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Mr. Camden composed the principal part
of his annals of Queen Elizabeth.
Chiswick, in Middlesex, situated on the
Thames on the south-west side of Ham-
mersmith. Here are two manors, one
belonging to the Prebendary of Ches-
wick in St. Paul's cathedral, and the
other call'd the Dean's manor, from its
belonging to the Dean and Chapter of
St. Paul's. In this village there is a cha-
rity school, and it is adorned with seve-
ral elegant seats, as the Earl of Shrews-
bury's, the Earl of Grantham's now Col.
Elliot's, the late Lord Wilmington's,
&c. But the most remarkable of the
kind is the late Earl of Burlington's,
which was a plain, commodious build-
ing, with good offices about it; but a
part of the old edifice being some years
ago destroyed by fire, his Lordship erect-
ed near it a beautiful villa, which, for
elegance of taste, surpasses every thing
of its kind in England. The court in the
front, which is of a proportionable size
with the building, is gravelled and con-
stantly kept very neat. On each side
are yew hedges in pannels, with Termini
placed at a proper distance; and in the
front of these hedges, are two rows of
Cedars of Libanus, which, at a small
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| C H I | 113 |
distance have a fine effect, the dark shade
of these solemn ever-greens affording a
pleasing contrast to the whiteness of the
elegant building that appears between
them, the view of which from the road
surprizes you in a most agreeable manner.
The ascent to the house is by a noble
flight of steps, on one side of which is
the statue of Palladio, and on the other
that of Inigo Jones. The portico is
supported by six fine fluted columns of
the Corinthian order, with a pediment
very elegant, and the cornice, frize and
architrave, as rich as possible. This
magnificent front strikes all who be-
hold it with an uncommon pleasure
and surprize.
The octogonal saloon finishing at top
in a dome, through which it is enlight-
ened, is also very elegant. The other
rooms are extremely beautiful, and are
finely, furnished with pictures of the great
masters; an account o which is here
annexed. It were to be wished this
house had been built to a larger scale,
that the grandeur might have equalled
the elegance.
Though the other front towards the
garden is plainer, yet it is in a very bold,
noble and masterly stile, and has at the
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