1828. ] Metropolitan Improvements. 361 
The colonel then imagines “ an area of 1,000 by 500 feet, occupied by 
these buildings and surrounding streets, on terraces so far above the 
spring-tides, as to combine salubrity with grandeur ;”—“ the Houses of 
Lords and Commons, distinct yet adjacent, and so disposed that the 
apartment between them should be a central station for the throne, from 
which, on great and solemn occasions, the King might address the as- 
sembled Peers and Commons, each occupying their own house.” Cer- 
tainly very comfortable for them ; but, we fear, the King must have the 
lungs of a Stentor, or deliver the speech concocted by his ministers 
through a speaking-trumpet. “ Such an arrangement,” the colonel con- 
tinues, “ would get rid of that tumultuous and disgraceful scramble, in 
which, after struggling through narrow passages, rendered more dan- 
gerous by ascending and descending stairs, his Majesty’s faithful Com- 
mons rush into the royal presence, breathless and exhausted.” 
Our author then, quitting the imaginary, proceeds, in some very sen- 
sible and artist-like observations, on what has been done in this part of 
the town—induced, as he says, by “a strong personal feeling that the 
beauty, grandeur, and propriety of public buildings are really of great 
importance to national character.—I do not wish,” he continues, 
* for any thing of finery or extravagance: effect does not depend upon 
expensive decoration: a cheap building may be very beautiful from its 
symmetry, its just proportions, and its judicious position ; while a most 
expensive edifice, decorated with all the enrichment that art can execute, 
may fail to please, or may excite a feeling of regret at the waste of so 
much ornament.” 
Let professors read this unanswerable observation of an amateur, and 
blush for much that they have done. 
The colonel next illustrates his observations by various designs of his 
own, or rather designs of Mr. Philip Wyatt, made under his directions, 
shewing how he would have disposed of the buildings, and contrasting 
his plans of the alterations of the courts of law with those which have 
lately been carried into execution. Here the colonel is no longer utopian. 
His designs are in good taste and keeping with what was already there ; 
and we cordially confess them so far superior to those which are effected, 
that we sincerely regret his suggestions were not attended to. The 
designs in Plates vi and VII, being Views of the North and West 
Fronts of the Courts of Law and Parliament House, shew a good and 
well-digested knowledge of the /ocale and its capabilities, united with 
great architectural taste and judgment—a very rare union in the present 
day. 
We must conclude our observations on this part of the work before 
us with the following curious description, which the author gives us, of 
the manner in which buildings are ordered and executed under the com- 
mands of the Lords and Commons, and which is very well illustrated in 
the late Report made by the Select Committee upon Public Buildings. 
« Almost every thing,” the colonel says, “ that is now doing, or has 
lately been done, about the Houses of Parliament, bears the mark of 
haste and temporary expedient. The Committee of the Lords directs 
a certain number of rooms to be erected by a CERTAIN DAY, just as a 
general officer would order buildings to be erected in a cantonment for 
the temporary accommodation of his troops. ‘The Committee of the 
Commons adopts precisely the same course ; and some of its members dis- 
tinctly say, “ Let the House of Lords build what they please without 
M.M. New Series.—Vou. VI. No. 34. 3A 
