360. Metropolitan Improvements. [Ocr. 
drawings of Mr. Philip Wyatt, it is impossible not to acknowledge the 
elegance of the design, and the apparent magnificence of the project. 
The feasibility of the scheme—the ultimate pecuniary profit attached to 
it-—the result as to its effect on the river—may all, be matters of doubt, 
and were of course open to dispute. But in the varied and general abuse 
which many in the violence of their opposition, cast upon the architec- 
tural designs for its execution, the writers were more influenced by their 
prejudices than by their judgments. i yw 
Determined, we suppose, to preserve a history of his exertions to 
accomplish his project, and that posterity might be aware of his indus- 
try—as well, perhaps, to prevent any future projector calling the future 
project of a Thames quay his own—Colonel Trerich has published 2 
quarto volume, purporting to be “ A Collection of Papers relating to the 
Thames Quay, with Hints for some farther Improvements of the Metro- 
polis.” It is this book which is now laying before us ; and, in addition 
to the complete detail of Colonel Trench’s plan, which it contains, it is 
certainly the most curious collection of various and opposite opinions upon 
the same subject that has ever appeared. It is, indeed, a series of broad 
assertions on matters, almost of fact, completely contradictory, and con- 
tains the opinions of some of our first scientific men on the subject, which 
may be of service in some future day. The book is; however, defective, 
inasmuch as it does not contain the lithographic architectural represen- 
tation of the plan ; and we wonder much at this omission, as the work 
contains seventeen plates of other plans projected by thecolonel. The inser- 
tion of these drawings would have rendered the work much more valuable. 
In concluding his history, for we must call it such, of this project, the 
colonel thus mentions the person from whose suggestions seem to have 
originated all the late improvements of the metropolis, though his name 
has never been mentioned, nor his plans adverted to, by any of the pro- 
jectors. Speaking of a portion of the plan, Colonel Trench says, “ that 
the individual who made this suggestion knew no more of Gwyn than I 
myself did: but it is singular, that in Nos. 75 and 76 of the explanation of 
his first plate, these very ideas are clearly and distinctly stated. Indeed, 
that wonderful man seems to have anticipated my (every, we presume) 
plan of improvement that has been contemplated or carried into effect, 
from 1766 to the present day.” The fact is, that almost all the late 
improvements have been suggested by, or copied from Gwyn’s book 
though few have had the honesty to acknowledge it, and give to this 
departed person the credit due to his genius. 
We now come to Colonel Trench’s “ Hints for some farther Improve. 
ments in the Metropolis.” The houses of parliament, and the courts of 
law, and the parts contiguous, are the first to which the colonel directs 
the attention of the reader ; and here he is quite as magnificent in his ideas 
as he had been in his quay. He speaks of sweeping down one side of 
Parliament Street, and constructing “a grand terrace, raised to the 
height of twelve or fourteen feet above the level of the street,” upon 
which he would erect a new Westminster Hall, new courts of justice 
a new House of Lords, and a new House of Commons.” Why, all bie 
architects of the kingdom ought to unite their talents to design a monu- 
ment in honour of Colonel Trench, for thus cutting out so much employ- 
ment for their genius; or, rather, the three attached architects of the 
Board of Works should have done this, since, had these projects been - 
carried into effect, they would have divided the employment, and the 
profit and the fame, all among themselves. 
