Wales, the second in Suffolk; the one of humble, obscure parentage, the other of a respectable family classing with the gentry of Bury St. Edmunds. Whilst Nash had to contend with difficulties and struggles in early life, Repton was benefited by a good education and exciting associations, and was destined to succeed his father as an English merchant. Our first news of Mr. Nash is of his being a miniature painter; next we find him scene-painter to a company of itinerant players in Wales, where my old friend Mr. Pugin joined him. We afterwards hear of him in London, living with a Mr. Edwards, a relation, in Bloomsbury Square; and of some adventures after his residence there. His daring and important schemes in Regent Street and the Park, in Buckingham Palace and other parts of London are well known to all persons in the metropolis, and have been more censured than praised by the periodical press." He then proceeds to speak in strong condemnation of George the Fourth, and makes severe reflections upon Mr. Nash's proceedings whilst connected with that monarch, which it would have been far wiser to have withheld. His statements regarding Mr. Nash's entrance into public life are entirely wrong. He had patrons in Wales, and acquired property there; and being fond of theatrical representations built a private theatre, in which Mathews, Pugin, and other friends acted for their own amusement, sometimes inviting the surrounding gentry to witness their performances. Mr. Nash was born in London; his parents being

possessed of some private fortune were able to place their son with Sir Robert Taylor, the leading architect of that day. Nor was he an uneducated person, as implied by the unfavourable manner in which he is described in contrast to Mr. Repton.

CHAPTER II.

Pugin travels to obtain Sketches for his Works-Goes to NormandyMessrs. Langlois and De Caumont-Discountenances the practice of despoiling Ancient Ruins-Meets distinguished Travellers-Lord Elgin at Kenilworth Castle-Unsatisfactory character of the pervading style of Architecture.

PUGIN now began in good earnest to carry into effect his promise to Mr. Nash, but it was impossible that he could collect the materials for so important a work single-handed. He therefore sought pupils and readily obtained them, Mr. Nash and other architects being glad to recommend his office as the best school for obtaining a knowledge of Gothic architecture and other elementary branches of art. Accompanied by his pupils he visited different towns for the purpose of sketching and measuring such details of medieval buildings as appeared to him desirable; but the expense of travelling led him to select those specimens which were most easy of access; and to this cause may be attributed the want of classification observable in the work, an error he carefully corrected in his later publications. But though the examples chosen by him might not be the best, they were so carefully drawn and practically studied as to be of

material use to persons engaged in building, and no other publication had ever given details in so desirable a form. In carrying on this work he was assisted by Mr. Willson of Lincoln, who contributed the literary portion; and this gentleman's well-known antiquarian knowledge gave additional interest to the book. The first volume, entitled 'Specimens of Gothic Architecture,' was published in 1821, and dedicated to Mr. Nash as the private architect to the King. The second volume soon followed, and the work met with a most extensive sale, fully justifying the hopes of its pro

moters.

Encouraged by success, and really animated with a love for mediæval art, Pugin, to whom the magnificent buildings of Normandy were familiar, determined to illustrate some of the French structures with the precision shown in the works he had just published.

Foreseeing the great cost which must attend this new publication, he obtained partners in the undertaking, and Mr. Britton, the Messrs. Le-Keux, and Mr. Josiah Taylor the publisher, were associated with him in the speculation. Although interesting illustrations of Normandy had been previously given by Ducarel, Cotman, and Turner, yet those works were wanting in the qualities which made Pugin's books useful to the practising architect, and his proposed work was still a desideratum.

It was in the month of August, 1825, that, accompanied by some of his pupils, he set out for Normandy, and crossing from Brighton to Dieppe, proceeded to

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Rouen, where he commenced the execution of his design. In this ancient and interesting city he found abundant objects for his pencil. The churches of St. Ouen, St. Maclou, the Palais de Justice, the convent of St. Amand, the Hôtel Bourgtheroulde and other buildings furnished excellent details, all of which were measured and rendered in a practical manner. A new and distinctive feature tended to make this work more popular than its predecessor, the introduction of perspective views, which though not originally contemplated, have certainly imparted an additional interest to the book. In the course of his tour Pugin became acquainted with many of the most distinguished antiquaries and artists of Normandy, to whom he owed much for pointing out to him the buildings most interesting for the purpose of illustration. Two of these friendly assistants deserve a passing notice, being eminent in their peculiar walks.

In M. Langlois, a member of the Society of Antiquaries of France, Pugin met with a remarkable artist. He was the type of a class of men who rank high in French estimation. Well versed in ancient literature, an able professor in science and art, this man of genius occupied with his family a second floor in an obscure street of Rouen. His apartments were meanly furnished, and all his arrangements characterized by economy; but still in everything about him there was an evidence of taste and a cultivated mind. In his person M. Langlois was extremely plain, and his manners were unpretending; but in social position,