286 Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. 



soften and refine the manners of those who at present are 

 acknowledged to be more rude than the same class either in 

 France or Germany. 



Since the above was printed, we have seen at the " Office 

 of Woods," &c, the elevation of the large bridge {jig. 56.), 

 with the waterfall delineated under it, the whole width of the 

 five arches ; but the idea of the waterfall, we were informed, 

 had lately been given up. Not to say any thing of the absur- 

 dity of building a waterfall of a width (300 feet) that would 

 require the Thames itself to cover it properly, in a situation 

 where for nine months in the year more than the supply is 

 carried off by evaporation ; we ask if a bridge, which was 

 designed of a proper height to admit a waterfall eight feet in 

 height underneath, will also be of a proper height without that 

 waterfall ? We hope this bridge and waterfall are not to be 

 considered as a specimen of the manner in which our public 

 improvements are directed ! What will become of the walk 

 in that part of Kensington Gardens, when the embankment 

 over which it now passes is removed ? Will a separate bridge 

 be erected for it ? or will the company walking in the gardens 

 mount the high bridge, and go over among the horses and 

 carriages ? In whatever way this bridge is considered, it is 

 bad ; and as those who have begun it have felt this so far as 

 to give up the waterfall, the best thing they can do is to give 

 it up altogether, and make the water the boundary between 

 the park and gardens, as in Mr. Thompson's plan. The 

 sum which it will require to complete the bridge, we have no 

 hesitation in stating, would more than cover the expence of 

 all the improvements proposed in this paper. — A bridge in a 

 situation where it is really useful, and especially where it could 

 not be done without, is one of the noblest of artificial objects ; 

 it shows great power exercised for a beneficent and important 

 purpose ; but placed where it is not essential, or where the 

 water seems to have been made wider in order to increase the 

 number of arches, the effect is a sort of mock sublime which is 

 proportionately disgusting, because, like figures in wax-work, 

 it appears an attempt to deceive, not to delight. If Mr. 

 Thompson's plan were adopted, a foot bridge would be neces- 

 sary on another part of the river to carry the public foot-path 

 over it to Knightsbridge barracks : how much more satisfactory 

 would be the effect of this structure, however slightly it might 

 be built, from its unquestionable utility and necessity. — Cond. 



June 1 7th. 



