New Market of Covent Garden. 275 



which it was produced, as is the Covent Garden Market, 

 erected by the Duke of Bedford, to the present era. We 

 make the comparison with no view of detracting from the 

 merits of this nobleman, few can have a higiier respect for 

 him than we ; but simply to aid the young gardener to 

 generalise, for whom it must never be forgotten that this 

 work is chiefly intended. It is, indeed, quite merit enough 

 for any man to be on a par with the times in which he lives ; 

 and few, indeed, are those who, like Bacon in science and 

 Jefferson in morals, can be said to have made one step beyond 

 them. Another building which, it might be supposed, would 

 challenge competition with the magnificent foreign structures 

 we have just alluded to, is the Bank of England. We 

 know not what the interior of this structure may be ; but the 

 exterior, designed, we believe, by at least two architects re- 

 puted at the head of their profession, has always struck us 

 as a singularly unfortunate display of architectural design. 

 Columns, which, to be grand and imposing, ought always 

 to be, or to appear to be, essential component parts of an 

 edifice, are here reduced to mere ornaments. They abound 

 to such an extent as to destroy simplicity, as well as gran- 

 deur of character ; and, interspersed with blank doors and 

 windows in some places, and crowned with cinereal urns 

 in others, produce so anomalous an effect, that a stranger 

 walking round, and inspecting the different fronts, would 

 be puzzled to conjecture the purpose of the huge pile. 

 Viewing it from the north-west angle, it might well be taken 

 for a metropolitan sepulchre ; from the west side, a prison ; 

 from the north side, the walls and gates of a timber-yard ; 

 from the east, a stable-yard ; and as to the south front, who- 

 ever has seen the Campo Morto at Pisa must be struck with 

 the resemblance. Very different, indeed, is the new Post- 

 Office, which, at once simple and grand as an architectural 

 pile, conveys, as to character, exclusively the idea of public 

 business. Covent Garden Market is also a structure at once 

 perfectly fitted for its various uses ; of great architectural 

 beauty and elegance ; and so expressive of the purposes for 

 which it is erected, that it cannot by any possibility be mis- 

 taken for any thing else than what it is. 



Covent Garden Market, we hope, may be considered as 

 the commencement of a new school in architecture; and this 

 school we should wish to distinguish as that of Reason and 

 Philosophy, in contradistinction to the prevailing school, which 

 may be denominated the School of Authority, or the Sta- 

 tionary School. The architects of the Bank of England 

 clearly belonged to the latter school, and the architect of 



T 2 



