DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1213#0175
THE NEW HOUSES OP PARLIAMENT. 133
long since altered their old aspect, had they been sub-
jected to the purifying influences and energetic action of
fire. And our tastes must not be supposed to incline to
arson, "when we observe, that in spite of the disposition
now on the alert, to widen our streets and mend our ways,
nothing but fire will eventually remove many a hideous
obstruction and unseemly alley, excrescences which ''vest-
ed interests" allow to deform some of our finest thorough-
fares, exhibiting all the imperfections, and none of the
architectural merits of the early builders. The conflagra-
tion so fatal to the houses of the legislature originated ia
the library of the House of Lords towards seven o'clock in
the evening of the day above named. A large quantity
of wooden tallies, anciently used in the office of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer were directed to be burnt,
but the parties charged with the task of ignition, instead
of accomplishing it in the open air, placed the tallies in a
large stove, in one of the offices of the House of Lords.
The flues became overheated, and the wood work of the
library caught fire. The flames soon extended to such a
degree as to defy all attempts to subdue their progress.
Enveloped in vast sheets of fire, the houses of parliament
soon became a blackened and smoking ruin, but by the
exertions of the firemen, the noble hall of Kufus, West-
minster Abbey, was saved from a like fate, sustaining no
more serious damage than some trivial injury to the upper
wall immediately facing the entrance. The fire consumed
many valuable records, together with the libraries of both
houses. The public loss was estimated at £200,000, but
many of the treasures reduced to dust no money of course
could replace, no equivalent supply. Thus in one memor-
able night was an edifice, venerable for its historic associ-
ations, the scene of national revolutions, and where "for-
gotten generations" seemed to "live again," prostrated to
the ground. The manufactory of our laws had vanished.
That which in the morning appeared endowed with the
vitality of centuries, had ceased to exist at night, swept
away like an ephemeral plant before the rage of the
long since altered their old aspect, had they been sub-
jected to the purifying influences and energetic action of
fire. And our tastes must not be supposed to incline to
arson, "when we observe, that in spite of the disposition
now on the alert, to widen our streets and mend our ways,
nothing but fire will eventually remove many a hideous
obstruction and unseemly alley, excrescences which ''vest-
ed interests" allow to deform some of our finest thorough-
fares, exhibiting all the imperfections, and none of the
architectural merits of the early builders. The conflagra-
tion so fatal to the houses of the legislature originated ia
the library of the House of Lords towards seven o'clock in
the evening of the day above named. A large quantity
of wooden tallies, anciently used in the office of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer were directed to be burnt,
but the parties charged with the task of ignition, instead
of accomplishing it in the open air, placed the tallies in a
large stove, in one of the offices of the House of Lords.
The flues became overheated, and the wood work of the
library caught fire. The flames soon extended to such a
degree as to defy all attempts to subdue their progress.
Enveloped in vast sheets of fire, the houses of parliament
soon became a blackened and smoking ruin, but by the
exertions of the firemen, the noble hall of Kufus, West-
minster Abbey, was saved from a like fate, sustaining no
more serious damage than some trivial injury to the upper
wall immediately facing the entrance. The fire consumed
many valuable records, together with the libraries of both
houses. The public loss was estimated at £200,000, but
many of the treasures reduced to dust no money of course
could replace, no equivalent supply. Thus in one memor-
able night was an edifice, venerable for its historic associ-
ations, the scene of national revolutions, and where "for-
gotten generations" seemed to "live again," prostrated to
the ground. The manufactory of our laws had vanished.
That which in the morning appeared endowed with the
vitality of centuries, had ceased to exist at night, swept
away like an ephemeral plant before the rage of the