The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-12 00:00:00

and we therefore recommend it for adoption."

Having disposed of the Eastern part of their in-
struction the Commissioners turn to the West, and
here we think they have recommended certain im-
provements, but they might have gone further.
Had they but taken half a leaf out of the Paris
book of renovation they would have better con-
sulted the wants which have so long been an eye-
sore to native as well as foreign visitors to those
venerable edifices in the immediate vicinity of the
Legislative Palace of the Empire. Not only
Westminster-hall, but the memorable and glorious
old Abbey might have commanded more respectful
attention. Indeed, all our great public buildings
are cooped up and confined within narrow limits
wholly detracting from their grandeur as well as
beauty. And but for their own elevation towering
above their pigmy companions they would be lost
in their wilderness of common-place heaps of
brick and mortar.

Indeed the incongruity is very damaging to our
naticnal taste as it is disrespectful to our character
on the score of civilisation. If we be rich we lack
the proper means of displaying our wealth so as to
redound to our credit. In fact we have been so much
engrossed in our commercial pursuits as to have
overlooked the opportunity which the march of
time has thrown in our way. And now when a
fair chance presents itself we hesitate to take ad-
vantage of a circumstance which may not occur
again for centuries to come. To make the Thames
embankment we levy duties on coal and wine for a
certain period. If that plan of meeting the expen-
diture be just, surely its extension for a few years
more cannot be objectionable, seeing that the im-
provements are made for the pleasure and benefit of
those who succeed us. The commissioners think,
and perhaps rightly, that to continue the embank-
ment in front of the Palace would be
net only encroaching too much on the
river but would be very undesirable, as
interfering with the architectural beauty of the
Palace, and be offensive to our legislators in their
long line of committee-rooms facing the river. They
therefore propose to clear away the buildings con-

tiguous to the Houses of Parliament in Abingdon-
street and those southward, which are very objec-
tionable not only from their meanness, but from their
proximity to Victoria Tower, which might be
endangered in case of fire. They further propose
that the ground these premises occupy should be
cleared southward as far as the line of Wool-street,
or 415 feet, and that so much of it as extends to the
line of Great College-street, or 230 feet, should be
embanked, kept clear of buildings, and laid out and
planted as ornamental ground. We are of opinion
that such an application of this space would relieve
the palace from great danger and nuisance, would
form a suitable appendage to the south front of the
palace, and be an agreeable embellishment to that
part of the river. We recommend further, that
the houses in Poets'-corner, Old Palace-yard,
Abingdon-street, and the mews in the rear, should
11 be taken down ; the Chapter House, Henry the
Seventh's Chapel, and the south front of the abbey,
being brought fully into view ; the residences
which stand between the Chapter House and the
garden to the south be removed, and the site so
cleared, laid open, by which a clear space from Henry
the Seventh's Chapel to Great College-street would
be obtained, about 200 feet wide in its narrowest part.
They also suggest that six or eight first-class
houses might be erected at right angles with the
river, and looking on the ornamental ground be-
tween them and tho Palace. Another improve-
ment is also suggested by running the line of Vic-
toria-street across the enclosure to the north-east
of St. Margaret's Church, so as to avoid the traffic

along Westminster-bridge, and facilitate commu •

nion with the Courts of Law and the Houses of
Parliament. Next, they propose widening King-
street on the west side, so as to relieve the pressure
in Parliament-street ; but, though that would be
an improvement so far, we cannot but think that
the block of houses between Parliament-street and
King-street should be cleared away bodily, and
open the view grandly out from the Abbey, West-
minster Hall, and the Houses of Parliament. The
excessive expense would not be so great as to deter
from such a magnificent improvement, which would
be a spectacle for all time. When RENNIE was
pointing out the beauty of his handiwork in having
constructed Waterloo-bridge, in all its noble sim-
plicity, his Scotch friend, while admitting the fact,
Never
said, "Aye, man ! but what did it cost !" "