the walls of the Society of Arts, for which, it is said, the French
government under Buonaparte offered ten thousand pounds.

Thus also it has happened, that we have possessed among ourselves
great architects, although opportunities for displaying their genius have
been rare. This the fate and fortune of two Englishmen attest. Without the
fire of London we might not have shown the world one of the greatest
architects, in Sir CHRISTOPHER WREN; had not a St. Paul's been required
by the nation he would have found no opportunity of displaying the
magnificence of his genius, which even then was mutilated, as the original
model bears witness to the world. That great occasion served this noble
architect to multiply his powers in other public edifices: and it is here
worth remarking that, had not Charles II. been seized by apoplexy,
the royal residence, which was begun at Winchester on a plan of Sir
Christopher Wren's, by its magnificence would have raised a Versailles for
England.

The fate of INIGO JONES is as remarkable as that of WREN. Whitehall
afforded a proof to foreigners that among a people which, before that
edifice appeared, was reproached for their total deficiency of feeling
for the pure classical style of architecture, the true taste could
nevertheless exist. This celebrated piece of architecture, however, is but
a fragment of a grander composition, by which, had not the civil wars
intervened, the fame of Britain would have balanced the glory of Greece,
or Italy, or France, and would have shown that our country is more
deficient in marble than in genius. Thus the fire of London produces a St.
Paul's, and the civil wars suppress a Whitehall. Such circumstances in the
history of art among nations have not always been developed by those
theorists who have calumniated the artists of England.

In the history of genius it is remarkable that its work is often invented,
and lies neglected. A close observer of this age pointed out to me that
the military genius of that great French captain, who so long appeared to
have conquered Europe, was derived from his applying the new principles of
war discovered by FOLARD and GUIBERT. The genius of FOLARD observed that,
among the changes of military discipline in the practice of war among
European nations since the introduction of gunpowder, one of the ancient
methods of the Romans had been improperly neglected, and, in his
Commentaries on Polybius, Folard revived this forgotten m