The liberal countenance bestowed by the Sovereign on the late Master of the Board of Works, Sir William Chambers, readily accounts for the nomination of that architect to the superintendence of the projected edifice. After a design of Sir William's, the building was begun; and though never entirely completed, it must certainly be allowed, in many respects, to redound to the credit of his taste and ingenuity. Somerset House occupies a space of five hundred feet in depth, and nearly eight hundred in width. This astonishing extension of site is distributed into a quadrangular court, three hundred and forty feet long, and two hundred and ten wide, with a street on each side, lying parallel with the court, four hundred feet in length, and sixty in breadth, leading to a terrace (fifty feet in width) on the banks of the Thames. The terrace is raised fifty feet above the bed of the river, and occupies the entire length of the building. The Strand front of the building is no more than one hundred and thirty-five feet long. This division of the building consists of a rustic basement, supporting Corinthian columns, crowned in the centre with an attic, and at the extremities with a balustrade. Nine large arches compose the basement; the three in the centre are open, and form the entrance to the quadrangle; the three at each end are filled with windows of the Doric order, and adorned with pilasters, entablatures, and pediments. The keystones of the arches are carved, in alto relievo, with nine colossal masks, representing Ocean and the eight chief rivers of Great Britain, viz. Thames, Humber, Mersey, Dee, Medway, Tweed, Tyne, and Severn, all decorated with suitable emblems. Above the basement rise ten Corinthian columns, on pedestals, with regular entablatures, correctly executed. Two floors are comprehended in this order; the windows of the inferior being only surrounded with architraves, while those of the principal floor have a balustrade before them, and are ornamented with Ionic pilasters, entablatures, and pediments. The three central windows have likewise large tablets, covering part of the architrave and frieze, on which are represented, in basso-relievo,

medallions

medallions of the King, Queen, and Prince of Wales, supported by lions, and adorned respectively with garlands of laurel, of myrtle, and of oak. The attic extends over three intercolumniations, and distinguishes the centre of the front. It is divided into three parts, by four colossal statues, placed over the columns of the order the centre division being reserved for an inscription, and the sides having oval windows, enriched with festoons of oak and laurel. The four statues represent venerable men in senatorial habits, each wearing the cap of liberty. In one hand they have a fasces, composed of reeds firmly bound together, emblematic of strength derived from unanimity; while the other sustains respectively the scales, the mirror, the sword, and the bridle, symbols of Justice, Truth, Valour, and Moderation. The whole terminating with a group, consisting of the arms of the British empire, supported on one side by the Genius of England, and on the other by Fame, sounding her trumpet. The three open arches form the only entrance. They open to a vestibule, uniting the street with the back front, and serving as the general access to the whole edifice, but more particularly to the Royal Academy, and to the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, the entrances to which are under cover. This vestibule is deco

rated with columns of the Doric order, whose entablature support the vaults, which are ornamented with well-chosen antiques, among which the cyphers of their Majesties and the Prince of Wales are intermixed. Over the central doors in this vestibule are two busts, executed in Portland stone by Mr. Wilton; that on the Academy side, represents Michael Angelo Bonarotti; that on the side of the learned societies, Sir Isaac Newton. The back front of this part of the building, which faces the quadrangle the architect was enabled to make considerably wider than than that towards the Strand. It is near two hundred feet in extent, and is composed of a corps de logis, with two projecting wings. The style of decoration is, however, nearly the same; the principal variations consist in the forms of the doors and windows, and in the use of pilasters instead of columns, except

in the front of the wings, each of which has four columns, supporting an ornament composed of two sphinxes, with an antique altar between them, judiciously introduced to screen the chimnies from view. The masks on the key-stones of the arches are intended to represent Lares, or the tutelar deities of the place. The attic is ornamented with statues of the four quarters of the globe. America appears armed, as breathing defiance; the other three are loaded with tributary fruits and treasure. Like the Strand front, the termination of the attic on the side is formed by the British arms, surrounded by sedges and sea-weeds, and supported by marine gods, armed with tridents, and holding a festoon of nets, filled with fish and other marine productions. The other three sides of the quadrangle are formed by massy buildings of rustic work, corresponding with the interior of the principal front. The centre of the south side is ornamented with an arcade of four columns, having two pilasters on each side, within which the windows of the front are thrown a little back. On these columns rest a pediment; in the tympanum of which is a basso relievo, representing the Arms of the Navy of Great Britain, supported by a sea-nymph, riding on sea-horses, and guided by tritons blowing conchs. On the corners of the pediments are military trophies, and the whole is terminated by elegant vases placed above the columns. The east and west fronts are nearly similar, but less copiously ornamented. In the centre of each of these fronts is a small black tower, and in that of the south front a dome. All round the quadrangle is a story, sunk below the ground, in which are many of the offices subordinate to those in the basement and upper stories. Directly in the front of the entrance, and in the great quadrangle, is a bronze cast of the Thames, by Bacon, lying at the foot of a pedestal, on which is placed an elegant statue of his present Majesty, also in bronze.

The front next the Thames corrresponds with the south front of the quadrangle, and is ornamented in the same manner. Be fore it is a spacious terrace, supported by arches resting on the PART III. CONTIN. artificial