The sixth is the sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas by the people of Lycaonia. The occasion of this is finely told; the man healed of his lameness, to express his sense of the divine power which appeared in these apostles, and to shew it to be him, not only a crutch is under his feet on the ground, but an old man takes up the lappet of his garment, and looks upon the limb he remembers to have been crippled, expressing great devotion and amazement; which are sentiments seen in the other, with a mixture of joy.
The group of the ox and popa are taken from a bass relievo in the Villa de Medici.
The seventh is St. Paul preaching to the Athenians. The divine orator is the chief figure; but with what wonderful art are almost all the different tempers of mankind represented in that elegant audience! one is eminently distinguished as a believer, holding out his hands in rapture, and has the second place in the picture; another is wrapped up in deep suspense; another saying there is some reason in what he says; another angry and malicious at his destroying some favourite opinion; others attentive and reasoning on the matter within themselves, or with one another; while the generality attend, and wait for the opinion of those who are leading characters in the assembly. Some are placed before the apostle, some behind, not only as caring less for the preacher or the doctrine, but to raise the apostolic character, which would lose something of its dignity, if his maligners were supposed to be able to look him in the face.
This picture is conducted with the greatest judgment. The attitude of St. Paul is as fine as possible, pointing out his hands to the statue of Mercury, alluding to their idolatry; for the men of Lystra would call him by that name, and worship him as a God presiding over eloquence. Thus the picture shews the subject of his preaching. The little drapery thrown over the apostle’s shoulder, and hanging down to his waist, poises the figure, which otherwise would seem ready to tumble forwards. The drapery is red and green, the back ground is expressive of the superstition St. Paul was preaching against, as above-mentioned. No historian, orator or poet, can possibly give so great an idea of the eloquent and zealous apostle as this figure does: for there we see a person, whose face and action no words can sufficiently describe; but which assure us as much as those can, that that divine man must speak with good sense and to the purpose.
There were in all twelve of these pieces, two of which are in the possession of the French King: the King of Sardinia has two of the others, and one belonged to a gentleman in England, who pledged it for a sum of money: but when the person who had taken this valuable deposit found it was to be redeemed, being very unwilling to part with it, he greatly damaged the drawing; for which the gentleman brought his action, and it was tried in Westminster hall, where the picture was produced. The subject was Herod’s cruelty, and indeed, the cruel malice of the person sued, seemed to flow from a principle perhaps equally diabolical and inexcusable.
Over the chimney piece in this gallery is a fine bas-relief in white marble of Venus drawn in her chariot, and attended by several Cupids.
We come next to the Queen’s staircase, where the ceiling is painted by Vick. Here is King Charles II. and Catharine his Queen, with the Duke of Buckingham representing Science in the habit of Mercury, while Envy is struck down by naked boys. There are also other ornaments done by Mr. Kent.
From the Queen’s stair case, we descend into a new quadrangle, in the middle of which is a round bason, and four large lamps on pedestals of iron work; and on the right hand over the windows, are the twelve labours of Hercules done in fresco.
We shall conclude our account with observing, that the whole palace consists of three quadrangles. The first and second are Gothic, but in the latter is a most beautiful colonade of the Ionic order, the columns in couplets, built by Sir Christopher Wren. Through this, as was before observed, you pass into the third court or quadrangle, in which are the royal apartments, which are magnificently built of brick and stone by King William III. The print shews two sides of these new buildings. The gardens are not in the present natural stile, but in that which prevailed some years ago, when mathematical figures were preferred to natural forms.
Hanaper Office, an office in Chancery under the direction of the Master of the Hanaper, his deputy, the clerk, sometimes called the Warden of the Hanaper, and the six clerks in Chancery for the time being, who are comptrollers of the Hanaper. The clerk of the Hanaper receives all money due for charters, patents, commissions, and writs; attends the Lord Keeper daily in term time, and at all times of sealing, with leather bags, in which are put all sealed charters, patents, and the like; and delivered to the comptroller of the Hanaper. Mr. Chamberlain supposes, that instead of leather bags the clerk of the Hanaper formerly carried a hamper, and that from thence he was called the clerk of the Hamper or Hanaper.