Architecture of the Metropolis, 357 



which appears throughout the whole design is spirited and 

 laludable. 



In respect to palaces, which is also an important department 

 in the architecture of a great city, Ix)ndon is confessedly ex- 

 celled by almost every other capital in Europe, both in public 

 and private edifices of this description ; of the former, White- 

 hall, Carlton-house, and the Mansion-house, comprize the 

 whole list of buildings any way entitled to the appellation of 

 palaces, and even their title has often been thought disputa- 

 ble. The first of these three, considering the smallness of its 

 dimensions, is eminently chaste and beautiful ; and the two 

 latter, though they have been much ridiculed by travellers, are 

 not destitute of grandeur. In respect to the private mansions 

 of our grandees, the deficiency, as noticed already, is still more 

 deplorable. Here, indeed, is the great and glaring opprobrium 

 of London, considered as the wealthiest city in Europe. ITiere 

 are scarcely half a dozen houses that would strike a stranger 

 as fit for the residence of a British nobleman of 100,000 or 

 150,000^. a year. Of these, the principal are Burlington-house, 

 Piccadilly ; Lansdown-house, in Berkeley-square ; Northumber- 

 land-house, Charing-cross ; and Earl Spencer's, in the Green- 

 park ; and even of these four, the two first are shut up by hideous 

 brick walls from the public eye. It might be expected, as a 

 matter of course, that the British capital should contain at 

 least five hundred houses of this description. In defence, 

 however, of the British aristocracy, it may be urged, that it is 

 more consonant to the national taste, and more conducive to 

 the general decoration of the country, that they should reserve 

 their suJ)erfluous wealth, and their architectural pride, for their 

 family residences in the country. This feeling is, no doubt, 

 highly commendable, and it has covered the land with a profu- 

 sion of rural palaces such as no other nation can boast, and 

 which give to many districts of the island the air of a continu- 

 ous park or ornamented country. In addition to this, it may 

 be alleged, that the limits of the metropolis itself are hardly 

 capable of admitting any very great congregation of capital 

 mansions. The immense size of London is already attended 

 with great inconvepiences and serious evils; but this extent 

 would be enormously increased, if rows of palaces like those 



