The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-03-02 00:00:00

they should be taken case of,.and they shnold be kept so as to be of
free and easy access. He, as a member of a Committee of the
House, had gone some time since to inspect these records, and I
though the building had the advantage of being tire-proof, it was
otherwise so badly constructed, that he and his friends were obliged
to enter by single tiles ; and it would require the delay of some
weeks to see the records for which he sought. The walls of this
building were seven feet thick, and contained more brick and mos.
tar than would be necessary for all the buildings which were at pre.
sent under repair. He trusted the House would consider what the
plan of this building should be, and suggest a remedy for the pre-
sent inconvenience.

Mr. ('ROKER coincided with the other Honourable Members
in the opinion that the matter before the House was highly import-
ant, in respect not only to the amount of the money Which was
granted, but as to the manner in which it was appropriated. It
was highly important that this money should not be expended, as
it was well observed, to the disgrace of the national taste. He
agreed perfectly with the Right Honourable Gentleman that the
responsibility necessary upon the subject would be most properly
vested in the Treasury. lie was glad to be able to say, that, front
the adoption of his plan, he felt confident, not only in the restor-
ation of good taste by the adoption of what was in itself good, but
by the rejection of that which was bad, and which tended to our
disgrace: and he would indulge himself in the freedom of mak-
ing one remark, which he made with the more readiness from what
he had heard tall from the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, that Government would abstain from the destruction of
that most ancient and venerable building, the Painted Chamber. Five
hundred years had elapsed since this Chamber was dignified with
the appellation of Prrillestie. It was even then illustrious, as being
the most splendid effort of the arts of that day ; it was considered
to be the oldest work in which were blended and united the arts of
agriculture and painting. He should therefore ',fitness its destruc-
tion with regret and sorrow ; it had been celebrated for the space of
500 years, and its state of preservation was truly surprising; its co-
lours were still fresh ; its gilding was still astonishingly vivid,
and its walls were as sound and unimpaired as if they were built
yesterday. He was sure the destruction of this chamber would be
a source of the greatest pain to the public. He would venture to
assert, that if the sums granted for purposes of this description
were expended with judgment and taste, the public would not re-
pine ; they would get rid of that niggardliness with which they'
had been falsely accused, and which they had never shewed except
in the case of works which reflected disgrace upon themselves and
the taste of the country. He did expect, and he felt he had a right
to expect from the Right Honourable Gentleman, that he would
not tolerate the destruction of the Painted Chamber unless some
reason better than any as vet alleged were advanced.
Mr. HUME asked, if the expenses tar the repair of St. James's
Palace were included in the sum of 40,0001. at present before the
House.

Mr. HERRIES answered in the negative.
Sir J. MACKINTOSH thought the highest respect and vene-
ration should be paid to the royal buildings, especially of West-
minster. He sincerely hoped the system of destruction would no-
be carried too far with respect to them. Those venerable and an-t
cient buildings should be held in the highest reverence and regard
in which the spirit and principles of a free Constitution were first
inculcated. These buildings should be considered as the spot of
all others in which the rights and existence of that assembly origi-
nated, and the destruction of them would not give a very exalted
proof of the value we set upon our ancestors. It would not be a
convincing proof that we possessed those moral feelings which
taught us that veneration which was due to the memory of our an-
cestors, and that gratitude which was due for the benefits they con-
ferred upon us. The Painted Chamber continued for three
hundred years to be the scene of the conferences between
the two branches of the Legislature; no other building would have
lasted for one-third of the time, and he sincerely trusted that no
rude and profane hand would he ever raised for its destruction.
With rtspett to the Courts of Justice, he would, when it was ne-
cessary, ary a few words of them, more especially of that part which
had the impudence to chew its face immediately at the western
front of the Abbey: this piece of architecture was styled Grecian,
because, he presumed, it was not so (laugh); it was denominated
Grecian, because it was not English, because it was not national.
He was sorry this ornament was not removed to the north side of
the Hall; that it was not removed from the western side, now
completely deformed by the addition of what was called Grecian,
but which was not Grecian, or, if there was anything of Greece
about it, it should be called (if such a style existed) the Birotian
and Barbarous!