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- Innumerable are the instances of princes having sought to perpetuate their memories by the building of palaces, from the Domus Aurea, or golden house of Nero, to the comparatively puny structures of our own times. As specimens of modern magnificence and substantial comfort, the latter class of edifices may be admirable; but we are bound to acknowledge, that in boldness and splendour of design, they cannot assimilate to the labours of antiquity, much of whose stupendous character is to this day preserved in many series of interesting ruins:—
:Whilst in the progress of the long decay,
:Thrones sink to dust, and nations pass away.
As a record of this degeneracy, near the western corner of Kew Green stands the [Castellated Palace] ... [its] north front possesses an air of solemn, sullen grandeur; but it very ill accords with the taste and science generally displayed by its nominal architect [George III].
... [Its foundations are] in a bog close to the Thames, and the principal object in its view is the dirty town of Brentford, on the opposite side of the river; a selection, it would seem, of family taste, for [George III's grandfather] George II is known to have often said, when riding through Brentford, "I do like this place, it's so like Yarmany [ie Germany]."
The premature fate of [the new] Kew Palace renders it at this moment an object of public curiosity (en)
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