Architedure of the Metropolis. 355 



^1^60 much for the general view of the subject: I shall now beg 

 leave to descend to a few more minute particulars. 



The great architectural sut)eriority of London, such as it is, 

 consists in the number, size, and general neatness of its prin- 

 cipal streets and squares. No other city can boast so great 

 a number of streets, equal to those of London in length 

 and breadth, and so uniformly well built. Petersburgh, Berhn, 

 Naples, Turin, Genoa, Antwerp, Edinburgh, and other places, 

 have perhaps finer streets than any in London, but in respect 

 to their number there is no comparison. At present, also, it 

 may be affirmed, that since the completion of the line of street 

 extending from Carlton-house to the Regent' s-park, it would 

 not be easy to find in any other city, even a single street which 

 greatly exceeds that magnificent range of buildings. 



Remarks of a similar kind may be applied to the squares. 

 If we assent to the critical canons established on this point, that 

 architectural beauty is constituted by variety amidst uniformity, 

 and that in every regidar figure the subordinate parts should 

 bear a certain proportion to each other, it will be found that 

 every square in London is manifestly imperfect. There is none 

 that can be com{)ared with the great square of St. Petersburgh, 

 the Plaee Vendome at Paris, the Place Royale at Brussels, the 

 Place of St. Marc at Venice, or even with the principal squared 

 in Edinburgh. Yet, when we consider their number, their spa- 

 ciousness^ their enclosures, and their general neatness, they 

 form altogether such an assemblage as no other city can rival. 

 The new squares, such as Bryanstone, Torrington, Bedford, 

 Russell^ &c., are tolerably uniform, but they want variety and 

 architectural decoration in their constituent parts. The old, 

 such as Grosvenor, Portman, St. James's, &c., have sufficient 

 variety in parts ; but having neither uniformity nor proportion 

 in their whole, nor much beauty in their details, their preten- 

 sions are still less. Fitzroy, Tavistock, Belgrave, and Regent- 

 squares, if completed on their respective plans, as far as they 

 are at present developed, will comprise most of the requisites 

 of a handsome square, though not without considerable faults. 



If we descend from these general features, to the individual 

 mansions which form this stately assemblage of streets and 

 squai*es, we shall find them, for the most part, utterly beneath 



