FINE ARTS.

THE NEW PALACE AT WESTMINSTER.

Puniac attention has been particularly directed to the building of the New Palace at Westminster, by Reports of Select Committees of the Lords and Commons appointed in the past session to inquire into the state and progress of the works. A pamphlet, printed on impo- singly-large paper and embellished with engravings, has been pri- vately circulated by one of the Ex-Commissioners of Selection, known to be Lord SUDELEY ; and has been followed by a series of articies in the Morning Chronicle, (of which five, each of them almost as long as this paper, have already appeared, without sign of approaching ter- mination,) amplifying the statements of the noble pamphleteer, and labouring to excite distrust and apprehensions as to the proceedings of the architect. Mr. BARRY is charged with having made unwarrantable and injurious deviations from the plan sanctioned by Parliament, causing delay in the completion of the two Houses, and a great increase of expense; while the absence of efficient control over his proceedings is alleged against the Government. Regarding the subject as one of interest in connexion with the advancement of the fine arts in this country, we have taken some pains to ascertain the facts of the case,—..

by reading attentively the evidence given before the Parliamentary Committees, examining various plans of the building, and going over the whole of the works ; and we proceed to lay before our readers the result of this investigation, without prejudice or favour. The style of architecture is Perpendicular English—the florid Gothic of the Tudor period ; which is peculiarly well suited to palatial pur- poses, and admits of the utmost display of heraldic and other ornaments. The edifice appears to be what it is meant for—a palace for conducting the business of the state : the symmetrical regularity of the design is in accordance both with the characteristics of the style and the uses of the building.

The structure is far enough advanced to convey some idea of its ex- tent and proportions externally. The centre and projecting wings of the River front have nearly attained their full height ; the roofs are partly covered in ; and a few of the turrets show their pinnacles. The effect of the sky-outline of this façade may therefore be anticipated ; and its grandeur has already silenced many old objections to its flat and un- broken line. The majestic proportions of the archways in the Victoria Tower are also becoming apparent ; and the Clock Tower, abutting on Westminster Bridge, is rising into importance. But it is only by tra- versing the interior of the vast pile from end to end—passing across the spacious courts, looking down the long corridors, and scanning the pro- portions of the principal apartments—that the immense extent of its area, the symmetrical arrangement of its various parts, the solidity of its construction, and the profusion and finished execution of its superb enrichments, can be fully appreciated.

The edifice is about equally divided between the two legislative bodies : the Southern half being apportioned to the Lords and the Northern half to the Commons ; and there are separate entrances for the members of each estate, both from the East and West fronts. The East, or River front, 880 feet in length, is appropriated to Libraries and Committee-rooms; the Conference Chamber being in the centre, the speaker's residence in the North, and Black Rod's in the South wing. The two Houses are situated on a line, constituting the longitudinal axis of the building, about mid-way between the East and West fronts, separated from them by open courts on each side, and con- nected by ample corridors with the public Central Hall they com- municate, the Lords through the Victoria Gallery with the Queen's Robing-room at the South end, and the Commons with the Speaker's Chamber at the North. The public grand entrance is St. Stephen's Porch, to be erected at the South end of Westminster Hall, leading through St. Stephen's Hall (a restoration of the old Chapel) to the Central Hall. The Royal grand entrance is under the Victoria Tower at the South-west angle ; its lower part forming a stately porch, the upper part to be a depository for records. The state-coach enters beneath the Western archway ; and the Queen, alighting at a lofty portal on the left, ascends a flight of steps leading Eastward to a landing-hall, that forms a vestibule to the Victoria Gallery.

The Victoria Gallery is a new feature: it will be the most spacious and magnificent apartment in the whole edifice, and the place for spec- tators to witness the Royal procession to the Throne. Its dimensions are 130 feet long by 45 feet wide and 48 feet high. It is to be lighted by eight large windows on each side, of stained glass ; with frescoes beneath them, and statues in niches on the piers between. The Queen, in her regal robes and wearing the crown, will enter from the Robing- room adjoining, and pass along this grand hall to the House of Lords.

The House of Lords—the iron roof of which is visible from Abing- don Street—is a double square, 90 feet long by 45 feet wide ; lighted from each side by six large pointed windows, to be filled with stained glass, and having at each end three arched compartments for frescoes. The piers of the arches are of elegant design, and have niches for statues resting on large corbels formed of winged angels holding scrolls. The ceiling is to be of wood, with moulded ribs, enriched with pendants, colours and gilding. The arched portal of the principal door is superbly ornamented with heraldic devices, exquisitely wrought in Caen stone ; which has almost the whiteness of Parian marble, and is the material used for all the sculptured decorations of the interior. The Central Hall, an octagon of 60 feet diameter and corresponding height, is elaborately sculptured, and will contain sixty-eight niches for statues. The principal lobbies, corridors, and waiting-balls, are also lined with stone richly carved. The House of Commons is an oblong square, 62 feet long by 45 wide; but only its substructions are as yet visible. The basement, or ground-floor, appropriated to offices, may be traversed like a street, along its whole length, by carriages, entering from Old and New Palace Yard.

The materials employed in the construction of the building are of the most durable description. The foundation is a deep bed of concrete ; the walls are of brick bonded with iron, and faced externally with Bolsover stone—a magnesian limestone that hardens by exposure to the atmosphere. The beams and girders are of cast-iron ; and the roof is of iron plates covered with zinc to prevent corrosion. The whole struc- ture is completely fire-proof; no wood being used except for internal fittings. Dr. REID'S system of ventilating is to be adopted : fresh air is to be drawn in from the Victoria and Clock towers and the foul air expelled through a ventilating-shaft, formed by a lefty tower to be erected over the Central Hall. The structure will be one vast apparatus constantly in action for purifying the atmosphere within—a set of stone lungs.

This third tower, thus rendered necessary, has produced a material change in the architectural design. The Victoria or Record Tower will no longer be the predominant feature : it has two rivals. Its height, 350 feet, will be equalled by that of the Clock Tower, and surpassed by the Central Tower, the altitude of which is to be 365 feet. But the three towers are so diversified in character that their different shapes will prevent this similarity of height from being very apparent : the massive bulk of the Record Tower, 75 feet square, with turrets at the angles, will have a castellated appearance ; contrasting with the light conical spire of the Ventilating Tower, formed of clustering pinnacles, showing the sky between them ; and with the solid shaft of the Clock Tower, 40 feet square, which terminates in a die with four dial-plates enriched with fret-work. Skilful as is this combination of varied forms, its effect, as shown in the two perspective views of the altered design, exhibited at the Royal Academy, was not so agreeable as the original composition : but it requires a model to demonstrate the result of such

an addition. The difficulty of introducing a third salient point in a design previously settled is very great ; and due allowance must be made for people's prepossessions.

The deviations from the first sketch in the River front do not mate- rially change its outline ; yet its imposing appearance is greatly en-

hanced by the more ornate and palatial air given to it The substi- tuting hexagonal turrets for buttresses, enriching the façade with armorial bearings and statues, and showing the roof, which should

always be visible in Gothic edifices,—these are the principal improve- ments. Profuse as are the sculptured decorations, the breadth of effect

and massive elegance that characterized the original design are pre- served ; and its regal grandeur is heightened. In making these ex- ternal improvements, Mr. BARRY has exercised the privilege conceded

to the artist, of revising and filling up the outline of his original con-

ception ; and we think he is entitled to great praise for the judgment and taste shown in them. But if any justification were needed, it is found in the evidence of Lord SUDELEY himself; who expressly states, that " it never was the idea, the expectation, or the wish of any of the Com- missioners, that Mr. Barry should be confined to the plan that we ap- proved of." " We expected great and important alterations to be made." Indeed, it would have been perfectly absurd to bind the architect down to a rigid adherence to the details of the most matured plan ; as many improvements are necessarily suggested to an active and fertile mind in the course of its execution. The question is—are the alterations, made by the architect on his own suggestion, improve- ments ? He cannot be fairly held responsible for the effect of such as were forced upon him—the Ventilating Tower for instance. Lord SUDELEY insinuates that the design now in progress "is not comparable

either in point of grandeur, taste, or convenience," with the original. The Committee of the House of Commons "consider the alterations conducive to the general effect of the building."

The changes in the plan mostly arose from the increased accommo- dation required. Besides the arrangements for Dr. Rern's ventilating

process, there were residences required for the Librarian and Chief

Clerk of the House of Commons ; accommodation for the Clerk of the Crown, for attornies, and for a body of Police : it was requisite for the

refreshment-rooms to be brought nearer to the Libraries; the Division- lobbies of the House of Commons to be enlarged, and better lighted ; and the access to the House improved. To accomplish these and other

minor conveniences, both Houses were approximated nearer to the River front ; and the effect has been to equalize the width of the open courts on each side,—a very important advantage.

The most considerable change is that made in the Royal entrance ; which has resulted in the acquisition of the Victoria Gallery—the largest and finest hall in the building, and therefore an especial object of attack

by the party who would fain have people believe that every alteration has been for the worse. Lord SUDELEY, ex cathedra, pronounces it to be" too wide for its length as a gallery, and too long for its width as a hall " ; in

other words, it is at once too short and too long for him. The distinc- tion of names is a mere quibble, since the plan, site, and purpose remain the same but since the question has been raised, it may be as well to

settle it. The proper appellation would be "Hall," according to Jona- SON ; one of whose definitions of the meaning of this word, given oa the authority of SHAKSPERE, is, "The first large room of a house "; to which the Victoria Hall answers perfectly in reference to the Royal entrance. Now, so far from being "too long for its width as a hall," it is of similar proportions to Westminster Hall : the difference is in fa- vour of the Victoria Hall, whose length is scarcely thrice its breadth, while Westminster Hall is three and a half breadths long. Lord SETDE LEY'S other self in the Chronicle predicts that the Victoria Hall "will be a failure "—that its being of equal dimensions in width and height with the House of Lords and greater in length "will be fatal to effect' It is easy to say this; and convenient to overlook the influence of different proportions, decorations, and fittings, on two adjoining apart- ments.

It was originally intended that the state-coach should enter the Vic- toria Tower beneath the Western archway, turn round a central pillar,

set down the Queen at the Northern portal, and drive out at the South-

ern archway : but some doubts arose as to the cumbrous vehicle and its eight horses turning conveniently within the space, though it was pos-

sible according to measurement ; the eminently practical and prudent

architect therefore abandoned the idea. The arrangement now is, that the coach, entering as before, and driving straight forward across the tower, shall, after setting down the Queen, pass through a covered way into the Royal Court ; there turn round, and remain till wanted to take up the Queen again,—instead of waiting in the street for the crowd to gaze at, like a vulgar City show. But Lord SUDELEY is shocked at this arrangement : his echo in the Chronicle calls the carriage-way "a murderous hole "—conjures up horrible visions of railroad-tunnels, Tar-

tarian darkness, and plunging steeds—apprehends danger to the Queen from the fright and the rush of cold air, and a loss of dignity to her state because all the eight horses are not within the tower when she alights!

We were curious to see this "murderous hole " ; and amused to find it a passage about half as long again as the state equipage itself, with archways wider by three feet and a half than the empty vehicle. Neither is there any fear for the safety of the coachman's cocked hat or the ornament at the top of the carriage,—though, to be sure, there is no scope for flourishing the whip : and Jehu's soul, like King John's, may

want elbow-room. The staircase also is objected to, as not affording opportunity for making it the scene of a grand exhibition. " The alighting of the Sovereign at the Palace, after a state-procession, is the crowning incident of the pageant," quoth the Chronicle. This is an original idea, quite in keeping with the notion that a crowned head appears to the greatest advantage climbing or descending a staircase, surrounded by a crowd of other heads bobbing up or down as the case may be, and all thinking how to avoid stumbling on their own robes or treading on each other's trains. Mr. BARRY has done wisely in relegating the scene of the state-pageant to the Victoria Gallery ; and, for all the purposes of convenient ascent, the present flight of steps is sufficiently spacious. Lord SUDELEY, both in his evidence before the Committee and in his pamphlet, as well as through the medium of his newspaper echo, is always harping on this string. He is great on the staircase : there his architectural genius takes its boldest flights ; soaring from " quarter space

to " palier," measuring " treads " and counting "risers." His pamph- let has four extempore variations on this fruitful theme. The only objection that bears the semblance of validity is to the flight of twenty-five steps without a landing. This is set forth as a most for- midable obstacle : the Queen's dismay at the prospect of such a steep ascent, and her fatigue on reaching the top—her devious pilgrimage from the porch to the throne, with its turns right and left round sharp corners—are so movingly described, that the reader is touched with

sympathy for the hard fate of the Sovereign, to whom the other burdens of royalty appear light compared with this arduous toil. Yet in spite of all, the inexorable architect still refuses his Sovereign another landing- place. Now we have seen and mounted a model of the awful staircase ; and cannot well conceive any flight of steps less formidable in aspect or more facile of ascent. The Queen has to ascend a certain height to reach the House of Lords ; and unless her Majesty were hoisted up by a "lift," like the dishes at the Reform Club, she must needs climb up a certain number of stairs—thirty-two in all, it seems. No plan, save an inclined plane, could diminish their number, without making the rise of each stair greater, and consequently more fatiguing. The in- tended steps rise five inches only, and are sixteen inches broad, which Mr. BARRY has ascertained to be the dimensions most favourable to an easy ascent ; and the staircase is about twelve feet wide—spacious enough even for Royalty. The bad effect of Lord SliDELEY'S proposed " palier " breaking the direct line of twenty-five steps, is seen in the model ; and the landing-place is not needed as a rest.

But who is Lord SUDELEY, it may be asked, that he should make such a pother ? Nor is the question needless ; for he has been so recently made a Peer, and had before changed his name so often, that few persons may be aware that he is the identical Mr. HANBURY TRACY—an amateur architect, who acquired a reputation for knowledge and taste among his friends by building for himself a great Gothic house, according to a plan of his own. The quondam Commissioner evidently entertains a parental partiality for the child of his adop- tion—Mr. BARRY'S original plan, which won the premium in the pre- liminary competition ; and though he admits "it was susceptible of great improvement," he is opposed to every alteration—as a doating mother allows that her darling has faults, but will agree to no means of correcting them. Iu his pamphlet he makes the plan selected by him and his brother Commissioners the standard of comparison, though it was not sanctioned by Parliament ; one of much greater extent, and different in its details, having been adopted. For any deviations from this plan the architect is accountable : they have been ac- quiesced in by the Commons, and with some trifling exceptions by the Peers also. It is now too late to make any further changes as regards plan ; and the only purpose these attacks can serve is to sooth wounded vanity, by annoying the architect, disparaging the structure, and having a fling at political opponents. Fair et iticism on any public work is to be desired rather than deprecated ; but the miserable hole. picking by which trivial or questionable defects are magnified, real im- provements condemned, and acknowledged excellences passed over, ought to be scouted. Few of the readers for whom Lord SODELEY'S echo of interminable reiterations is intended have access to the build- ing itself, or the plans, to enable them to test the justness of the hostile strictures; and it will be years before the confident predictions of failure can be falsified. Meanwhile, the skill and judgment of the architect are distrusted by those who look no further than these ex parte and exaggerated statements ; and the proud and pleasurable expectations with which the country looked forward to the completion of this grand undertaking, are, forsooth, on the ipse dixit of an irresponsible carper, to be changed to an anticipation of ultimate disappointment !

As regards delay in the completion of the House of Lords, this is a matter which most concerns the Peers themselves, and they have taken steps to redress their grievance by urging despatch. The com- plaint is that other parts of the building have been proceeded with to the neglect of their House. The impatience is natural ; for Peers are not exempt from that weakness of human nature which, seeking to realize a desired object, deems time wasted that intervenes between the wish and its fulfilment. Moreover, the Peers are really put to in- convenience; and the reflection that they have given up their roomy chamber to the Commons does not help to reconcile them to it. The Lords Committee assume the possibility of their House and its appur- tenances being finished by next spring : but the present state of the works does not favour such an expectation. So far as the public are concerned in the progress of the building, there is no blame to be at- tached to the architect. The plan approved by Parliament was ordered to be carried into effect in April 1837: but the embankment of the River wall, and the bed of concrete for the foundations, took two years to com- plete; it was not till June 1839 that the work of building could actually be commenced, and such is the extent of the substructures that the first stone was not laid till the spring of 1840. This leaves less than five years for completing the carcass of the River front and the House of Lords, and carrying up tbe walls of the rest of the building, including the towers, to the level of the first floor. Considering the immense quantity of stone-carving both within and without, it is surprising that so much progress should have been made in a comparatively short time. And it should be borne in mind, that the masons' strike, which stopped the stone-wOrk, lasted nearly half a year. Mr. BARRY at the onset estimated that it would take seven years from the time of the founda- tions being laid to complete the two Houses and their offices ; which would bring it to 1846. But he did not then anticipate the alterations and additions that have subsequently taken place, nor perhaps the ex- tent of the sculptured enrichments ; or if he did, it was impossible for any architect to name with any degree of certainty the time within which a structure of such magnitude and of so many parts could be completed. The confined space for materials and work-shops for 700 men, and the difficulties arising out of the occupation of the adjacent buildings, are great hindrances. The Peers only think of their own wants : they scarcely take into consideration the necessity for carrying on other portions of the works simultaneously, and the obstacles that their occupation of one part of the new building will create to the operations of the workmen in others. The time it will take to com- plete even the architectural portion cannot be exactly specified. In looking to the time that the erection of other edifices of extraordinary magnitude and splendour occupied, we find that it was sometimes the work of centuries; St. Peter's at Rome took a century and a half to com- plete ; Milan cathedral twice as long. The most pertinent comparison is St. Paul's, because it is both nearer to our own day and was the work of one architect throughout—as we hope this will be : there was no material interruption to its progress, yet it took five-and-thirty years to complete (1675-1710)-' and whereas its cubic contents were eleven millions of feet, those of the Palace at Westminster are estimated at sixteen millions of cubic feet—half as much again.

The subject of cost is material, doubtless; but, such is the national importance of the building in reference to its uses as the place where i

the business of legislation s carried on, and to the character it has as- sumed as exemplifying the present state of the arts of the country, that expense is secondary to the proper fulfilment of the objects in view. So long as money is not wasted, and a due return in accommodation and elegance is procured for the outlay, the amount to be expended ought only to be limited by the requirements of taste and convenience. It is but justice to Mr. BARRY to observe, however, that the correctness of his estimates, formed on the plan approved by Parliament, has been verified, so far as the work has gone, by the terms at which the contracts have been taken : as yet they are rather less than more. His estimate, amounting to 707,1041., did not include the embankment of the river, the foundations, or the purchase of premises for the extra space of ground ultimately taken in—amounting in round numbers to 180,000/. ; which, with the extra cost of using the Bolsover stone, rendering the building fire-proof, warming and ventilating it on Dr. Run's plan, ad- ditional accommodations and contingencies swell the total to upwards of a million. St. Paul's cost a million and-a-half, when money was of far greater value than it is now. One considerable item in the cost is 65,000/. for the Ventilating-appa- ratus and Central Tower : a large sum to expend upon an experimental scheme—we hope it has been duly tested, and sanctioned by the concur- rent authority of the scientific world, as all but certain to be per- fectly efficacious in practice. In his evidence given last month before the Select Committee of the Lords, which is printed with the Second Report, Dr. REID professes to be able to modify the temperature of any portion of either House, and even of a particular part of a bench to suit the requirements of individual Members; thus, if a Minister—and the Doctor seems to have a reverend care for the health of the Cabinet— should feel exhausted by a long and weary debate, a timely supply of fresh air under his seat would revive his wasted energies, and give him spirit to rise and deliver a slashing reply. Truly, Dr. REID delegates a formidable power to the officers of the House : a powerful speaker, primed for furious attack, might suddenly find himself enervated by a rush of heated air ; or the whole of the Opposition-bench might be simultaneously driven out of the House by a current of cold air. A. modern Guy Faux would only need to get admission into the ventilating- chamber below the House to suffocate all the Members ; and it would be easy for a factious fellow to lower the spirits of one party and raise the courage of its opponents at pleasure. It is scarcely safe to trust such a tempting weapon in the hands even of a philosopher! Not only in the affair of ventilation, but in other matters involving change and cost, the control appears to have been lax and inefficient. There was no constituted authority to whom the architect could appeal in case of doubt or difficulty : the Commissioners, as Lord SUDELEY complains, were fluted officio from the moment they had selected the plan ; and the fresh commission of surveillance recommended by Sir Ro- BERT PEEL (in Opposition) was never appointed. The architect has been beset with applications for accommodation from officers of Parliament and the Royal Household, lawyers and policemen ; pestered with the suggestions of an Ex-Commissioner of Taste, and individual Members of Parliament ; embarrassed by recommendations of Committees ; and forced to exercise his own discretion as to the degree of at- tention to be paid to these demands. Whenever compliance involved increased expense, Mr. BARRY sent in his estimates to the office of Woods and Forests, and got a Treasury sanction for the additional outlay ; but otherwise he was left to act upon his own judgment. In all matters of taste and arrangements of detail, it was right to let the re- sponsibility rest solely with the architect, whatever Lord SUDELEY may think. Where was the individual qualified to decide in what way the architect should mature his own conception? To appoint a dictator over him, would be virtually deposing him. But Parliament was bound to protect their architect from interference, by appointing some proper authority to sanction Mr. BARRY'S proceedings, and weigh his recommendations or objections in regard to any material changes or additions. As it is, the Woods and Forests are placed in authority over the architect; and to them he is to submit all future alterations, even of detail, before they are made, as well as to report half-yearly of the state and progress of the works. Practically, the arrangement may work well in this instance ; for the Chief Commissioner, Lord LINCOLN, has manifested in his acts and evidence so proper a deference to Mr. BARRY in all matters of taste, and has throughout exhibited such good sense, proper spirit, and firmness, that there is little doubt of a satisfactory result. But, as a general principle, it is unsafe and un- wise to place the architect of a great public work under the orders of any official department : for it might happen that the matured and en- lightened views of a man of science and genius, devoting himself en- thusiastically to the perfecting of a grand design, could be thwarted through the interference of some pragmatical amateur, who sets up for an oracle in taste and dabbles in plan-drawing and bricklaying. Sup- pose, instead of Lord LINCOLN, it were Lord SUDELEY who was at the head of the Woods and Forests—what would the Palace of the Legis- lature be like in such a case ? Officious meddling has marred too many fine buildings : the history of architecture is rife with instances of it. BRAMANTE'S grand design for St. Peter's was sacrificed to the freaks of PERUZZI and SAN GALL(); and St. Paul's would have been a still nobler monument of the genius of WREN, had not the design that the architect himself preferred been set aside. Mr. BARRY'S taste and skill may not be faultless; but he is enthusiastic in devotion to his art, and is acknowledged by his brethren to stand at the head of his profession. His present and future reputation are staked on his success: the edifice he is raising will be the monument of his fame as an architect, as well as of the state of art in England in the nineteenth century. This great work, even in embryo, has excited the admiration and astonishment of all the illustrious foreigners who have visited it. The Czar, at whose imperial bidding palaces rise

"As with the stroke of an enchanter's wand,"

struck with amazement at the vastness of the idea, its multitudinous details, and the world of heraldic emblems and quaint imagery, ex- claimed, "This is a dream in stone !" Let it not be said that the archi- tect's own countrymen silently suffered a spiteful detractor unjustly to decry the merits of the grandest effort of architectural genius that Eng- land has had to boast of since WREN built St. Paul's.