1831.] Affairs in General 73 



Easily dried as our tears are for the Wellington tribe of trimmers, yet 

 we wish that one of their officers could have been retained,, Lord Low- 

 ther. What Mr. Agar Ellis may do in his room, can yet only be con- 

 jecture. But we must give Lord Lowther credit for having done a great 

 deal for the appearance of the metropolis. The Strand improvements 

 are admirable ; and if we had any of the old Roman gratitude in us, we 

 should give some of those improvements his name. Any simple memo- 

 rial might answer the purpose, and we sincerely think that some record 

 of the kind ought to remind us of one, who has to the extent of his power 

 been a public benefactor. 



The labour of the office has been greater than those unaccustomed to 

 such matters would conceive. The commissioners mention that in their 

 last report they stated that they had purchased, for the purpose of these 

 improvements, the freehold of one hundred and ninety-eight houses and 

 buildings, and the interests of leaseholders and occupiers in three hun- 

 dred and forty -two houses, besides acquiring by exchange six freehold 

 houses ; and add, they have now to state that they have since pur- 

 chased two hundred and ^fifty-nine freehold houses and buildings, and 

 the interests of leaseholders and occupiers in one hundred houses, besides 

 obtaining by exchange twenty-seven freehold houses. They further 

 state that they had also agreed for, but not completed, the purchases of 

 sixteen freehold houses, and leaseholders' and occupiers' interests in 

 fifty-one houses. And by exchange twenty-seven freehold houses and 

 one leasehold house. And out of this immense mass of ruins, they have 

 changed one of the most unsightly and inconvenient streets of London, into 

 one of the handsomest, so far as their means have gone. A matter of 

 not less praise is the economy with which this great object has been ac- 

 complished. Every man, who, for his sins, meddles in building, knows 

 that it has no equal for expense and delay, or that it finds its only rival 

 in a Chancery suit. But the Strand buildings have, in the first instance, 

 been erected with extraordinary expedition, and in the next, at an ex- 

 traordinarily low rate. This long range of very shewy street has actually 

 cost the public but 300,000 ! The whole expense of the improvements, 

 then, in progress, according to an account presented March 1829, was 

 estimated at 1,147,313 ; but the available or expected means to meet 

 that expenditure were 852,111. leaving a deficiency of only 300,000. 

 To meet that deficiency, and to expedite the completion of the purchases 

 further required, in addition to the 400,000 (included in the 852,111) 

 borrowed from the Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners the Woods 

 and Forests' Commissioners borrowed a further sum of 300,000 of the 

 Equitable Assurance Company, at 3 10*. per cent, per annum, repay- 

 able by instalments within seventeen years. It is further stated that the 

 whole sum actually received for the purpose of these improvements, to 

 the time of making up the accounts, amounted to 962,548, and the 

 payments made, to 880,254 and that they believed that the estimate 

 of March 1829 (1,147,313) would not be exceeded. We wish that 

 we could have had the same tale to tell of the Pimlico palace, which 

 after the expenditure of a million sterling ! is now a tenement only for 

 the bats and owls ; and which will probably never be inhabited by 

 royalty. The eternal repairs of Windsor Castle are another drain, which 

 has sucked in twice the amount of the Strand improvements within these 

 three years ; and which, so far as the royal residence is concerned, 

 seems to be much in the same condition with the Pimlico palace. But the 



M.M. New Series. VOL. XI. No. 61. L 



