The Reign of George VI/Chapter 4

by Samuel Madden

CHAP IV.

Interest of the national debt reduced.—The building of the palace and city of Stanley, and ———. —George VI. encourages the Arts, Sciences, and Literature.

Never was any quarrel concluded more gloriously. George now found himself at peace with all the world; he had been victorious against the most potent monarchy on earth, and another formidable kingdom: these successes secured him abroad, but at home all was confusion. The stopping payment of the interest of the public debt had thrown innumerable families into extreme indigence; yet the measure was absolutely necessary, and the very existence of the nation had been preserved by it. But as the war was now at an end, the parliament took under their consideration the state of the national debt; and, after a multitude of proposals, calculations, and debates, they agreed, by a small majority, that the interest, at the rate it then stood, was a burthen too great for the nation to bear; and appointed a committee to draw up a bill for reducing it. The preamble to this bill set forth the sad internal state of the nation—painted, in the strongest colours, the impossibility of paying the interest on the national funds—showed that an attempt to go on in doing it, must end in a total bankruptcy, and the utter ruin of all concerned—that under these circumstances half the present interest would be of more real value than the whole, in the dangerous situation they were now in; and the bill accordingly enacted, that the interest on every fund of which the national debt was composed should be reduced one half.^[1]

History cannot produce an instance of such an event as this being effected with so little disturbance. All ranks of people seemed content with their half; they had lately seen the extreme danger to which the nation was reduced for want of money, and they chearfully considered, that, if they lost a half of their income, it was to preserve their lives, their liberties, and the remainder of their fortunes. This great event would not have been brought about with so much ease and expedition, but the path was sketched out by the bill, which was drawn up for the same (but which miscarried) in the reign of George IV. But it no sooner passed into a law now, than its good consequences were immediately felt by the nation in general. Such an enormous incumbrance was no sooner removed, than George found his kingdom vigorous and more formidable than ever.^[2]

A young Monarch of his active spirit, was not likely to waste the time which peace left on his hands in idle dissipation. He understood many arts perfectly, and was tolerably well acquainted with most. His favourite, the Duke of Suffolk, was also a lover of literature, and spent a great part of his time in the conversation of men of

letters. The Arts and Sciences at this period, in England, wanted nothing but encouragement to raise them to a very splendid height, and to make the age of George VI. rival any of those remote ones that are so celebrated in history. It is both entertaining and curious to reflect on their state during this reign, and compare it with the present; those great men whose names alone would have immortalized the age of George VI. are now gone, and have left none to succeed them. Indeed they still live in their admirable works, but have left few successors to their genius and abilities. But to leave this digression, let us take a view of the Arts in the period of which we are speaking.

George had a natural taste for them; and what was of equal consequence to their success, was rich, liberal, and magnificent. Hitherto his time had been engrossed by more weighty concerns; but now that peace left him the master of his time, he displayed a taste and genius in more arts than that of war. London, though the wonder of the world, never pleased the King. Its prodigious size was its only boast; it contained few buildings that did honour to the nation; in a word, it was a city finely calculated for trade, but not for the residence of the polite arts. The meanness of his Majesty's palace disgusted him; he had a taste for architecture, and determined to exert it in raising an edifice, that should at once do honour to his kingdom, and add splendour to his court.

In Rutlandshire, near Uppingham, was a small hunting box of the late King's, which George admired; not for the building, but its beautiful situation. In his hours of rural amusements the King formed the design of raising a palace. Few parts of his dominions could afford a more desirable spot for such a purpose. The old seat stood on an elevated situation, which commanded an extensive prospect over the adjacent country. It was almost surrounded with extensive woods; which, having been artfully planted, added the greatest beauty to the prospect, without intercepting the view. On one side there was an easy descent of about three miles, which led into an extensive plain, through which a river took its meandering course. Many villages seemed to rise here and there from out the woods, which gave a great variety to the scene, and the fertile plain was one continued prospect of villages, groves, meadows, and rivulets, and all was in the neighbourhood of a noble and capacious forest.

This charming situation must have struck any person of less taste than the King; he was charmed with it at the first sight, and soon after thought of building a palace on so advantageous a situation. The famous Gilbert, whose name is immortalized by so many works of genius, was, at that time, architect to the King. He drew the plans of several palaces, out of which his Majesty chose one; and immediately set him about the work. Many difficulties were to be over-come before even the first stone could be laid; the fabric was to be built with Portland stone, which could not be brought to the spot without an infinite expence over-land; to remedy this inconvenience, the parliament passed an act to make the river Welland navigable to the very plain, at the bottom of the hill on which the intended palace was to be raised. The same sessions also granted his Majesty a million sterling towards the expence of building this magnificent pile. The King spared no cost to render this edifice the most magnificent and superb palace in the universe. Gilbert had an unlimited power granted him to follow his genius in every particular, without the least restraint. Fleets of ships were continually passing from Portland to Hull and Lynn with cargos of stone, which were conveyed in barges to the place where the palace was to be built. Ten sail were sent to the different ports of Italy, to load the finest marbles. In short, nothing was spared to make this palace the wonder of the world;^[3] but the erection of it was only a part of the King's design.

In the plain above described his Majesty formed the scheme of raising a city; but was staggered at the thoughts of the expence; however, Moor the architect hinted to him, that if his Majesty was to raise a few public edifices, and remove some of the courts from London thither, they would alone occasion numbers to build near their residence; that his Majesty's fixing his own residence there, would also occasion a vast increase of building.—The King was pleased with the thought, and determined to execute it. The great Gilbert drew the ground plot of that part which now reaches from St. Mary's church quite to Great Hollis-Street and Scotland Square. St. Stephen's was his work too, and is a beautiful monument of his taste and genius; that church and the academy, for architecture, ^[4] were the two first public buildings that were raised; Moor was the artist who erected the latter; but this deserves a more particular mention.

Architecture was one of the King's favourite studies; but its being an art was recommendation enough for that great Monarch to encourage it. The plan on which this academy was formed, was finely imagined to secure a perpetual protection. It consisted of a President, with a salary of two thousand pounds a year; Gilbert was the first: Six^[5] senior and twelve^[6] junior professors, the former five, and the latter three hundred pounds a year each. What a noble institution was this. Worthy the Monarch who formed the out-line, and the Minister that finished the design.^[7] George had the satisfaction of seeing Stanley increased beyond what his most ardent wishes could have desired. Most of the nobility, and many of the rich commoners, in imitation of their Sovereign, erected magnificent palaces; it grew the fashion among the higher order of his subjects to erect houses at Stanley. The Dukes of Suffolk, Buckingham, Richmond, Kent, and Bridgewater, the Earls of Surry, Winchelsea, Middleton and Bury, and Mr. Molesworth, particularly distinguished themselves by the splendour of their palaces, amongst many others. But what gave a prodigious increase to this noble city was the erection of the senate house: that noble building, which is now the admiration of all Europe, was the master-piece of the celebrated Moor. The front is certainly one of the finest pieces of architecture in the world. It was finished in 1913. The same year the parliament assembled in it; and here I cannot help quoting a passage in their address, as the praise it contains was perfectly merited by this great Monarch.—"Assembled in this edifice, which is one of the many marks of your Majesty's magnificence, and princely encouragement of the arts and sciences, we cannot omit congratulating your Majesty on the completion of so noble a monument of your grandeur and the nation's glory. And we return your Majesty our most dutiful acknowledgements, for so splendid a mark of your esteem for your parliament, which led you to erect so magnificent a senate house out of your private revenue. We join with the rest of your Majesty's subjects in expressing our admiration of your royal and princely virtues; your noble encouragement of the arts and sciences, adds a fresh lustre to the title of hero, which your Majesty's great actions had before most justly conferred."—This session voted the King a million sterling for the senate house, and granted five hundred thousand pounds a year till his Majesty's building should be finished.

Nothing could exceed the magnificence of Gilbert's plan for this glorious city. The houses were all built to form one general front on each side of every street. Nothing was used but Portland stone. The streets were broad, well paved, and the buildings not too high. Many noble squares were marked out; and some finished. The theatre was the work of his Majesty himself, who drew the plan, and showing it to Gilbert, that great man told the King it had not a single fault;—but this compliment had not sincerity enough in it. It certainly contains some blemishes, but is undoubtedly a work of genius. The three centuries before his Majesty's reign did not produce so fine a building. Its simplicity and grandeur are admirable.

The academy of painting was another institution which would alone have rendered the memory of any Monarch dear to the arts and sciences. It was reserved for the age of George VI. to be graced with a list of great artists in this country, whose works should render their own names as well as his immortal. From the foundation of the English monarchy to the age of George, Britain had never seen a painter that could rank in the first class of foreign artists. But though this great King could not create, yet he drew by his encouragements and rewards, artists from their retirements, and set them to work. No genius ever met with even a rebuke from George; merit was sure to be rewarded; and excellence in any art the certain road to fortune. Gilbert was the architect of the building, and its grandeur is well known; the President of this academy had a salary of two thousand pounds a year; ten seats, each five hundred; and forty young artists were maintained, and had apartments allotted them, with pensions of one hundred pounds a year each. Nothing was ever better planned to promote the progress of this delightful art; and its success in England under this reign was accordingly prodigious. Nicholson, an English artist, and whose name will for ever stand foremost in the list of painters was the President of the academy. Besides which appointment he was loaded with riches, and created a Baronet. The battle of the angels, in the salon of the palace, which this great man painted, is second to no picture in the world. Tomkins, Vere, and Norton, were all English artists, and not inferior to the celebrated Italians of the age of Leo X. The first was equal to Correggio himself, and the last exceeded Dominichi and Guido. Who does not glow with ardour at the rememberance of the works of these divine masters? Who does not regret their loss?—they are gone, and have left but few behind them that can pretend to any degree of competition. The other artists that had seats in the academy are well known: Simpson painted the Jupiter Olympos in the salon of Apollo; a picture which would alone have immortalised him. The most splendid court in Europe was sure to be attended with a multitude of foreign artists. Spinoza, Martileat, and Carvianté, were received in the most distinguished manner by the King, and had each pensions of five hundred pounds granted them, besides being liberally paid for their works. Never was any art so much obliged to a Sovereign, as that of painting to George VI.

The palace itself, which has for so many years been the delight and wonder of Britain, was finished in 1915, eight years after its foundation. Never was any building raised so expeditiously.—It was, indeed, astonishing; but, the King sparing no expense, Gilbert finished this superb edifice in so short a time, by means of the infinite number of hands he kept constantly employed on it. It would be endless to describe this amazing pile of building; and it has already been done in all the languages of Europe. The famous Escurial of Philip the IId. of Spain, and Versailles of Lewis XIV. of France, of both which we read such pompous accounts, were infinitely exceeded by Stanley. The shell of the building alone cost the King above eight millions stering. The adorning and furnishing it was the work of above fifty years, and the expense infinite. The ceilings and apartments were painted by Nicholson, Tomkins, Vere, Norton, and many other celebrated artists. The King had no sooner begun to build than he sent connoisseurs through all Europe to collect paintings, statues, rarities, books, and manuscripts, and in these commissions he spared no expense. He even dispatched Ambassadors to Constantinople, and throughout all Asia, to make collections, and always choosing the properest men for executing his commands, he succeeded better than any Monarch that ever attempted to tread in his footsteps. The palace of Stanley thus became the repository of all the curiosities which the world afforded. No wonder his palace became so celebrated, and drew such numbers of foreigners into England, when the collection of pictures and statues it contained were almost equal in value, and number of capital pieces, to what remained throughout all Europe; and his library contained above thirteen hundred thousand valuable books and manuscripts.

This glorious building was not only the residence of royalty, but might properly be called the Temple of the Muses. In his hours of relaxation from business the King here conversed with Reynolds, that great genius, who united the elegance of Mason and the genius of Shakespear: with Young, whose comedies far exceeded those of the celebrated Symonds: with Pine, who, to the inventive imagination of Milton, added the correctness and harmony of Pope. What a memorable epocha was it in history, when a George VI. conversed with three great poets, in a palace built by Gilbert, and painted by Nicholson.

But an event happened that, for a while, turned off the attention of the King from these sublime employments.

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1. 1903.
2. It may not be unentertaining to the reader, here to lay before him the particulars of the grants this year, after the peace had taken place.

   		£
   5000 seamen, including marines and ordnance for sea service.	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	2,900,000
   45000 men, land-forces, in Germany and Great Britain, &c. and ordnance for ditto,	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	2,250,000
   Greenwich Hospital, ———		35,000
   Milford Hospital, ———		40,000
   Building, rebuilding, and repairing his Majesty's ships	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	600,000
   To the nine Foundling Hospitals		90,000
   Adding new fortifications to Batavia, &c. ———	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	100,000
   To his Majesty for fortifying other places in the East-Indies	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	50,000
   Deepening and enlarging the harbour of Hull, and docks ———	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	200,000
   Civil List ——— ———		2000,000
   		8,235,000
   Interest of the national debt ———		4,250,000
   		12,485,000

3. It was founded in 1907.
4. 1909.
5. The first instituted were Comins, Holt, Moor, Brown, Salviola the Spaniard, and Stevens:
6. James, Philipson, Padrao an Italian, Rickson, Manly, Hare, Thompson, Johnson, Weal, Place, Richards, and Stephenson.
7. Duke of Suffolk.

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