antiquity; and that Westminster Hall, with its surrounding buildings, which are inconvenient and insufficient for the purposes to which they are appropriated, might give way to the noble idea of forming the whole of this heterogeneous mass into one grand design, which would extend from Margaret Street to the river side, and from thence return along a spacious embankment by the present House of Commons, into Old Palace Yard.

In such a magnificent plan, the different departments of the legislature might be accommodated in a manner suitable to their respective dignities. Round a noble hall, adorned with columns in the Grecian style, the different Courts of Justice might be distributed; and at one end the two Houses of Parliament, with their numerous Committee-rooms, might be arranged under one roof. Nor would it be impossible in such a design, so to connect the two Chambers, that by removing a screen or partition, his Majesty, whenever the forms of the constitution require his presence in the Senate, might, from the Throne, behold at one view the whole of his Parliament assembled. Such a project would be worthy of the dignity and opulence of the nation."

Much improvement has already taken place in this neighbourhood; and much more is yet in contemplation.

The repairs and improvements now going on about the Houses of Parliament are confined to the exterior. The piazza leading to Abingdon Street is painted a dark stone colour. The doors of the offices round the House of Lords are newly painted green and white. The avenues upon the whole appear in excellent order. The site of ground behind the Westminster Sessions House has been entirely cleared of the old decayed buildings, and a fine opening is now made from the Sessions House to Princes Street.

Of the rooms used as Courts of Justice in Westminster Hall, but little can be said. They are some of them dark, gloomy, confined apartments.

The Court of King's Bench, on the left hand ascending the steps at the extremity of the Hall, has all the appearance of

having been dug out of the earth, or of some large subterraneous vault, opened at the top just enough to admit light sufficient to "render darkness visible." The Bench is elevated on a level with the highest part of the Hall above the steps; but the seats for the barristers, though rising in gradation, are sunk as in a cellar. The whole Court has indeed a very gloomy aspect, more fitted for a prison than a Court.

The Court of Common Pleas is entered from the right about the middle of the Hall; and a small inconvenient room, with scarcely any space left for the public, or the numerous persons, not in the profession, having business at this Court.

The Court of Chancery, opposite the Court of King's Bench, is entered through a long curtain, from under or behind which -persons are seen every moment to appear as in a pantomime. The bench is much elevated; but there is scarcely any area or space left for the public.

On the south side of the Hall, is Westminster Bridge, of which the following description, partly from Maitland, who published his History of London about the time it was completed, may not be uninteresting.

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE is one of the noblest structures of the kind in Europe. In the year 1735 the inhabitants of this city applied to Parliament for an act for its erection; and though a violent opposition was raised against this measure by the City of London, the inhabitants of the borough of Southwark, theWaterman's Company, and the West country bargemen, the Aet was granted.

Of the various projects and plans which were laid before the commissioners, the following was the one adopted :*

A large hole or cavity, of the depth of five or six feet was dug in the bed of the river, by ballast-men belonging to the Trinity-House, in which was sunk a large wooden case, or frame, water-proof (although when forced down it was filled with water), which was raised again by pumping out the water, till it

Maitland, II. 1349.

was

was fixed upon an exact level. When it was emptied for the last time, one of the piers was erected thereon. This being finished, the sides of the case were taken from their bottom, and applied to another, on which to erect a second pier, till the whole number was completed.

The bridge was then erected with all possible expedition, and finished nearly in the manner in which it now appears.

It is built in a neat and elegant taste, and with such simplicity and grandeur, that whether viewed from the water, or by the passenger who walks over it, excites the most agreeable surprize. The semi-octangular towers which form the recesses of the foot-way, the judicious arrangement of the lamps, blazing with the chaste and lambent flame of gas, and the great height of the balustrade, are the most beautiful, and perhaps best contrived of any of the bridges of the Metropolis.

The bridge is forty feet wide, with a foot-way of about seven feet broad, which is raised above the carriage-way, and paved with moor-stone. The space between is sufficient to admit three carriages and two horses, to go abreast, without the least danger.

From wharf to wharf its extent is 1223 feet, which is above 300 feet wider than the Thames at London Bridge; though not so wide as at the Strand Bridge.

The free water-way, under the arches is 870 feet; more than four times as much as between the sterlings of London Bridge; which, together with the gentleness of the stream, are the chief reasons why no sensible fall of water can ever stop, or in the least endanger the smallest boats in their passage through the arches.

It consists of fourteen piers, thirteen large and two small arches, all semicircular, and two abutments.

The length of every pier is about seventy feet from point to point, and each end terminated with a salient right angle against either stream.

The two middle piers are each seventeen feet wide at the springing of the arches, and contain three thousand cubic feet,

or

or nearly, two hundred tons, of solid stone. The others diminish in breadth, equally on each side one foot, so that the two next to the largest are sixteen feet wide, and so on to the two least on each side, which are twelve feet wide at the springing of the arches.

These piers are four feet wider at their foundation than at the top; and each of them is laid on a strong bed of timber, of the same shape as the pier, about eighty feet long, twenty-eight wide, and two thick.

The depths or heights of every pier are different; but noue have their foundations laid at a less depth than five feet under the bed of the river, and none at a greater depth than fourteen feet. This difference is occasioned by the nature and position of the ground; the bed of gravel lying much lower, and more difficult to come at, on the Surrey, than on the Westminster side.

The value of 40,000%. is computed to be always under water, in stone and other materials. This, indeed, was the case at its first erection; but were the same materials now to be purchased, perhaps they would swallow up a sum of nearly double that amount. The caisson, on which the first pier was sunk, contained one hundred and fifty loads of timber; which (if sound when first laid, and kept wet,) will not only remain sound, but grow harder by time.

All the piers, both inside and outside, are of solid Portland block stone, of no less than one ton, or twenty hundred weight, unless accidentally a small one, called a closer, placed between four other large stones; but most of them are two or three tous weight; and several four or five tons.

All the stones are set in, and their joints filled, or fitted, with the cement called Dutch Tarris; they are also fastened with iron cramps, run in with lead, and so placed that none of them can be seen, or ever be affected by the water.

The arches spring from about two feet above low-water mark, and from ne higher; by which the bridge is rendered much

stronger

stronger than if the arches sprang from taller piers, besides the saving of a great quantity of materials and much workmanship."

The centre arch is seventy-six feet wide; the others diminish in width, by four feet, equally on each side; so that the two next to the middle arch are seventy-two feet wide; and so on to the least of the arches, which are each fifty-two feet wide. The two small ones, close in shore to the abutments, are each about twenty-five feet wide.

The soffit of every arch is turned, and built quite through, the same as in the fronts, with large Portland blocks; over which is built (bonded in with the Portland,) another arch of Purbeck stone, four or five times thicker on the reins than over the key; so calculated and built, that by the help of this secondary arch, together with the incumbent load of materials, all the parts of every arch are in equilibrium, so that each arch can stand singly, withoul affecting, or being effected by the others.

Between every two arches, a drain carries off the water and filth, for want of which precautions some bridges have been de stroyed, long before the natural decay of their materials could have affected it.

Directly above and below each abutment there are large and spacious flights of moor-stone steps.

The piers are laid upon a gravel-bed, at a considerable depth in the river, and not upon wooden piles, as is the case with most other bridges. The bed can, therefore, never require piling; it being, after rock, the best sort of foundation for such a structure.

The materials are of the best four kinds of stone that could be procured; and the size and disposition of those materials so admirably contrived as to prevent any false bearing, or so much as a false joint in the whole bridge. Indeed, so just are the proportions, and so complete and uniform the symmetry, that if a person whispers against the wall of the alcoves on one side of the way, he may be plainly heard on the opposite side, and parties may converse, without being prevented by the interruption of the street, or the noise of carriages, &c.

Nothing however, is more common, in the construction of PART III. CONTIN,

2 L

bridges