Page:Repository of Arts, Series 1, Volume 01, 1809, January-June.djvu/497

Rh of the interior of shops, which we have been accustomed to give. Conceiving that such an alteration may tend to enhance the interest of the work, and willing to comply with the wishes of the public, whose liberal patronage he is so anxious to deserve, the proprietor has adopted the suggestion; and presents, with this number, an accurate delineation of Carlton-House, the residence of his Royal Highness the Print of Wales. The magnificence, elegance, and taste, displayed in this mansion, give it a just claim to the first rank in the series of which if will form the commencement.

Carlton-House, the town residence of the heir apparent of the British throne, stands upon the site of a palace which belonged to the crown, and was presented by his Majesty to his Royal Highness on his coming of age. As the old building was much out of repair, parliament thought fit to enable his Majesty to erect the present elegant structure in its stead. It is situated on the north side of St. James’s Park, with the principal front facing Pall-Mall. The portico, of the Corinthian order, is truly magnificent; but it has been objected, that the other parts of the front being rustic, are too plain to correspond. The house and courtyard are separated by a dwarf-screen, surmounted by a beautiful colonnade. At the back, and contiguous to the Park, are a riding-house and stables, belonging to his Royal Highness; whose garden displays all the refinements of taste and skill which its limits admit of.

The great hall of Carlton-House does honour to the genius of the late Mr. Holland, who was the architect of this edifice: it is forty-four feet in length, and twenty-nine in breadth. The new circular dining-room is unquestionably of the most splendid apartments in Europe. On the south side of it a door opens into the magnificent ball-room, and another door conducts to the drawing-room.

The armoury occupies five rooms on the attic story, and forms a truly valuable and unrivaled collection, not only of swords, fire-arms, the ancient weapons, and various species of armour, but also of uniforms, dresses, and different works of art.—The whole of this museum is arranged with great order, skill, and taste, under the inspection of the royal proprietor. Many of the articles preserved here are highly interesting, from the eminent characters to whom they once belonged, and the recollections which they awaken. Among them we may be allowed to remark, a sword of the famous Chevalier Bayardd, of the great Duke of Marlborough, of General Moreau, and one of exquisite workmanship, by the celebrated Florentine Benvenuto Cellini, which belonged to the patriot Hampden.

Though if must be acknowledged that the mansions of our nobility are not much inferior, in splendour and costly magnificence, to this resilience of the heir apparent, yet, in the display of exquisite taste, combining the appropriate, the useful, and the elegant, Carlton-House is without a rival.

Our readers need not be reminded of the impossibility of doing justice to an edifice like Carlton-House, within the compass to which our 3 G 2