It will be easily seen that the hopes with which he had gone abroad had been fully realized. The very fact of his travels gave him a position in the eyes of the world, of which he might easily have made much more, had he carried out his intention of publication. He had gained acquaintances in the artistic world and in ordinary society, and his character and talents excited a general expectation that he would achieve fame and success. But the really important advantage was the kindling in himself of artistic energy and a sense of power, and the extraordinary development of his mind in knowledge, criticism, and ideas. Most men are conscious of some period in their life on which such an awakening influence acts, when the boundaries of thought seem to expand, when new ideas and powers make themselves felt, and the idea of some great object in life is definitely grasped. Such a period is one of intense happiness and of priceless value. It came to him during these three years of travel, and he returned to England a changed man.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY PROFESSIONAL LIFE.
1820-1829.
Early difficulties and failures—Thought of emigration—Non-publication of his sketches—Holland House—Revival of Gothic—His Manchester churches, and their peculiarities—Marriage—Church at Oldham—Alarm at Prestwich Church—Designs for King’s College, Cambridge—Royal Institution at Manchester—Gradual relinquishment of Greek architecture—St. Peter’s Church, Brighton—Sussex County Hospital—Petworth Church—Queen’s Park, Brighton, his first Italian design—Islington churches—His relations to church architecture generally—Removal to Foley Place—Subsidiary work—Travellers’ Club—General character of his life at this period.
In August, 1820, Mr. Barry returned to England to commence his professional life. He took a small house in Ely Place, Holborn, a position of no great pretension, but one recommended by its quietness, centrality, and cheapness. There he began the struggle of life in real earnest, with little external advantages of patronage or connection. It was a great, and not a pleasant, change from the brightness of his foreign life, during the latter part of which at least he had earned a high artistic reputation, and enjoyed the society to which such a reputation is the passport. He had warm friends of his own and his future wife’s family of the middle class, but they had little power, though much will, to help him. He had attracted at Rome the notice of men of high rank and influence; from them he received much courtesy and even kindness, but their patronage brought as yet little substantial fruit.
With regard to the leading members of his own profession, of Mr. Nash, the Wyatts, and Sir R. Smirke, he knew little or nothing; of Sir J. Soane he had some slight knowledge, and from him on one occasion (that of the Islington churches) I believe he received some recommendation; of his own contemporaries he knew best Mr. Cockerell and Mr. Tite, and afterwards (partly through Mr. Wolfe) Messrs. Donaldson, Angell, and Poynter—all beginning life, as he was, and struggling, with more or less of advantage, against the same obstacles.
Perhaps a more serious difficulty still was the great change of architectural style in general, and of his own architectural taste in particular, which seemed likely to render valueless much of his professional study, begun when the ascendancy of the Greek style was still undisputed.
All these obstacles were of course incapable of hindering that ultimate success, which must depend essentially on a man’s own intellect and character. But they delayed its attainment, long enough to cause him disappointment, and the occasional despondency which belongs to the reaction of a sanguine character. He had begun, as almost all young architects must begin, by the harassing and thankless work of public competition; in it he had, as usual, his share of failures, embittered perhaps occasionally by the inevitable suspicions of incompetency or partiality of judgment. At times he even thought of leaving London, and settling in a provincial town; at one time of leaving England, and trying his fortune in the more open field of America. His want of success had also the effect of delaying his marriage, and continuing the difficulties and the discomfort of an already long engagement. For after paying the expenses of his foreign travels, he had little money of his own to fall back upon, while waiting for the first gleam of fortune. All these causes made the first years of his professional career a time of anxiety and struggle, his first real entrance (in fact) on the battle of life. During this critical time he received much encouragement and much substantial help from his old masters, Messrs. Middleton and Baily, who still preserved their kindly feeling towards him, and felt proud of the reputation he had already achieved.
A natural way to public notice would have been opened to him by the publication of his Egyptian sketches. They were unique at the time, and had attracted much notice; his travelling companions, especially Mr. Wyse, urged him to bring them out.[26] His careful notes would have enabled him to give them something more than an æsthetic value. It is clear that he had cherished the idea of bringing them before the public. But it happened that in Egypt he had made the acquaintance of Mr. William Bankes of Kingston Hall; and he appears to have entertained the idea of some publication in conjunction with him. He probably needed a literary coadjutor, and he had been much attracted by Mr. Bankes’s brilliancy and talent. But after much delay and trouble, circumstances prevented the realization of the plan; and by this time, he probably found that the favourable opportunity had been lost. At any rate he gave up all idea of publication, and to a great extent all care for those sketches which remained in his own possession. For his books are full of blank spaces, and many sketches have been altogether lost to his family.[27]
For the sake of the world, as well as for his own sake, it must be a subject of regret that he abandoned his project. The Egyptian field has been occupied by men of high talent and extensive knowledge. But probably there are few who would have brought to bear on the subject so much clearness and accuracy of observation, and so entire a freedom from prejudice. All that he ventured to publish would have been substantial, practical, and trustworthy, and might have been a sure basis for future study and speculation.
At Rome he had made the acquaintance of the Marquis of Lansdowne, who continued to be at all times one of his kindest patrons and friends. Through him he was introduced to Lord and Lady Holland, and became a not unfrequent visitor in the society for which Holland House was then famous. There he first met many noblemen of the Whig party, who showed him great kindness, and many of the distinguished literary men and artists of the day. He appreciated most highly these intellectual and social influences; for his interest was keen and comprehensive, though his study was chiefly confined to his own profession. He enjoyed literary and scientific, at least as much as artistic society, and certainly possessed the faculty, peculiar to men of quick observation and clearness of conception, of understanding rapidly, and of seeing in their most important bearings, subjects on which he had no special experience or knowledge. Holland House therefore gave him great enjoyment and encouragement, and produced occasionally some substantial results of work. From his host and hostess he received such kindness as he could never forget.