DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1213#0171
CHAPTER VIII.
THE THAMES—continued.
bishops' walk:—the houses op parliament, old and
new—chinese junk—southwark bridge—old lon-
don bridge, its history and traditions---new london
bridge—custom house—tower op london, etc.
Opposite to Bishops' Walk, an avenue well shaded with
trees, between Lambeth Palace and the Thames, the
Westminster bank of the river is rendered eminently con-
spicuous as the seat of that elaborately-enriched pile of
building known as
THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT,
and sometimes affectedly called the New Palace of West-
minster. Beyond the fact that the new Parliament-house
stands upon the site, or part of the site of Edward the Con-
fessor's old palace, an edifice raised long before our legis-
lative councils assumed their present form, no reason can
be produced for calling the senate-house a palace, for
assigning to it a name which is not indicative of the pur-
poses to which it is appropriated. To elevate it to the
rank of a palace can impart no additional lustre to this
national edifice; the tendency is, on the contrary, to de-
tract from its merit; for as regards architectural grace and
convenience of construction, it is incomparably superior
to several of the structures, which, save for their being the
residences of royalty, would hut imperfectly convey the
ideas of magnificence and taste implied by their titular
distinctions.
The Houses of Lords and Commons which were imme-
diately antecedent to the brilliant creation of Mr. Barry,
demand a brief notice; the shadow of an outline, so to
speak; for to write the history of parliament would be to
describe the most prominent events in the history of
THE THAMES—continued.
bishops' walk:—the houses op parliament, old and
new—chinese junk—southwark bridge—old lon-
don bridge, its history and traditions---new london
bridge—custom house—tower op london, etc.
Opposite to Bishops' Walk, an avenue well shaded with
trees, between Lambeth Palace and the Thames, the
Westminster bank of the river is rendered eminently con-
spicuous as the seat of that elaborately-enriched pile of
building known as
THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT,
and sometimes affectedly called the New Palace of West-
minster. Beyond the fact that the new Parliament-house
stands upon the site, or part of the site of Edward the Con-
fessor's old palace, an edifice raised long before our legis-
lative councils assumed their present form, no reason can
be produced for calling the senate-house a palace, for
assigning to it a name which is not indicative of the pur-
poses to which it is appropriated. To elevate it to the
rank of a palace can impart no additional lustre to this
national edifice; the tendency is, on the contrary, to de-
tract from its merit; for as regards architectural grace and
convenience of construction, it is incomparably superior
to several of the structures, which, save for their being the
residences of royalty, would hut imperfectly convey the
ideas of magnificence and taste implied by their titular
distinctions.
The Houses of Lords and Commons which were imme-
diately antecedent to the brilliant creation of Mr. Barry,
demand a brief notice; the shadow of an outline, so to
speak; for to write the history of parliament would be to
describe the most prominent events in the history of