. genteel houfes or magnificent palaces are erected, or their fhrubberies, walks, bafons, &c. are transferred into the areas of fuperb fquares, the plans of which are perhaps yet in petto, where the lower order of the fexes will meet to form thofe agreeable connexions of these and |