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  • Sept. 20, 1862
  • Page 6
  • THE PATH OF LIFE. —AN ALLEGORY.
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Sept. 20, 1862: Page 6

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British Architects.

Countess of Sunderland , second daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough . She died on the 15 th of April , 1716 , and in the contemporary notice of her death is described as " the general toast by the name of the Little Whig . " This theatre was burnt down June 27 , 17 S 9 . Kit-Kat Garth ( the best good Christian without

knowing it ) has , in his poem called " Claremont , a villa now belonging to the Earl of Clare , " this couplet on his fellow Kit-Kat " Van " : — " But say , who shall attempt the adventurous part , Where Nature borrows dress from Vanburgh's art ?" a couplet sounding in Pope ' s ear when he wrote of Esher : —

"Whore Kent ancl Nature vie for Pelham ' s love . " As I bring , for the first time , this Claremont couplet into light in connexion with Vanbrugh ancl his works , I will try ( what has hitherto been unattempted ) to explain its meaning . When at work at Claremont , in Esher , Vanbrugh had a house in the adjoining parish of Walton-upon-Thames . I have oycf-looked chapter and verse for it , and here it is : —

" 1723 , ivtarch 28 , John , the son of Sir John Vanbrugh , was bury'd . " for thus runs an entry in the burial register of Waltonupon-Thames , in the hundred of Elmbridge , ancl the county of Surrey . This was not Vanbrugh ' s only son : a second was

slain ( 17-1-6 ) , in his twenty-seventh year , at Tournay , and died without a will . The names of Sir John Vanbrugh ancl of Captain Philip Vanbrugh are to be founcl among the subscribers to the first collected edition of the works of Addison , edited by Tickell , and published in four

volumes quarto , in 1721 . Who was Captain Philip Vanbrugh ? His brother , I suspect . The building of Marlborough House , in Pall Mall , was given to Wren by Sarah , Duchess of Marlborough , to vex Vanbrugh . Whoever is curious about Van ' s quarrel with Pope ' s " . Atossa" will find some new

, matter of moment in the correspondence of the duchess , printed by Mrs . Thompson , from the MS . collections of Archdeacon Coxe . The amusing materials I allude to have been brought to light since the life of Vanbrugh was last written . Of Vanbrugh it is to be said , what we cannot say

of any other English dramatist : his plays , though evidently printed with his entire sanction , are ¦ without his name , and without dedications in a dedicating age . When and where Sir John Vanbrugh married , his biographers omit to tell us . I have traced the period thus far : —He was married in or about November , 171 S .

His biographers are equally silent when his widow died . The fact in his history I will now give . Lady Vanbrugh died the 26 th of April , 1776 , having outlived her husband , the great architect , just half a century and one month . In this long period we hear nothing of her . What became of her papers ? Did she leave a will ? Where was she buried ?

The will of Sir John Vanbrugh is to be seen in the Prerogative Will Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury . I have seen it . Two of his brothers are named in it , Charles and Philip ; ancl three sisters , Mary , Kobina , and Victoria , —the last being the earliest use

British Architects.

in England of the name , that I remember to have seen , of our beloved Sovereign . Since Walpole ' s death , three editions of his " Anecdotes of Painting , " & c , have appeared . The first was in his " Works " ( 5 vols . 4 to ., 179 S ) , as left revised by himself ; the second , in 1826 , 1 S 27 , and 1828 , as edited in 5 vols . Svo ., by Dallaway ; and the third in .

18-19 , in 3 vols . Svo ., as re-edited by Mr . Worntun . Walpole made and left many additional notes , and wholly overlooked by Mr . Dallaway and Mr . Wornum . Here , for instance , is a note relating to Vanbrugh ( not to be found in Dallaway or Wornum ) , every sentence of which is in Walpole ' s true Strawhern / veiu : —•

"Two very good judges , ancl men of excellent taste , Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr . Gilpin , have declared their admiration of the studendous piles of Blenheim and Castle Howard , and no doubt vastness is very imposing at o distance ; hut if the designs and details are detective , the merit of grandeur remains with the person who is at the expense of the fabric , not with the architect who

executes his commands . St . Peter ' s , St . Paul ' s , each strikes as a magnificent whole ; but they charm , too , when the parts are examined , nor have any superfluous weight . Large edifices might be erected from unnecessary excrescences of stone that load the palaces above mentioned ; and , however admirable Vanbrugh ' s structures may be in their present state of perfectionI will

, venture to guess that their ruins will have far greater effect , not only from their massive fragments , but from the additional piles which conjecture will supply , iu order to give a meaning to the whole . " Walpole ' s ' ¦ Worhs , " iii . 394 ( 4 to ., 1798 ) .

In this view it may be said , and truly , that Strawberry , when stripped of its curiosities by the inevitable hand of George Robins , looked , in its ruins , more truly Gothic than it did as left by Walpole , or as it now does , redecorated by Frances , Lady Waidegrave . This omitted note I commend to the judicious eye of the Builder ' s next-door neihbourMr . H . G . Bohn

g , , the last publisher of Walpole ' s Anecdotes . Only a few words more , ancl those Vanbrugh ' s own , aud recently recovered : — " When travellers , many ages hence , shall be shown the very house in which the Duke of Marlborough dwelt , and they shall be told it was not only his favourite

habitation , but was erected for him b } the queen , and with the approbation of the people , as a monument of his greatest services and honours that any subject has ever done his country ; I believe , though they may not find art enough in the builder to make them oclmiro the beauty of the fabric , they will find wonder enough in ilui story to make them pleased with the sight of it . " PETER CuxxrxGimi .

The Path Of Life. —An Allegory.

THE PATH OF LIFE . —AN ALLEGORY .

We extract the following from the Penny Post , it being from the pen of a well-known Correspondent of the FUEEMASOXS' MAGAZIXE . Bro . J . Emra Holmes , Secretary of the St . Helen ' s Lodge ( No . 774 ) . Methought I stood upon the borders of a vast desert , and before me were a of childrenattended by

company , some elders , who seemed to me to be their guardians and protectors . And they were waiting for the dawning of the day to commence their journey of life . It was still dark , and the watch-fires of the little camp had not yet burned away . There were men busily engaged in taking down the tents which had shielded them in the night , and packing them on the backs of the patient camels who lay

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1862-09-20, Page 6” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 10 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_20091862/page/6/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
MOTHER KILWINNING.—No. I. Article 1
A ROMAN CATHOLIC'S NOTION OF FREEMASONRY. Article 2
BRITISH ARCHITECTS. Article 5
THE PATH OF LIFE. —AN ALLEGORY. Article 6
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 9
THE PARIS UNIVERSAL AND PERMANENT EXHIBITION. Article 12
CASES OF EMERGENCY. Article 12
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 13
THE MOUNT CALVARY ENCAMPMENT. Article 13
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 14
PROVINCIAL. Article 14
AUSTRALIA. Article 14
CANADA. Article 15
AMERICA. Article 16
ROYAL ARCH. Article 16
MARK MASONRY. Article 17
Poetry. Article 17
TO A YOUNG MASON WHO DECLARED HE SAW NO BEAUTY IN NATURE. Article 17
Obituary. Article 17
FREEMASONS AT LAW. Article 18
THE WEEK. Article 19
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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British Architects.

Countess of Sunderland , second daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough . She died on the 15 th of April , 1716 , and in the contemporary notice of her death is described as " the general toast by the name of the Little Whig . " This theatre was burnt down June 27 , 17 S 9 . Kit-Kat Garth ( the best good Christian without

knowing it ) has , in his poem called " Claremont , a villa now belonging to the Earl of Clare , " this couplet on his fellow Kit-Kat " Van " : — " But say , who shall attempt the adventurous part , Where Nature borrows dress from Vanburgh's art ?" a couplet sounding in Pope ' s ear when he wrote of Esher : —

"Whore Kent ancl Nature vie for Pelham ' s love . " As I bring , for the first time , this Claremont couplet into light in connexion with Vanbrugh ancl his works , I will try ( what has hitherto been unattempted ) to explain its meaning . When at work at Claremont , in Esher , Vanbrugh had a house in the adjoining parish of Walton-upon-Thames . I have oycf-looked chapter and verse for it , and here it is : —

" 1723 , ivtarch 28 , John , the son of Sir John Vanbrugh , was bury'd . " for thus runs an entry in the burial register of Waltonupon-Thames , in the hundred of Elmbridge , ancl the county of Surrey . This was not Vanbrugh ' s only son : a second was

slain ( 17-1-6 ) , in his twenty-seventh year , at Tournay , and died without a will . The names of Sir John Vanbrugh ancl of Captain Philip Vanbrugh are to be founcl among the subscribers to the first collected edition of the works of Addison , edited by Tickell , and published in four

volumes quarto , in 1721 . Who was Captain Philip Vanbrugh ? His brother , I suspect . The building of Marlborough House , in Pall Mall , was given to Wren by Sarah , Duchess of Marlborough , to vex Vanbrugh . Whoever is curious about Van ' s quarrel with Pope ' s " . Atossa" will find some new

, matter of moment in the correspondence of the duchess , printed by Mrs . Thompson , from the MS . collections of Archdeacon Coxe . The amusing materials I allude to have been brought to light since the life of Vanbrugh was last written . Of Vanbrugh it is to be said , what we cannot say

of any other English dramatist : his plays , though evidently printed with his entire sanction , are ¦ without his name , and without dedications in a dedicating age . When and where Sir John Vanbrugh married , his biographers omit to tell us . I have traced the period thus far : —He was married in or about November , 171 S .

His biographers are equally silent when his widow died . The fact in his history I will now give . Lady Vanbrugh died the 26 th of April , 1776 , having outlived her husband , the great architect , just half a century and one month . In this long period we hear nothing of her . What became of her papers ? Did she leave a will ? Where was she buried ?

The will of Sir John Vanbrugh is to be seen in the Prerogative Will Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury . I have seen it . Two of his brothers are named in it , Charles and Philip ; ancl three sisters , Mary , Kobina , and Victoria , —the last being the earliest use

British Architects.

in England of the name , that I remember to have seen , of our beloved Sovereign . Since Walpole ' s death , three editions of his " Anecdotes of Painting , " & c , have appeared . The first was in his " Works " ( 5 vols . 4 to ., 179 S ) , as left revised by himself ; the second , in 1826 , 1 S 27 , and 1828 , as edited in 5 vols . Svo ., by Dallaway ; and the third in .

18-19 , in 3 vols . Svo ., as re-edited by Mr . Worntun . Walpole made and left many additional notes , and wholly overlooked by Mr . Dallaway and Mr . Wornum . Here , for instance , is a note relating to Vanbrugh ( not to be found in Dallaway or Wornum ) , every sentence of which is in Walpole ' s true Strawhern / veiu : —•

"Two very good judges , ancl men of excellent taste , Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr . Gilpin , have declared their admiration of the studendous piles of Blenheim and Castle Howard , and no doubt vastness is very imposing at o distance ; hut if the designs and details are detective , the merit of grandeur remains with the person who is at the expense of the fabric , not with the architect who

executes his commands . St . Peter ' s , St . Paul ' s , each strikes as a magnificent whole ; but they charm , too , when the parts are examined , nor have any superfluous weight . Large edifices might be erected from unnecessary excrescences of stone that load the palaces above mentioned ; and , however admirable Vanbrugh ' s structures may be in their present state of perfectionI will

, venture to guess that their ruins will have far greater effect , not only from their massive fragments , but from the additional piles which conjecture will supply , iu order to give a meaning to the whole . " Walpole ' s ' ¦ Worhs , " iii . 394 ( 4 to ., 1798 ) .

In this view it may be said , and truly , that Strawberry , when stripped of its curiosities by the inevitable hand of George Robins , looked , in its ruins , more truly Gothic than it did as left by Walpole , or as it now does , redecorated by Frances , Lady Waidegrave . This omitted note I commend to the judicious eye of the Builder ' s next-door neihbourMr . H . G . Bohn

g , , the last publisher of Walpole ' s Anecdotes . Only a few words more , ancl those Vanbrugh ' s own , aud recently recovered : — " When travellers , many ages hence , shall be shown the very house in which the Duke of Marlborough dwelt , and they shall be told it was not only his favourite

habitation , but was erected for him b } the queen , and with the approbation of the people , as a monument of his greatest services and honours that any subject has ever done his country ; I believe , though they may not find art enough in the builder to make them oclmiro the beauty of the fabric , they will find wonder enough in ilui story to make them pleased with the sight of it . " PETER CuxxrxGimi .

The Path Of Life. —An Allegory.

THE PATH OF LIFE . —AN ALLEGORY .

We extract the following from the Penny Post , it being from the pen of a well-known Correspondent of the FUEEMASOXS' MAGAZIXE . Bro . J . Emra Holmes , Secretary of the St . Helen ' s Lodge ( No . 774 ) . Methought I stood upon the borders of a vast desert , and before me were a of childrenattended by

company , some elders , who seemed to me to be their guardians and protectors . And they were waiting for the dawning of the day to commence their journey of life . It was still dark , and the watch-fires of the little camp had not yet burned away . There were men busily engaged in taking down the tents which had shielded them in the night , and packing them on the backs of the patient camels who lay

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