The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-11 00:00:00

many occasions did no more than supply the instruc-
tions usually given to an architect by his client, and
confirm my statement that, "although the genera)
drawings.then and subsequently supplied comprised
every portion of the building, Sir Charles was un-
able to proceed whenever details were wanting."
Thus, with the general designs for the different por-
tions of the House of Lords in his possession, he
writes from Brighton in 1844 thus :—

"Dear Pttgin,—I am in a regular fix respecting the fittings
and decorations for tho House of Lords, which it is of vital
importance to me should bo finished with the utmost de-
spatch. I am induced to write to you that you may be
both able and willing to pass a week or ten days with me
for the purt oso of working out the drawings in question,
and of enabling me to consult you generally."
Further on the letter proceeds :—

"But I think you will now have enough to do for scme
time to come, notwithstanding your fifty-horso power of
creation."

From all this it may be plainly seen what Sir
Charles Barry meant by " details,"—not some
minute ornament for one of his own designed fea-
tures, but the " features" themselves—" not one of
which," Mr. Wolfe declares, " was ever designed by
Pugin." On the 22d of October, 1836, Sir Charles
writes :—" Being from home yesterday, I could not
ackn owledge by return of post the receipt of the draw-
ings of the House of Lords, which came to hand last
night, and afforded me a rich treat." (May I ask,
by the way, whether people generally have " a rich
treat" in seeing merely enlarged copies of their own
designs ?) In the same letter, speaking of the King's
and Record Tower entrance :—" This you may make
of any design you may think proper ;" and of the
King's stairs, " The design of this part should, I
think, be of a simple and massive character." If this
is not an admission that my father actually designed
these portions of the building, what is it ? Perhaps
it may convince Messrs. Charles and Edward Barry
that so far from my father ever getting " unmerited
credit for his share in the designs of theNew Palace,"
he never got a tithe of what was due to him.
There are a multitude of other entries of the
same character in his diaries, all proving that he
was constantly supplying Sir Charles Barry with
every kind of design.

When Sir Charles had obtained what he considered
a sufficient supply he cut the cable by which he rode
so long, and intrusted my father's designs to Mr.
Thomas, a man whose practical education was due
to his working according to my father's drawings
and under his instructions at the Birmingham
Grammar School. My father acutely felt this un-
generous treatment, and for many years refused all
intercourse with Sir Charles Barry—a fact quite
contrary to the oft-repeated assertion that " their
mutual friendship was continuous and uninterrupted."
When my father again consented to design for Sir
Charles, he did so—as he himself constantly assured
me—•solely on condition of having an official ap-
pointment under Government, over which Sir Charles
should have no control ; " for," he- said, " as soon
as Barry has obtained what he requires from me he
will repeat 1837." The letter of 1845 was simply
the sequel to his having sold his brains in 1835. In
that year ho became a Catholic, and I have often
heard him say, " With that my chance for the Houses
vanished, and I made the best of the situation."
The Messrs. Barry ridicule this statement, and
speak of " an anonymous competition, the essence of
which was the concealment of the names of the
competitors ;" but, independent of the consideration
that his success, with an almost absolute certainty,
might not have been followed by confirmation, I am
compelled to say that, while it is quite true that
their drawings might pass without detection in the
most limited competition, my father's touch was as
conclusive as his autograph, whether shown on the
margin of a note or on the magnificent designs still
existing, which he prepared for the Houses, manyof
which I saw on Monday the 12th of August last, as
well as drawings made by Sir Charles Barry from
my father's designs. These designs can be produced,
as also a witness who saw them prepared.
In addition to the emoluments of his office, I
find on reference to his pass-book that in the
space of one year, from July, 1844, to July,
1845, my father received directly from Sir Charles
£006 2s. Gd. This must have been for work of
some value, and surely not, as Mr. Talbot Bury de-
clares, for taking charge of wood carving works, or
for showing his " old friend" large detail drawings
prepared by Sir Chas. Barry himself, which he was
engaged to see properly executed.
Mr. Barry has told the whole story in one word.
He says that between 1840 and 1818 the whole of
the designs for the great work which passed through
his father's office were " finally" prepared by
Sir Charles alone. This may be true to the letter,
for as soon as he had obtained my father's designs
he invariably had them redrawn for use in his office.
Mr. Barry does not, however, state by whom the
previous designs were made, which " finally" became
Sir Charles's own compositions. Now, I was myself
engaged for many years together with another,
whom I will not at present name, in assisting to
draw out designs for the houses, which designs I
know emanated from my father alone, and were pre-
pared by him. I have seen my father on number-
less occasions prepare every kind of design while Sir
Charles himself stood by, but never on one single
occasion did Sir Charles put pencil to paper, and he
generally left with large rolls of drawings. Sir
Charles also in his letters constantly acknowledges
the receipt of designs and drawings. If, then, as my
opponents insinuate, none of them were ever seen
in Sir Charles Barry's office, what became of them ?
Did Sir Charles pay large sums for their production
and take them away merely to destroy them ? Or,
rather, does not the very denial of their existence
prove that I was correctly informed by my father
that Sir Charles traced all his (my father's) designs
privately before they were submitted to "final"
preparation? Some of these tracings, and the ori-
ginal sketch of the clock tower, I have now in my
possession. The above statements are somewhat
confirmed by Mr. Ferrey himself in his Biography,
page 247. " Pugin drew, and Barry suggested and
digested, the parts in which the skill of Pugin was
required."
In further confirmation of what I have advanced
I give a few other extracts from Sir Chas. Barry's
letters. In one dated November 25, 1845, evidently
a reply to a letter from my father, complaining
of insufficient remuneration, he says : — " I am
well aware that your remuneration has been
hitherto altogether inadequate to your deserts, and
that the fat has yet to come. It shall not be my
fault if your remuneration ultimately is not all that
you can wish; but I will not do you the injustice
to believe that filthy lucre is the mainspring of all
your efforts on behalf of the great work ; but that,
like myself, you are prepared to make a sacrifice
for the glory of making it the means of establishing
for the future what you believe the one and only
true style of art."
On the 23d of October, 1848, speaking of metal
work, screens, and fittings generally, required for
completing the House, he writes--" I shall be glad
to receive sketches of your ideas at your earliest
convenience."

In another letter, dated December 18, 1850 :—
" 1 should much like to see what you have done and
are doing for me before I see you on the 30th, in
order that I may have time for lucubration, and
arrange everything with you finally when we meet
on that day."

On the 5th of January, 1851, in reference to
designs received from my father :—" I have been
overhauling the whole of them with a view to be-
come acquainted with them, in case any question,
whether of a critical or other character, should be
put to me respecting them. The bulk of them I
perfectly understand and approve ; the one which I
enclose I confess I am at loss both to read and com-
prehend perfectly. Pray enlighten me with respect
to it." In this instance the drawings are so tho-
roughly my father's own that Sir Charles requires
an explanation of them to give to higher au-
thorities.

On the 10th of January, 1851, he writes :—" I
like the idea of the heraldic illustrations of the his-
tory of the Black Prince for the polygonal stairs,
and I should like to have a little time to think over
the details." This proves what Mr. Wolfe states,
that " my father's suggestions led occasionally to
Sir Charles's ideas."

On the 25th of January, 1851:—." I enclose
tracings of windows of the central ha , St. Stephen's-