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

ROYAL STA.AND THEATRE.
see and-s. Miss Swsnborough
THIS EVENING, QUIXerE, JUNIOR. Mr. J. Clarke.
Alter which, A SCHOOL FOR COQUETTES. Misses
Swanborough. Oliver, and Lavine.
Followed b,f Tifg VERY LATEST EDITION OF THE
LADY OF LY01613.
COssatoce at 7 o'clock.

VERDI'S OPERA OF MACBETH. The
yl
whole of the first Act of this Opera, now roduced
for the first time in this country (the remaining three acts
being in course of rehearsal), is sung nightly at the CAN-
TERBURY HALL CONCERTS.
THE DELEPIERR FAMILY,
meting of three Juvenile Violinists, , Jules, Juliette,
sad Julia Delepierre, aged, respectively, FOUR, six, and
ZIGHT years.
The perfect execution by these Lilliputian Artistes of some
of the most difficult and brilliant Solos, Duets, and Trios ever
written for the violin, has excited mingled wonder and admi-
ration in Continental Musical Circles, and drawn forth enthu-
siastic tributes of praise from the Public Journals of France
and Belgium.
They ten perform TWICE EACH EVENING, in addi-
tion to the usual Entertainments.

THE WEATHER.-SuN OFFICE, JULY 16.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
78—highest since noon yesterday.
6.s—lowest this morning and during the night.
78—this day at noon.
Bknolaremt-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 reflect
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.
Two 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 peculiarly
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 Housesof 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-
rance 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 wasbeing 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 Palace at Westminster. Accord-
ing to thehou.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 las been piled up
with such elaborate skill under t'he direction of Sir
CRAZIES BARRY, between the river Thames and
the old Abbey of Westminster. Now, that it is
there, wt must surely make the best of it. It is a
mere waste of time to talk about the superior ad-
vantages, of any other site, or for that matter
either o J any other order of architecture. To
the pres' ant river-site we are com CO itted now beyond
redempt ion. To mediaeval got is we are no less
irremedi Ably committed. The architectural order
is chop a, the site is chosen, the stone is chosen—
are are only left the duty of malting the best of
them, rutaining with that the undisputed and im-
prescrip 'Able right, luxury, or privilei; e of every
Englisll.man—that of grumbling. And no wonder
JOHN I kru, grumbles, and that pretty loudly, when
he hau, to plunge his hand into his breeches
pocket, and drag forth another good-sized
handl? al ofvery nearly L6o,ooo—precisely,aswebave
said,, 458,525—f0r a building he don't half like, a
bui) dicng the ptone of which is fast decaying before

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THE SUN.
SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1859.