31 



Palatial and Parliamentary Edifices of TVestminsler. By J, Britton and 

 E. TV. Bray ley. No. I, pp. 32. January, 1835. 



This is the first number of a history of the regal and parliamentary 

 edifices of Westminster, prepared by two of the most indefatigable of our 

 antiquaries, Messrs. Britton and Brayley, who have taken advantage of 

 the interest excited by the late great conflagration, to bring out the present 

 work. This number commences with the early history of Westminster, in 

 Saxon times, proving the existence of a palace there from a very remote 

 period, and carrying that history down to the reign of Henry III. in 1223. 



Westminster possesses a threefold source of interest to the loyal, the 

 constitutional, and the christian subject, in the remains of its palace, in its 

 parliamentary edifices, and in its magnificent and venerable cathedral. It 

 does not apj)ear that any part of the existing structures is more ancient 

 than the end of the tenth or commencement of the eleventh century, though 

 such may possibly be the case. The Hall is known to have been erected 

 by Rufus, as the part of a yet larger building. The Chapel of St. Stephen, 

 better known to Englishmen as the Chamber of their Commons, is attri- 

 buted originally to the monarch of that name ; and the greater part of the 

 Abbey Church, as its history and the style of its architecture plainly evince, 

 was the work of Henry III. 



Appended to this number are four engravings, the first, or frontispiece, 

 composed of various portions from St. Stephen's chapel and cloister, in 

 the latest or perpendicular gothic. The second, marked plate VIIL, we 

 suppose with reference to a future and descriptive part of the work, repre- 

 sents a compartment of tlie east side of Westminster Hall, near the south 

 end. Here we distinguish part of the original wall of the building, and 

 a small Norman arch, probably coeval with it ; a cornice, corbels, and 

 springers, of the reign of Richard II., whose armorial bearings, with those 

 of the Confessor, are seen, together with the devices of the former monarch. 

 Two windows are visible, apparently of the same date, but filled by tracery 

 which has been interpolated at a much later period. The lights are blocked 

 up by modern brick-work, and the tracery, which presents nothing very 

 remarkable, is broken and defaced. 



The third plate, marked XV. represents the interior of the painted 

 chamber, as seen after the fircj and the fourth (XXX.) gives the upper 

 cloister and part of the chapel of St. Stephen, presenting a great variety 

 of arciies — late perpendicular work — mixed up however with parts of far 

 higher antiquity. 



The number altogether reflects credit upon its authors, and tlie perma- 

 nent value of the work is enhanced by the number and correctness of the 

 references to authorities. AVc shall reserve our further remarks until a 

 larger portion of the entire work has appeared. 



