Hamilton Palace. 339 



of Marie Antoinette. Besides these, we saw such a profusion of 

 articles, in china, glass, marble, silver, and gold, and of furniture 

 ornamented with precious stones, as we should suppose is no- 

 where else to be found, either in Scotland or England, not even 

 excepting Windsor Castle. The pictures are numerous, but we 

 had only time to glance at them, and to notice " Daniel in the 

 Lion's Den." The proportions of all the modern rooms are satis- 

 factory, the chimney-pieces superb, and the carving of the ma- 

 hogany doors and other fittings most elaborate. One of the most 

 striking and imposing rooms, which is called the Tribune, is a lofty 

 saloon, lighted from the ceiling, with rich projecting galleries, 

 and forming a centre of communication to a suite of state-rooms. 

 The hall and grand staircase were being finished with black 

 marble, of which we saw numerous columns, but we had only an 

 imperfect glance at them from the scaffolding. The exterior of 

 the building is grand and imposing, from its magnitude, and the 

 unity of architectural design which pervades every part of all the 

 elevations ; and the same character of grandeur being preserved 

 within, and heightened by richness of finishing and furniture, 

 becomes magnificence. The only fault that we could find with 

 the interior of the house is one which may be made to every 

 house that we have been in, not even excepting the royal pa- 

 laces ; that is, that there is no artistical connexion between the 

 fenders and the grates, or between the fenders and the chimney 

 jambs to which they belong. It would occupy too much room 

 to enter into details, which, indeed, we have done in the Suburban 

 Gardener, p. 125., but Jig. 33. from that work shows a fender 

 artistically united to the chimney jambs, and will be sufficient to 

 give a general idea of what is meant by artistical connexion. 



Nothing has been done to the grounds around the house, or 

 at least nothing at all worthy of such a building. There are 

 various systems on which the grounds of such a palace might be 

 laid out. Supposing the ancient system were to be adopted, 

 then the first step would be to form the main public roads lead- 

 ing to and from the palace into straight avenues for as many 

 miles as they pass through the property, the palace forming the 

 central object. Next we would turn the Clyde in such a manner 

 as that the avenues should cross it on suitable bridges at right 

 angles, immediately before arriving at the gates. The public 

 roads would at a distance, to strangers driving along them, ap- 

 pear to terminate in magnificent gates leading to the palace ; but 

 the roads would, on arriving there, be turned so as to pass outside 

 the park. Applying these principles to Hamilton Palace and 

 Park, it would involve the alteration of a portion of the road 

 from Glasgow, and a portion also of that from Lanark, accord- 

 ing to the distance which the estate may extend in the direction 

 of these places. It would also require a change being made in 



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