Charles Barry

“ In 1860 Sir Charles Barry died suddenly, and upon his son Edward devolved the duty of completing his father's works. Foremost of these was the new palace at Westminster, which was at length entrusted to him by the government. Barry now succeeded not only to his father's business, but also to his reputation. On 29 March 1862 he married Lucy, daughter of Thomas Kettlewell, and two of the three children of the marriage still survive. The remaining years of his life record a long series of works designed by him, many of them of national magnitude and importance. ”

“ BARRY, ALFRED (1826–1910) , primate of Australia and canon of Windsor, born at Ely Place, Holborn, on 15 Jan. 1826, was second son of Sir Charles Barry [q. v.] , architect, whose 'Life and Works' he published (1867 ; 2nd ed. 1870) , and elder brother of Edward Middleton Barry [q. v.] , whose Royal Academy lectures on architecture he edited with a memoir in 1881. His mother was Sarah, daughter of Samuel Rowsell. His youngest brother is Sir John Wolfe Wolfe Barry, K.C.B., the civil engineer. ”

“ BARRY, ELIZABETH (1658–1713) , actress, is said to have been the daughter of Edward Barry, a barrister, who, during the civil wars, raised a regiment for Charles I, and was subsequently known as Colonel Barry. ”

“ Mrs Barry’s performance as Isabella, queen of Hungary, in the earl of Orrery’s Mustapha, was said to have caused Charles II. and the duke and duchess of York so much delight that the duchess took lessons in English from her, and when she became queen she gave Mrs Barry her coronation robes in which to appear as Elizabeth in Banks’s Earl of Essex. Mrs Barry is said to have created over 100 parts, and she was particularly successful in the plays of Thomas Otway. Betterton says that her acting gave “success to plays that would disgust the most patient reader.” ”

“ By Jove!” cried he, aloud, “were Barry just to see what we 've done,—how we 've treated the place, the people, his daughter!—were he only to know how I 've kept my word with him—Look, Repton,” added he, grasping the other's arm as he spoke, “there's not as generous a fellow breathing as Barry; this world has not his equal for an act of noble self-devotion and sacrifice. ”

“ But his knowledge was more practical than theoretical, and in his work he received the most valuable assistance from the scientific knowledge, ingenuity, and power of contrivance of Mr. Meeson, who was for a long time his chief assistant in this branch of office work. His aid was zealously and unobtrusively given, and heartily appreciated. Working side by side with him, and bringing practical energy, daring, and ingenuity to carry out much difficult and hazardous work, Mr. Quarm did good service to the building, and showed an enthusiastic loyalty and devotion towards his chief. ”

“ The rear front seemed to him to be spoilt by the centre, which did not harmonize with the rest, and (by “a most unwarrantable wickedness”) broke the general entablature, and moreover outraged his feelings by the superposition of three orders (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian) . The interior courtyard he liked less still; and, among other criticisms, he noticed here what seemed to him at all times offensive, the solidity of the upper story, resting on two arcaded courses below. ”

“ Barry, by the advice of his friends, had remained silent. He felt deeply the painful position in which he was placed, and, most of all, certain insinuations, touching not only his own character, but that of Sir E. Cust. It was asserted that he was “Sir E. Cust’s tool,” that the design in fact was that gentleman’s, and he only his draughtsman. [66] It was a relief to know that{155} the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to consider the question in March, 1836, gave opportunity for the following evidence from Sir E. Cust [67] —
Lord Francis Egerton. ”

“ The early mornings till breakfast time, and the evening hours from eight o’clock till (at the earliest) eleven or twelve, were devoted to the drawing-board; the day from ten to five to superintendence of buildings in progress and to various business. This was his regular work; but during the time of the preparation of the competition drawings for the New Palace he hardly gave himself more than four or five hours’ sleep out of the twenty-four. Work, however, simply as work, never seemed to overtask his powers ”

“ With regard to the leading members of his own profession, of Mr. Nash, the Wyatts, and Sir R. Smirke, he knew little or nothing; of Sir J. Soane he had some slight knowledge, and from him on one occasion (that of the Islington churches) I believe he received some recommendation; of his own contemporaries he knew best Mr. Cockerell and Mr. Tite, and afterwards (partly through Mr. Wolfe) Messrs. Donaldson, Angell, and Poynter—all beginning life, as he was, and struggling, with more or less of advantage, against the same obstacles. ”

“ Wolfe. He alone aided Sir Charles by encouragement and help, by suggestion and criticism, in the labour of the first conception of the design, and the greater labour of its subsequent development.
[106] He did not regard even Clapham Church as hopeless, as a sketch for a chancel made in his Prayer-book before service can testify. But such sketches were sometimes dangerously artistic, and excited hopes which it was hard to realize. ”

“ I 'll tell you what, Barry, you 'll do the boy good service by taking him along with you. There 's a healthful sincerity in the active life of the New World well fitted to dispel illusions that take their rise in the indolent voluptuousness of the Old. Carry him off then, I say; accept no excuses nor apologies. Send him away to buy powder and shot, leather gaiters, and the rest of it. When I saw him first myself, it was in the character of a poacher, and he filled the part well. Ah! he is gone,” added he, perceiving that Martin had just quitted the room. ”

“ Pugin, whose assistance he secured in making out some of the drawings for details. The acquaintance ripened into friendship, a friendship unclouded by a single misunderstanding, and closed only by the death of his gifted coadjutor. Here, also, it was his good fortune to discover Mr. Thomas (afterwards so well known for his work at the New Palace of Westminster) working as an ordinary stone-carver. Mr. Barry at once saw his remarkable talent, and resolved to give it a more worthy sphere for development.
Alterations at Dulwich College.—His other Gothic works were of minor scale and importance. ”

“ Merl's part here admonished the speaker to speak lower.
“Ay,” continued Maurice, “that fellow there—whoever he is or whatever he is—is no fool! he 's deep enough; and yet there 's not a bare-legged gossoon on the estate I won't back to take him in.”
“But Barry's another kind of man entirely. You wouldn't call him cute or cunning; but he's a sensible, well-judging man, that has seen a deal of life.”
“And what is it, he says, brings him here?” asked Scanlan. ”

“ Repton was standing at his parlor window, anxiously awaiting his friend's arrival, when the chaise with four posters came to the door. “What have we here?” said the old lawyer to himself, as Barry assisted a lady dressed in deep mourning to alight, and hurried out to receive them.
“I have not come alone, Repton,” said the other. “I have brought my daughter with me.” Before Repton could master his amazement at these words, she had thrown back her veil, revealing the well-known features of Kate Henderson. ”

“ John Lamb was the favorite of his mother, as the deformed child is frequently the dearest. "She would always love my brother above Mary," Charles writes in 1796, "although he was not worth one tenth of the affection which Mary had a right to claim. Poor Mary! my mother never understood her right." In another place (after he had been unburdening his heart to Coleridge) , he writes cautiously, "Since this has happened,"— the death of his mother,—"he has been very kind and brotherly; but I fear for his mind. He has taken his ease in the world, and is not fit to struggle with difficulties. ”

“ That Mr. Pugin was the last man in the world to encroach on another man’s authority or credit he knew, and that this confidence in his friend’s character was not misplaced is shown by the strong disclaimer which he put out, when an attempt was made to attribute to him more than he felt to be his due. The misapprehensions of others he could afford to disregard.
After Mr. Barry’s appointment as architect, he still received the same aid in preparing detailed drawings for the estimate, most of which however, by changes in design, were afterwards set aside. Finally, at his recommendation, Mr. ”

“ Coleridge says, is "impersonal") , and humor also; but it is not easy to distinguish the humor of one man from that of all other humorists, so as to bring his special quality clearly before the apprehension of the reader. Perhaps the best (if not the most scientific) way might be to produce specimens of each. In Charles Lamb's case, instances of his humor are to be found in his essays, in his sayings (already partially reported) , and throughout his letters, where they are very frequent. They are often of the composite order, in which humor, and wit, and (sometimes) pathos are intermingled. ”

“ Pugin’s appointment to superintend the internal fittings as relieving the architect of labour and responsibility, and accordingly to deduct the salary (200l. a-year) paid to that gentleman, from Sir C. Barry’s professional remuneration.
(d.) An offer (which they considered “fair and even liberal”) to allow three per cent. instead of five on the gross outlay, and to reimburse the architect for the expenses of measurement. ”

“ So long as Professor Airy was able to take an active part in the work, no difficulty seems to have occurred. But now a proposal was made by Lord John Manners (who had succeeded Lord Seymour) that some other referees should be appointed, and that the architect should be one of them. This proposal seems to have greatly excited Mr. Denison’s wrath; but, considering the trouble which Mr. Barry had already had from the appointment of persons to carry out works on the building, independent of himself and uncontrolled by any superior power, considering also the temper which Mr. ”

“ From the age of twenty-one to the age of fifty- nine, when he died, he hated fine words and flourishes of rhetoric. His imagination (not very lofty, perhaps) is to be discovered less in his verse than in his prose humor, than in his letters and essays. In these it was never trivial, but was always knit together by good sense, or softened by tenderness. Real humor seldom makes its appearance in the first literary ventures of young writers. Accordingly, symptoms of humor (which, nevertheless, were not long delayed) are not to be discovered in Charles Lamb's first letters or poems ”

“ But Hogarth was the greatest inventor,—the greatest discoverer of character,—in the English or any other school. As a painter of manners he is unapproached. In a kindred walk, he traversed all the passions from the lowest mirth to the profoundest melancholy, possessing the tragic element in the most eminent degree. And if grandeur can exist— as I presume it can—in beings who have neither costume nor rank to set off their qualities, then some of the characters of Hogarth in essential grandeur are far beyond the conventional figures of many other artists. ”

“ There is something so unique and striking in its grand features, and such endless labour and ingenuity in its ornaments and hieroglyphics, that it opens to me an entirely new field. No object I have yet seen, not even the Parthenon itself (the truest model of beauty and symmetry existing) , has made so forcible an impression upon me. The most striking feature of the building is its vast portico, six columns in front and four in depth, giving a depth of shadow and an air of majestic gravity such as I have never before seen. ”

“ Barry is simply a man who is closer akin to the brute forces in nature. See! By the eternal heavens, he's dragging that beast—that dumb beast—back from the door of death!"
Barry had ceased his rapid manipulations, and turned the big dog back upon its side. Now the eyes of Black Bart opened, and winked shut again. Now the master kneeled at the head of the beast and took the scarred, shaggy head between his hands.
"Bart!" he commanded.
Not a stir in the long, black body. The stallion edged a pace closer, dropped his velvet muzzle, and whinnied softly at the very ear of the dog. ”

“ No pictures crowded his brain. He was simply keyed to a high point of expectancy, and therefore, when the door was opened silently, he sprang up as if in acknowledgment of an alarm and faced Barry. The latter closed the door behind him and glided after the big dog. He had almost crossed the big room when Byrne was able to speak.
"Mr. Barry!" he called.
The man hesitated.
"Mr. Barry," he repeated.
And Dan Barry turned. It was something like the act of the wolf the moment before; a swift movement—a flash of the eyes in something like defiance.
"Mr. Barry, are you leaving us?" ”

“ He had more real knowledge of old English literature than any man whom I ever knew. He was not an antiquarian. He neither hunted after commas, nor scribbled notes which confounded his text. The Spirit of the author descended upon him; and he felt it! With Burton and Fuller, Jeremy Taylor and Sir Thomas Browne, he was an intimate. The ancient poets—chiefly the dramatic poets—were his especial friends. He knew every point and turn of their wit, all the beauty of their characters; loving each for some one distinguishing particular, and despising none. ”