Welsh of Milton's Paradise Lost. He edited the Cambrian Register, and contributed articles to other journals.—D. T.
PUGIN, Augustin, a celebrated architectural draftsman, born about 1762, was a native of France, but soon after the revolutionary outbreak came to London, and obtained employment in the office of Nash, the architect of Regent Street and Buckingham palace. His spare hours he occupied in making architectural drawings for publishers. Having thus formed a connection he left Nash and opened a sort of architectural atelier, where he trained students and prepared designs, and from which emanated his well-known works. The first of these, in which he brought his knowledge of mediæval architecture to bear, was his "Specimens of Gothic Architecture, selected from various ancient edifices in England," two folio and quarto volumes of one hundred and fourteen plates, 1821-23, a work which did much to extend and strengthen the growing taste for the architecture of the middle ages. Other works were "Architectural Illustrations of the Buildings of London," 2 vols., folio and quarto, 1824; and "Specimens of the Architectural Antiquities of Normandy," folio and quarto, 1825-28, both of which were published in conjunction with Mr. John Britton, while in the last he was assisted by his son, W. N. Pugin, as draftsman, and John and Henry le Keux, as engravers. His "Gothic Ornaments," and "Paris and its Environs," were also joint productions with his son. Pugin died December 19, 1832.—J. T—e.
PUGIN, Augustin Welby Northmore, son of Augustin Pugin, was born in London, March 1, 1812. He learned architectural drawing in his father's office, and whilst quite a child acquired remarkable facility with his pencil. He made many of the drawings in his father's Antiquities of Normandy, and assisted him in other works. But his impetuous temper led him to seek other occupation, and at the age of fifteen he was employed as a designer by Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, the celebrated silversmiths. Within a short time he was at work with an upholsterer, designing Gothic furniture for Windsor castle; and then assisting Messrs. Grieves the scene-painters in painting architectural scenes for Covent Garden theatre. He next started a manufactory of Gothic carvings and ornamental work, but this soon came to an end. Pugin was not yet twenty, but he was already a widower. He quickly married again, removed to Salisbury in order to establish himself as a regular architect, and there built himself an odd inconvenient residence, which he meant to serve as an example of the suitability of a Gothic dwelling for modern wants. He was constantly travelling, sketching, and note-making, and he now set himself resolutely to prepare his memoranda for publication. His first work was "Designs for Gothic Furniture in the style of the fifteenth century," 4to, 1835; and this was quickly followed by "Designs for Iron and Brass Work in the style of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries," 1835; "Designs for Gold and Silversmiths' Work," and "Ancient Timber Houses," 1836. About this time Mr. Pugin joined the Roman catholic church, and henceforth all his views on architecture and art generally were coloured by his theological sentiments. He held, and took every means of publishing his opinion, that the only true architecture was that produced by the mediæval architects under the guidance of the catholic church, and that only by casting aside "pagan" models and humbly and dutifully following in the footsteps of our catholic forefathers, could we now hope to bring about a revival of "christian" architecture. These views were set forth with strange vehemence of language and great argumentative dexterity in his "Contrasts; or a Parallel between the noble edifices of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and similar buildings, of the present decay of taste," 1836; "True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture," 1841; and "Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture," 1843. The publication of these works formed an epoch in the history of the Gothic revival. The ground had been well prepared for the appreciation of Gothic architecture, by the publications of Carter, Britton, Rickman and others, not least among whom was Mr. Pugin's father; whilst for the specially ecclesiastical phase the recent revival of mediævalism in ritual and taste, which was already spreading widely among both clergy and laity, insured a welcome recognition. Mr. Pugin became, therefore, at once the supreme authority with the "ecclesiologists," and his writings the generally-accepted text-books for students. At the same time he obtained rapid and extraordinary success as a practising architect. His employment as a church architect was almost exclusively among Roman catholics, because it was understood that he declined to build protestant churches. But though thus limited, he in the few years he was in practice erected no fewer than forty-two churches, of which five (St. Marie, Derby; St. Chad, Birmingham; St. George, Southwark; Enniscorthy, and Killarney) were cathedrals, and had their connected bishop's houses and collegiate buildings; whilst others, like St. Giles, Cheadle, were decorated with extraordinary splendour. Mr. Pugin designed several convents, monasteries, priories, colleges, and schools on an extensive scale in various parts of England; but mostly only a portion of each was erected, the remainder, and often to his great annoyance the more ornamental portions, being left till adequate funds could be obtained. Among his works not directly ecclesiastical may be mentioned the extensive alterations executed at Alton Towers for the earl of Shrewsbury, for whom he also built a church, monastery, and schools, near the mansion; and the splendid church already mentioned at Cheadle. During the last few years of his life Pugin's commissions as a builder of Roman catholic churches had somewhat abated, owing, as would seem, partly to his waywardness of temper, but more to differences of opinion with authoritative members of the body. But he was fully occupied in another way. To him was intrusted by Sir Charles Barry the designing of the internal mouldings, groinings, fittings, furniture, and decorations of the New palace of Westminster, and his peculiar taste is stamped on every part of the interior of that vast structure. He was also busily engaged in designing ecclesiastical metal-work and stained-glass windows for the manufactory of Messrs. Hardman of Birmingham, with whom he was understood to have commercial relations. He also found time to publish a "Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament," 1844; "Floriated Ornaments," 1849; a treatise on "Chancel Screens," 1851; and one or two theological and controversial brochures; and he took a chief part in organizing the ecclesiological display in the Great Exhibition of 1851, at which Exhibition he also served as a juror. And amidst all this enormous labour and activity of mind and body, he was, though a third time married, leading a life of semi-monastic asceticism, at least whenever he was at his residence, St. Augustin's, Ramsgate, where he had built for himself a church and college, as well as a house, and where his days were pretty equally divided between service in the church and work in the study. It would have been hardly possible for any man to crowd such an amount of labour and mental strain into the few working years of a life that had not yet reached forty, without imminent peril; but Pugin had other sources of excitement and anxiety. He had early and eagerly adopted the Romish faith, and denounced with the zeal of a fervid convert all who did not follow him. But disappointment necessarily followed overwrought expectation. He tried to reform what he thought ritual and ceremonial errors in the practice of the church he had joined, and of course was unheeded or rebuked. His views with respect to the church he had quitted underwent modification. He even went so far as to write "An Apology for the Separated Church of England," which he hoped would bring about a reconciliation of the two churches, but the work was suppressed by authority, and eventually his mind gave way. He was at first placed in a public asylum, but after a time removed to a private establishment, and then, being a little restored, taken to his own house at St. Augustin's, where he died September 14, 1852. The government settled a pension of £100 a year on his widow. His professional friends and admirers have subscribed a fund sufficient to endow a Pugin scholarship for a travelling student, to be elected by the Institute of British Architects. Pugin's permanent fame will be lower both as an architect and a writer than his enthusiastic admirers will readily allow. He was a man of genius, great mental activity, and, as we have seen, marvellous industry. But he was of too impetuous a temperament—too impatient of continuous labour—and too incapable of sustained and comprehensive thought—to carry out any really great original work, or master all the parts of any complicated problem. His buildings and his books have alike the character of incompleteness and imperfection, but they bear evidence of being the productions of a man of remarkable endowments. Of the influence of Pugin on the architectural mind of his time, every new church and every restoration of an old one is a witness.—J. T—e.
PUJOL, Alexandre Denis Abel de, a French historical painter, was born at Valenciennes, January 30, 1785. He was a scholar of David, and won the grand prize of Rome in 1811.
