Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1886-05-20
DUBLrps PARLIAMENT HOUSE.

Where the Irish Home Rulers Lsgislsssd
. Century Ago.
At time when " Grattan's Par
lament" lie being much discussed
many will be interested to see what
Grattans Par lament House was like.
The House Of Lords, by Q
perverse survival. for y, at all events,
Is not likely to beS wanted-remains
to the present day unaltered. but
debased to the pecuniary purposes Of
the Bank Of Ireland. still adorned,
however, we believe, with the tapestries
Of the battle of the Boyne and the
siege Of Derry which gratified the Prot
estant peers Of a century ago.
The Commons Room, as it appears
to have been called at the time,
was originally built In an octagonal
form.
1t was IS feet in diameter and was
inscribed In q square; the seats were
disposed round the centre Of the room
In concentric circles rising one above
the other; a dome above Corinthian
columns crowned the whole; there
was gallery s feet broad for
strangers. .
alluded in his passage OF arms with
predecessor In the leadership of the
then Home Rulers, he likened him to
AN ill-omened bird of night lowering
over the dome with sepulchral note,
q cadaverous aspect and a broken
beak, ready to stoop and pounce upon
his prey"
From all which It will be seen
that the dimensions were, according
to modern ideas, extremely minute,
and that there can scarcely have been
room to seat the 300 members of
whom the House was composed.
We are told, however. in Warbur-
toms History Of Dublin that 1.-THE
appearance of the House assembled
below from the gallery corresponds
with its importance, and presents
dignity that must be seen to be
felt"
1t was this octagonal building which.
on February ~. 1893. while the
In the afternoon, accidentally caught
fire and was entirely consumed. It
was, however, speedily rebuilt In
circular form. and II a building is
wanted for new Home Rule Par
Lament there will be no difficulty In
reconstructing 1t out Of the offices
and counting houses into which it
has been sacrilegiously converted.
Though the interior has been SO
much altered the external appearance
of the Bank Of Ireland remains very
much the same as 1t was when first
erected for the use OF the Parlia-
ment at an expense OF e4O, 900 in the
reign OF George ii.
The only differences noticeable are
In the figures which surmount the
pediment-on the original building
were seen statues Of Hibernia,"
with spear and harp, Liberty"
with her cap, and Justice with
her scales, which are not to be found
on the present edifce, and had
already disappeared in 1898, possibly
because those goddesses left Ireland
In despair-ar event which might have
occurred at any period IN the last
century.
Indeed. when thu question arises
Lament House, perhaps 1t will be
well to seek another position. The
associations connected with Grattan's
Parliament are In many ways far from
agreeable.
This is the building which Swift
described as
" Not bowshot from the college.
Hail the world from sense and
knowledge
and which. when It was finally CON-
verted. after tho Union, from q Par
Lament House into a national bank.
produced the following contemptuous
epigram:
II, as 1t Is by some asserted,
This House be to q bank converted,
What most we want will then be
there,
Instead Of what we best can spare"
Il Pail Mall Gazette.