The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-05 00:00:00

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APRIL 5, 1847.

PRICE SD.

hundred of those who are entitled to fill that locality,
and the House, if completely occupied in all its parts,
seems capable of accommodating at least eleven hun-
dred persons.
The throne, an account of which has till now
been postponed, is not therefore the less deserving
of attention and admiration. Hitherto this portion
of the Upper Chamber was an affair of velvet an:
gold lace, with a canopy like a great window
curtain. It remained for the excellent taste of
Mr. Barry to dispense with those cumbrous
draperies that seemed to enshroud the Sovereign ;
and though retaining abundant gorgeousness,
the new throne is distinguished by an airy, light,
and graceful character which harmonises at once
with the building and with the monarch. The plat-
form, on which her Majesty's chair will stand, is
ascended by four steps, and constitutes a sort of
central compartment, on either side of which, forming
as it were two wings, are minor elevations, where
chairs for Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales are

to stand, the latter on the right of the Queen, the
former on the left. The frame work of her Majesty's
chair of state is of course carved and gilt, but it is
also, we understand, studded with crystals. In other
respects the structure of these seats is conformable
with the established fashion of such furniture, which,
for the enlightenment of those who luxuriate in mat-
ters of upholstery, we may state to be crimson velvet
and gold embroidery. The arms of her Majesty are
emblazoned on the central chair, those of the heir
apparent on the chair appropriated to that interesting
young personage, while Prince Albert's chair is
adorned with his own shield, surmounted by the
multitudinous crests which Germans of gentle blood
are usually entitled to display ; and now that we are
On the aubjeet beraldy it- may be art welt ti men-`
tion that the arms of the successive chancellors,
placed in juxta-position with those of the monarchs
under whom they served, are emblazoned upon
shields in a line, formed on the wood ceilings, under
the side galleries.
It is impossible, finally, to conclude our description
of the throne without stating, than in its most ele-
vated and conspicuous parts there are five niches, in
which statuettes will be placed, fully armed, each
in the costume of one of the five British orders of
knighthood.
Ventilation, illumination, and temperature yet
remain to be noticed. Ever since the destruction
of the old Houses of Parliament, the theory and
practical arts of giving air and warmth to large
public buildings have been exposed to an amount of
discussion and controversy which has exalted the
apparent importance of these subjects far above
the local, the structural, or the decorative diffi-
culties whereon an architect was wont to exhibit
the power of his professional resources and the
extent of his individual contrivance. Ventilation
and acoustics seem to have been regarded as the
approbria of modern architecture. While the tem-
porary Houses were resigned, like the unclaimed
bodies of paupers, to all the vicissitudes of scientific
experiment, the new palace, and its future inhabi-
tants, were apparently looked upon as instruments
for advancing the great cause of ventilating philo-
sophy—as creations subservient to the science by
which heat, cold, and moisture were tempered, dis-
tributed, or denied. When the force of public
opinion, however, eventually reduced ventilation to
its true level, and curtailed the eccentricities of its
practice, three portions of the new building—the
House of Lords, the Royal ante-chamber, and the
public lobby were withdrawn from Dr. Reid and
confided to Mr. Barry, for ventilation. As might na-
turally be expected, such a transfer imposed on Mr.
Barry the necessity of meeting the defects of Dr.
Reid's system as well as the older evils of having no
system. Accordingly there are to be no local
draughts ; no stains on walls or doors resulting
from these " ill winds ;" no movement or dispersion
of dust by the ingress of air ; no sudden changes of
temperature ; no necessary derangement of the whole
system by the imperfection or failure of apparatus in
a distant part of this vast pile. These objects are
secured by an impervious floor, warmed from un-
derneath with hot air, like a Roman bath; by a
central foul air chamber and chimney which
carries off the vitiated atmosphere and assist in main-
taining an equable, imperceptible movement to the
extent of ten thousand cubic feet per minute. The
air by which the floor is warmed receives its heat in
tubes traversing a steam cockle supplied by one of
Lord Dundonald's boilers. Underneath the solid
floor of the public lobby, where that apparatus and
its furnace are placed, the heated air passes ; thence
it spreads over the under surface of the equally im-
pervious floors of the House of Peers and the Royal
ante-chamber, and, by the same well-known pro-
perty of heated air to ascend, it eventually rises to
certain reservoir chambers above • the ceiling. From
these reservoirs it enters the apartments, descending
almost imperceptibly by the walls, and becoming
cooled as it passes the windows. When arrived at
the level where respiration and animal heat de-
teriorate and again warm it, the air is drawn to-
wards the centre, and upwards, to be ejected through
a foul air chimney by the draught of a flue, and by
Bell's steam jet. The novel application of a jet of
steam to displace air is founded on the fact that
when the former is produced at a pressure of thirty-
two pounds to the square inch, it actually sets in
motion 217 times its bulk of air : so strong a
pressure as this, however, is not used in the House
of Lords. Precisely the same apparatus which gives
heat in winter will produce coldness in summer, by
substituting water from the artesian wells around the
tubes in the steam cockle. Thus it will be seen that
the manifest differences between Mr. Barry's and
Dr. Reid's plans—the solid impervious nature of the
floor—stands prominent, while the pure atmosphere,
instead of ascending through the dusty floor from
below, descends through the ceiling from above, and
the current, unlike the ghost in hamlet, brings with
it " airs from heaven," not " blasts from hell."

The means of illumination adopted are the well-
known and' ingenious inventions of Mr. Faraday.
The air necessary for combustion is supplied from
without ; the vitiated atmosphere is removed by
means of its own high temperature ; and the whole
results of lighting the apartment are obtained by
having the burners at once inside the house as far as
illumination is concerned, but outside the building as
far as regards all the products of combustion—de-
creeing a practical divorce between light and heat.
The burners above described are twenty in number
on the side walls,- two to each of the spaces between
the windows, a proportionate number on the walls

at either end of the house, besides several candelabra

springing from the door. The transmission of sound
in the new building is a subject on which of course
there has been much unprofitable discussion. At
present there is no reverberation in the House of
Lords ; and we understand that every possible pre-
caution has been taken, and every imaginable expe-
dient adopted, to enable those who take a part in the
proceedings of that assembly to make themselves
heard with facility and effect. It would be premature
to anticipate either failure or success ; but the latter
is by far the more probable result. Experience of
several nights' debating will be required to determine
the question, for the galleries, as well as the spaces
below the bar and about the throne will at first be
crowded with people who come rather to admire
architecture than to hear oratory.
Before bringing this article to a close, a few " more
last words" are necessary with reference to the
general state at present of this great national under-
taking—this magnificent domicile of a Legislature,
that comprises the statesmen, the warriors, the
judges, and the prelates of the most powerful
empire of the world. The exterior of the new
Palace' at Westminster has been criticised suffi-
-ciently, though with rather a premature anxiety to
pronounce a judgment, which the most skilful and
the most learned in architecture can scarcely yet
form with any degree of confidence. The three
great towers, upon which the general effect
of the external aspect of the building must
mainly depend, have not yet risen much above the
line of the roofing. The removal of Westminster-
bridge, and the formation of the eastern terrace—
works not even commenced—must exercise a vast in-
fluence over the exterior character of the edifice ; a
few years, however, will suffice to
should
priatnrhn xtimgemaaelffelnirsotf_o
thhtaits
contro-
versy on these subjects—if any
such a point, as that the admirers of Mr. Barry's
genius
wenivass maytohis
ignreeavteryde
work,
and t
noble proequally fe pt
s sn. i ooi n
eminentlt is impossible to take
conviction
that survey of the new palace without a deep
that the years already spent, and hereafter to be con-
sumed in rearing it up from its broad foundations,
have not been misapplied. Yet much time
must
elapse before the last of the artists and workmen can
be made to disappear from its precincts. The walls
and the roof of the House of Commons are complete,
but the other portions of that important chamber have
not yet been brought into view; though for anything
that appears to the contrary the joiners' work may be
all ready on the builder's premises. The same may
be said of the Royal Gallery, the Central Hall, St.
Stephen's Hall, St. Stephen's Porch, and various other
portions of the building. The Royal ante-room, how-
ever, is nearly complete, and so are a large proportion
of the committee-rooms.—Times.

Dispatches wer‘l sent off on Saturday evening from the
Colonial• office, for the Governors of the North Atnrri.
can Colonies,