The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-05 00:00:00

TO WN-HALL.

Yesterday Anne Leicester, a young woman apparently in
great distress, with three children, the eldest about six years
of age, applied to Alderman Ansley for his advice under the
following distressing circumstances :
The applicant stated that she and her children resided at 36,
Gun-street, Friar-street, Blackfriars-road ; her husband was
and had been in the liospital ten weeks, for upwards of eight
of which period she supported herself and children. Being
driven by distress, she applied to her parish, St. George the
Martyr, Southwark, and had seen the officers, and afterwards
the committee. After a lengthened inquiry, and finding her-
self and children had obtained a legal settlement, they gave her
sixpence and a loaf, which was to be continued twice a week.
The applicant added, that such small relief was inadequate for
the support of herself and young children, and she was sa very
destitute (having parted with all her things) she could not pay
for a lodging, and upon importuning them to take the chil-
dren into the workhouse until their father came out of the hos-
pital they refused; she therefore begged the Alderman would
give directions fur the overseers to take them into the house.
Alderman ANSLEY—My poor woman, since the introduction
of the New Poor Laws Bill, Magistrates have now no power
to assist paupers, or make orders on parish officers.
The Alderman here handed to the reporter a letter which
had been received from the Poor Law Commisrioners, Ad-
dressed to the sitting Magistrates. The following is a copy :
" TO THE SITTING MAGISTRATES, TOWN-HALL, SOUTHWARK.
" Poor Laws Commissioners'-ofilee, Somerset-house.

" Sir,—A female pauper, named Mary Wood, delivered the
inclosed paper at this office this morning, stating that she had
been desired to do so by the sitting Magistrate at the Town-
hall, Southwark.
" The Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales do
not doubt there is some mistake in this matter, as the law is
known to eNonerate them from the duty of attending to parti-
cular and individual cases in which relief may be demanded,
but they have thought better to transmit the paper to you, in
the hope you will he good enough to direct any person at the
Town-hall, Southwark, not again to refer pauper applicants to
this office. " By order of the Board,
" E. CHADWICK, Secretary.

" To the Sitting Magistrate."
Alderman ANSLEY told the unfortunate woman that the perusal
of that letter would satisfy any one how Magistrates were now
disarmed by the Poor Law Commissioners, and he did hope this
case would meet the eye of some Member of Parliament, and
bring the subject before the Legislature.
A gentleman in the office said instead of the Bill being for
the benefit of the poor it was intended for the profit of the un-
dertaker. The scenes 'of misery and starvation daily to be
seen at workhouse doors were the strongest testimony of his
assertion.

The poor woman wept bitterly, and left the office accompa.
nied by her pOor babes, amidst the commisseration of all pre.
sent in the Justice-room.

ROYAL INSPECTION OF • THE MO

DEL OF ST. STEPHEN'S CHAPEL.

An exquisitely-finished model of the splendid chapel of St.
Stephen, as it would appear if perfectly restored, has been
executed by Mr. Cottingham, the restorer of Rochester Ca-
thedral, and the cathedral of Armagh. The proportions are
all from actual admeasurement, and the restorations of the
mouldings, tracery, and all the ornamental parts of the ar-
chitecture, is upon the authority of existing specimens of this
beautiful structure, which have escaped the devastating effects
of time, of fire, and the still more destructive violence of
barbarous hands, whose unhallowed labours prove that in the
nineteenth century England has her Vandals, who take a ma-
lignant pleasure in destroying the works of ancient art and ge-
nius which are associated with the proudest recollections in the
annals of England's glory.
Yesterday, Mr. Cottingham had, by appointment, the ho-
nour of submitting the model to their Majesties for inspec-
tion. He was introduced by Lord Howe, and a party of distin-
guished persons connected with the Court were present.
Their Majesties inspected the model with great attention,
and seemed somewhat surprised that so beautiful and perfect
a restoration could be made of a building which presents the
ruinous appearance that it does at present, and which is still
worse than when their Majesties saw it immediately after the
fire that burnt down the House.; of Parliament, but which was
capable of making but little impression on the ancient walls
and almost adamantine crypt of St. Stephen's Chapel. We
are sorry to say that actual violence has since that event been
committed on those splendid remains which some persons
employed about the department of the " Woods and Forests"
are anxious to have utterly destroyed, as they rebuke the
"poverty of their own taste" in architecture, as Sir Edward
Cust has it, and, opulent in the varied excellence of elevated
art, look down with disdain on their gimcrack works.
The King, having examined the model very minutely, asked
several questions, which showed the great interest his Majesty
took in the subject. He expressed his admiration at seeing
the beautiful construction of the windows as originally fitted
up, of which only the magnificent arches now remain. Those
windows are peculiar to this chapel, resembling, in some
points, only three other specimens in the world; one at Co-
logne, another at Antwerp, and the third at Strasburg. The
King inquired particularly into the history of the chapel, and
was told that no part of the existing structure was built in the
reign of King Stephen, as is generally supposed ; that the
crypt, with its noble groined roof, that withstood and flung
off the flames and molten furnace of the late conflagration,
was built by Edward the First, but the building, was inter-
rupted in consequence of his going to the wars in Scotland.
His death and the troubles of Edward the Second's reign pre-
vented any further progress in the structure until the acces-
sion of Edward the Third to the throne. That Monarch,
in the fourth year of his reign, determined to go on with
the building, and to make it the most splendid thing of
the sort not only in England but Europe. All the chapel
above the crypt, which now forms the Speaker's dining room,
was built in his reign and mostly under his personal inspection.
At this time the massiveness and severity of the earlier English
or Gothic architecture had been exchanged for a style more
elegant, graceful, and ornate ; but still more chaste in its de-
corations than the very florid style that succeeded it. Of this
decorated but chaste style of ancient English architecture the
chapel of St. Stephen was not only a perfect, but an unique
specimen. There was nothing else like it in the kingdom.
The mouldings, the panel work, and cornices were wrought
with peculiar and deep undercuttings, so as to produce a bolder
relief of light and shade than in any other ecclesiastical struc-
ture of " the olden time" that we have. The mullions of the
windows, too, were so constructed as to produce a singular
beauty of effect ; all which the model expresses, so as to be a
perfect miniature of the original. Their Majesties were much
interested with the door of a secret passage in the wall of the
Hall of William Rufus, adjoining the chapel, and through
which Henry VIII. went when he saw Archbishop Cran-
mer repulsed from the Council-chamber.
The King asked Mr. Cottingham whether he intended this
model for public exhibition ? He informed his Majesty that
his object was to show how completely the chapel in which his
Majesty's glorious ancestor, the hero of Cressy and Poictiers,
along with his Queen Philippa and Edward the Black Prince,
returned his thanksgivings to Heaven after returning from his
conquests in France, could be restored. With that view he
intended to exhibit it gratuitously at his residence to the
Members of both Houses of Parliament, and others who are
admirers of our ancient sacred architecture and anxious for its
preservation. His Majesty said emphatically, "So beautiful
a building ought not to perish. It is my hope and my wish
that it may be restored."
We formerly mentioned the elaborate drawings which Mr.
Adam Lee made of the interior of the chapel, with all its
paintings and decorations, which cost him the labours and re-
searches of 25 years. These, we believe, he also intends to
exhibit ; so that the materials for the perfect restoration of this
incomparable gem of our ancient sacred architecture are com-
plete, and will be shortly under the eye of the public.

RYDE.—The quiet of this fashionable watering-
place has this week been disturbed by an untoward event,
which occurred in consequence of a drunken squabble which
took place at the Kent Hotel about four or five o'clock on
Thursday morning. The Kent Hotel was the head-quarters
of the Tory faction ; and on the morning in question, some of
the non-electors, who had rendered themselves conspicuous
during the election, having been sacrificing rather freely to
the jolly god, an altercation ensued between Mr. Johnson
and Sir Richard Hennage, who accidentally joined the party.
The former applied certain terms to Sir Richard and his
friends, who are stanch reformers, and refused to apologize, at
the same time adding a challenge to his former aggravating
behaviour. Sir Richard Hennage requested the services of
Mr. Hawtrey as his second, and Mr. Johnson selected Mr.
Belford. On Sir Richard's arriving on the ground, he found
the other party absent; and after waiting an hour and a half,
returned to Ryde. It appears, however, that Mr. Johnson
had to procure his pistols, &c., from Lake, about seven miles
from Ryde, and finding that he had no balls, remained to cast
them, sending his second to state the cause of the delay to the
party on the ground, who had left previous to his arrival. By
this time the affair had reached the knowledge of the Magis-
trates, and Capt. Brigstock, R. N., took the necessary means
of binding over the parties to keep the peace. We have much
pleasure in adding that although bound over to keep the peace,
Mr. Johnson, with that proper feeling which should ever cha-
racterize educated men, lost no time in tendering the most am-
ple apology to Sir Richard, which the latter accepted and ac-
knowledged in a most handsome note. The affair has thus
amicably terminated.—Brighton Guardian.