The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-25 00:00:00

Archaeological Institute.

The proceedings of the Congress of the Archaeo-
logical Institute are approaching a close. Yesterday
there were two excursions, after the preliminary
reading of two papers at the Geological Museum in
Jermyn-street, in the section of primeval antiquities,
one of which was on the flint flakes found in Devon
and Cornwall by Mr. N. Whitley. 'The first excur-
sion was to Hampton Court, where the party arrived
soon after 1 o'clock. Mr. Parker undertook to de-
scribe the architecture of the building, and Mr.
Scharf the pictures, the interest and value of which
seem to be not sufficiently appreciated by the gene-
ral public. In the first quadrangle Mr. Parker
directed attention to the general character of the
building, which remains for the most part in the
same condition as at the time it was the palace of
Wolsey, and he contrasted the style of domestic
architecture at that period with modern buildings.
In the former he said comfort and appropriate adap-
tation were the chief points attended to, and the re-
sult was the construction of a building well adapted
to its purpose, and which looked well also; but in
modern buildings appearance was principally consi-
dered, and the houses constructed on that principle
were uncomfortable to live in, and they were the
opposite of beautiful. He particularly recommended
the decorated chimneys in the quadrangles as worthy
of imitation by modern architects.e
algnaitnheexmpaatginatified-
cent hall, which Mr. Parker described as a fine spe-
cimen of genuine English Gothic, he
on the merits of the architecture of that period, and
pointed out the general arrangements adopted in
residences of that character, which has not been im-
proved on in modern times. The arrangements of
the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, he said, were
all carried out on the same principle, and all attempts
to deviate from it had proved failures. Mr. Scharf
then gave an interesting description of the pictures
generally in Hampton Court, and of the fine speci-
men of tapestry surrounding the great hall, repre-
senting the history of Tobit and of Abraham
and Isaac. He alluded incidentally to the
miserable parsimony which had prevented the
securing of the tapestries made from the car-
toons of Raphael, which were exhibited in this
country not many years since, and were offered to
the Government for the sum of £3OO. They were
afterwards purchased abroad, and are now to be
seen at Dresden, where a gallery was erected on
purpose for their exhibition. Mr. Scharf then con-
ducted the company through all the other rooms in
the palace, stopping occasionally to point out the
portraits and paintings of most interest. The pic-
tures of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and of
Henry VIII. embarking from Dover, both by Hol-
bein, were particularly dwelt on, as being valuable
representations of the character and actions of that
period, and he particularly directed attention to the
head of Henry VIII. in the former picture, which
had been cut out by the Earl of Pembroke to pre-
vent it from being sold to the King of France, and
had been afterwards inserted, as may be seen by
looking sideways at the picture. After going in a
hurried manner through the numerous galleries the
party hastened to the railway station to catch the
train specially appointed to convey them to Putney,
from which they were to proceed to the Bishop of
London's palace at Fulham.
The bishop received them on the lawn of his beau-
tiful grounds, each gentleman being personally in-
troduced to him. He afterwards conducted the
party through the house, which is only two storeys
high, but occupies a large area. None of the rooms
are very large ; they are, however, numerous, and
in most of them there is the appearance of much
comfort. The bishop first addressed the party from
the centre of the quadrangle, which is surrounded
by offices. He stated that the estate, which occu-
pies about 36 acres, was transferred from the manor
of Fulham to the bishops of London in the seventh
century. The building has undergone so many re-
pairs and alterations that scarcely any portion of
the ancient part remains. lie, however, described
the original arrangements and the alterations that
had been effected. On entering the palace his
lordship first conducted the party into the chapel,
which was orginally the hall. It is a square apart-
ment of small size for such a purpose, with a flat
ceiling, and it is profusely illustrated with texts
from Scripture. His lordship stated that he has
erected a new small chapel in his grounds close to
the house, which will be soon completed, and then
he shall restore the present chapel to its original use.
The party followed the bishop through the drawing-
room, his study, library, and other apartments, in
some of which he paused to describe the portraits
suspended on the walls which pertain to the bishopric.
These consist principally of portraits of bishops of
London, the series being complete from the Refor-
mation to the present time.
On the lawn tables were spread for refreshments,
and the company enjoyed themselves afterwards in
rambling about the grounds, the last train having
been arranged to leave Putney at half-past 7.
To-day the annual meeting for the choice of the
town at which the next congress of the institute is
to be held will take place in the council-chamber at
Guildhall, when the proceedings will be brought to
a close,