A1

May 20th, 1836.

BOVE all these surprising attractions is the splendid Palace built by the present King George the Fourth, which grand tribute of a Nation's gratitude to this patron of the Arts, the peaceful glories of whose reign it will for ever commemorate, was you know the principal object in my visit to England; you will, therefore, not be surprised that I make it the subject of my daily study, and I may add, my nightly admiration; for the effect of its numerous lofty spires and turrets, when relieved by the evening sky, is really surprising, an idea of which is not unaptly given in these

lines:

"Twixt poplars straight, the ozier ward

In many a freakish knot had twin'd;` Then fram'd a spell when the work was done, And chang'd the willow wreaths to stone."

You remember upon our first seeing England in 1820 our astonishment at the King of the most wealthy nation in the world dwelling in a small palace, with apparently no more state than one of his nobles, no galleries of antiquities, sculpture, or painting, no extensive library of books, or collection of works of art, nothing, in short, that announced the residence of the chief of a mighty Nation. Living in privacy, his gardens secluded from public view, being small and unornamented, his house surrounded by those of merchants, from which it was only distinguished by a centinel or two on guard. The Chapel Royal, a mere room, where the world had no opportunity of seeing the devotion of their head; and had not his noble donations to the numerous charitable institutions reminded the people that they had a Sovereign, he would else have been al most forgotten.

This disgraceful littleness of the Metropolitan Palaces, and the necessity for a palais des beaux arts in London, whose treasures should be open to the public in general, had long been a subject of conversation among enlightened

men; to the want of such a depôt of gems of art may be attributed the cause of England's having produced so few artists of celebrity. am aware that other causes have been assigned, but none I think so prominent as this; for if " Nature does not give knowledge

to men," and it would be unfair to dispensing genius to this people than suppose she had been more sparing in to us, we consider their neglect of the fine Arts solely to the want of seeing of all classes in France and Italy. what is constantly offered to the eyes Yes, no doubt numbers of Englishmen might have added lustre to their nius been kindled in early life by the Country, had the sacred spark of gecontemplation of the works of a Callicrates, a Phidias, or a Titian; who, deprived of the advantages possessed by other nations, have been lost to the world, and their talents hid in the shop or the counting-house. While, on the other hand, a boy designed not by Nature, but by his friends, to study architecture, painting, or sculpture,. will by his painful attempts, even after obtaining a knowledge of these luminating the taste of his age, and subjects, tend to debase instead of il announce to the world his total incapacity, be it by daubing a canvas, producing a statue sans grace, or disfiguring a city or a landscape by edifices, which alike set at naught every rule of taste and of science.

To remedy these evils, to give to the Sovereign a residence suitable to his dignity, the Arts a permanent asylum, encouragement to native talent, and to preserve the beauties of a neglected mode of building, were some of the reasons for commencing this grand national monument, to the gardens around which entrance is given on the one side by the Arch of Army Triumphs, and on the other the Arch of Naval Victories. The former, a large piece of Roman Architecture, is placed at the top of the fine street called Piccadilly; beneath the arches of this grand pile the magnificent palace, and its superb gardens, burst upon the eye in one grand extensive view. Never was situation more happily chosen,placed upon the elevated spot, formerly known as Hyde Park, insulated on all sides like the island of which it is the head, the unrivalled beauties of this place may be contemplated from every point, and from all presents fresh

This they divide into four orders, and so accurate are they in fixing the period at which each of those orders prevailed, that by following their rules it becomes easy, almost at first sight of a building, to ascertain in what age parts or the whole of it were erected, and for a modern Architect to blunder by jumbling any of these different styles together, would be as unpardonable an offence against taste, as if he were to raise arches upon Grecian columns.

That they have some grounds for this claim I allow, nor do I think it likely any one will dispute it with them, as it is a style of architecture generally despised with us, and you know our popular traditions universally ascribe the erection of our ancient superb Cathedrals to the English, which is indeed not far from the truth; for a coincidence has just struck me, that it is certain after this people were expelled from France by Charles the Seventh, the science of building remained in the state in which they left it, till the grand alteration brought about by the taste of Francis the First; that is to say, our people continued building in the same mode which prevailed when the English left us, and did not introduce the alteration from the decorated to the perpendicular style, which had for some time been obtaining in England, in proof of which we have not any edifice at all semblable to King's College Chapel, Cambridge, St. George's at Windsor, or Henry the Seventh's at Westminster. It was a subject of much discussion whether the gardens should be laid out in the French or English manner, one party contending for the greater magnificence of the former, while the

diameter, elevated upon steps to the height of six feet; the sides of the basin are four feet high, ornamented with mouldings and a band of squares, containing quatrefoils and shields. Front the middle of the basin arises a white marble short shaft of the same form, moulded and pannelled to the height of ten feet; it then diminishes pyramidally a short height, and branches out into ribs supporting a beautiful tabernacle of the same material. From the bosses of the ribs spring buttresses which divide it into six niches, covered with highly ornamented triangular canopied arches; in each niche stands upon a pedestal the figure of an angel, of the size of life, holding a trumpet, from which the water flows into the basin below. Above, amidst the finials of the buttresses and canopies of the arches, is placed a small open temple of twelve arches profusely sculptured, and finishing with a crown. In the midst of this little shrine the water is seen gushing up and descending to supply the trumpets. The total height of this beautiful fountain is 45 feet.

As every thing appertaining to Grecian fables, which have usually furnished out subjects for magnificent compo sitions, was of course here inadmissible, the artist was compelled to resort to other sources, which have fortunately yielded those admirable designs so decidedly distinguishing this place. from all others, and forming its most pleasing features. Such is the "Foun tain of the Cross," which, surrounded on all sides by tall trees, offers beneath its light arcade the most delicious and soothing retreat, were not its tranquil lity disturbed by the numbers who are generally assembled around; it is formed

of an open piazza of slender shafts supporting pointed arches, similar to the cloister of a monastery, and provided with marble benches. This surrounds a square basin, 20 feet in diameter, into which is a descent of one or two steps; in the midst is an octangular basin ornamented with sculpture, covered with a temple formed of clustered columns and canopied arches, crowned with a crocketed pinnacle, finishing with a cross; the water is seen gently bubbling up, and overflowing the upper basin into the larger receptacle below. These two very much pleased me; there are, however, several others of varied designs and more noisy character. The fountain of Mermaids, surrounded by dolphins, who send forth spouts of water to a great height into the air; the fountain of the Lions in the grand court, a copy of a fountain in the monastery of Kloster, Newbury, &c. &c. The water of these fountains unites in one large pipe, and is conducted to a deep glen, one side of which is formed by an artificial rock overhung with lofty trees; a fine marble figure of Moses, attended by his brother, is seen striking the rock, and the water gushing from the miraculous aperture with impetuosity, which, after winding in a gentle rivulet at the bottom of the little valley, steals away from the gardens. In pic turesque effect this is perhaps superior to any; the expressive countenance and dignified attitude of the principal figure, with the delicate whiteness of both, so finely contrasts with the ruggedness of the scene around, and gives to the whole an appearance almost supernatural.

Besides these embellishments are two or three elegant little temples inscribed with the names of British poets, heroes, and statesmen; several curious obelisks and monuments of antiquity, which have been procured by the numerous travellers continually going and returning from among this restless people. The fine lake usually known as the Serpentine river, and on the Northern side the wilderness, wherein are the deer and several rare animals from America and the South Sea Isles, who, beneath the arches of some picturesque ruins, find a secure and well-sheltered asylum. A very broad handsome street, planted with trees, in the same manner as our GENT. MAG. September, 1826.

Mr. URBAN,

THE

Sept. 5. HE derivation of Mary-le-bone*, as given in Supplement, p. 597, settles the controversy which has for a long time since been agitated relative to the real name of that extensive parish, although some modern examiners have ascribed it to an epithet very appropriate to the Virgin Mary, and spelt it accordingly, "la-bonne.' The old spelling "le-bone" has assuredly been very inaccurate, as not applicable to a female but now your Correspondent gives it a derivation from bourne or brook, which was partly the boundary of that parish. Holborn also derives its name in a period equally ancient, from a small brook which ran from the end of Gray's Inn Lane at the Bars down the descent to the River Fleet at Holborn Bridge; and which was not long since traced by opening the sewers. The changes of names of places and estates is attended with great expence in verifying their titles, where they have passed through several gradations of corruption, so as to identify the property to be the same as that for which it is pretended.

I recollect an instance of this some years ago, when the word Garden, which had been the customary description, was attempted to be exchanged for Street; but it was upon very serious attention to the danger, as well as expence at any future period in proving its identity, when the fact of any garden might be entirely lost by time, judged most prudent to restore its ancient name, which it still retains.

Mr. URBAN,

A. H.

Exeter, Aug. 8. FTER having acknowledged that A my remarks respecting an error Dr. Lempriere's Classical Diction

in

* The derivation of this place has before exercised the ingenuity of our Correspondents; see vol. LXXIX. p. 315; LXXX. i. 102, 198.

ary, were well founded, your Correspondent "C. W." (last volume, p. 482), has a right to "beg the question," and to require a solution of the palpable contradiction between the accounts given of the capture of Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, the priest of Apollo; who is generally supposed to have been taken, together with her cousin Briseis, at Lyrnessus; but whom Professor Damm asserts to have been taken in the city of Chrysa.

Your Correspondent knows this to be a matter of some difficulty, and he will therefore make due allowance for any deficiency in my attempt at an elucidation; more especially, as the task has been imposed on me by himself, instead of my having volunteered in this arduous undertaking,

Chryseis, although the daughter of Chryses, Priest of Apollo, and born at Chrysa; yet being the wife of Ection, King of Lyrnessus; was, in all probability, in that city when sacked by the Grecians. Briseis, the daughter of Brises (brother to Chryses) and a native of Lyrnessus, was of course residing there with her husband Mines. It may therefore be (I think) justly inferred that the two first-cousins, Chryseis and Briseis, were together taken captives at Lyrnessus.

According to Homer, Chryseis was restored to her father Chryses, at Chry

sa;

and from this circumstance, and that of her having been born in Chrysa, the supposition of Professor Damm has probably arisen. Homer gives us no further intelligence than that "" Chry seis was restored to her father at Chrysa."

Mr. URBAN,

E. T. PILGRIM.

is not a conjunction, but most strictly. an adverb, and it is under this construction I shall attempt to show that its use in the instances cited is not only not pleonastic, but strictly correct, and its meaning as distinct and forcible. In my proof of this position, I will first have recourse to analogy, and I thus beg leave with LELIUS (yet with more confidence) to direct the attention of your readers to the prototype in the Latin language of this particle but, its prototype I mean as an adverb, the word quin; and here I must first advert to the etymology of that word, of which many of your readers are probably not aware; it springs then from the union of the negative particle ne with the neuter ablative of the pronoun qui or quis, i. e. qui, thus forming together qui ne, and signifying why not, wherefore, &c. When these words preceded another beginning with, a vowel, we may well presume the elision, with an apostrophe of the final e, and by the gradual coalition of the remaining consonant n with the preceding word qui, and the omission of the distinctive mark of the ablative case, we have thus clearly and decidedly the word quin. Its progressive formation will thus be quine, quin', quin. I must again, however, Sir, remind your readers that this critical etymology only applies to the adverb quin.

Having thus traced its origin, I will now proceed to descant on the correspondent analogy and use of the adverbs but and quin. I do not deny that the word but may be otherwise used adverbially, yet it is my intention to limit this letter to its application especially on two occasions only. Your readers will then, Sir, on reflection and research, find that the Latin adverb quin and its correspondent English adverb but, are peculiarly added to verbs expressive of doubt. Of this use LELIUS himself has cited an authority from Terence, and we may repeatedly observe it in Cæsar. Let us turn our attention to the latter author, and cite one or two instances. In the speech of Divitiacus, the Eduan, to Cæsar, we have this passage:- Hæc, si enunciata Ariovisto sint, non dubitare, quin de omnibus obsidibus, qui apud eum sint gravissimum supplicium sumat." Here we may well presume that the conjunction ut is understood; the meaning of the sentence will then

r

be thus: "If these things should be told to Ariovistus, he had no reason to doubt that he would heavily revenge himself on all the hostages which were in his hands.' If we thus supply the conjunction ut, the adverb quin then becomes strongly intensive; we may thus conclude that Ariovistus meant not simply that he did not doubt, but that he had the fullest reason to believe. Again, in the 2d book, 2d sect. of the Commentaries on the Gallic War (edit. not. var.) we have this passage, "Tum vero dubitandum non existimavit, quin ad eos duodecimo die proficisceretur." Here also in strict propriety we should supply the conjunction ut, and the meaning of the sentence will be, "Then he thought there was no doubt whatsoever, that he should march against them within twelve days." You will permit me also here to remark, Mr. Urban, that an error in punctuation of the early typographers hath tended to perpetuate the misapprehension of the use of this particle. The word quin in the above and similar instances truly pertains to the first portion of the sentence, and the comma ever ought to follow, and not to precede that word, when thus used adverbially with the conjunction ut understood; we shall then read the last cited quotation thus: "Tum vero dubitandum non existimavit quin, (ut) ad eos duodecimo die proficisceretur." I should much doubt whether the word quin as a conjunction in the Latin language was not of posterior introduction; and for this supposition the following arguments may, I think, be reasonably relied on; first, its clear etymological origin as an adverb; and, secondly, that although thus qui ne exactly corresponds with the Greek expression of 1 μn, yet the latter language has, I believe, no single word analogous to that of quin, taken as a conjunction.

LELIUS, at the close of his Letter, refers to our great lexicographer Johnson, and considers him to have sanctioned the common and (as LÆLIUS supposes) the erroneous use of the particle but; yet it appears evidently that Johnson never turned his peculiar attention to the use of this particle distinctly as an adverb, and as a conjunction, he thus confuses its meanings, and embraces them all as under the latter part of speech, since in his twelfth definition of the word as a conjunction,

he says, It is used after no doubt, no question, and such words, and signifies the same with that. It sometimes is joined with that." I cannot, however, with deference agree with him either as to its being synonimous with that, or a mere expletive, when joined with it. I think that the meaning of the two particles, whether expressed or understood, after verbs of doubt, are most fully distinct, that in such instances when either one is expressed, the other is understood, and that whenever the words but that are thus unitedly presented, an additional and yet more intensive force is given to energy of language.

I have thus, Mr. Urban, discussed a subject which may be barren of all interest to many of your readers; my inferences may possibly be obviated by others, and my conclusions perhaps be satisfactory but to the few such as they are, I submit then to general judgment; I launch them exposed as they are to rocks and quicksands, without any peculiar anxiety as to their fate, however ardent may be my feeling as to their correctness, since I am well aware of the intricacies of language, and the difficulty of precisely defining the extent and peculiar use of its particles.

Mr. URBAN,

E.D.

Little Horwood Vicarage, Aug. 7. A and scholastic duties, I have often Sa relaxation from my clerical amused myself with philological studies. The result of these has been laid before the public, in "The Elements of Anglo-Saxon," and other small works. Still I am conscious many deficiencies may be pointed out; and as they have been composed at different intervals, amidst the distractions of a laborious profession, some errors may be discovered. Under this conviction I must acknowledge that Reviewers have treated my little publications with more favour than I expected. Your Reviewer thus introduced my "Elements of the Anglo Saxon :""This work will prove a most valuable acquisition to the library of the philologer and antiquary." When I made a selection of what I considered most valuable in "The Elements," and published it under the title of "A compendious Grammar of the primitive English or Anglo-Saxon Language," I thought I was rendering