The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-16 00:00:00

EOYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Under the alanagement of Mr. Charles Kean.
THIS EVENING will be revived ShaksPeare's Tragedy
of HENRY VIII. Cardinal Wolaey, Kean ; Queen
Katharine, Mrs. C. Kean.
Alter which, IF THE CAP FIN.
Commence at 7.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee, Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
For the Benefit of Mr. Buckstone.
THI3 ETENING the performances commence with
THE CONTESTED ELECTION.
Followed by HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY.
To conclude with HALLOWE'EN.
Commence at 7.

NEW THEATRE - ROYAL, ADELPHI.
Sole proprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
THIS EVENING, DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. Mr.
and Mrs. Henri Drayton.
Followed by THE HOUSE Mrs. THE HOME Mr. A.
Wigan, C, Selby, Billington ; Alfred Wigan, Miss H.
Simms. Miss Laidlaw.
After which, THE BENGAL TIGER.
To conclude with THE RIFLE VOLUNTEERS. Mr. C.
ploy and Moreland ; Misses Woolgar and K. Kelly.
Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith.
Doors open at a quarter-past six—Commence at seven. Box
Office open from 10 to 5 -no charge for booking. No fees to
servants permitted. A registry kept of all articles found.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Lessee and 'Directress. Miss Swanborough
THIS EVENING, QUIXOTE, JUNIOR. Mr. J. Clarke.
After which, A SCHOOL FOR COQUETTES. Misses
Ewanborough, Oliver, and Lavine.
Followed by THE VERY LATEST EDITION OF THE
LADY OF LYONS.
Commence at 7 o'clock.

VERDI'S OPERA OF MACBETH. The
whole of the first Act of this Opera, now produced
for the first time in this country (the remaining three acts
beli2g in course of rehearsal), is sung nightly at the CAN-
TIRBUBT HALL CONCERTS.
THE DELEPIERRE FAMILY,
Jules, Juliette,
Consisting of three Juvenile Violinists, viz.,
and Julia Delepierre, aged, respectively, POUR, SIX, and
LIGHT years.
The perfect execution by these Lilli utian Artistes of some p
of the most difficult and brilliant Solos, Duets, and Trios evet
written for the violin, has excited mingled wonder and admi-
ration in Continental Musical Circles, and drawn forth enthu-
'tattle tributes of praise from the Public Journals of France
and Belgium.
They will perform TWICE EACH EVENING, in addi-
tion to the usual Entertainments.

THE WEATHER.—Stmr Onncx, JULY 16.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADS.
78—highest since noon yesterday.
65—lowest this morning and during the night.
78—this day at noon.
BARomETER-30.31.
WIND, N.W. ; light, with very fine weather.

A melancholy humour pervaded the whole of the
discussion last evening upon the vote of another
considerable sum—altogether this year just £58,525
—for works and expenses at the New Houses of

Parliament. It is lamentable certainly to reflee

how many of these expenses arise from repairs—
repairs in a structure actually not yet completed.
The ventilation of the building—of the House of
Commons itself, of the very lobbies and passages—
was allowed on all hands to admit of improvement.
Twig out of the four clock faces in the clock-tower
still require to be set a-going ! The bell tolling

the hours was pronounced to be so peduliarly
lugubrious and even funereal in tone, that the best

arrangement, altogether, that could be thought of
in this regard was one that would stop its tolling
altogether. The very material of which the legis-

lative palace at Westminster is chiefly composed
was acknowledged to give indications of a
tendency to decay—a tendency so manifestly
threatening in its character, that two or
three processes are now being tried with a view, if
possible, to the effectual indurating of the stone
comprising the Houses of Parliament. The lighting
of the House of Commons was pronounced, at once,
to be both expensive and ineffectual. The acoustic
peculiarities of that house again were declared to
be such that from some parts of it was almost pos-
sible to hear what was going on. The frescoes, here
and there—although painted as it were but yester-
day—were said to be injured by the effects of damp-
ness. The stained glass windows were reprobated
by one indignant representative as little else
than an elaborate and costly method of
obscuring the daylight, "in order," as he
facetiously observed, "to imitate a period
when the manufacture of glass was in its infancy ;
and although our manufacturers now produced the
most beautiful crystal, the House was full of little
trumpery pieces of glass a few inches square, in-
serted in lead casing, and dignified by the name of
windows." " What could have possessed the minds
of any man, or any set of men," asked the hon.
member in question, the member for the Tower
Hamlets, "to insist that everything about the
Houses of Parliament should accord with the igno•
ranee of some hundreds of years ago, rather than
with the advanced intelligence of to-day! And
this was called the perfection of art ! Why, orna-
ments of the most trumpery kind stared you in the
face at every turn. Look at the absurd paintings
within the House, which led many members to attend
very little to what was being done, while some could
hardly rise to speak without having their thoughts
distracted by the lions and the dragons, and the
rest of it." It is not every one, however, who finds
himself, like Mr. AYRTON, irritated to the last de-
gree of irritation by the perpetual recurrence,
throughout the ornate decorations of the edifice, of
the Tudor rose on the baronial portcullis. Fortu-
nately the majority of the national representatives
can regard these and other kindred adornments
with undisturbed equanimity. Otherwise the
Lords and Commons would have but a sorry
time of it—and the records of HANSARD would
'be little else than a series of expletives. Not
only, however, were abundant objections made like
those we have here intimated, to the condition of the
stone, the clock, the bell, the lighting (natural
and artificial), the ventillation, and the decorations
of these unfortunate Houses of Parliament, but
others were actually directed against a matter we
should imagine altogether beyond the reach of im-
provement,namely, the very site which has been se-
lected for the new Palaee at Westminster. Accord-
ing to the hon.baronet the member for Buckingham,
the first site to which attention had been directed
before the commencement of the present edifice
was that occupied by Carlton-terrace, to the north-
east of St. James's-park. A superfluous remi-
niscence enough in the Midsummer of 1859, when
that mountain of decaying stone has been piled up
with such elaborate skill under the direction of Sir
CHARLES BARRY, between the river Thames and
the old Abbey of Westminster. isr
—ow, that it is
there, we must surely make the best of it. It is a
matter
mere waste of time to talk about the superior ad-
vantages of any other site, or for that
either of any other order of architecture. To
the present river-site we are committed now beyond
redemption. To mediaeval gothic we are no less
irremediably committed. The architectural order
is chosen, the site is chosen, the stone is chosen—
we are only left the duty of making the best of
them, retaining with that the undisputed and im-
prescriptable right, luxury, or privile, e of every
Englishman—that of grumbling. And no wonder
JOHN BULL grumbles, and that pretty loudly, when
he has to plunge his hand into his breeches
pocket and drag forth another good-sized
handful of very nearly .£6o,ooo—precisely, as we have
L58,5.5---for a building he -don't half like, a
building the stone of whi4 is fast decaying before

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THE SUN.
SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1859.