he was commissioned to build Blenheim. Upon the merits and demerits of this famous " hollowed quarry " there has been much conflict of opinion. As to the sarcasms by Swift, Walpole, Evans, and the rest, they are as nothing when set against Sir Joshua Reynolds's defence of Vanbrugh and his style. Blenheim Palace is probably the largest domestic building in England, and consists of three blocks, the centre containing the private living rooms, one wing the stables, and the other the kitchens and storehouses. It is planned on a colossal scale. Vanbrugh considered a building and the parts of a building as simply so much material for effect, without regard to their reasonable use and the necessary limitations of design. Thus he would support his main block by subordinate groups without considering for a moment the inconvenience that might be caused by the kitchen being removed by four hundred yards from the dining-room. Personal comfort was sacrificed to perspective. Windows were to adorn the elevation, not to light the interior; and, as Vol- taire said, if the rooms had only been as wide as the walls were thick, the chateau would have been convenient enough. After Blenheim and Castle Howard, his next largest palace was prob-; ably Fleurs, near Kelso. His plans were only suitable to the largest kind of palace. Blenheim, however, was a source of great sorrow to the kindly dramatist. Though parliament had voted for the building of it, no provision had been made for the supplies. The queen while she lived paid them, and then Vanbrugh was left to the meanness of the duke of Marlborough, and afterwards to the insolence of the " wicked woman," who did her best to embitter his life. Besides Castle Howard and Blenheim, he built many other country mansions, such as Grimsthorpe and Duncombe Hall in Yorkshire, Eastbury in Dorsetshire, Seaton-Delaval in Northumberland, King's Weston near Bristol, Oulton Hall in Cheshire, old. Claremont House at Esher, old Eaton Hall, Iver Grove, Bucks. He also restored Kimbolton Castle for the earl of Manchester. In 1716 he became architect to Greenwich Hospital.
In January 1719 Vanbrugh married Henrietta Maria, daughter of Colonel Yarborough of Heslington, and four years afterwards, at the accession of George I., he was knighted. He afterwards wrote again for the stage, and the unfinished fragment of the Journey to London (completed by Cibber as The Provok'd Husband in 1728) shows that his powers remained to the last as fine as ever. His married life was mostly spent at Blackheath, very probably in " Bastile House " on Maze Hill, repaired in 1904 and now known as Vanbrugh Castle. His wife died there at a great age in 1776, but " Van " himself died on the 26th of March 1726 in his modest town house, built in 1703 out of the ruins of Whitehall and satirized by Swift as the "goose pie." The site is occupied to-day by the War Office. The famous epitaph, "Lie heavy on him, earth," is attributed to Abel Evans. The best portrait of the dramatist is the kit-cat by Kneller.
Vanbrugh's works were edited in 2 vols., 1893, by W. C. Ward (portraits). Select Plays were issued in the Mermaid Series (ed. A. E. H. Swaen) in 1896. See G. H. Lovegrove's Life, Works and Influence of Sir John Vanbrugh (1902), Max Dametz's Vanbrughs Leben und Werke (1898), and Swift's Works (Bohn), xii. 80 sq.
(T. Se.)
VAN BUREN, MARTIN (1782-1862), eighth president of the
United States, was born at Kinderhook, New York, on the 5th
of December 1782, of Dutch descent. His father was a farmer
and tavern-keeper. His education was limited to that which
could be obtained in the common schools and at Kinderhook
Academy, and there is testimony to the effect that as late as
1829, when he became secretary of state, he wrote crudely
and incorrectly. In 1796 he began the study of law, completing
his preparation in 1802 at New York, where he studied under
William Peter Van Ness (1778-1826), an eminent lawyer and
later Aaron Burr's second in the duel with Alexander Hamilton.
Van Buren made the acquaintance of Burr, but did not fall
under his influence. In 1803 he was admitted to the bar and
continued in active and successful practice for twenty-five
years. His practice made him financially independent, and
paved the way for his entrance into politics. New York politics
after 1800, the year of the election of Jefferson and the down-
fall of the Federalists, were peculiarly bitter and personal. The
Republicans were divided into three factions, followers
respectively of George Clinton (and later of his nephew, De Witt
Clinton), Robert R. Livingston and Aaron Burr; and such
Federalist control as there was from time to time after 1799
depended upon coalition with one or other of these groups.
Van Buren, who early allied himself with the Clintonians, was
surrogate of Columbia county from 1808 until 1813, when he
was removed. In 1812 he entered the state Senate, and he
also became a member of the court for the correction of errors,
the highest court in New York until 1847.
His career in the Senate covered two terms (1812-1820). In 1815 he became attorney-general, an office which he held, still as a member of the Senate, until 1819, when he was displaced to make room for a Federalist. He had already, in 1808, removed from Kinderhook to Hudson, and in 1816 he took up his residence in Albany, where he continued to reside until he entered Jackson's cabinet in 1829. As a member of the state Senate he supported the War of 1812 and drew up a classification act for the enrolment of volunteers. He was chosen to draft the resolution of thanks voted by the legislature to General Andrew Jackson after the battle of New Orleans. He broke with De Witt Clinton in 1813, but nevertheless favoured, in 1817, Clinton's plan for the Erie Canal. His attitude towards slavery at the moment was shown by his vote, in January 1820, for a resolution opposing the admission of Missouri as a slave state. In the same year he was chosen a presidential elector. It is at this point that Van Buren's connexion began with so-called “machine politics,” a connexion which has made his name odious to some historians of the period. He was a leading member of the “Albany regency,” a group of politicians who for more than a generation controlled the politics of New York and powerfully influenced those of the nation, and which did more than any other agency to make the “spoils system” a recognized procedure in national, state and local affairs. Van Buren did not originate the system, for it was already well developed when he entered public life; but the nickname of “Little Magician” which presently attached to him testifies to the skill with which he exploited it, and to the popular impression which his political methods produced.
In February 1821 he was elected to the United States Senate. Before taking his seat he served also as a member of the state constitutional convention, where he opposed the grant of universal suffrage. His course in the Senate was not altogether consistent, though in this respect he is not to be judged more harshly than some of his associates. He at first favoured internal improvements, and in 1824 proposed a constitutional amendment to authorize such undertakings, but the next year took ground against them. He voted for the tariff of 1824, then gradually abandoned the protectionist position. In the presidential election of 1824 he appeared as a strong supporter of William H. Crawford, and received the electoral vote of Georgia for vice-president; but he shrewdly kept out of the acrimonious controversy which followed the choice of John Quincy Adams. He early recognized the availability of Andrew Jackson, however, as a presidential candidate, and after the election sought to bring the Crawford and Jackson followers together, at the same time strengthening his control as a party leader in the Senate. Always notably courteous in his treatment of opponents, he showed no bitterness either towards J. Q. Adams or Henry Clay, and voted for Clay's confirmation as secretary of state notwithstanding the “corrupt bargain” charge; at the same time he opposed internal improvements and declined to support the proposal for a Panama Congress. As chairman of the judiciary committee, he brought forward a number of measures for the improvement of judicial procedure, and in May 1826 joined with Benton in presenting a report on executive patronage. In the debate on the “tariff of abominations” in 1828 he took no part, but voted for the measure in obedience to instructions from the New York legislature — an action which was cited against him as late as the presidential campaign of 1844. Van Buren was not an orator,
