GEOHOE norm Jun. (born in 1740), whose talent acquired for the family name far higher distinction. Not only trained up to architecture as a pursuit in which a safe and certain career, if not a brilliant oue, was opened for him, be had applied himself to the study of it with a diligence exceeding what was required by the routine of that day, and he further possessed both a natural and cultivated taste for the fine arts generally, poetry included. He certainly stamped something of poetry, as well as energetic character, on the very first public work he executed ; nor had he long to wait for the opportunity by which be signalised himself, for Newgate, the "proudest of prisons," was begun by him in 1770. This structure, one of the few truly monu mental pl"cee of architecturo in the metropolis, has been chiefly extolled for its striking degree of character ; yet Newgate might have been equally prison-like in aspect had it been merely a dismal mass, utterly devoid of all mathetic charm; it was by conferring upon it the latter— by breaking up the monotony of such a mass so as not at all to disturb unity, but cnbanco it—not to dissipate parts into littleness, but blond and condense them into one impressive whole— that Dance showed himself a great artist—let us say, a great tragic architect. Truly felicitous Is the manner in which, by being divided into boldly distinct and well articulated parte, the composition acquires artistic play without losing anything of its severity. Truly felicitous also is the effective relief both as to perspective and light and shade thrown Into it, not according to the usual practice of bringing parts forward, but of recessing them, and placing masses in the rear of others, so that the general line of front is preserved unbroken iu its lower part. The great drawback on this otherwise masterly com position is the centre compartment, or "governor's house." Well intended as is the kind of contrast between that part and the rest, the contrast actually produced is far from the happiest, the character given to the centre being by far too much like that of an ordinary dwelling-house, the windows being so many, in proportion to the space they occupy, as absolutely to crowd it and cut it up, to destroy breadth and repose, and to occasion an air of littleness. Tho attic story espe cially is a most paltry termination to the centre of such a pile; but in the original design the centre of the edifice was crowned by a pediment, which would have given variety to the whole composition, without any sacrifice of dignity : tha alteration appears to have been made in order to provide au additional story, which however might just as well have been concealed within the roof. The proximity of Newgate
perhaps deprived the late Giltspur Street Compter of some of the celebrity it might else have obtained 89 a piece of architecture ; and yet the same proximity was not altogether favourable to the other, the fenestration in the design of the Compter being decidedly better than that of the governor's residence in Newgate. Dance derived much more fame from St. Luke's Hospital than from the Compter, though far less worthy of admiration : it is in fact a mere horrible reality without any mathetic beauty infused into it. As to the front of Guildhall, erected by Dance in 1789, there can be but one opinion. Its ugliness we might tolerate, its absurdity we might excuse, but ugliness, absurdity, and excessive paltriness, without a single redeem ing feature, combine to render it quite unendurable. Among Dance's minor works are the Shakspere Gallery, Pall Mall, now the British Iustitution, and the Theatre at Bath, neither of which possesses any great beauty or merit Dance was not only one of the earliest members of the Royal Academy, but held for several years the office of Professor of Archi tecture; yet he never delivered any lectures, nor do e he seem to have exhibited drawings at its exhibitions. Still if be neither lectured nor wrote upon that branch of art which he pursued as a profession, he gave the world evidence of his ability in a department of art wholly unconnected with architecture, by publishing a series of portraits (chiefly profiles) of the public characters and artists of the day, which appeared iu two volumes, folio, 1811.14, and were engraved by William Daniell, R.A., in imitation of the original drawings. Dance held his appointment of City Surveyor till 1816, when he resigned in favour of his pupil, the late W. Montague; but he survived his retirement from practice several years, and died at his house in Gower Street, January 14th 1825, at the age of eighty-four. He was buried in St. Paul's, near Wren and Rennie.
His younger brother, NATHANIEL DANCE, third son of the elder George Dance, began his career as a painter, in which profession he acquired some celebrity, but his fine figure and captivating address having obtained for him the hand of the wealthy Yorkshire heiress, Mrs. Dummer, he abandoned painting, and purchased and destroyed all his former productions which he could meet with. On his marriage he had taken the name of Holland iu addition to his own, and he was made a baronet in 1800. The income he acquired with his lady was about 18,000/. per annum, and as the Dummer estates were entailed, he contrived to amass for himself about 200,000/. Sir Nathaniel Dance Holland died very suddenly at 1Vinchester, October 15th, 1811.