The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-20 00:00:00

THE RUINS OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIA-
MENT.-INSPECTION BY THEIR MAJESTIES.

. On Saturday afternoon, at three o'clock, their Majesties
went to the Speaker's for the purpose of seeing the ruins
occasioned by the recent devastating fire. They came in two
plain, chocolate-coloured, unadorned carriages, with a pair
of horses to each, and the servants were in dark-coloured
common liveries. Their Majesties were accompanied by
Lord A. Fitzclarence, Lord Albemarle, Sir A. Barnard,
&c. His Majesty was dressed in black, and the Queen
wore a dark-coloured silk dress, plain bonnet, black veil,
&c. There was no other lady of the party. When the
carriages passed to the Speaker's house through the gate-
way in Palace-yard, none knew that they contained, any
portion of the Royal Family. On their arrival at the en-
trance to the Speaker's house, the Right Hon. Gentleman,
Sir C. M. Sutton, Mr. Sutton, his son and Secretary, Sir
J. C. Habhouse, as Woods and Forests' Commissioner, &c.,
were in attendance to receive their Majesties and company,
and to attend them in the survey. They first went into
the few remaining rooms of the Speaker's house, those pre-
served in a line with the cloisters or Speaker's gallery, and
near to the Exchequer offices. They remain in the state
of confusion in which they were left on the occasion of the
fire, except that a great deal of the furniture that had been
saved from other apartments and carried into the garden
between the house and the Thames, had been, somewhat
unceremoniously, conveyed into these rooms.
Having surveyed these, some of which are partly burnt,
affording spaces to view portions of the ruins of the House,
the lobbies, &c., and having, from the windows, contem-
plated all that could thence be seen of the fallen or injured
buildings, their Majesties and attendants descended to the
dining rooms and cloisters, which, being on a level with the
garden, may be termed the ground floor. These cloisters
are well known to the curious about the antiquities of St.
Stephen'S Chapel, and the renovations that took place some
years ago, when these beautiful specimens of ancient archi-
tecture and the House were put into condition for an
official residence. The cloisters are as beautiful, and more
tasteful and agreeable in their appearance than those of
Westminster Abbey, but the square is not so large ; and
instead of having iron railings; they are enclosed so as to
constitute galleries. They were communications between
the Houses, and to different arched rooms under the Com-
mons. Here their Majesties had, for the first time, the op-
portunity of forming some general idea of the real extent of
the ruins which they were about to view. From the
southern side of this cloister or gallery, the whole of which
has been preserved, in consequence of the old arched work,
they could see the walls of the House of Commons, the
rooms under them, and the tottering buildings by the side
of them ; they saw, in fact, the site of what had constituted
the House of Commons' chamber, the lobby, and the
" Speaker's chamber," the vote office, and the ancient door-
way and passage through which the Speaker passed in state
to and from the House, proceeding across the lobby.
The immense height of the walls, the quantity of fallen
buildings, filling up different divisions, the fine specifneris of
architecture still remaining, though dreadfully burnt .'and
shattered, together with the arched rooms under the Httuse,
lobby, Ste., richly wrought and carved, and still also re-
served, present extended and various masses of ruins that
evidently astonished and grieved his Majesty, so as to keep
him fixed to the spot for some time, without apparently the
power of making any observation. Her Majesty was also
evidently much affected and amazed at the extent of the
devastations, and at the fury of those flames which could
have hurled so much destruction through and over these
these enormous buildings, and in many instances terrifically
thick old stone walls. The Speaker and Sir J. Hobhouse
very carefully described the positions of the buildings, so as
to give an idea of the places and chambers destroyed, and
also had to answer many inquiries made by his Majesty.
The manner in which a vast quantity of the highly deco-
rated arched work, consisting of rooms, cellars, as well as
that forming the cloister galleries, had obviously withstood
the fury of the flames, and the falling of many walls that
had formed partitions, Committee-rooms by where Bel-
lamy's coffehouse was formerly stationed, called forth the
expressions of wonder that must be uttered by all who view
the extraordinary scene. The perfect state of the arched
work is really astonishing. Within the square of the clois-
ters there is still a fire engine, and it was playing while the.
Royal party was on the premises, for the fallen timbers'
mingled with the rubbish were sending forth so much smoke
and flame as to render this operation prudent.
From the cloisters the Royal party returned to the
Speaker's rooms,,and entered those with the ancient starred
ceilings, starred similarly to some ceilings still preserved in
the Exchequer offices. These are the rooms at which the
fire stopped in this direction, but they had not escaped in-
jury, being much damaged, shattered, and partially burnt.
Their majesties had now to come out into the Speaker's

garden or lawn, which runi along the\ bank of the Thames
from this Tioint•i'by the Honse of Commons and to Cotton
garden, passed the Commons' library, the Lords, and the
Lords' Parliament offices. Here preparations were made,
by placing carpets and matting, of which there was a boun-
tiful supply on the green, boarding, tarpauling, &c., so as to
keep the party out of the wet and sludge, as well as could
be done in the few minutes that had been afforded for the
preparation. This brought them before the river front of
the House of Commons. At this point they could take
another view of the general appearance of the ruins, as
they could here see those of the Speaker's house, the
House of Commons, the Commons' library, the modern
walls of which remain, and the end of the painted chamber,
which in its ruin is a beautiful architectural object. The
Queen, accompanied by Sir J. C. Hobhouse, &c., tra-
velled over the rubbish on the terrace and into the Speakers'
official dining-room, of the antiquity and curiosity of which we
have before spoken. The room too was occupied with no
ordinary quantity of rubbish, water, and sludge ; but its cu-
riously and beautifully arched and decorated character, many
of the worked stone ornaments being exquisitely inlaid with
gold mingled with other colours, together with the remark-
able circumstance of its preservation, having had the burn-
ing ruins of the House of Commons on its shoulders, evi-
dently excited a good deal of surprise in her Majesty's mind,
so as to induce her to examine it still more closely. His
Majesty approached the window frames and looked into the
room, but he did not attempt to pass over the piles of rub-
bish fallen here ; indeed the room itself, doubtlessly, his
Majesty has often previously seen. The gratification of the
curiosity was a work of some peril, at least till the room is
entered, for there experience has proved its safety and the
strength of its arched ceilings ' • but the peril is in standing
on the outside, and in front of the House, for the tall naked
walls, which here run to a good height, do not appear re-.
markably safe, all the wood and frame work and other 'ap-
parent support being away, though in reality they are safe
enough. His Majesty remained here a long time, with
painful anxiety looking at every portion of these ritins,
continuing in the closest conversation, or rather inquiries,
with Sir C. Sutton, which inquiries the Speaker an-
swered in so satisfactory and -bland a: manner as evidently
to increase the interest his Majesty felt in contemplat-
ing the appalling ruins of so remarkable a building. His
Majesty lingered here longer than at any other point ; and
he walked from it very gradually, stopping several times,
and turning round to take still another view of the frightful
and terrific devastation of a spot that had been the scene of
so many remarkable events, and the proceedings in which
place were so identified with the political history and strug-
gles of this country. It was obvious that his Majesty was
deeply affected by what he saw. That quickness of obser-
_ _ _

vation and inquiry which characterise his Majesty here

eventually failed him : inquisitiveness as regards minor ob-
jects seemed to merge in the one painful feeling of afflicting

'thought on the ruin of so politically sacred t;spot.

concern and interest evinced by the Queen quite equalled
his Majesty's ; she seemed as if she could hardly remain
there too long. And it is doubtful whether their Majes-
ties would have quitted this spot so soon but for a recogni-
tion that his Majesty made while turning round and linger-
ing at this scene. Among the very few persons who were
present, with the exception of the numerous workmen and
the police, his Majesty saw Lord Beverley and a lady, re-
cognized his Lordship, spoke to him for some time, and
then the party moved on.
By the aid of tarpauling, planks, &c., they were enabled
to proceed over the wet and mud, and arrive at the Thames
front of the ruins of the Commons' library and the painted
chamber. The contemplation of the latter view, which, as
already stated, is an exceedingly interesting object, also
occupied much attention. They then proceeded to the
Royal gallery, by the Lord Great Chamberlain's entrance,
two-thirds of which gallery remain entire ; that portion of
it adjoining to the painted chamber, the first cupola over,
and one of the scagliola columns only are destroyed, though
much of the rest of Soane's minutely decorated work is
much and grievously injured. From this point their Ma-
jesties were enabled to see the extent of the ruins occasioned
by the destruction of the robing rooms, the House of Lords,
&c. They then returned to their carriages, but not till
nearly half-past four o'clock ; and quitted the scene of these
extensive, and still astounding devastations, with nearly as
much privacy as they came.

EXTRAORDINARY EVENT.—On Wednesday
morning, a common heron was discovered on the margin of
the fish-pond of Sir Thomas W. White, Bart., of Walling
Wells, near Worksop, which, on examination, appeared to
have come to its death in the following extraordinary manner :
the heron, in pursuit of its prey, had struck its upper beak
completely through the body of an eel, near the head, with-
out occasioning its immediate death. The eel, which weighed
nearly half a pound, had, in the struggle, coiled itself round
the neck of the heron, and, securing its tail to some aquatic
plants, had strangled its enemy. The eel, however, could not
disengage itself, and both were found dead on the margin of
the pond. The heron and its antagonist may be seen at the
Museum of Mr. Reid, of this town, who has received them for
preservation.—Doncaster Gazette.