The Duke of Wellington, as Master-General of the Ordnance, having given orders in 1825 that practical architecture should form part of the course of instruction of the junior officers attending the Royal Engineer Establishment at Chatham, under my direction, which had hitherto been confined to their duties in the field, and a Professor in every respect competent having been selected for that duty, I was induced to enter into the details of measuring and estimating buildings and other works myself—which I had never done before, because, like other officers of my corps, who studied the other branches of practical architecture and engineering with pleasure, I had, when employed in garrison duties, left those details to the clerks of works, and to the overseers and foremen of the department.