“Let Pope no more what Chandos builds deride, Because he takes not Nature for his guide; Since, wond’rous critic! in thy form we see That Nature may mistake, as well as he.”
[21] Vide Catalogue of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Division I., Satires, vol. ii., No. 1935.
From which it will be seen that Hogarth was not out of the fashion in retaliating upon Pope’s devoted head with the cartoon which we here reproduce.
Let us examine it in detail. The gate, which is the main feature in the picture, is a travesty of that which is familiar to old frequenters of Piccadilly. Until as lately as 1868, it formed the frontage to Burlington House. It was the joint design of Lord Burlington and Colin Campbell, and, although well-proportioned and inoffensive, hardly justifies the fulsome praise which has been bestowed upon it. Kent, originally a coach-painter, with whose statue Hogarth has surmounted the {104} structure, was patronised by, and brought his practical knowledge to the assistance of, Lord Burlington, himself undoubtedly a man of enlightened taste. The alteration and reconstruction of the original Burlington House, which had been built by his great-grandfather, the first Earl, was the first of his many architectural projects. It was eventually taken down to make way for the existing Royal Academy and Science Buildings. Lord Hervey laughed at its inconvenience in the following couplet:—
“Possessed of one great hall of state, Without a room to sleep or eat.”
The best of Lord Burlington’s and Kent’s joint work is to be found in the northern park front of the Treasury Buildings in Whitehall, “which,” says Fergusson, “if completed, would be more worthy of Inigo Jones than anything that has been done there since his time.”
The Man of Taste
