ROYAL ARCH-FOOLERY.
MR. WARBURTON put an awkward question to Lord DUNCANNON, when he inquired what was the cost of the marble arch that stands in front of the Pimlico Palace; and the answer which, after some modest coyness, was elicited, throws an inconveniently strong light upon the taste and munificence of the Royal arch-projector, and the economy, firmness, and wisdom, of a Tory Government. The nation has been made to pay 70,000/. already for this architec- tural bauble ; how much more it will cost is not stated. To call it useless, is telling only one half of its demerits : so far from being an ornament to the Palace, it is a positive eyesore. Its proportions tend to dwarf the elevation of the facade; its magnitude, to ob- struct the view of the building ; and the transparent whiteness of its material, to render still more dingy the dirty drab of the stucco. The marble, to be sure, will not long retain its purity and brilli- ancy, in our damp and smoky atmosphere; and the sharp outlines of the sculptures that adorn it, will soon be effaced by the opera- tion of the climate; but even when it is blackened by smoke, it will present a contrast to the stucco, though the latter be newly whitewashed, which will be any thing but harmonious to the eye or favourable to the appearance of the building. Thus the arch, which is in itself a beautiful piece of ornamental architecture, being modelled after a design of the ancients, is, by being made an excrescence, converted into a deformity. The only way to remedy the evil is to remove expensive costly nuisance : but economy forbids. The pretty toy cost so much to put together, that we can't afford to have it taken to pieces ! Royal whims, it seems, are not only costly, but permanent evils. The nation is made to blush as well as pay for the follies of its Sovereign. The present Government cannot afford the nation 75,0001. for a pic- ture-gallery, because the last did afford an extravagant King early an equal sum for a worse than useless gateway. The question with the Royal Builder was not what was wanted, but what could be got ; and with the Minister, not what could be spared, but what could be granted by the corrupt House of Commons.
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