The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-13 00:00:00

PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED.

S. Samuel and R. Doke, Liverpool, silversmiths—E:
Carden, T. Carden, and W. A. Carden, Regent-Circus,
Oxford-street, silk-mercers—Susannah Smith and C.
Smith, Chertaey, Surrey, bakers—T. Callcott, Hill, Wem,
Shropshire, and T. Alenlove, Petton, Shropshire, coal-
merchants—J. Galbraith, jun. D. Forrett, and R. Clark,
Glasgow, haberdashers (so far as regards J. Galbraith,
jun.)—T. Arnold and T. Southcott, Manchester, joiners
H. Wilson and W. Swayne, Rochford, Essex, solici-
tors—G. Vosper and A. Vosper, Callington, Cornwall,
linen-drapers—W. B. Tarbutt and C. B. Tarbutt, St.
Mildred's-court, Poultry, merchants—E. Stubbs, J. D.
Hancock, and E. Staple, Whitechapel-road, coach-makers
(so far as regards E. Staple)—W. Harrison and W. Knee,
Reading, Berkshire, printers—J. F. Hanson and W. Bad-
den, Size-lane, dealers--H. Jefferson, sen., R. Jefferson,
and H. Jefferson, jun., Whitehaven, Cumberland, wine-
merchants (so far as regards H. Jefferson, sen. )—T. Bark-
ley and C. Smith, Little Tower-strget, chemists.

On Tuesday last, died at Maidstone, James
Kean, a seventh son of a seventh son, who, by virtue of
his birth, cured diseases, as it were by instinct. He car-
ried on a flourishing trade for some years, until, unfortu-
nately for him, a poor infatuated patient died at the
doctor's house, while waiting for advice. An inquest was
held on the body of the patient, and it was clearly proved
that the doctor did not kill him ; but the occurrence, com-
bined with the profound ignorance and vulgarity displayed
by the doctor on the inquest, gave a mortal stab to his
fame, and marred his rising fortunes.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCIIS Jtatz IQ•
soANE v. KNIGHT.

This was an action to recover a compensation in damages
for an article which appeared hi the Quarterly Magazine
of April, 1824, of the defendant, who is a bookseller in
Pall-mall East. The plaintiff is the celebrated architect.
Mr. GURNEY stated the case. The old Courts of Justice
in Westminster-hall were taken down some few years ago
with the intention of rebuilding them so as to afford more
accommodation, and the plaintiff was appointed the
archited. In the spring of 1824, he had scarcely erected
this Court, wheel he was mailed by newspapers and ma-
gazines, in such a mauder tts evidently showed no little
malignity against him as well as hit' works. Every man
thinks he is born an architect, and that he is qualified to
judge of that which takes the whole life of the artist to
learn. The defendant, in the Spring of 1824, at the time
when this Court was in an unfinished state, but covering
more ground than it does at present, so as to prevent the
necessity of our entering the Court through a crowd,
published the libel of which we complain. It is an article
evidently prompted by private pique and malice against
a man who has attained the advanced age of three score
years and ten.' Mr. Soane called upon the defendant, who
was the publisher ; he tkought proper to withhold the
name of the author, who has not scrupled to represent Mr.
Some as the Boeotian professor and the inventor of a new
order of architecture. Mr. Gurney read the passages com-
plained of (which are after stated at full length) comment-
ing upon them as he proceeded. That Mr. Soane was to
be thus held up to the ridicule of all who knew nothing
of the subject, that is to say, the great mass of mankind, as
the inventor of a new order of architecture, far doing that
which in fact he had not done, was mere than he could put
up with, and besides, he considered that what was his case
to -day might be the case of a young man to-morrow, who
might be overwhelmed with such unjust attacks, and he
therefore brought the present action as well for the protec-
tion of rising young artists as for his own vindication.
Colonel Stephenson examined by Mr. Bagtrcruast.—l•
am surveyor-General to the Board of Works. I know
Mr. Soane. He is the architect under the Board, and was
employed in designing and superintending the erection of
the new Court.
Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL.-Mr.
Seaue was the architect of the buildings round the House
of Lords, and of the entrance for His Majesty. I attended
his Lectures on Architecture some years ago at the Royal
Academy. He was not a severe critic on other artists.
Re-examined.—Part of the buildings in 1824 were
pulled down, and this Court was contracted in consequence
of the orders of the Committee of Taste.
Mr. Miller purchased the magazine at the defendant's
shop.
$Mr. Britton.—ln my judgment the passages pointed out
apply to Mr. Soane.
Cross-examined.—They made no unfavourable impres-
sion on my mind against him ; some of my works have
been reviewed with severity. I never brought any action
against the Edinburgh or Quarterly Reviews.
The passages complained of •vere then read. They are
as follows :
" On the 6th or Beeotian Order of Architecture.
"We have thus complied with the mode which prevails
of considering the column as one of the two great distin-
guishing characteristics of our order, but as instances of
the pure Boeotian order are yet rare in this country (though
we hope to be the humble instruments of its more extensive
application), we shall proceed to investigate some of the pe-
culiar advantages and singularly beautiful effects of its style.
Fortunately for us and our readers, splendid examples of
it are within the range of their daily walks and ancient
neighbourhood.' In entering into this part of our subject,
we feel bound to confess that so recent is our initiation into
its arena, that we have much less of the decision of the
connoisseur than the diffidence of the student. Indeed, se
apparently opposed are some of its doctrines to the gene-
rally adulated notions of good taste and propriety, that we
should never have yielded our assent to their truth upon
less authority than the precepts and practice of the present
professor of architecture. To that alone have we bowed
as he has to that of Van Bluggen ; and, until the gene-
alogy of our readers' credence be as perfect as our own, we
shall claim no other admiration from them than an acqui-
escence in the fact of our undoubted veracity. The first
dogma we heard ex cathedra made a whole host of preju-
dices reel, and we were infidels enough to withhold our con-
♦iction till the evidence of another sense disproved all doubt.

It was this :
" Ist. That the utility of every building (not merely
ornamental) may be sacrificed in any degree to further the
architect's view of making it'a work of fine art.
" There ban been an opinion even to the present time
among all writers of jurisprudence, that the administration
of justice should be as public as possible. A conviction of
the truth of this proposition appears to have influenced the
Government of this country to remove the old Law Courts
in Westminster-hall, which were contracted and inconve-
venient. It was ordered that the'Bceotian Professor should
eruct a new series of handsome and splendid buildings, and
this order had in view the antiquated maxim that
" ''Ti. use alone that sanctifies expence,
" And splendour borrows all her rays from sense.'
The professor, with the wand of a magician, has called up
the present law courts, not for the accommodation of a
listening public, not for the convenience of suitors, not for
the ready access of witnesses, not for the ready unobstructed
pursuits of students ; not for the uncrowded ease of bar-
risters, not for the state and dignity of the bench, but from
genuine and convincing illustrations of this dogma of
Baotian style. The greatest law officer of a country con-
taining twenty millions of people is desired to pro-
nounce upon their various and complicated interests
in an area of 22 feet by 24. As might be expected from
so daring an assertion of the supremacy of art, the profes-
sor has had to encounter the prejudices of men in power
and out of power, but he will triumph over them all, and
make the Boeotian science rear its mysterious masses un-
curbed ; yea, and its wall shall not be removed even
though Kings and Parliament shall frown.
" 3. That the Professor of Baotian Art be absolved
from all obedience to the established authorities in archi-
tecture, and be perfectly free to follow the Cadmean prac.
tics alone as described by Vander Von Bluggen.
" 4. That there is no relation:whatever between the parts
and the whole of the Baotian order and style, or between
the parts themselves, and that all notions of relative propor-
tion are chimerical and absurd.
" So different from the fourth dogma of the Boeotian ar-
chitecture have been the opinions of the most eminent pro-
fessors on the subject of proportion, that in all the subor-
dinate orders a constant relation has been preserved between
all the members in their multifarious combination. To
take a single instance—whenever columns are accompanied
by pilasters in the same design, the diameter of the one nai-
formly corresponds to that of the other, a practice which
is considered the axiom of the art. Not so in the &soli/tn.
In this the shackles of ancient prejudice have been burst
through, the columns may be the diameter of a lady's finger,
and the pilaster have the breadth of a porter's shoulders;
the column may be indicated by the professor's pencil, and
the size of his pilaster rival that of his portfolio.—Vide Por-
ticus Emporii Robinsis.
" Again, it has been believed that as little licence could
be allowed in the variation of the proportions of a capital
to its shaft, as in that of the head of the human trunk.—
The slightest departure from the received limit was instinc-
tively condemned as tasteless, inharmonious, and oftensive.
Bceotian art spurns this prejudice, and expands its capital
from the compactness of the ovolo to the distension of the
umbrella, a circumstance at once characteristic and conve-
nient. Again, the firmest supporters of the arch have been
supposed to be those which are usually denominated its
piers, and which are placed immediately beneath the
springing of the curve. The great triumph of Boiotian
science is to knock away this natural support, and to leave
the arch miraculously suspended by the back, like a stuffed
crocodile in the ceiling of a museum. To show the safety
of the practice, the professor has adopted this in his own
domicile, and over the lawyers' heads in the passage to the
New Court he has suspended an infinite series of these
' fabrics' baseless as their arguments, and interminable as
their harangues. It would be tedious to multiply exam-
ples of this interesting dogma, they occur in every square
yard of the professor's masonry, and they will embellish
every page of Vander Von Bluggen's book."
The ATTORNEY-GZNIRAL said, it was the undoubted
right of the press to endeavour to correct the public taste,
and to explode by argument or ridicule all false notions and
erroneous works. Of all classes artists had least right to
complain of the press. It is possible that a work of real
merit may for the time be obscured and thrown into the
shade by the critic, and may not emerge from obscurity until
the prejudice of the day passes. Even in the Edinburgh
and Quarterly Reviews, I may read criticisms which may
shade my opinion of many works of sterling merit, but it
could never be endured that a work of criticism should be
the subject of action in a Court of Justice, and I should
the it public mischief if an author could maintain
an action for a criticism on his works, however mistaken
that criticism might be. The power of ridicule and the
efforts of wit are not given by nature for useless pur-
poses. That work alone that can stand the butt of ridi-
cule becomes immortal, for that which ridicule can put
down ought to be put down. If this remark applies
to books, still more does it apply to the artist whose
works, like his materials, are lasting, and who covers a me-
tropolis with them. The court we are now in is pot the

Work of a day, and it will remain and live in the ma'
mory and mind of the future lawyer, who shall make 1110
interminable harangue in it. What signifies to the pktia"
tiff that shapeless building which a Committee of the goo°
of Commons ordered to be pulled down, as he has the pl:(1
sent Court to maintain his reputation. Has the plaiutr.,
suffered any thing by the defendant's publicatioar, has
lost any thing? Is he not still employed. His works).
themselves, are the true criterion of his genius, on whicii'
his reputation depends. If we wanted a house to be bat'
should we be deterred, by reading this book, from emlPl°Y-
ing Mr. Soane ? No ; we should Took at his works,
courts of justice, and judge for ourselves, and not be direrP"
by a paltry maga:tine. Mr. S. did, some years ago, bring
action for a libel upon the bank, which he 'built, and thel°'
Lord Ellenborough, then at the bar, who defended the 07
tion, compered that building to a spare rib of pork scare'.
down the middle. Mr. Soane then met with the same sac'
test that I hope he will now base. Lord Ellenborough
after Wards, hi an action which Sir John Carr brae.
against One of the reviews, reprobated such actions,-
for if an injury were done to a work by a critieisla,'
it was damnum absgue in juria—and be instanced St.'
Lock's criticism on Sir Robert Filmer's work ow (4°;
vernment, w'o;eli completely demolished the reputation-
that work, and asked if Sir Robert Filmer could ha,
brought his action against Mr. Lock. There .is no redee'
tion in this publication on the personal character Of tb:
plaintiff; his works, the public buildings, reerelY
tacked. With all respect to Mr. Soane, I confess 11)",,f
do really think he has made a mistake in these Col rts
Justice, and has sacrificed utility to beauty. It was
duty go to make the first motion before the new L
Cliatwellor. I assure you I was nearly killed in the Po;
sage iri getting into the Court, se ill-contrived, as I thioke'
are the passages, I think the style of architecture for a'
Court of Justice ahould be grave, solemn, and serene, al:61•
that this Court is too much ornamented. I may be wroq,
in my criticism, yet I submit that no action will Vie agai°
me on account of it, and, whether the criticism in the pub',
lication is right or wrong, I ask your verdict. Good Goa
how hard it would be on the poor critics in all the periafr
cal publications, if they were to be cast in damages be'.
cause their criticisms are not just. How hard it is upoa;,
the defendant, who is compelled to pay his proportion 01,
this public building, as well as you and me, that he should'
not be allowed to laugh at what he does not like. l‘frcii
Soane, who builds treasuries, and through whose hal:
•
large sums for public buildings pass, on all of which he bog,
5 per cent., shall be allowed to say, " If the public (1. °f•
like my work, they shall not laugh at it, I'll take cane
that. If they do laugh, they shall be brought into a eitii
of Justice." Is this to be endured ? The work complailiil
of had passed away, but Mr. Soane drags it from ohsc"
rity to put it in contrast with his own splendid Ware
I stand upon the public goo,i, and unless you find that:
defendant was actuated by porsonal malice, and movetio
personal attack upon the charact,.'r of the plaintiff, you
find your verdict for the defendant. rer
Lard TENTERDIN said, if you fins' this to be a fair,.
sonable, and temperate criticism, altho ugh you may tnt•
the criticism incor,-ect, the defendant ent4led to YOf
verdict ; but if you think he has gone be Yond the liaesa a
a fair consideration, and has been intemperate,
unjust, .6,
unreasonable, erd that the criticism was me Silt t° pill
dice him in his profession, you will find for the Pla:°01.
The Jury immediately found a verdict for the a'elen"-