NO

White Richmond or red-coloured Kew Bridge omnibuses ¡ leave Piccadilly every quarter of an hour-fare 18.; and best account of the Gardens is Sir W. Hooker's own little dbook, to be purchased at the Gardens, price 6d. The ance is on Kew Green, by very handsome gates, designed Decimus Burton. Visitors are obliged to leave baskets parcels with the porter at the gate. The Palm House, leading attraction of the Gardens, is 362 feet long, 100 wide, 64 feet high, and cost nearly 30,000l. Some of Palms have already reached the highest span of the and two were lowered, in 1852, into sunk compartts, to retain them a few years longer. Here, too, the oria Regia may be seen.

aong the hothouses-that devoted to Cactuses is alone h going 5 miles to see. Here are specimens whose ness exceeds that of the body of a man-brought 700 from the interior of South America.

he Museum of Economic Botany, formed by Sir W. ker, is filled with vegetable objects, most instructive and resting. The Arboretum, or Pleasure Grounds, are beauly kept, and most creditable to the present Director. short, London and its neighbourhood affords no more sing sight. The Gardens are open daily. (See Hints and gestions, p. 1.) Gentlemen requiring good gardeners occasionally obtain them here; the Gardens at Kew ming a kind of horticultural college, to which even foreign deners are constantly seeking to be admitted. The salary the Director is 800l. a year.

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, or THE NEW PALACE WESTMINSTER, on the left bank of the Thames, between le river and Westminster Abbey. This is one of the most agnificent buildings ever erected continuously in Europerobably the largest Gothic edifice in the world. It occupies he site of the old Royal Palace at Westminster, burnt lown Oct. 16th, 1834, and covers an area of nearly 8 acres. The architect is Sir Charles Barry, and the first stone was laid April 27th, 1840. In its style and character the building reminds us of those magnificent civic palaces, the town-halls of the Low Countries,—at Ypres, Ghent, Louvain, and Brussels-and a similarity in its destination renders the adoption of that style more appropriate than any form of classic architecture. The stone employed for the external masonry is a magnesian limestone from Anston in York

shire, selected with great care from the building stones of England by commissioners appointed in 1839 for that purpose. The River Terrace is of Aberdeen granite. There is very little wood about the building; all the main beams and joists are of iron; and the Houses of Parliament, it is said, can never be burnt down again. The E., or the River Front, may be considered the principal. This magnificent façade, 900 feet in length, is divided into five principal compartments, panelled with tracery, and decorated with rows of statues and shields of arms of the Kings and Queens of England, from the Conquest to the present time. The W. or Land Front is as yet in an imperfect state, but will, it is believed, surpass in beauty and picturesqueness any of the others, though, from the nature of the ground, it will not be in an uninterrupted line. A new façade is to replace the Law Courts, but is not yet commenced.

The Royal or Victoria Tower, at the S.-W. angle, one of the most stupendous works of the kind ever conceived, contains the Royal Entrance, is 75 feet square, and will rise to the immense height of 340 feet, or 64 feet less than the height of the cross of St. Paul's. The entrance archway of this noble structure is 65 feet in height, and is covered with a rich and beautifully worked groined stone vault, while the interior is decorated with the statues of the patron saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and with a statue of her present Majesty, supported on either side by figures emblematical of Justice and Mercy. This stately tower (supplying what Wren considered Westminster was so much in need of) will not be finished till the building is very near completion, the architect considering it of importance that the works should not proceed, on account of its great height and the danger of settlements, at a greater rate than 30 feet a-year. The Central Tower, 60 feet in diameter, and 300 feet high to the top of the lantern surmounting it, rises above the Grand Central Octagonal Hall, which reminds one of the glorious Chapter Houses attached to our English Cathedrals, but exceeds them in size; and its exquisitely groined stone vault is supported without a central pillar. The Clock Tower, abutting on Westminster Bridge, is 40 feet square, and surmounted above the clock with a richly decorated belfry spire, rising to the height of about 320 feet. Various other subordinate towers break the line of the roofs, and by their picturesque forms and positions add materially to the effect of the whole building.

The Westminster Bridge end contains the apartments of the Speaker and the Serjeant-at-arms, and the Vauxhall Bridge end the apartments of the Usher of the Black Rod

and the Lords' librarian. Above these a long range of rooms has been appropriated to Committees of either House. The statues in and about the building will exceed in number 450.

The principal public Entrances are through Westminster Hall, from Old Palace Yard, and both lead into the Central Octagon Hall, whence the right hand passage will take you to the Lords, and the left to the Commons. This magnificent hall is covered with a groined roof, containing upwards of 250 elaborately carved bosses. Westminster Hall, together with the ancient cloisters (now augmented by an upper story and stair-a gem of florid Gothic architecture) and crypt of St. Stephen's (the only remains of the ancient Palace), have been skilfully incorporated into the new building. Westminster Hall has been somewhat altered in detail internally, to make it accord more with the style of the rest of the building. The architect has planned that the walls, below the windows, should be decorated with a series of historical paintings, and that there should be two tiers of pedestals, to be occupied by figures of those eminent Englishmen to whom Parliament may decree the honour of a statue. The conception is grand, and appropriate to the building in which so many Englishmen have been distinguished.

The Royal Entrance is under the Victoria Tower, and leads to the Norman Porch, so called from the frescoes illustrative of the Norman history of this country and the figures of the Norman Kings, with which it is proposed to be decorated.

On the right hand is the Robing Room, a spacious apartment in the south front of the building, intended to be fitted up with much magnificence. After the ceremony of robing, which takes place in this room, her Majesty passes through a magnificent chamber 110 feet in length, 45 in width, and 45 feet high, called the Royal Gallery, decorated with frescoes illustrative of events from the history of England, with windows filled with stained glass, and a ceiling rich in gilding and heraldry. Passing thence, her Majesty enters the Prince's Chamber, to be decorated with equal splendour, and thence into the House of Peers, 97 feet long, 45 wide, and 45 high, a noble room, presenting a coup d'œil of the utmost magnificence, no expense having been spared to make it one of the richest chambers in the world. The spectator is hardly aware, however, of the lavish richness of its fittings from the masterly way in which all are harmoniously blended, each detail, however beautiful and intricate in itself, bearing only its due part in the general effect. Observe, in this noble apartment, opened for the first time, April 15th, 1847.-The

Throne, on which her Majesty sits when she attends the House, with the chairs for the Prince of Wales and Prince Albert; the Woolsack, in the centre of the House, on which the Lord Chancellor sits; the Reporters' Gallery (facing the Throne); the Strangers' Gallery (immediately above); the Frescoes (the first, on a large scale, executed in this country), in the six compartments, three at either end, viz., The Baptism of Ethelbert, by Mr. Dyce, R.A. (over the Throne); Edward III. conferring the Order of the Garter on the Black Prince, and Henry, Prince of Wales, committed to prison for assaulting Judge Gascoigne, both by Mr. Cope, R.A.; the Spirit of Religion, by Mr. Horsley, in the centre compartment, over the Strangers' Gallery; and the Spirit of Chivalry, and the Spirit of Law, both Mr. Maclise, R.A. The 12 figure windows are filled with stained glass, made by Messrs. Ballantyne and Allan, of Edinburgh, and Mr. Hardman, of Birmingham, and are lighted at night from the outside. Between the windows, and at either end of the house, are 18 niches, for statues of the Magna Charta barons, carved by Mr. Thomas, the able sculptor of the whole of the statues throughout the building. Immediately beneath the windows runs a light and elegant gallery of brass work, filled in compartments with coloured mastic, in imitation of enamel. On the soffits of the gallery (or cornice immediately beneath the gallery) are the arms of the Sovereigns and Chancellors of England, from Edward III. to the present time.

Those strangers who have interest to procure an order should endeavour to be present in the House of Lords when her Majesty in person opens, prorogues, or dissolves Parliament. The opening of Parliament is generally in February, the prorogation or dissolution generally in July. To obtain a good seat you should be in the House of Lords by half-past 12, for the carriages of strangers are not suffered to pass the barriers later than one, and it is a crowded and dirty struggle to get to the House after that hour. The arrival of her Majesty may be heard within the House from the booming of the cannon. Her entrance is preceded by the Heralds in their rich dresses, and by some of the chief officers of state in their robes. The accommodation for gentlemen is very limited that for ladies very ample. Gentlemen sit together, and the ladies sit together. All the peers are in their robes. The Speech is presented to her Majesty by the Lord Chancellor kneeling, and is read by her Majesty; the Mistress of the Robes and one of the ladies of the bedchamber standing by her side on the dais. The return to Buckingham Palace is by 3 at the latest. The address to her Majesty in

both houses is moved at 5 the same evening; and the debate, therefore, is always looked to with great interest. The old custom of examining the cellars underneath the House of Lords, about two hours before her Majesty's arrival, still continues to be observed. The custom had its origin in the famous Gunpowder plot of 1605. The examination is made by the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Usher of the Black Rod, with a detachment of the yeomen of the Guard.

The House of Commons, 62 feet long by 45 feet broad, and 45 feet high, is more simple in character than the House of Peers:-the ceiling is, however, of nearly equal beauty. The windows are filled with stained glass, of a simple character, to subdue an excessive glare; the walls are lined with oak richly carved, and, supported on carved shafts and brackets, is a gallery extending along them, on either side. At the N. end is the chair for the Speaker, over which is a gallery for visitors, and for the reporters of the debates; while the S. end is occupied by deep galleries for the Members of the House, and for the public. The Entrance for the Members is either by the public approaches, or a private door and staircase from the Star Chamber Court (one of the twelve Courts lighting the interior), so called from occupying the site of that once dreaded tribunal. England and Wales return 498 members, Ireland 105, and Scotland 53, making in all 656 members composing the House of Commons.

St. Stephen's Hall, leading direct from the Great Central Hall is 95 feet long by 30 wide, and to the apex of the stone groining 56 feet high. It derives its name from occupying the same space as St. Stephen's Chapel of the ancient Palace, and is to contain 12" statues of men who rose to eminence by the eloquence and abilities they displayed in the House of Commons." There are erected Hampden, by Bell; Falkland, by Foley; and Clarendon, by Marshall. The crypt of St Stephen's, which has been mutilated more by abuse than by the fire, still exists beneath, and, as a most interesting example of English architecture of the thirteenth century, has undergone a careful restoration. The walls below the windows of St. Stephen's Hall will be decorated with frescoes, and the windows filled with stained glass. The Cloister Court, for the most part a restoration, is bold and fine. It is 49 feet 6 inches from east to west, and 63 feet from north to south.

The Upper Waiting Hall, or Poets' Hall, will contain 8 frescoes from 8 British poets-viz., Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Scott, and Byron. Four have been completed. The Chaucer, by C. W. Cope, R.A., representing a scene from Griselda; the Shakspeare, by J. R. Herbert,