DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1212#0091
SOMERSET HOUSE. 59
observed to be lined with oak, in small panels; the
heights of their mouldings had been touched with gold;
it had an oaken floor and stuccoed ceiling; from which
still depended part of the chains, &c, to which had
hung chandeliers. Against the sides some sconces still
remained. Several circumstances indicated that this
gallery had been used as a ball-room. In the suite of
apartments which formed the other side of the angle,
fronting the Thames, and which had been adorned in a
style of splendour and magnificence creditable to the taste
of the age of Edward VI., part of the ancient furniture
remained, and, indeed, from the stability of its materials
and construction, might have remained for centuries, had
proper attention been paid to its preservation. The
audience chamber had been hung with silk, which was in
tatters, as were the curtains., gilt leather covers, and
painted screens. In this} and a much larger room, were
various articles, which had been confusedly removed from
other apartments : some of the sconces, though reversed,
were still against the hangings; one of the brass gilt
chandeliers still depended from the ceiling. Passing
through those rooms, a pair of doors, with difficulty
opened, gave access to an apartment on the first floor of
a small pile, which formed a kind of tower at the end
of the building, and the internal part of which was un-
questionably the work of Inigo Jones. This had been
used a.s a breakfast or dressing-room by Catherine, the
Queen of Charles II., and had more the appearance of a
small temple than a room. It was of an octagonal form,
and the ceiling rose in a dome from a beautiful cornice.
There appeared such an elegant simplicity in the archi-
tecture, and such a truly attic grace in the ornaments,
that Sir William Chambers exceedingly regretted the
necessity there was for its dilapidation. The figures
painted on the panels were in fresco; the ornaments under
the surbase were in their heights touched with gold. The
few articles of furniture that remained here were in the
antique style, and there were several pictures upon the
observed to be lined with oak, in small panels; the
heights of their mouldings had been touched with gold;
it had an oaken floor and stuccoed ceiling; from which
still depended part of the chains, &c, to which had
hung chandeliers. Against the sides some sconces still
remained. Several circumstances indicated that this
gallery had been used as a ball-room. In the suite of
apartments which formed the other side of the angle,
fronting the Thames, and which had been adorned in a
style of splendour and magnificence creditable to the taste
of the age of Edward VI., part of the ancient furniture
remained, and, indeed, from the stability of its materials
and construction, might have remained for centuries, had
proper attention been paid to its preservation. The
audience chamber had been hung with silk, which was in
tatters, as were the curtains., gilt leather covers, and
painted screens. In this} and a much larger room, were
various articles, which had been confusedly removed from
other apartments : some of the sconces, though reversed,
were still against the hangings; one of the brass gilt
chandeliers still depended from the ceiling. Passing
through those rooms, a pair of doors, with difficulty
opened, gave access to an apartment on the first floor of
a small pile, which formed a kind of tower at the end
of the building, and the internal part of which was un-
questionably the work of Inigo Jones. This had been
used a.s a breakfast or dressing-room by Catherine, the
Queen of Charles II., and had more the appearance of a
small temple than a room. It was of an octagonal form,
and the ceiling rose in a dome from a beautiful cornice.
There appeared such an elegant simplicity in the archi-
tecture, and such a truly attic grace in the ornaments,
that Sir William Chambers exceedingly regretted the
necessity there was for its dilapidation. The figures
painted on the panels were in fresco; the ornaments under
the surbase were in their heights touched with gold. The
few articles of furniture that remained here were in the
antique style, and there were several pictures upon the