No. 89.]

London Magazine:

A JOURNAL OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INSTRUCTION
FOR GENERAL READING.

The above sketch represents a mode of tending cattle frequently to be met with in the more remote parts of Germany, where enclosures are not common, and the pasture-lands of the peasantry are not separated from each other and from the corn-fields by regular fences. In the sketch a cow and goat are tied together by a long rope fastened around the horns of each, which a girl holds in the middle, and so prevents either from straying.

VOL. IV.

A VISIT TO THE NEW HOUSES OF

PARLIAMENT.

ONE bright autumnal evening in 1834, towards the fashionable dinner-hour, the indwellers of the metropolis were alarmed by the breaking out of a "conflagration" upon the northern bank of the river, at a spot perhaps dearer in association than any other to every reader of England's history. The wind blew briskly from the south-west; the flames shot up with fearful rapidity; and the crowds of people who clustered upon the bridges and banks soon ascertained the scene of the "great fire" to be the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. "The wind blew briskly from the south-west, but became more southerly as the night advanced; the moon was near the full, and shone with radiance; but occasionally vast masses of cumulus floated high and bright across the skies, and, as the fitful glare of the flames increased, were illumined in a remarkably impressive manner, which gave interest to the busy scene that was preparing

below."

The circumstances of the discovery of the fire we will relate as briefly as possible. At about 6 o'clock, the wife of one of the door keepers, seeing a strongly glittering light under one of the doors, immediately ran to the deputy house-keeper, exclaiming, "Oh, good God, the House of Lords is on fire!" The persons employed about the building were quickly drawn together by the alarm; and a chimney was observed to be "very much on fire." The wind increased in strength; the flames shot through the numerous wood-panelled passages, lobbies, staircases, &c., which formed the communication between the two houses and their offices; and, "in a few hours," says one of the accounts, "notwithstand ing all the aid which could be furnished by fire engines and fire-men, by working parties of soldiers and labour ers, and by the assistance of the police, as well as from the voluntary services of many other persons, including both noblemen and gentlemen (Members of Parliament), the Houses of Lords and Commons and the Painted Chamber were consumed to the bare walls, whilst the more fragile buildings immediately surrounding them were altogether destroyed."

Throughout the might the scene of the fire presented a spectacle strikingly picturesque and impressive. The flames threw a lurid glare upon the fair bosom of the Thames, as well as upon the thousands of spectators crowded in hoats and barges and upon the bridges and banks; at the same time that the atmosphere was lit up for many miles around the metropolis. Landward, the progress of the fire exhibited a tableau vivant of not inferior interest. The Old Palace Yard, and, in the adjacent avenues, the soldiery, in their glittering uniforms, the shouts of the firemen and the clangour of the work ing engines; the rush and roar of the reckless mob, and their yelling, amounting almost to savagery. alike as the flames were checked or fed in their intensity, are even

now

Rife, and perfect in our listening ear."

In justice we should observe that the interest attached to the greater portion of the buildings in course of destruction was but understood by comparatively few of the congregated thousands; but every one present must have felt concerned for the fate of the magnificent hall, around which the flames raged fearfully during a considerable part of the night. Happily, the scene of the coronation feasts of our sovereigns for centuries past was preserved unscathed, but not until three o'clock on the following morning was the fire sufficiently subdued to remove apprehensions of further danger.

Next day, the blackened ruins presented a strange reality of a prophetic intimation as to the actual consequence in case of fire, put by Sir John Soane, in the year 1828; who, contemplating the labyrinth of lath

and plaster, which the old buildings presented, observed, "in such an extensive assemblage of combustible materials, should a fire happen, what would become of the Painted Chamber, the House of Commons, and Westminster Hall? Where would the progress of the fire be arrested?"

burning of about two cart loads of wooden tallies, in the The cause of the fire was, in a few days, traced to the furnaces or stoves connected with the flues, which passed beneath the flooring of the House of Lords; the iron pipes and flues by this means became red-hot, and set fire to the floor, as combustible as touch-wood. The tallies, we should explain, were notched wooden sticks, used until October, 1826, in keeping the public accounts of the Treasury; and in destroying the relics of this ancient mode of reckoning, nearly the entire pile of buildings and offices was destroyed; a result which may with propriety be added to the long list of "great events from little causes.'

We have alluded incidentally to the historical interest of the great scene of devastation-" the Palace at Westminster," the residence of our monarchs from Edward the Confessor to Elizabeth, who was its last sovereign inhabitant. After her death the court resided at Whitehall and St. James's; and, as the ancient buildings of Westminster Palace fell into decay, they were removed; or, restored, and converted to other uses. Not only, however, had the Palace been in the long lapse of five centuries and a half a royal residence, but it was the seat of administrative justice, and the domestic government of the kingdom, for nearly eight centuries; or, from the Anglo-Saxon period to the date of the great fire, in 1834. Hence, the system of a great plan of the palace buildings included, besides the "proper house and home" of the Sovereign, the house of prayer, wherein many a ruler knelt to the service of the Most High; and around were clustered the courts of justice, in accordance with the spirit of a feudal age. Upon no other spot of the country would the influence of historical association appear to have been so powerfully concentrated as upon the site of the Westminster Palace. There, amid the smoking ruins, on the morning after the fire, stood the massive walls of "the Painted Chamber," believed to have been the bed-room of Edward the Confesssor, and the scene of his last hours. There, too, happily saved from the flames, was the Hall, the vast state room of the palace, founded by William Rufus, though he was discontented therewith-"it was so lytle." Among the salvage, likewise, was the old Court of Requests, where, in the feudal times, sat the officers authorized to receive petitions of the subjects for justice, or favour from the king. This building had been long used as the House of Peers; whilst the Commons sat within the walls of a splendid chapel, reputed to have been founded by King Stephen, and unquestionably begun to be rebuilt by Edward I., and completed by Edward III. Hence, it belonged to the best age of our architecture: the legislators sat in a timber-structure built within the chapel walls, and the flames of 1834, by destroying the unsightly wooden fabric, (less than half a century old,) laid bare the elegant tracery of the windows, the gorgeous painting, gilding, and sculpture of the walls, and the noble proportions of the crypt; the richly dight skeleton standing amidst the general wreck, a picturesque ruin, and an impressive memorial of the piety of our ancestors, in an age when men vied in the practice of beautiful art to glorify their Maker.

With all this prestige in its favour, it is not surprising

The Exchequer at Westminster, the most ancient revenue

department of the state, with all its complicated machinery of

tallies and checks, was not entirely abolished until the year 1834; when a new oflice for the purpose was opened at the Bank of Eng

land. The tally was a stick about twenty-two inches in length;

in its edge were cut notches to denote the reckoning; and a coun

ter-tally was stripped off, cutting the date line of the transaction; so that identity consisted not only in the wood fitting, but in the halved date and notches corresponding, like a halved bank-note.

whole.

THE NEW HOUSE OF LORDS.

tectural features. As seen from the House Court, the
Externally, the House presents no enriched archi-
exterior shows a low and boldly embattled portion,
resting upon an arcade of flattened arches: this, on
each side, serving as the corridor of the House.
this, the six finely proportioned and traceried windows
of the House are seen; and, between cach, a plain,
massive buttress; the whole crowned with lofty battle-

Above

to find the rebuilding of the Houses of the Legislature | Having thus glanced at the leading features of the upon the original site, a resolution of almost self-sug-plan, we shall procced to describe, from our own careful gestion. The objectors were but few: its lowness was inspection, the portion of the design already completed urged as a plea for change; but the "divinity" which the artistic nucleus of the superb and stupendous hedged the Confessor's chamber, the chapel, and the great hall, proved of paramount influence. Temporary accommodation for the sitting of "the Houses," was provided among the ruins of the fire; but many months elapsed before the plan for rebuilding was matured. This being decided on, ninety-seven sets of designs were furnished in four months; and Mr. Barry was, at length, selected as the successful competing architect, in the spring of 1836. The several designs were publicly exhibited; and well do we remember the elaborate beauty and richness of Mr. Barry's drawings: indeed the vast superiority of his design, bating foreThe public have been admitted by thousands to ingone conclusions, was evident to the most unprofes-spect these finished portions, which consist of the House sional eye. It was, in some respects, different from itself, the lobby to the same, the Victoria Hall, and the the structure as yet completed; but the variations corridors on each side of these apartments. These need not here be pointed out, further than by stating corridors are handsomely panelled and ceiled with oak; that the general character of the design was more castellated than the portion built. With the year 1839 and traceried; the glass is richly diapered; and in the windows are square-headed, divided by mullions, was commenced the excavation for the river wall; labels, running diagonally, the motto Dieu et mon and the building of the wall in March. In 1840, the droit," is many times repeated. At night, these Speaker's House and Parliamentary Offices were be corridors are lighted by gas in branches, and globe gun; but, it was not until the middle of 1841, that lights pendent from the ceiling. They have doors any important progress had been made in the super- opening into the House, with plate-glass panels.

structure.

The New Houses may be described, in plan, as a vast assemblage of buildings, with the intervening courts, covering an area of nine statute acres, with a frontage to the Thames of nearly one thousand feet. In the centre of the plan is a large octagonal hall, communicating, by a corridor and lobby, northward with the House of Commons, and southward with the House of Lords. In a line with the latter is the Victoria Hall and Gallery, for the royal entrance by the Victoria Tower, at the south-west angle of the plan. Flanking the "Houses" and offices are eleven large open courts; St. Stephen's Hall, and the crypt of old St. Stephen's, to be used as a chapel for Divine worship; and old Westminster Hall will form a grand vestibule of entrance to the entire pile. It will comprise fourteen halls, galleries, vestibules, and other apartments, of great capacity and noble proportion; and eight official residences, each a first-rate mansion, that for the Speaker being as large as the Reform Club House. The space between the principal apartments is occupied by open courts, and corridors and lobbies, besides libraries, waiting-rooms, &c. In the river front is a central conference hall,

with committee-rooms and libraries for the Lords and

ments.

The chief entrance to the House is by

THE PEERS' LOBBY.

being divided into a wide central, and two smaller
This is a large and lofty square apartment, each side
compartments, by buttresses, panelled and enriched, and
crowned with demi-angels, bearing shields, with the
Garter and V. R.; and from these angels spring the
spandrils which support the roof. In the centre of each
side is a deeply recessed doorway, the spandrils of
which are enriched with the Tudor rose, portcullis, &c.,
in quatre-foils. The other portion of each side is
divided into arched compartments, within which are
emblazoned the arms of England, Scotland, and Ireland,
which are repeated in the windows flanking the east
and west doorways. The southern door, being the
entrance to the House, is more magnificently dight
than the others; the arch is deeply moulded, and
enriched with roses and leaves in colours, and, imme-
diately over the inner doorway, filled with superb gates,
brass gilt, are the royal arms, of colossal proportions,
in rich colours. The heraldic elaboration of the brass
gates is indescribably beautiful; altogether, they are
the finest specimen of working in metal executed for
many years in this country. At each angle of the
lobby floor, is a lofty brass standard for gas-lights, of
admirable design. The flooring is of encaustic tiles of
heraldic design, and in the centre is a large Tudor
rose and star of brass, and Derbyshire marbles.
The ceiling is divided into compartments by deeply
ribbed and moulded beams, and pendants, richly carved
and gilt; and the spaces between these beams are
smaller squares, on which are painted and gilt roses,
thistles, and shamrocks, with rich foliated ornaments
of red and green; and in the centre of the whole is a
large red and white rose, surmounted by a radiating
nimbus, on a deep blue ground. The entire ceiling
is peculiarly chaste and effective, and rich without
garishness. The mottoes, "Dieu et mon droit," and
"Domine salvam fac Reginam," are variously repeated

Commoners, Speaker and Black Rod Usher's apartments,
&c.; the whole plan numbering between five and six
hundred distinct rooms. The principal external features
will be the Victoria Tower already named, now built
to the height of ninety feet, and to be raised to four
hundred feet; the Clock Tower, at the Westminster
Bridge end; and the tower of the octagon or Central
Hall; besides the towers in the river front. The
exterior is of hard magnesian limestone, from Bolsover,
in Nottinghamshire; and the interior of Caen stone,
The main beams and joists are of iron throughout, and
the several buildings are fire-proof. The style of the
architecture is florid Gothic: we have not, however,
space to detail its picturesque enrichments
its
canopied niches with statuettes of crowned sovereigns,
mitred churchmen, and sainted women; its thirty-five
shields of arms of the sovereigns of England; its multi-throughout the noble apartment.
tudinous badges, religious and loyal inscriptions; its
richly gilt wind vanes, and erect-tiles, noble windows,
massive arches, and the numberless embellishments
with which the whole pile may be said to bristle. The
style employed may be best described in the architect's
own words:"It has been his aim to avoid the ecclesi-
astical, collegiate, castellated, and domestic styles, and
to select that which he considers better suited to the
peculiar appropriation of the building."

The principal entrance to

THE HOUSE

is by the brass gates. It is a right regal chamber, in proportion, arrangement, and decoration; ninety feet in length, forty-five in breadth, and of the same height. In plan the House is divided into three parts, the northern and southern being considerably smaller than the centre, or body, of the House, wherein are the