The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-13 00:00:00

THE LATE SIR BENJAMIN

STEPHEN SON, G.C.H.,

SOMETIME SURVEYOR-GENERAL OF THE BOARD OF
WORKS, AND LATE ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF
WOODS AND FORESTS.
(From the British Queen.)
Sir Benjamin Stephenson, in his early days, was an
officer in a foreign service, and was first publicly known
in England as Colonel Stephenson, right-hand-man and
Master of the Household to Queen Charlotte, whose good
graces and patronage he acquired and maintained by
the two cardinal virtues in her eyes, of taking snuff and
stinginess. His most laborious duties were performed
at Windsor, during the custody of George the Third
by his amiable consort ; and so well did he strive to gain
tne favour of his Royal Mistress, that it was a common
saying in the household, the worthy Colonel " was never
content unless he extracted three legs from a duck." In
fact, to enlarge the wll-paid privy purse of his mistress,
there was nothing too small in the expenditure of the
Castle that could escape his vigilant eye. For years he
might be considered the King of Windsor, and his
power at Court was immense, so much so that the
records of the time will show, that when on the
evening that the lamented Princess Charlotte
quitted Pu lingham Palace to be united to Prince
Leopold at Carlton house, she was conducted
from the drawing-room to the carriage, following
her. Royal grandmother, by Colonel Stephenson.
Stephenson was always allowed to be a brave officer,
and as vigilance is said to be a necessary qualification
to carry out a good general's plans, perhaps no man
ever looked farther. Age crept upon the Queen,
and, as is always the case about the Court, some
good place must be found or made to provide for
a faithful servant when patronage ceases. Wyatt--
James Wyatt—the great Wyatt —Surveyor-General
of the Board of Works, departed this life, and a
regeneration of that department was made by Par-
liament, under the auspices of those eminent
statesmen, the Earl of Liverpool and Nick Van-
sittart, now Lord Bexley, and the salary enjoyed by
poor Wyatt of 5001. per annum, was, by Act of
Parliament. raised to future Surveyors-General to
1,5001. There were three candidates for the office
of the Head of the Architects of England ; Smirke,
who was privately employed by . Lord Liverpool,
old Soane, who fancied himself the greatest architect
in the world, and whose only claim to such was spoiling
all the good and clever work of Sir Robert Taylor at the
Bank of England, and our worthy Colonel ; and such
was the overwhelming int:,.reSt Of 'the Queen, that Col.
Stephensor, after the office hid been kept in abey-
ance twelve months, in consequence*of the intrigues of
the three candidates, was appointed. A Colonel in a fo-
reign service, *hose whole duties at Windsor and Lon-
don, had been the regulating and examining the kitchen
department, appointed, at three times the salary, to succeed
James Wyatt ! In accordance with our opening,
let us here thrown in a few anecdotes of Wyatt.
Wyatt, perhaps, take him " all in all," was as emi-
nent an architect as ever lived. There is scarcely a
nobleman's seat in the country, that does not carry the
mark of his hand, and the Universities also testify his
abilities. Notwithstanding the immense sums that
passed through Wyatt's hands, his natural indolence, and
love of women and gaming, caused him to die in great
distress : but such was his power of conversation, his
sweetness of temper,-and gentlemanly manners, that he
was universally beloved. He was a great favourite with
George the Third and Queen Charlotte, and when his
Majesty was building the palace at Kew, which Wyatt
superintended, he was frequently the only guest of their
Majesties of an afternoon, who admitted him to unre-
served conversation. To show the natural indolence of
Wyatt, the folk,wing anecdote is told :—He was profes-
sionally engaged in some distant part of the country,
and some wors at Windsor Castle were stopped for his
directions, and the King having learned the cause, di-
rected the clerk of the works to proceed express to
Wyatt, and to command the instant attendance, at Wind-
sor, of his Surveyor-General. Mr. Matthews, the clerk
of the works, who had been appointed by Wyatt, and of
whom he had a very high opinion, proceeded as fast as
four horses could take him to Wyatt, and having kept
the horses as relays back, conveyed to him his Majesty's
commands. Wyatt, instantly, with Matthews, started
for Windsor, and in due course arrived within about
three stages, when during the changing of horses, he
entered the inn for the purpose of getting some refresh-
ment. It should here be remarked, that as some people
have a deadly antipathy to some things from their birth,
so Wyatt had as equal a longing for, and enjoyment of,
a pork-chop ; and having espied a most delicious loin
hanging in the larder, directed that a couple should be
got ready immediately. When Matthews announced omunct ved,a
:the
t
horses-xeady, he was met by the reply they must
until he had finished the pork-chops ; which having
done, and further met with some good h
8-erry, he, as was
his cuAom, took a nap. Matthews, impatient, went into
the room, awoke the Surveyor-General, and pleaded his
Majesty's displeasure for their immediate departure. It
was of no use. " Matthews," says -Wyatt, "those pork-
chops were the best I' ever tasted ; the wine is good ; and
for myself, and
I have ordered the loin to be reserved ,
from hence Ido not stir until I have finished it." Ile
kept his word and the King waitin,7,, for he did not arrive
in Windsor until the ensuing evening, from his enjoy-
ment, of his two first chops, and having finished the
loin. In corroboration of this anecdote, the King and
Queen, one Sunday evening, walking on the terrace at
Windsor, in conversation with the Earl of Pembroke,
whose seat of Wilton Wyatt was 'embellishing, and with
whom he was an especial favourite, his Majestyobserved,
" Pembroke ! Pembroke ! her Majesty commanded my
Surveyor-General yesterday to attend her at three o'clock.
What time—what time do you think he came ?" Lord
Pembroke ventured to reply, to screen his friend, that
" probably Wyatt's numerous engagements might compel
him, very reluctantly, to disobey her Majesty by being
half an hour after his time." " Why," said the King,
smiling, "he never came at all ; he never came at all.''

FRENCH AND ENGLISH HOUSES CON-
TRASTED.—It was in search for lodgings that we were
most struck with the difference between French and
English houses, in the extreme disorder and discomfort of
the doors and passages by which the former are ap-
proached.is such,
It in fact, that no one, who can help
it, thinks of living on the ground-floor ; such apart-
ments are, therefore, almost entirely appropriated to
'shops and other offices. In many instances, `I should
certainly have supposed that the entrance to a respect-
able house would lead to a place for horses or cattle ;
and the stairs, too, being never washed, and com-
mon to A the families who live on the various
stages or flats, are often dirty and disgusting in
the extreme: Yet no sooner is the door of a saloon
or bedroom thrown open than you see the walls
fi..orried with beautiful paper, handsome slabs and fire
pieces of marble, elegant time-pieces, and other fancy
ornaments, with hooking-glasses, in gilt frames, in great ,
vtriety ar.d number. In addition to which, the window- ,
curtains are always arranged with taste ; and over the
beds, which are covered with silk, or curiously knitted
counterpanes, hang rich canopies, chiefly of crimson,
composed of festoons and fringes, as handsome as they
are often inappropriate. It is, then, without carpets,
and without comforts of a thousand kinds, that English
people are content to live abroad ; and I am inclined to
think that this is the grand secret of being able tolive at
less expense in France than our native country, because
we are satisfied to do without a vast number of things
which we imagine to be essential to respectability at
tome. And, perhaps, we are sufficiently repaid for our
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