Part 2

It is ironical that where Gwynn is closest to Vitruvius in one respect he departs most radically from him in another. Vitruvius's attention is almost exclusively on the physical requirements of sites for maintaining men's health and comfort; Gwynn's is on the requirements for maintaining men's psychological well-being. His conceptions of decorum of situation begin with Vitruvius and the Renaissance demands that a site be healthy, that it permit efficient transportation, and that, if possible, it provide raw materials for building, rich lands for crops and pastures, and natural beauty conducive to ease and contemplation. Gwynn emphasizes this last point, building upon perceptions of nature nourished on Thomson's _Seasons_, and upon a psychology drawn largely from the Earl of Shaftesbury (pp. 19-22). In his earlier _Essay on Harmony_. _As it relates chiefly to Situation in Building_ he quotes Shaftesbury on the title page, acknowledges his debt to Thomson, and quotes long passages from _The Seasons_ to illustrate various rural "situations."[14] In _The Art of Architecture_ he follows Morris's example in writing his own verse in language imitative of Thomson's (except for one direct quotation, "From the _moist Meadow_; to the _brown-brow'd Hill_"). The verbal precision of his poetic epithets, and the analysis of perception which they imply, help to distinguish the sensory, aesthetic, and emotional effects of a wide variety of disparate experiences, and thus make possible the identification of those attributes that guide an architect in choosing a _mode_ appropriate to a site. The perfect fitting of a building to its site, as of the parts to a whole, will result in what Gwynn calls "Ideal Harmony," for it "ariseth from such Numbers, Parts, or Proportions, which may be resolved in the Mind, and ranged together in Order, by Contemplation."[15]

For Gwynn such harmony still has quite clear religious and moral implications, although he does not, like Morris, attribute to it a specifically religious function. Yet since the rules are supposedly based upon natural laws, violations of them betray a failure to appreciate divine harmony, the highest object of human contemplation. This accounts for the indignation Gwynn reveals in attacking mad architects and patrons at the end of the poem, even if it also reveals his obtuseness in failing to perceive the causes of his outrage. But, then, Gwynn was no Alexander Pope, either as a poet or as a thinker.[16]

The Ohio State University

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

1. Both James Boswell and Sir John Hawkins briefly discuss Johnson's relations with Gwynn in their biographies of Johnson. The fullest accounts of Gwynn's life and professional activities are those in the _DNB_ and in H. M. Colvin, _Biographical Dictionary of English Architects_, 1660-1830 (London, 1954), pp. 254-256. Both attribute the poem to him. I am much indebted throughout this introduction to Colvin for information on the architects mentioned in the poem.

2. For an estimate of the significance of Gwynn's perceptions see chapter nine of John Summerson's _Georgian London_, rev. ed. (Harmondsworth, 1962). His perceptiveness was recognized by the early nineteenth century. Gregg International published a facsimile reprint of _London and Westminster Improved_ in 1969.

3. A work which shows Gwynn's awareness of the differences between the casual and perhaps well-read dilettante and the dedicated professional is his essay _The Qualifications and Duty of a Surveyor_ (London, 1752). For discussions of the development of the architectural profession in eighteenth-century England, see Colvin, pp. 10-25, and, in spite of his excessively narrow definition of "profession," Barrington Kaye, _The Development of the Architectural Profession in Britain, A Sociological Study_ (London, 1960), pp. 39-67.

4. One indication of Gwynn's admiration for Robert Morris is the title page of _The Art of Architecture_. The elevation used as an ornament is not just modelled on a design by Morris; the plate used to print the elevation is the very plate, slightly reworked, which printed the design facing p. 209 in Morris's _Lectures_. Most of the original dimension lines have been obliterated, and the original pyramidal roof has been truncated.

5. _Epistle to Burlington_, II. 17-18; _Imitations of Horace_, II, i, 185-186; _The Dunciad in Four Books_, III, 327-328.

6. C. H. Collins and Muriel I. Baker, _The Life and Circumstances of James Brydges_, _First Duke of Chandos_ (Oxford, 1949), pp. 115-120, 146, 300, 387-389.

7. Colvin, p. 342.

8. _A Treatise of the Five Orders of Columns in Architecture_, trans. by John James (London, 1708).

9. Rudolf Wittkower, _Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism_, 3rd ed. (London, 1962), p. 142. For a summary of England's part in this "break-away" see pp. 150-153.

10. Parenthetical references to the _Ars Poetica_ are to the Loeb edition, trans., H. Rushton Fairclough (Cambridge, Mass., 1929).

11. Cf. Pope, "You show us, Rome was glorious, not profuse,/ And pompous buildings once were things of Use" (_Epistle to Burlington_, 11. 23-24).

12. See Sir Henry Wotton, "Elements of Architecture" (1624), in _Reliquiae Wottonianae_ (London, 1651), pp. 304-305.

13. Ibid., p. 201.

14. _Essay on Harmony_ (London, 1739), pp. 27-31.

15. Ibid., p. 9.

16. This work was supported, in part, by the Ohio State University Development Fund through its Faculty Summer Fellowship program, and by a grant from the Penrose Fund of the American Philosophical Society. I should like to express my gratitude for both of these grants.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

This facsimile of _The Art of Architecture_ (1742) is reproduced from a copy in the British Museum.

THE

Art of Architecture,

A POEM.

In Imitation of HORACE'S Art of POETRY.

Humbly Inscribed to the R^{t}. Hon^{ble} the Earl of ----

* * * * *

_Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes, Emollit mores, nec finit esse feros._

OVID.

_LONDON:_

Printed for R. DODSLEY, at TULLY's Head in _Pall-Mall_; and Sold by T. COOPER at the _Globe_ in _Pater-noster-Row_, 1742.

[Price, One Shilling.]

THE PREFACE.

_The great Freedom with which_ HORACE _has been used, I hope will be in some Measure an Excuse for the Liberty I take in this Essay._--_The Art of_ Cookery, _and_ Harlequin-Horace _are two glaring Instances, not to mention Numberless_ Translators, Commentators, &c. _upon his Works; in which some have so Remark'd and Revis'd, that they have explain'd the Sense of_ Horace _quite away_.--_I for my Part, either as a Poetical_ ARCHITECT, _or an Architectural_ POET, _profess myself to be only an humble_ IMITATOR _of him_: _I have seldom lost sight of the_ Original, _at least as far as the Subject will permit_.---_But_ ARCHITECTURE _is a barren Theme, and a Path so beaten, that to step out of it, though purely to avoid the Crowd, is looked upon as an unpardonable Singularity. How far I may have strayed in this_ Poetical Excursion, _I know not; but of this, I am certain I can with Truth say with_ HORACE,

----Si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus imperti; si non, his Utere Mecum.

THE

ART of ARCHITECTURE,

In Imitation of HORACE'S Art of POETRY.

Should you, my LORD, a wretched Picture view; Which some unskilful Copying-_Painter_ drew, Without Design, Intolerably bad, Would you not smile, and think the Man was mad? Just so a tasteless Structure; where each Part Is void of _Order_, _Symmetry_, or _Art_: Alike offends, when we the Mimick Place; Compare with _Beauty_, _Harmony_, or _Grace_.

PAINTERS, and ARCHITECTS are not confin'd By _Pedant-Rules_ to circumscribe the Mind: But give a Loose, their Genius to improve; And 'midst the pleasing Fields of _Science_ rove. But then the Laws of _Nature_; and of Sense, Forbid us with Contraries to dispense: To _paint_ a Snake, engend'ring with a Dove; Or _build_ a Prison 'midst a shady Grove.

At setting out, some promise mighty Things, _Temples_ they form, and _Palaces_ for Kings; With a few _Ornaments_ profusely drest, They shine through all the _Dulness_ of the rest. At some long _Vista's_ End, the Structure stands; The Spot a Summit, and a View commands: The wide-extended Plain appears below, And Streams, which through the verdant Meadows flow. Here _Towns_, and _Spires_, and _Hills_ o'er Hills extend; There _shady Groves_, and _Lawns_, the Prospect end. Through lavish _Ornaments_, the Fabrick shines With wild Festoons of Fruits, and clust'ring Vines: Luxuriant Decorations fill each Space, } And vast Incumbrances, void of _Rules_ or _Grace_; } Without Coherence, crowded in each Place. }

Should you require a little rising Pile, The Parts appropriate to the fertile Soil: Where _Neatness_, _Order_, and _Proportion_ join; Where _Strength_, and _Art_, and _Nature_ should combine: The mimick _Architect_ perhaps would be } As much to seek in his Design; as HE } Whose only Talent was, to paint a _Tree_. } With such gay Structures, why do they begin Such _Glare_ of Ornament to usher in? Why such external needless Dress and Show? The End impropriate, and the Meaning low. Form to each _Clime_, each _Place_, a _Modus_ still; But use the same Proportions at your Will. Change, modify your Form: Transpose, divide; The same unerring Rules the _Science_ guide.

Most ARCHITECTS in something do offend, When led by, aim'd-at-Excellence; to mend-- By striving to be plain, they sometimes fall, So _Mean_, so _Dull_, so _Tasteless_: they spoil all. Others affect _Magnificence_ alone; And rise in large enormous Heaps of Stone; Swell the huge _Dome_, and _Turrets_ bid to rise, And Towers on Towers; attract the Gazer's Eyes. Some dare not leave the old, the beaten Way, To search new Methods, or in Science stray: Others with wild Varieties engage, And build a Seat to face the _Ocean's_ Rage; Carve _Fruit_ and _Flowers_, to face the raging Floods, Festoons of Shells, or Fish, for shady Woods. Thus willful Erring, join'd with Want of Skill, Is the most certain Way of Erring still.

The meanest Workman, may attempt to place A little Dress to decorate a Space; May put an Ornament about a Door, Or decorate a Window, and no more: But then to _finish_, is beyond his Skill, And we suppose the rest, exceeding ill. And 'tis ridiculous for one good Part, Where what remains are Scandal to the Art; Where only one is luckily adorn'd, And all the rest remarkably deform'd.

Let _Architects_ attempt their Skill to show In _small_ Designs at first; in what they know. Then as they find their Genius rise, to try How much their Structures they can magnify. Shew how _Convenience_, _Beauty_, _Symmetry_, How _Method_, _Art_, and _Nature_ will agree. Rules well appropriate will ever please, And proper Dress, is plac'd with greatest Ease. First study _Nature_, where, and how to fill The various Voids, and ornament with Skill. Chuse the _just_ Emblems for the Pile and Spot; The Dress of _Temples_ suit not with a _Grot_. The _Palace_, and the _Villa_ differ wide, For both, a proper Ornament provide, Perhaps in _this_, you must Profuseness spare; When _that_; requires you to be lavish there.

If from the usual Taste your Building springs Magnificently great, a Seat for Kings, Let your exalted Fancy, tho' 'tis new, Keep the great Arts of _Greece_ and _Rome_ in View; From thence your Fabrick form, your Genius flow, Thence bid the _Ravish'd Gazer's_ Bosom glow. Can an impartial Critick justly blame A Fault in JONES, (or FL-T-FT, is the same;) And yet approve in HAWKSMOOR, or in J----s, The same wild Error, or the same Extremes? Why should the few, the Rules which I impart, Be construed ill, be Scandal to the Art? When GIBBS, so copious, so enrich'd has been, No Part's obscure, but all are useful seen.

Men always had, and ever will, Pretence, At least with Method, to improve our Sense: And the last Laws, however just or true, Must give the Palm to such which are more new. One Year, a Train of Images arise, The next a gayer, newer Form supplies. One Scene improv'd, must to another yield, And all resign to FATE, and quit the Field.

The fam'd St. HELLEN's, and the fam'd TORBAY, Where GEORGE's GLORIOUS FLEETS, in _Safety_ lay. The _Bank_, the _Meuse_, the _Treasury_ will fall, One common Ruin overwhelming all: Nay this great CITY may be lost in Flames, And what are _Villa_'s, may be desart _Plains_. The _Bleating Flocks_, on ruin'd _Fabricks_ stray, And what were _Temples_, now in _Ashes_ lay: The _Groves_ arise where _Gilded Turrets_ shone, And what are _Gardens_ now, were Heaps of _Stone_. Yet THOSE, and THEY, will in Oblivion lye, And all, in future Times, forgot, and die. Why then should _Artists_ challenge future Praise, When Time devours their Works so many Ways? But Use has rais'd the _Greek_ and _Roman_ Rules, And banish'd GOTHICK Practice from the Schools. Use is the Judge, the Law, the Rule of Things, Whence ARTS arose, and whence the SCIENCE springs.

At ATHENS first the rising Art began; CECROPS, the King, first modell'd out the Plan. The studious Youth; pursued with ardent Care The Infant Rules, unpolish'd as they were, Till banish'd DAEDALUS Protection sought, _There_ well receiv'd, the stricter Rules he taught; Their _Arts_, their _Sciences_, were learn'd in Schools, And all their _Precepts_ were confin'd to Rules.

The swelling _Tree_, as it unpolish'd grew Undecorated, _Native_ Graces shew; From thence the COLUMN, in its purer Dress, The Work of _Nature_, must the Form confess: The _wreath'd_, the _fluted_, or th' _encumb'ring_ Vine, With plenteous _Branches_ round the Pillar twine; Yet still its pure Simplicity you see; The Shaft of _Art_, resembles still a _Tree_.

But how to appropriate, to embellish still Justly, the Space to decorate and fill, To give proportion'd Beauty to each Part, To make the whole subservient to the Art: The Inborn-Traces of the Mind pursue, For Nature teaches how to find the Clue.

The _silent Groves_ a little Pile must grace; Nor yet too grave, or lavish for the Place. We find the middle Path, the Way to please, And decorate the Parts with greater Ease. But when the Opening to some distant Scene, Where _Lawns_, and _liv'ning Prospects_ intervene; Where _Vista's_ or delightful _Gardens_ charm; Where _verdant Beauties_ all our Senses warm: Let _Flow'rs_ and _Fruit_ in seeming Wildness grow; And there let lavish _Nature_ seem to flow. _There_ let the Parts, the Gazer's Eye surprize; And with the _Glebe_ the _Structure_ HARMONIZE. Where _Severn_, _Trent_, or _Thames's_ ouzy _Side_, Pours the smooth Current of their easy Tide: Each will require a Sameness to the Spot, For this a _Cell_, a _Cascade_, or a _Grott_. The _Moss_, or _gliding Streams_ productive Store, To grace the _Building_ on the _verdant Shore_: There the rough _Tuscan_, or the _Rustick_ fix, Or _Pebbles_, _Shells_, or calcin'd _Matter_ mix. The _frozen Isicle's_ resembled Form, Or _Sea-green Weed_, your GROTTO must adorn.

Near some _lone Wood_, the _gay Pavilion_ place; Let the CORINTHIAN MODE the Structure grace: Carve here _Festoons_ of lovely Flowers and Fruit: And with the Spot, let the _Enrichments_ suit. On some Ascent, the plainer Fabrick view; The Dress IONICK, and the SCULPTURES few. Few are the Ornaments, but plain and neat, The _least_ REDUNDANT are the _most_ COMPLEAT. GIBBS may be said, most Times in Dress to please, And few can decorate with greater Ease: But JONES more justly knew the Eye to charm, To please the Judgment, and the Fancy warm; To give a Greatness to the _opening Glade_, Or pleasing Softness to the _solemn Shade_; To suit the _Valley_, or the rising _Hill_, Or grace the _Flow'ry Mead_, or _Silver Rill_.

In _H--k--r; V--b--'s_ very Soul you trace, The same _unmeaning_ Dress, in every Place; The same _wild Heap_ of inconsistent Things: From whence the PRISON, or the Palace springs; A _Tuscan Portal_ for a _Palace Gate_, And a _Corinthian Column_ in a LAKE. For disproportion'd Columns _R--l--s_ see, Where neither _Art_, or _Rules_, or Form agree; Absurdly bad, and grown a publick Jest: By far too HIGH--too HEAVY all the rest.

Would you the Sister-Arts improve in Schools? In _Sculpture_ follow RYSBRACK's chosen Rules; In _Portrait_ seek for AMICONI's Force: _Humour_ in HOGARTH: WOOTEN for a _Horse_: In _Landscape_, LAMBERT; or in _Crayons_, see The Charms of _Colours_ flowing from GOUPEE. In _Eloquence_, you see young MURRAY shine; In _Musick_, HANDEL's Graces are divine.

If to adapt your Fabrick, you would choose To suit the _Builder_'s Genius, or his Use: Consider well his _Station_, _Birth_, or _Parts_, And make for each the _Quintessence_ of Arts. Here to the MUSE, a proper Part assign, To BACCHUS there, direct the _golden Vine_; To VENUS, fix a little _silent Cell_, Where all the LOVES and GRACES choose to dwell: Where the young _Wantons_, revel, sport, and play; And _frisk_ and _frolick_ tedious Time away. The PRISON's Entrance, _massy Chains_ declare, The loss of Freedom, to the Wretched there. Thus every Spot assumes a various Face; And _Decoration_ varies with the Place. The TUSCAN or the DORIAN Modus here; Th' IONICK, or CORINTHIAN Modus there.

The _Temples_, _Baths_, or solemn _sacred Urn_, Requires Attention, and our Skill in turn. The _weeping Statue_ to the HERO lend; True to his _Country_, _Family_, or _Friend_: So place the Figure, that as you draw near, You join his Grief, and drop a silent Tear. So _fine_, so _just_, the _Attitude_ is made, The faithful _Marble_ bids you mourn his Shade. If you advent'rous, try your utmost Skill To tread unbeaten Paths, be _Lofty_ still; Keep up the _Strength_, the _Dignity_, and _Force_ Of _stated Rules_; let those direct your Course. New Methods are not easy understood; And few will step in an untrodden Road. 'Tis better to pursue the Rule that's known, Than trust to an Invention of your own. But then, be sure your Choice direct you right; Vary, but keep the Original in sight: The Orders just proportion; strict observe, The Variation; various Uses serve. Perhaps the Waste, which every Pile endures, May make the Copy, justly pass for yours. You need not slavish Imitators be, Exact in Copy; but your Fancy free: THIS Ornament omit, or THERE express The changing Modus, by a different Dress.

_R----y_, in _Rustick_ heavy Buildings still, Attempts in vain to please, or shew his Skill; How far he strays from the pure _Roman_ Stile, And labours on in DULNESS all the while! With _M--s, F--ft, G---s, L--i, W--e_, Let ADMIRALTY, or CUSTOM-HOUSE compare. You'll see the wretched Structure's sinking State, Blam'd to Futurity, their certain Fate. He with a Glare of Gaiety extends The lengthen'd PILE, and still with DULNESS ends: But THOSE without your Expectation rise; And dazzle the Beholder with Surprize. Nothing is vain, or ill-expos'd to sight; No Part too _heavy_, nor no Dress too _light_. So certain are the Methods they have fix'd, So just proportion'd, and so aptly mix'd, That all seem Graceful, Uniform, and Neat; Each Part is _perfect_, and the _Whole_ compleat.

CRITICKS, attend the Rules which I impart; They are at least; _instructive_ to the Art: Mark how _Convenience_, _Strength_, and _Beauty_ join: With these let _Harmony of Parts_ combine. Appropriate well the _Structure_ to the Place; And give each Part a _Symmetry_ and _Grace_. Make RULES your Guide, your Fancy to controul; And make _each_ Part subservient to the Whole.

But choice of Place must be the BUILDER's Care, For various _Climates_, various _Modes_ prepare. To some a _pleasing Vale_; (the Poet's Song) Where _silver Streams_ in Eddies glide along; A little rising Hill, with Woods o'ergrown, And at the Foot, a verdant Carpet thrown: Where the soft _vernal Bloom_ beneath is spread; Where the tall _Poplar_ hangs its _drooping Head_. Where, on the Bank, the _Flowers_ and _Oziers_ green, Shade the smooth _Current_ as it runs between; The _fertile Meads_, enamell'd all around, And the _rich Glebe_ with _yellow Harvest_ crown'd.

Others in long-extended Views delight, Where _gilded_ Objects catch the Gazer's Sight. Where the _wide Plain_, or _lawny Prospect_ lye, In mingled Sweets, to chear the _ravish'd Eye_. Where the VALE, winding round the _rising Hill_; The LILLY drinks beneath; the latent RILL. The _Lawns_, the _silver Streams_, the _opening Glade_, The distant _solemn Grove's_ collected Shade: Charms of the _verdant_, or the _flow'ry_ Plain; The rising _Mountain_, or the distant _Main_.---- Where _rugged Rocks_, in wild Disorder rise; Where _unprolifick Nature_, naked lies; Where the vast _craggy Summit_ seems to shew, A _falling Precipice_ to those below: Expos'd to scorching Heats, or piercing Wind, May more delight another's changing Mind; Or the rude _Billows_ of tempestuous Seas, Another's Eye, perhaps, may chance to please: View on the Summit of a foaming Wave, The unhappy _Sailor_ try's himself to save; The floating Wreck, the Vessel's shatter'd Side, Dash'd on the Shore, by the resistless Tide: The foaming _Surge_ the Shore repells again; And beats alternate, back upon the Main: View the abandon'd, helpless Wretch's State; Sinking, bemoans his LAST unhappy Fate.

All these the ARCHITECT must study well; From the proud _Palace_ to the humble _Cell_. The barren _Mountain_, and the rural _Shade_; The mingled gay Profusion, Nature made, To fit and tally, Art requires his Skill, } From the _moist Meadow_; to the _brown-brow'd Hill_, } The silent _shady Grove_, or _silver Rill_. } To give a Grandeur to the _Opening Lawn_; And pleasing Softness, to the _solemn Dawn_; To join the _vivid_, with the _vernal_ Bloom; Where scarce a Sun Beam wanders thro' the Gloom. This is the Art's Perfection well to know; To charm the Sense, and bid the Bosom glow: Teach us to imitate the ANCIENTS well; And where the _Moderns_ we should still _excell_.

Make the _Pavilion_ proper for the Spot, Or the _gay Temple_, or the _graver Grot_. Adorn your _Villa_ with the nicest Art, And let your Dress, be just in every Part; Appropriate well, the Ornaments you choose; But not alone for Gaiety; but Use.

In a warm Climate where the _Tyber_ flows; Where in the Soil, the obdurate _Marble_ grows, There on the Spot, make choice of what you will, But HERE to use it, would be want of Skill: And 'tis an equal Fault of those alone; Who vainly imitate a _Portland-Stone_, The dryer Climates, cherish _Stucco_ there, But Rains, and colder Snows, destroy it here. Avoid, as much as in you lyes, to place, _Festoons_, or looser Ornament for Grace: Few let the _Carvings_ be; for outside Dress: A Boldness rather should your Thoughts express, Redundancy, and Neatness will be lost: And but to finish HIGH; is needless Cost. But then, regard to Distance must be had: If near the Eye, the Fault would be as bad.