Plans for Improving London. 137 



of the structure, and adding immensely to the grandeur and 

 dignity of what ought to have been the most magnificent work 

 of architecture in the metropolis. 



Gwynn's veneration for Westminster Abbey stayed his 

 hand of demolition in that sacred quarter ; but the Dean and 

 Chapter had no doubt smiled at his suggestion, that ' ' an ele- 

 gant light Gothic dome " be raised from the nave of the Church, 

 and " the whole inside of the building painted of a,n uniform 

 clean stone colour, in the manner that St. Paul's Church is, it 

 would then become a most beautiful pile, and be deservedly 

 esteemed one of the finest things of the kind perhaps in 

 Europe." St. Paul's also was to come in for a share of sug- 

 gested improvement, by the lead- work of the cupola " being 

 painted in stone colour." 



We may smile at these well-intentioned suggestions, but in 

 Gwynn's long list of improvements there are many which are 

 entitled to great praise, and some have been since acted upon. 

 We will just run through some of the most salient. 



" Bedford Row is opened into Holborn, and the line con- 

 tinued to Lincoln's Inn Gardens." 



" St. George's, Bloomsbury, is detached and disencum- 

 bered from the buildings, and streets opened north and 

 south." 



" An opening sixty feet wide is made through Leicester 

 Square from Piccadilly, and continued into Long Acre. The 

 west end of Queen Street, called the Devil's Gap, is here 

 opened equal to the breadth of that street obliquely from Long 

 Acre." 



The opening into Leicester Square from Piccadilly has been 

 done ; the " Devil's Gap," it is feared, still remains. 



" From the opening at the north-east corner of Leicester 

 Fields before-mentioned, a street of fifty feet in width, making 

 an acute angle with Long Acre, is carried through St. Martin's 

 Lane into New Street." This improvement has also been 

 effected, although not quite in the order described. Garrick 

 Street is even better than Gwynn's line of street, and the Club 

 House on the south side presents a striking fa9ade. 



" The Haymarket is continued to St. James's Park, where 

 a triumphal arch may be erected as a termimation to the 

 view." 



" A spacious opening is made at Spring Gardens from the 

 Park, and continued to Charing Cross, opposite the Strand." 



' ' A direct line from Northumberland House is drawn to 

 Whitehall, and two considerable streets are formed which run 

 down to the Thames, one of them directly fronts the Admi- 

 ralty." It is to be hoped that the proposal for an opening from 

 Charing Cross, which has of late been seriously entertained, 



