The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-28 00:00:00

those pseudo-classical structures that serve the needs
of Richmond and Kew, as well as the fine work of
suspension at Hammersmith, Telford's best bridge,
having a design which is, beyond all comparison,
superior to that over the Menai. Two miles below
Hammersmith we come to another of the old
wooden bridges, constructed of piles, like that at
Hampton Court, and, like it, we hope, soon to be
demolished. Picturesque as Putney Bridge un-
doubtedly is, it exhibits also, as every oarsman
knows, an unhappy combination of the evils to
which a bridge is liable. As a wrathful coxswain
once said to us, " Putney Bridge is Scylla and Cha-
rybdis in one." As oarsmen, however, are in a mi-
nority to those who walk, while the trade navigation
goes through Putney bridge in barges, which rarely
fail to lumber past somehow or other—and if a
bargee is drowned there (such things will happen) it
is mostly because the poor man was drunk—we
should be sorry if the terror of our early rowing
days were removed, merely in favour of an iron con-
struction of the class unhappily so common of late.
We may be premature in hoping that Putney
Bridge is destined to go. According to evidence
recently given before a committee of the House of
Commons on Toll Bridges, it appears that a com-
pany which intended to supplant not only this bridge
but that of Battersea, is not likely to do so within
the time allowed by an injudicious act of Parlia-
ment. Our objection to the act is grounded on
knowledge derived from authorised drawings of the
suspension bridge which, by its means, was pro-
jected in order that the people of Chelsea might
gain access to Pattersea Park without using the
existing Battersea Bridge, the situation of which
compels them to go one quarter of a mile round
about, i.e., supposing they start from a space of
about this extent between the existing Battersea and
Chelsea Bridges; beyond this space either of these
structures serves better than the projected bridge.
The design accepted by the Legislature for the
new Cheyne Walk Bridge is not only unfortunately
toy-like in itself and of a class which all artists
condemn, but such as is certain to destroy the
characteristic picturesqueness of Cheyne-walk, one
of the few relics of old suburban London, where
only are to be found trees, water, and old houses
in one charming union. If Cheyne-walk-bridge is
not to be, so much the better ; we know, however,
the vitality of such schemes
.in speculative hands.
Should it revive, one of the principal objects of our
writing will be attained if the attention of the Legis-
lature is called to the meretricious character of the
design, so that it may be by authority revised to
something presentable. It is hardly necessary to
descend the river beyond Chelsea-bridge ; the rail-
way viaduct, designed by Mr. Fowler, which is
close to it, is serviceable and architecturally satis-
factory. Vauxhall-bridge offends rather by what
it omits to exhibit than by what it possesses of
artistic character. There are parts of much-abused
Lambeth-bridge which need skilful treatment
ere it can become pleasant to the eye ; this done,
it would do well enough. In rejoicing over the con-
venient width and gentle slope of New Westminster-
Bridge, most of us have forgotten that such advan-
tages were rather matters of course in its construc-
tion than sufficient of themselves to satisfy an
artistic eye, and justify the claim of its rather lean
and liney form to admission amongst works of art.
No two bridges over the Thames differ so much in
art value as that at Westminster does from its
neighbour at Chelsea ; although they are by the
same engineer, the one is worthy of its site near to
that of tawdry Ranelagh Gardens, while the other
is, although meagre, respectable in its attempted
elegance. Having recently spoken of those viaducts
which are strictly metropolitan, we shall not now
return to them.