divided by two passages, one on the Gallery side, the other on the side assigned to the Royal Academy. These passages lead into a barrack parade, and into Duke's Court. It seems that a right of way through the King's Mews, was enjoyed by the inhabitants of Castle Street, into which Duke's Court conducts; and when the Gallery was about to be erected, an express stipulation was made, that these passages should be left in the plan.

The pictures forming the National Gallery have been kept in Pall Mall; but different proposals were made at various times for the purpose of obtaining an eligible building to receive them. At last, when the King's Mews, at Charing Cross, was about to be pulled down, and shops built on the site, Mr. Wilkins, in his evidence before the committee of the House of Commons, suggested the propriety of appropriating the space for a National Gallery, if one were intended to be built. The idea was approved; in 1832, parliament voted £50,000 for the erection, and in 1835, £12,000 more. Mr. Wilkins was appointed architect, and the building has been nearly completed.

The elevation consists of a lofty basement, or stereobate, supporting a wall with pilastraded exhedræ, the pilasters exhibiting a foliate composition, upon which rests an entablature surmounted by a balustrading. The line of fronts is variously broken by the exhedræ, some of which have columns advanced to form prostyles. Two minor exhedræ of this character have tetra-prostyles, but of unequal intercolumniation, the central space being accommodated to open gateways for thoroughfares, and a third and larger in the centre of the front having an octa-prostyle or portico of eight columns, which is surmounted by a pediment; and behind and above is a lofty attic, surmounted by a small cupola. The other columned exhedræ have low and partly graduated attics, with quadrigæ above them. Two merely pilastraded exhedro support a pedimented attic, out of which rise two very small cupolas. The columns are in the foliated style, called Corinthian, and are, of course, fluted; and the central portico, is upon the whole, a pleasing feature in the composition. The wall upon which the ordinance is placed, is divided into two stories by a series of windows below, and one of the niches above it.

The National Gallery, at the temporary station in Pall Mall, is open the first four days of the week to the public, and the other two to artists. As compared to the British Museum, the number of visitors has been small; the number, in 1834, was one hundred and thirty thousand, and in 1835, one hundred and twenty-seven thousand two hundred and sixty-eight.

Strand Improvements.-From Charing Cross to Exeter Change, an amazing improvement has been effected. The houses on the north side have been taken down, and others erected farther back, by which the street is much widened and the range of houses

forming what may properly be named the western termination of the Strand, consists of a handsome centre, the first and second stories of which are ornamented with columns with rich capitals, while the attic story is raised above that of the wings by balustrades: the ends have two columns only. The somewhat overloaded style of the circular terminations, however, compensates for this plainness. Nearly in the centre of the façade, or in the right wing of its centre, are three doorways to a handsome arcade, the height of which is nearly equal to the second floor in the façade, but the harmony of the whole building is preserved by this part of the façade being a sort of screen front to the arcade. The whole of the new buildings have assumed better faces, if not better accommodations to the tradesmen who occupy them.

Exeter Change* was removed in 1829, and behind the new houses which have been made to occupy its site, Exeter Hall has been erected. It is a spacious building, one hundred and ten feet in length, and seventy-six feet wide, approached by a handsome Bath stone entrance and flight of steps, facing the Strand. This elegant and spacious public edifice is for the purpose of holding those general meetings, which various associations have usually convened in the hall of the Freemasons' Tavern.

Lincoln's Inn Place.-At a meeting held at Green's CoffeeHouse, Serle Street, on the 25th of October, 1825, a committee was formed, to mature a plan for the erection of a new street, to be named "Lincoln's Inn Place," to connect the Strand with Serle Street and Lincoln's Inn Fields. The estimated expense, according to the plan produced by Mr. Burton, the architect, was to be nearly £120,000, and it was believed the improvement would be effected on terms to yield six per cent. to those who would subscribe their capital.

A new street has also been commenced from the Strand to Charles Street, Covent Garden, and from thence to Plumtree Street, Bloomsbury; the upper end of the east side of Bow Street, facing Covent Garden Theatre, to be formed into a handsome crescent, by which the opening into Long Acre will be much enlarged. Immediately opposite, a new street will lead to the London University, through Gower Street.

Lyceum Theatre and English Opera House.†

This building was erected and completed within a singularly short space of time, even now when the division of labour enables works to be executed with greater rapidity, as well as with greater advantage to all parties, than ever. The structure in question was

not begun until late in the spring, and it was opened for public performances in July.

The new theatre is nearly on the site of that which was burnt down in January, 1831; but this has a front elevation to a street, which that had not: indeed, it was the first completed edifice in the new line to connect the avenue by Waterloo Bridge with Gower Street and the parts beyond, northward. This elevation, which is on the west side of the street, about fifty yards north from the Strand, consists of three compartments, the central of which is a pseudo hexa-prostyle, the two outer columns at each end being coupled, and the portico, thus formed, embraces the footway of the street, on the curb of which the columns stand. The outer compartments are plain, with antæ, and openings between them, the entablature of the prostyle being carried through. The portico gives access to a vestibule, disposed in three lines or avenues, with orthostyles dividing them; the money-takers, &c., being in the aisles, and the nave opening upon the inner vestibule or atrium. This is somewhat massively disposed, with a lantern overhead, and with the grand staircase behind arches on either side, the arcades formed by the arched series supporting balustraded galleries above, upon which the stairs land, and give access one way to the saloon, which lies across over the outer vestibule, and the other to the lobby behind the first circle of the boxes. The atrium below, and in advance, opens upon the lobby of what is usually the dress-circle of boxes, but which is here differently disposed. The way to the pit is from the Strand, by the old

entrance.

The house, internally, is arranged in the horse-shoe form; the pit seats are carried back under the boxes around and above; and the dress tier projects a gallery called the balcony, from before the ordinary fronts of the boxes, and this forms, in effect, the so-named dress-circle. Private boxes are disposed behind the balcony, and between it and the lobby or corridor of communication which encircles and gives access to both, whilst three open boxes on each side and end complete the tier up to the stage-boxes, which last rise out of the floor of the proscenium with enriched The first circle, in reality the second tier, is occupied by open boxes in front, and private boxes along the sides; whilst the gallery surmounts the former, and open but unfrequented boxes, the latter. The side boxes of the dress circle have close panelled fronts, enriched with paintings of subjects in character, and the balcony has a handsome pierced balustrade before it. The front of the first circle is painted to represent formal drapery, and that of the gallery circle is not much more agreeably disposed. Slight iron columns support the box tiers and gallery, but a cyclostyle of voluted columns rises above the backs of the box tiers to support the ceiling. The proscenium is composed of architectural materials, and the house is bounded at the scene or curtain

*

by a plain opening, covered by a segment arch. Mr. Beasley is the architect.

Covent Garden Market.†

The new buildings have been completed, and consist of a colonnade on the exterior running round the north, east, and south sides, under which are the shops, and above are small apartments intended as dormitories. Joined to the back of these, is another row of shops facing the inner courts, and through the centre runs an arched passage, with shops on each side, appropriated chiefly to the sale of herbs and flowers, and which divides the interior into two courts, partly covered with shed roofs, and appropriated to the wholesale dealers. Over the eastern colonnade, through which is the principal entrance, has been formed a light and rather elegant conservatory, for the sale of the more scarce and delicate species of plants and flowers, the western side is left open, and is occupied by stalls for the cheaper and coarser productions of the garden. Very extensive cellarage has been excavated under the whole market, which is used for storehouses for articles of bulk; great attention has been paid to the formation of capacious sewers, and every precaution taken to insure the most perfect cleanliness. The structure is chiefly of granite, and the market is confined to the sale of vegetable productions.

Law Institution, Chancery Lane.

This institution is composed of attorneys, solicitors, and proctors. The committee have purchased a freehold site, on the west side of Chancery Lane, nearly opposite to the Rolls Court, and extending to Bell Yard. For effecting the purposes of the institution, a fund of £50,000, in shares of £25 each, has been subscribed; and four-fifths of the amount, according to the several calls, have been promptly paid. With this capital the committee provide for the following objects:-A hall, to be open at all hours of the day (some particular hour, however, being fixed as the general time for assembling), to be furnished with desks or tables, and provided with the Gazette, newspapers, and other publications connected with the profession. An ante-room, for clerks and others, in which are kept an account of parliamentary business, the general and daily cause papers, information of arrangements made in the different courts, &c. A library, containing a complete collection of law books, and other books relating to those branches of literature more particularly connected with the profession; acts, journals, votes, and other proceedings of parliament; county and local histories, topography, genealogical and other matters of + Vol. 4, p. 314.

• Companion to the Almanac, 1835.