The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LO 'O,l SATURDAY, EVE N 1

who will object to these decoratiobs, here
and there, when examining them in de-

tail. But there can hardly be found anyone,
we should suppose, having the smallest pretensions
to taste or discrimination in matters of art, who will
seriously be inclined to quarrel with the effect any-
where produced within the structure as a whole.
The secret of which is that in the conduct of all
this elaborate work of decoration so much of the
artistic genius of the age has been combined! Sir
CHARLES BARRY, though occasionally throwing off
designs of more or less excellence in their way as
architectural improvements of the metropolis, as
visible, for example, in the instance of the sombre
and solid pile of the Reform Club (eclipsed since
then, however, that has been by the increase of the
marble glories of the Canton), or, as the happier
instance of the completed tentacle of the Treasury
—Sir CHARLES BARRY otherwise dedicated the
whole of his large energies and of his many
great gifts to that " labour of love " (to
him) the perfecting, so far as it might
be practicable in one lifetime of his noble master-
piioeuces,ly, by the
the NewPalaecxeercaitseof his Westminster. e minPernet-
vabilities, that great revivalist of Gothic
architecture in England, the late AUGUSTUS
WELBY PUGIN had assiduously endeavoured to
forward the internal adornment of the National
Palace, tied had done this with a devotion and an
of so magnanimous and distin-
guisd
way,e worthyrtr
ac mporary genius ! Labouring on in
this
and soul, until suddenly stricken
enthusiasmh
hoe
downb
it m
ya terribleay disease, rapidly, but in some
respects
be followed by an otherwise deplo-
rably premature death at the early age of forty ! An
age wonderful, considering all that PUGIN had ac-
complished within so brief an interval, and bearing
in mind the completeness and solidity of the repu-
tation he has left behind him. A sculptor of great
gifts, moreover, followed the same way taken
by BARRY and by PUGlN—the chisel and ,
mallet, fortunately for the nation, not
falling from his grasp until nearly the whole
task alloted to him had been done—namely, the
" carvelling out" of the numerous figures of kings,
and warriors, and statesmen, aLd English Worthies
generally, now gazing stonily down from the
niches, visible at every nook and corner and " coign
of vantage" of that huge and sumptuous edifice.
Within it, however, all this while, every visitor to
the building will remember there have been other
brains and other heads at work energetically and
devotedly. Among those how many of the most
illustrious of our always few, but almost always
into the bargain rarely gifted Royal Academicians.
Passing up that magnificent old Hall of RUFUS,
where so many of our Sovereigns, between the CON-
QEROR and VICTORIA have sat enthroned upon
their coronation, the visitors to the Legislative
Palace at Westminster, advancing up the lofty
flight of steps at the head of Westminster Hall !
turning to the left into a gallery containing
on either side of it the white marble life-size effigies
of the Dii Majores of oar Lords and Commons,
Masters of Oratory like BURKE, an_lTdPT:ik7o,oawndn ta3rxi..,
P and SOMERS, and that greater
ously in the two grand phases of his splendid career
as the Great Earl of CHATHAM and the Great Com-
moner ! Passing through this sculpture gallery,
the visitor to the House will remember that cen-
tral core and heart of the whole labyrinth of this
Legislative Palace—whence a lobby to the right
leads to the Lords, and a lobby to the left
(confronting it) to the Commons. Advancing
along which latter passage, those who have been
there but once will perfectly well recollect the
frescoes decorating compartments upon the walls on
either hand, the brilliant produce of the artistic
powers of E. M. WARD, R.A. Immediately on
the right, upon crossing the threshold, there
is a representation, for example, of CHARLES
11., when a young Prince, flying for his life,
disguised as a sorrily clad page, one WILL
JONES (for the which vide " BoseeEEL") and so
on through all these historical pictures, accord-
ing to the whim or fancy of the artist in selecting
his incidents. Besides the painter of these frescoes
in particular, there are others among his contem-
poraries who have for some years past been simi-
larly occupied in other parts of that superb Palace
of the English People, yonder down at Westminster.
Academicians all of them, and eminent each, even
among the Royal Academicians. COPE, another—
HERBERT, another—DANlEL MACLISE, illustrious
among the most illustrious artists of his age, having
to the same end but very recently, in the high
interests of his noble profession, produced one of the
grandest works of art England possesses—the colos-
sal fresco of WELLINGTON and BLUCHER meeting
towards the close of the famous 18th of June, 1815,
on the "foughten field of Waterloo. It was in regard
to the frescoes especially that the remarks of Mr.
CAVENDISH BENTINCK and of Mr. WM. COWPER
wero yesterday uttered. The former referring to
the rumoured deterioration that some among

the beautiful works of art have suffered
already, since the recent date of their
production. Happily, the last among them.
MACLISE'S " Watetloo," marks an epoch in fresco
painting here in England. No paling, no vanish-
ing of the colours now—thanks to the marvellous
invention of fresco painting in " water glass," there
successfully applied upcn a gigantic scale by the
daring brush of MACLISE.
Apart from our recollection of the water-
glass system, however, as a perpetuator of the
fresh and hitherto evanescent beauties of this
wonderful art of fresco painting, it is satis-
factory to bear in mind what was said yes-
terday by Mr. COWPER in reference to the
capabilities of the building, in one of the
great halls of which he was then speaking, in
reference to its capabilities as a receptacle for
woz ks of art of this character. " Although he
was not disposed," he said, "to agree with
those gentlemen as to some causes of the decay of
the frescoes, he was yet not of opinion there was
anything in the walls or atmosphere of the
Houses of Parliament which would prove inju.
rious to the fresco paintings. But it seemed to
him tbat there was some defect in the colouring,
in relation to which the thin pellicle of the carburet
of lime on the surface of the walls might be sup-
posed to exercise some chemical agency in combina-
tion with other colours, of which yellow ochre
formed a part. He, however, hoped it would be
found that the decay of the frescoes would be pre-
vented." Then came the Minister's reference to
the ❑ew water-glass process. Upon the virtues
of that marvellous process we certainly, we must
admit, place very much of our reliance—but it is a
reliance that we are sanguine time will prove not
to have been ill-founded.

Yesterday we alluded to the opportunities that
are before us still—for the removal here of our
"Niiddle Roe of the Strand, there of that other
"Middle Row" down at Westminster. The
Palace of Justice, we said, will yield one of
these opportunities. While, for the other, we shall
stand indebted to the completion, of the Thames
Embankment. The Palace of Justice, in truth,
when we are actually constructing it, will, in a
mariner, necessitate the obliteration of Holywell-
street and the circulation respectively of St. Mary-
le-Strand and St. Clement Daum
The comple-
tion
of the ThaPaes Embankment at ita Wet
minstc' ç niity, coming, 48 it we
nllllBtCl7

hope, « patty" upon the completion. not so
very long beforehand, of New Westminster Bridge
and of the New Palace at Westminster, will equally,
we must hope, as a matter of certainty, necessitate
the obliteration from the map of the metro-
polis of King-street, Westminster ! The block
of houses standing between the line of
Xing-street and the western extremity of the
line of Parliament-street, requiring cuite obvi-
ously to be pulled down and carted away as a
glaring obstruction. All that official part of the
West-end, from Downing-street down to the river,
one of the ablest of our Ministers of Public Works
during the last quarter of a century, meaning the
present Lord LLANOTER, then—it is scarcely
half-a-dozen years since—Sir BENJAMIN HALL,
cast a covetous eye upon, in his administrative
character of Chief Commissioner. Sir BENJA-
MIN HALL, at the time we are here alluding
to, actually proposing to buy considerable plots of
ground in that direction—with a viaw to the reali-
sation of certain truly imperial improvements. All
the land wanted by Sir BENJAMIN—we will call
him by his present title, Lord LLANOVER
—all the land wanted by his Lord-
ship in that direction, and with the
object in view already specified, we could have
had then (but a single lustre since !) for, at the
outside, £2,000,000. Property always in a thriving
and improving capital goes on increasing in value.
It has within the last five years gone on increas-
ing and increasing in value beyond all ordi-
nary calculation. Land that we could have
bought for the nation then for £1,000,000
or £2,000,000, we should now have to
purchase by something not very far short of from
£10,000,000 to 420,000,000. That—five years ago
—was one of our opportunities ! It can now only
be looked back to as a misused, an utterly lost
opportunity. We remember the old classic myth
of the sibylline leaves. Lord LLANOVER brought
them to us then—and they were in abundance—
and they could have been had for comparatively
a song. Mr. COWPER may bring them to us in his
turn—when their number will be found to have
shrunk by an inverse proportion to the extent to
which their cost has become magnified. As far back
indeed as 1852, a committee of the House of Com-
mons decided in favour of the very purchase
we are here alluding to a purchase that
has nevertheless not yet been adventured upon !
Alluding to the appointment of that committee, of
which, by the way, he himself had been a member,
Lord LLANOVER, in Tuesday evening's debate in
the Lords, took occasion to remark that " it (the
committee) came to a resolution that it would be
extremely desirable that the whole of the ground
between Downing-street and Great George-street
should be purchased by the Government. They
had arrived at that conclusion, after hearing
the evidence of several competent witnesses,
and amongst them Mr. HUNT, now a sur-
veyor of works. It was shown clearly that if the
site in question was purchased, a great saving would
ultimately be effected when the ground was required
for the erection of public offices. A report to that
effect was made to the House of Commons, and in
consequence of that report he was directed to issue
notices for plans, and several plans were deposited.
One of those was considered most excellent; but
the whole scheme was afterwards given up." It
was, we repeat, a missed opportunity. Remember-
ing it as such, let us now take particularly good
care that when any similar opportunity arises, as
arise it will sooner or later, let us take particu-
larly good care that then, in that new form, we
seize it.