(_For the Mirror._)
This splendid pile which is at present under repair, was erected in the
time of James I. Whitehall being in a most ruinous state, he determined
to rebuild it in a very princely manner, and worthy of the residence
of the monarchs of the British empire. He began with pulling down the
banquetting rooms built by Elizabeth. That which bears the above name at
present was begun in 1619, from a design of Inigo Jones, in his purest
style; and executed by Nicholas Stone, master mason and architect to
the king; it was finished in two years, and cost £17,000. but is only
a small part of a vast plan, left unexecuted by reason of the unhappy
times which succeeded. The ceiling of this noble room cannot be
sufficiently admired; it was painted by Rubens, who had £3,000. for
his work. The subject is the Apotheosis of James I. forming nine
compartments; one of the middle represents our pacific monarch on
his earthly throne, turning with horror from Mars, and other of the
discordant deities, and as if it were, giving himself up to the amiable
goddess he always cultivated, and to her attendants, Commerce, and the
Fine Arts. This fine performance is painted on canvass, and is in high
preservation; but a few years ago it underwent a repair by Cipriani, who
had £2,000. for his trouble. Near the entrance is a bust of the royal
founder.
Little did James think (says Pennant) that he was erecting a pile from
which his son was to step from the throne to the scaffold. He had been
brought in the morning of his death, from St. James's across the Park,
and from thence to Whitehall, where ascending the great staircase, he
passed through the long gallery to his bed-chamber, the place allotted
to him to pass the little time before he received the fatal blow. It
is one of the lesser rooms marked with the letter A in the old plan of
Whitehall. He was from thence conducted along the galleries and the
banquetting house, through the wall, in which a passage was broken to
his last earthly stage. Mr. Walpole tells us that Inigo Jones, surveyor
of the works done about the king's house, had only 8s. 4d. a day, and
£46. a year for house-rent, and a clerk and other incidental expenses.
The present improvements at Whitehall make one exclaim with the poet,
Pope--
"I see, I see, where two fair cities bend
Their ample brow, _a new Whitehall ascend._"
Again,
"You too proceed, make falling arts your care,
_Erect new wonders, and the old repair;_
_Jones_ and Palladio to themselves _restore_,
And be whate'er Vitruvius was before."