204 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[AufiUST, 



The majestic sample he has given of his art in the Banqnetting 

 Jfouse, is a continued persuasive to incline us to wisli for the rest of 

 that magnificent pile, of which tliis was intended to be so inconsider- 

 able a part: to be sure if over this co\dd be ellected, Britain might 

 boast of a palace, which might excel even the ]>roud Versailles, and be 

 as much visited too, in compliment to its siiperior taste. 



I cannot leave this place without taking some notice of the admira- 

 ble ceiling, ])erfornied by Uubens, which is beyond controversy, one of 

 the finest things of the kind in Europe. It is indeed not so generally 

 known as one could wish, but it needs only to be known to be esteemed 

 according to its merit. In short, it is but an ill decoration for a jjlacc 

 of religious worship ; for in the first place, its contents are no ways 

 akin to dev(jtion, and in the next, the workmanship is so very extra- 

 ordinary, that a man must have abundance of zeal, or no taste, that can 

 attend to any thing beside. 



Before I cjuit this place, I must take notice of the brazen statue, 

 erected here in honour of James II. The attitude is fine, the manner 

 free and easy, the execution finished and perfect, and the expression 

 in the face inimitable : it explains the very soul of that unhappy- 

 monarch, and is therefore as valuable as if it commemorated the fea- 

 tures and form of a hero. In short it is a pity it is not removed to 

 some more jiublic and open place, that it might be better known, and 

 more admired. 



Marlborough House is another instance of great expense, but no 

 taste : it consists only of a range of windows or two ; a certain quan- 

 tity of unmeaning stone, wdiich was intended for a decoration, and a 

 weight of chimnies over all, enough to sink the roof to the foundation. 

 It is certain tlie ground afforded tlie architect all the opportunity ima- 

 ginable of exerting his utmost art and genius, and if he had, the very 

 place itself would have secured him the highest applause. 



It is with no small concern, I am obliged to own that the palace* of 

 the Brilibh kings is so far from having one single beauty to recommend 

 it, that it is at once the contempt of foreign nations, and the disgrace 

 of our own : it will admit of no defjate that the court of a monarch 

 ought to be the centre of all politeness ; and a grand and elegant out- 

 side would seem, at least, an indication of a like perfection within : 

 we may safely add, that this is necessaiy even in a political sense : for 

 strangers very naturally take their impressions of a whole people by 

 wdiat they see at court, and the people themselves are, and ought to be 

 dazzled by the august a])pearance of majcsly, in everything that has any 

 relation to it. I could « ish, therefore, that ways and means could be 

 invented to bring about this necessary point; that Britain might assert 

 her own taste and dignity, and vie in elegance, as well as power, with 

 the most finished of her neighbours. 



As we proceed on to Westminster,-!' a city long famous for its an- 

 tiquity, yet producing very little worthy of attention, and less of ad- 

 miration, we will begin with the house on the left hand of King Street, 

 and near adjoining to Privy Garden; not that it is in any way remark- 

 able in itself, but because it has one of the most elegant irregular 

 views before it of any house in town; the street before it forms a very 

 spacious and noble area. And yet, with all its advantages, the house is a 

 public nuisance, as well as all those in King Street, Channel (Cannon) 

 Row, and the entire space between ; nothing in the universe can be more 

 absurd than so wretched a communication between two sudi cities as 

 London and Westminster, a passage which must be frequented by all 

 foreigners, which is visited even by the sovereign himself many times 

 a vear, which is the road of all the justiciary business of the nation, 

 w hich is the only thoroughfare to the seat of the legislature itself, and 

 the rout of our most pompous cavalcades and processions: surely such 

 a place as this ought, at least, to be large and convenient, if not costly 

 and magnificent, though, in my opinion, it ought to be made the centre 

 of our elegance and grandeur; and to do this effectually, all thelmild- 

 ings I have complained of ought to be levelled to the ground, and a 

 space laid open from Privy Garden to Westminster Hall vn one side, 

 and from tlie west end of the Abbey to Storey's Gate on the other; 

 this should be surrounded with stone buildings all in a taste, raised on 

 a ))iazza or colonnade, with suitable decorations, and the middle 

 should be adorned with a group of statues, answerable to the extent 

 of the circuit round it. It is easy to imagine what an eticct such an 

 improvement as this would have on the spectator, and how much more 

 agreeable it would be to the honour and credit of the nation. 



I should farther desire, too, to see all the little hovels demolished 

 which now incumber the Hall and the Abbey, that those buildings 

 might he seen at least, and if they could not be admired for their 

 beauty, they might be reverenced for their greatness and antiquity. 

 If St. Margaret's were removed with the rest, it would be yet a farther 



' St. James's. 



t We have retained this part of Ralph, allhouRli several improvemtnts 

 have taken place since his day in ibis part of Westminster,— En. 



advantage ; for then the fine chapel of Henry VII. w-ould come into 

 play, and be attended to as it deserves. I am very far from expecting 

 or even imagining that any of these alterations will ever come to 

 pass ; I mention them only to explode the miserable taste of our an- 

 cestors, who neglected, or did not understand, these beauties; and 

 that their descendants uuiy grow wiser at their expence, and prevent 

 the like censures from falling upon them. 



I am sometimes iuclined to w ish that the place which is now- called 

 Hell, was levelled, and that the new Parliament House should be 

 erected there in its room; it would certainly have a noble effect on 

 the jjrospect, and form a most admirable contrast to the ancient edifices 

 of each side of it : I have indeed an objection or two to this part of 

 the scheme ; first, I apprehend there is not room enough there for such 

 a pile; and, secondly, it would lose the advantage of a jirospect from 

 the river, which its present situation might so happily allow it. 



At all events, however, I should be glad to see this noble ]iroject 

 put into execution : it is certain nothing can be more imworthy of so 

 august a body as the parliament of Great Britain, than the present 

 place of their assembly : it must be undoubtedly a great surprize to a 

 foreigner, to be forced to enquire for the Parliament House even at the 

 doors ; and when he found it, to see it so detached in parcels, so in- 

 cumbered with wretched apartments, and so contemptible in the wh.ole : 

 I could wish therefore to see this evil remedied ; to see so useful and 

 necessary a scheme take place : and if it falls into the noble hands to 

 execute, we have long been flattered to believe it w'ould, there is no 

 room to doubt but the grandeur of this appearance will answer the 

 majestic purposes it is to be employed in. 'The British taste in archi- 

 tecture, is, to be sure, more obliged to that nobleman,(?) than any other 

 person now living, and if Inigo Jones has any advantage, it is only in 

 liaving lived before him. 



It will be ridiculous and foolish therefore, in me, to give the least 

 hint for the conduct or improvement of any design which he has en- 

 gaged in; I shall therefore say no more than this, that I should be 

 glad to have both houses under tlie same roof, built on the same line, 

 exactly opposite to each other, the seats ranged theatricahy, the 

 throne in the midst of one semicircle, the speaker's chair in the other; 

 and that when the king made his speech, ways and means might be 

 found to remove the partitions from between the two houses, and pre- 

 sent the whole parliament of Britain at one view, assembled in the 

 most grand, solemn, and elegant manner, with the sovereign at their 

 head, and all the decorations round them, which could strike the spec- 

 tator dumb with admiration, at the profusion of majesty, which set off 

 and adorned the whole. 



After such a scene as this has been presented to the imagination, no 

 other has importance enough to be attended to : I expect therefore 

 that what has been said of Westminster Hall will meet with but a cool 

 reception. The structure is remarkable only for being the largest 

 room in Europe which lias no column to support it: all that is excel- 

 lent in it, therefore, is to be fountl in the contrivance and workmanship 

 of the roof, and no doubt both are truly admirable : but as skill and 

 contrivance are both thrown away, unless they are to be seen in effect, 

 so a room of half the extent of this, supported on beautiful pillars, and 

 graced with suitable cornices, according to the antique, would excite 

 a great deal more applause, and deserve it infinitely better. 



( To be continued.) 



NOTES ON ARTESIAN WELLS AND WELL BORING IN 

 FRANCE. 



(From French Publications. ) 



M. Champoiseau has communicated to "the Academy of Sciences" 

 the result of the experiments which he made at Tours, to ascertain 

 the relation which existed between the water of his artesian well, and 

 that of the neighbouring rivers. These experiments were continued 

 for more than three months (March, April and May), and did not show 

 any vari.ition in the pro<luce at any time, whatever were the variations 

 in the rivers round "Tours, or in the tides; neither was the limpidity 

 of the water at all affected. Indeed the apparatus did not exhibit any 

 sensible change in the well water, and the conclusion drawn is that the 

 artesian weUs of Tours, from the great elevation of their feeding springs, 

 are not exposed to the irregularities observed elsewhere. 



A singular circumstance recently occurred during the construction of 

 the Left Bank Versailles Railway, near Val de Fleury, varying in its 

 operation, and its treatment from some similar instances, which oc- 

 curred on the London and Birmingham, and other railways here. A 

 large embankment was in progress to join the viaduct then building, 



