1836.] St. Peter's Church in Fort William. 209 



We have but little indeed to bring forward in rivalry of such mag- 

 nificent undertakings ; howbeit, there have been schemes of vast 

 magnitude projected, and some under a Viceroy such as Lord W. Ben- 

 tinck, partial to engineering pursuits, might ere this have been put in 

 execution. The draining of the Salt-water lake, (were it conceded to be a 

 salutary measure) wouldbe feasible enough. The line of wharfs or jetties 

 on the Strand is actually planned and estimated for. The Rajmahl line 

 of survey is a splendid specimen of mapping ; and although we have 

 no anticipation of seeing it undertaken, the results of the inquiry will, 

 we hope, be given to the public in a volume, with all its sections, by 

 its projector our Indian Belidor. Of architectural achievements we have 

 less to boast. Twenty years since, money was bequeathed by a 

 rich native for the erection of a College at Hugli, and yet nothing 

 has been done unto this day. Are architects wanting, or are the 

 curators anxious to appropriate the money for other purposes ? We 

 have seen more than one tasteful design, but how is an artist ever to 

 satisfy the views of a numerous committee, not more than one or two 

 of whom perchance have any notion of architectural propriety ? In 

 feeble imitation of the Parliamentary Church Committee at home, we 

 have a private fund created by rupee contributions for the erection of 

 places of worship in the interior ; but it is far too poor to aim at orna- 

 ment in its humble structures. The Martiniere is the only public in- 

 stitution, erected within the last year or two, that has real pretensions 

 to correct taste in its exterior elevation. It is strangely disfigured 

 by a high wall round the ground, and the arrangements of the interior 

 have been marred by an imperfect conception at starting, of what 

 would be required in it. 



An observation forces itself upon us when viewing the noble portico 

 of this building, of the Scotch Church, or of the mint, with their handsome 

 flights of stone steps; — that the purity of Grecian temple architecture can- 

 not or ought not to be preserved under the altered circumstances of the 

 present age. Men no longer resort on foot in daily processions to the 

 sacred vestibules of their gods. They drive in comfortable carriages, 

 and would fain dismount under shelter from the sun and the rain. Is 

 it not a fault of grievous magnitude then, that neither of these three 

 buildings possesses a carriage access ? and that at the Mint, for instance, 

 bullion cannot get within 100 feet of the hall of weighment, except on 

 coolies' heads. The Government house is in this respect better provid- 

 ed ; but here the basement entrance has been made an eyesore, and a 

 mere secondary object, instead of the primary one, being in constant use. 

 The portico of the Martiniere was intended for carriages, but this object 

 was sacrificed to the gaining of space for a play- ground, and the road 

 2 E 



