The name of a family famous for having produced among its various branches a long list of names celebrated as artists or architects. The family is of old standing in the midland counties, and the various branches now in existence trace their descent from John Wyatt of Thickbroom, in the parish of Weeford, county Stafford, as a common ancestor. From him descended Benjamin of Blackbrook, in the same parish, who had four sons, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin, and James, the latter of whom we name the first.

JAMES WYATT, the celebrated architect, was born at Burton Constable, 3d August 1746. Of his education little is known; but it is probable he displayed an early talent of an uncommon character, as we find him engaged, when only fourteen years of age, to accompany Lord Bagot to Rome, where that nobleman was sent as ambassador. Here probably, through the liberality of the latter, he studied architecture, and, among other things, is said carefully to have measured every part of St Peter's, having been lowered from above by ropes, that he might be enabled to get dimensions of parts otherwise inaccessible. After four years thus spent, he repaired to Venice, and there studied two years under the tuition of the famous Vincenzi. He returned to London at the age of twenty, and there, whether his fame had preceded him, or through the influence of his noble patron, he designed the celebrated Pantheon, in what was then called the Oxford Road. Of this nothing now remains but the façade. The interior consisted chiefly of a very large circular room, crowned with a splendid dome, which was used for the same purposes as Ranelagh, for music, promenades, and other entertainments. Sir John Soane, who was in general sparing of praise, spoke very highly indeed of the talent displayed in this building. It was certainly of much merit, that he was soon at the height of fashionable arrogance, and immediately in a very large practice. Very shortly Calvert, the Duke of Rutland, sent for him, offering him any terms if he would settle in his kingdom. This, however, by the advice of friends, he declined. Among the numerous works which he executed may be reckoned the palace at Kew, Lee Priory, Fonthill, Hanworth Church, extensive works at the House of Lords, Bulstrode, Doddington, Cashelbury, Ashridge, besides a host of minor works in all parts of the kingdom. At the death of Sir W. Chambers, he was appointed Surveyor-general, and, after some delay, was elected a Royal Academician. When the Royal Academicians quarrelled with West after his memorable journey to Paris, where the attention paid him by Napoleon I. and his court seems to have almost turned his head, the Academy elected Wyatt president in his room; but the tradition is, they could not get him to do their business, whether on account of habits of procrastination, or because of the multitude of his professional engagements, does not appear; but in a very short time he was in turn deposed, and West again assumed his place as president. He is well known as one of the revivers of Gothic architecture; and in pursuit of that study, went to great expense in preparing careful drawings and measurements of our best mediaval buildings. There is great boldness in the way in which most of his Gothic buildings are treated, and ideas of grandeur and magnificence, which were much alike at the time. He was killed by the accidental overturning of the carriage of Mr Codrington, near Marlborough, dying instantly of the concussion, on the 5th Sept., 1813, at the age of 70. He left a wife and four children, three of whom will be noticed below.

SAMUEL WYATT, third son of Benjamin of Blackbrook, and elder brother of the preceding, was engaged extensively as an architect and builder, occupations which, at that time, frequently went together. He is said to have designed Hooton Hall, Cheshire; Tatton Park, for the Egerton family; Doddington Hall, for Sir T. Broughton; and Kedleston, for Lord Scarsdale. The editors of the *Vitruvius Britannicus* attribute this last building to Adam. As the house, however, was but partly finished at the time they wrote, it is probable that the original plan was by Adam, and that the completion was by Wyatt. He also built the Trinity House on Tower Hill. He was a man of great ability, and was engaged on an immense number of important works. His nephew, afterwards Sir Jeffrey Wyatt (see below), was his pupil and assistant. He was buried at Chelsea College, on the 16th February 1807.

BENJAMIN WYATT was the eldest son of James Wyatt, and grandson of Benjamin of Blackbrook; was educated at Eton, and obtained the appointment of private secretary to Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards the celebrated Duke of Wellington), in Ireland, and afterwards in India. On his return, he was offered public employment by Lord Sidmouth, which for some reasons he declined, and lived in retirement a short time. After the burning of Drury Lane, he accepted the design for erecting the new theatre, and was successful in the competition principally through the advocacy of the well known Samuel Whitbread. The erection of this building brought him into a large practice, and he joined his brother Philip in partnership, but outlived him. His principal works are Holness House, and Wynyard, in Durham, for Lord Londonderry; Sutherland House, Apaley House, Crockford's Club-house, the Duke of York's Column, and a great number of buildings through the country. He retired into private life, and died at Camden town about ten years ago. Matthew Coates Wyatt, the third son of James, was born in 1806—a sculptor of great eminence. His principal work is the monument to the Princess Charlotte, at the Royal Chapel at Windsor; the group of St George and the Dragon, also at that place; the bronze equestrian statue of George the Third, at Pall Mall East, statue of Nelson at Liverpool, and the large bronze statue of Wellington on the marble arch at Hyde Park. One of his sons is Sir Matthew Wyatt, the Standard-bearer to the Gentlemen-at-Arms. Another, James Wyatt, also a sculptor, whose chief works are, a Nymph, with Festoons of Flowers, in the possession of the Marquis of Westminster; a Nymph coming out of a Bath, for Mr Wyld; Flora and Zephyrus, for Lord Wenlock; and a Nymph of Diana, in the possession of the King of Naples.

Lewis William Wyatt was the second son of Benjamin Wyatt of Limegrove, who was fifth son of Benjamin Wyatt of Blackbrook, and, of course, nephew to James Wyatt, whose pupil he was. He was an architect of eminence, and held that appointment to the crown and board of works, and executed many works at Hampton Court, Kew, and Richmond. He built houses for Lord Forrester, for Mr Legge at Lyme; for Mr Egerton, at Tatton; Lord Wilton, at Heatons, etc. He retired early in life to his estate, at Park Pool, near Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, and died there, in February 1831, aged 76.

Sir Jeffrey Wyattville was the son of Joseph, and grandson of Benjamin Wyatt of Blackbrook. He was born on the 3rd August 1765, at Burton-on-Trent, where his father practised as an architect, and is said to have been possessed of much talent, though of an indolent temperament. His son, however, was of a very different spirit. He was educated at the public school at Barton, but at twelve years of age, he ran away to sea. Being missed and brought back, he did the same again shortly after. It is said he made another ineffectual attempt to get abroad, when his uncle Samuel took him under his protection, and he was in his office for seven years, during which time the buildings we have before mentioned were completed. In fact, he always claimed a large share in the designs of the Trinity House. After this time, the other and more celebrated uncle, James, also took him into his office, where he remained a considerable time, and where he is said first to have attracted the notice of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. About the year 1799 he seems to have been engaged, like his uncle, both as builder and architect in a very extensive way. In the year 1824, he was successful in a limited competition for the new works at Windsor Castle against Nash and Smirke, and immediately relinquished any share in the building business. About this time, also, he was elected a Royal Academician. The works at Windsor, the cost of which ultimately exceeded three quarters of a million of money, now occupied the greater part of his time. Four years after the commencement, however, his Majesty, in taking possession of his private apartments, conferred the honour of knighthood on his architect, changing his name to Wyattville, and giving him an honourable augmentation to his arms. Besides large alterations to Badminton, Wooburn Abbey, Emsdellagh, Chatsworth, Longleat, Sidney Sussex College, &c., he built the houses at Lilliehall, Golden Grove, Neomesh, Winborne, Cleaveron, and a large number of others; in fact, he is said to have left some remarkable work behind him in thirty-five out of the forty English counties, without reckoning Wales. He died in London, 18th February 1849, and is buried at Windsor, in St George's Chapel. A splendid edition of his favourite work was published after his decease, edited by Henry Ashton, in large folio.

Returning now to another branch descending from the common ancestor, John Wyatt of Thickbroom, through William of Scarney Park, and Thomas of Hole Hall, we must now notice Matthew Wyatt, of the Inner Temple, the well known active magistrate of the Lambeth Street Police Court.

His sons are, first, Thomas Henry Wyatt, the eminent architect, whose principal works are, the fine basilican church at Wilton, the Adelphi Theatre, the Lunatic Asylums for Wilts and Bucks, the Law Courts at Devon, Brecon, and Cambridge; the Birkenhead Training College; the Railway Terminus at Florence; a large Palace in the Crimea for Count Woronzow, and very many other works. Another son is Matthew Digby Wyatt, architect to the East India Company, Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Society of Antiquaries, of the Institute of Architects (of which he was secretary); that of the Engineers, the Society of Arts, and many other societies. His principal works are, the Post-office at Calcutta, several bridges in India; that in St James's Park; the new Museum for the India Company; the Pompeian, Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, and Italian Courts at the Crystal Palace. He is also the author of many valuable treatises, the last of which is the beautiful work, *The Art of Illuminating*.

In another collateral branch, we find the name of Richard James Wyatt, perhaps one of the most distinguished of the artists of the day. He was born on the 23rd May 1795, and, having shown Wycherley's great talent, was articled as pupil to Charles Rossi, R.A., and studied also at the Royal Academy, where he obtained two medals. He appears to have had an early veneration for the works of Canova. When that distinguished sculptor was in England, he was introduced to him by Sir Thomas Lawrence, who had a warm admiration for Wycherley's talent. A friendship grew up between the two sculptors, and the great Italian pressed him to come to Rome, where he promised he should have the use of his studio, and any help he could afford him. After studying some little time at Paris under Boito, he proceeded to Rome, where he remained for thirty years, only visiting England once during the whole time. His principal works are, Penelope, with the Bow of Ulysses, now in possession of her Majesty; the Statue of the Queen, at Windsor; Muddocks, for the Duke of Devonshire; Inn, with Bacchus, for Sir Robert Peel; Glycera, Flora, and Venus; a Shepherd Boy protecting his Sister during a Storm, &c. &c. His sculpture has a life and grace about it that few English chisels have attained to, and has done much to raise the character of English art in the eyes of the world. He died, almost suddenly, at Rome, on the 28th of May 1850, and was interred there, the funeral being attended by all the lovers of art, both English and Italian.

Wycherley, William, a comic dramatist of high reputation in the seventeenth century, was born at Clive, near Shrewsbury, about the year 1640. His father was a gentleman of fortune and of old family, who afterwards became one of the tellers of the Exchequer. He was, we may presume, a cavalier and royalist, for instead of sending his son to study at Cambridge or Oxford, then under the sway of Cromwell and the Puritans, he despatched him when only fifteen to France. On the banks of the Charente, young Wycherley, remarkable for his handsome appearance, was introduced to the brilliant society of the Montansiers and Rambouillet, and was induced to conform to the Church of Rome. The immediate agent in his "conversion" is said to have been the beautiful and accomplished Duchess de Montansier, best known as Julie d'Angennes de Rambouillet, the favourite of wits and poets, and a special object of commemoration in the letters of Voiture. Her husband, the duke, seems to have been a man of a different stamp. He was the prototype of Molière's *Misanthrope* and Wycherley's *Plain Dealer*, and as tutor to the dauphin was as stern as George Buchanan was to his royal pupil, James the Sixth. Returning to England about the period of the Restoration, Wycherley was entered of Queen's College, Oxford, but only, as Anthony Wood says, in the character of *Philosophia Studiosius*, living with the Provost, and neither matriculating nor taking a degree. Dr (afterwards Bishop) Barlow reclaimed the student to Protestantism, but at no period of Wycherley's life was his religious profession more than nominal. According to Pope he died a Papist. From the university Wycherley went to the temple as a student of law. He does not seem to have seriously entertained any idea of following the legal profession, and while still a minor he is said to have betaken himself, like Fielding, to theatres and dramatic composition. His own statement, made to Pope, was, that he wrote his first play, *Love in a Wood*, at the age of nineteen, or in the year 1659. The vanity of Wycherley, however, was always greater than his love of truth, and in his latter years his memory was singularly defective. It is certain that his first play was not published before 1672, and it contains distinct references and allusions which show that it could not have been written as printed in 1659. There is an allusion, as Lord Macaulay has pointed out, to gentlemen's periwiggs, which first came into fashion in 1663; an allusion to guineas, which were first struck in 1663; an allusion to the vests which Charles the Second ordered to be worn at court in 1666; and two allusions to the great fire of London in 1666. Wycherley's comedy was acted at the Theatre-Royal with great applause. Among its admirers was the Duchess of Cleveland, and the manner in which this abandoned but beautiful mistress of the king... Wycherley introduced herself to the dramatist is curiously characteristic of the times. "One day," says Pope, "as he (Wycherley) passed that duchess's coach in the ring (in Hyde Park), she leaned out of the window and cried out loud enough to be heard distinctly by him, 'Sir, you're a rascal; you are a villain!' Wycherley from that instant entertained hopes. He did not fail waiting on her the next morning, and with a very melancholy tone begged to know how it was possible for him to have so much disallowed her Grace. They were very good friends from that time." And "good friends" they unquestionably must have become if Voltaire's statement be true, that the duchess used to go to Wycherley's chambers in the Temple dressed like a country maid, in a straw hat, with pattens on, and a box or basket in her hand. Wycherley dedicated his play to the duchess, lauding her for perfection of beauty, generosity, spirit, wit, and judgment, and presenting his "humble acknowledgments" to her grace for the "favours he had received from her"—qualifying, though only seemingly, the last phrase by stating that the duchess had gone two successive nights to see his play.

The successful dramatist was introduced at court, and soon rose to high favour. The Duke of Buckingham, as Master of the Horse, made him one of his equerries, and gave him a commission in his regiment; and the king on one occasion, when Wycherley was confined with a fever, visited him in his lodgings in Bow Street, and, recommending him to try the air of Montpelier, presented him, it is said, with L500 to defray the expenses of the journey. It is probable, however, that the royal generosity—a rare virtue at Whitehall—has been exaggerated, for Pope says that Charles only gave Wycherley a hundred pounds now and then, not often, and selected him to travel with the young Duke of Richmond (the king's son by Louise de Querouaille), which journey, we know, was never undertaken. During his intimacy with the Duke of Buckingham and the court, Wycherley performed what Macaulay considered "the only good action of his life;" he endeavoured to serve the poet Butler. He represented to the duke how well the author of Hudibras had deserved of the royal family, and that it was a reproach to the court that a person of his loyalty and wit should suffer under obscurity and want. Buckingham consented to meet Butler and Wycherley in a tavern. They met accordingly, but the door of the room in which they sat was open, and the duke observing a knight of his acquaintance—a worthless pimp—pass by with a couple of ladies, he ran after them, leaving Butler and his friend Wycherley to moralise on poetry and patronage. "From that hour to the day of his death," says Major Pack, to whom Wycherley related the story, "poor Butler never found the least effect of his (the duke's) promise."

"Yet think what ill's the scholar's life assail, Toll, envy, want, the patron, and the jail!"

"Poor Butler," however, found a generous friend, if not a patron, in a private individual, Mr Longueville, who supported him in his old age, and defrayed the expenses of his funeral.

Wycherley followed up his first dramatic success by three other comedies, *The Gentleman Dancing Master*, 1673; *The Country Wife*, 1675; and *The Plain Dealer*, 1677. About this time it was common for young men of rank and fashion to take a trip to sea, and serve on board the king's ships. "All gentlemen must pack to sea," says Wycherley, and he himself followed the prevailing mode. He was present at a naval engagement, which he has commemorated in a copy of wretched verses entitled, *On a Sea Fight which the Author was in betwixt the English and Dutch*. There is nothing in the lines to indicate the name or date of the battle, the author contenting himself with stating that

"Each side, like fiends, in fire and smoke did fight, And put the devil himself into a fright."

Whether the Dutch or English gained is left unrecorded, and Lord Macaulay conjectures that it was a drawn battle, one of those between Rupert and De Ruyter in 1673. The next memorable event in Wycherley's career was his marriage. Like Dryden and Addison, he married a titled lady, and like them also his experience was such as to offer little encouragement to poets to form ambitious alliances. Wycherley happened one day to be in a bookseller's shop at Tunbridge Wells, accompanied by a friend, Mr Fairbeard, when a lady entered and asked the bookseller for the *Plain Dealer*. "Madam," said Mr Fairbeard, "since you are for the *Plain Dealer*, there he is for you," pushing Wycherley towards her at the same time. Some complimentary badinage took place, and the result of the dramatic exordium, as Mr Leigh Hunt says, was the usual termination of comedy—matrimony. The lady was a widow, the Countess of Drogheda, previously one of the Mesdemoiselles Robartes, mentioned in Grammont, daughter of Lord Robartes, afterwards Earl of Radnor and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. The Earl of Drogheda died (without issue) June 18, 1679, so that the marriage of his widow with Wycherley must have been subsequent to that date. It proved a troublesome if not unhappy union. The lady was of an imperious, suspicious temper; she had been a maid of honour, and knew something of the license of men of fashion, as well as of Wycherley's past life, and she became uneasy or infuriated whenever her husband was absent from her sight. He was permitted sometimes to dine with his old friends in the Cock Tavern in Bow Street, which was directly opposite her house; but on such occasions Lady Wycherley insisted that the tavern windows should be thrown open, that she might be assured there was no woman present! The marriage is also believed to have lost Wycherley the favour of the king, as it frustrated his plans with respect to the Duke of Richmond, to whom he had designed Wycherley to act as travelling tutor. But the enmity or alienation of Charles is more likely to have been caused by the dramatist's sympathy with his early patron the Duke of Buckingham, who had been committed to the Tower for uncourteous expressions used in debate. "Your late disgrace was but the court's disgrace," wrote Wycherley; and in a second copy of verses on the duke, when Villiers was "reduced to a little fortune," he celebrated his equanimity:

"To these external accidents are sports, Who fear'st not fate and dost disdain to court."

This language of the *Plain Dealer* was not suited to Whitehall. Wycherley's jealous but not unloving wife did not long trouble him, and on her death he left him the whole of her fortune. The result, however, was only to add to his misery. The title under which he claimed the property was disputed, and the costs of a long litigation, added to his personal debts, were so heavy that he was unable to meet them, and was thrown into jail. He languished in the Fleet prison for seven years! His father refused to help him—the case was probably too desperate—and the bookseller who had profited largely by the copyright of his *Plain Dealer* would not even lend him twenty pounds. The gay world had forsaken and forgotten him, when fortunately James II., who had succeeded to the throne, happening to witness the representation of his last popular comedy, made inquiries concerning the author, and generously resolved to pay his debts and settle upon him a pension of L200 a-year. But even this windfall did not release him from difficulties. Ashamed to state the full amount of his debts, Wycherley named a much lower sum, and thus left a considerable balance, which he had no means of liquidating. At length