Thomas Webster J. R. Herbert.... E. W. Cooke SCULPTORS. Sir Richard Westmacott......... W. C. Marshall............. Baron Marochetti ............ The Mall, Kensington. 19, Hyde-park-gate South. 14, Russell-place, Fitzroy-square. Little Campden House, Kensington. 14, South Audley-street. 17, Newman-street. 47, Ebury-street, Eaton-square. 34, Onslow-square. § 36. CONTEMPLATED METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. On the 13th of March, 1855, a select committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the state and condition of the several communications in the metropolis, and to report whether the communications and approaches are adequate to the present and increasing traffic to and in the metropolis, and, if not, the best mode of improving the same. The committee reported on the 23rd of July, and their report has since been published in the form of a Blue Book of 200 pages, with maps and plans appended. The committee find that the requirements of the existing traffic of the metropolis far exceed the present facilities provided for it; that the rapid increase of traffic is constantly adding to the amount of inconvenience and loss thus caused; that, enormous as the increase has been, it is, and must continue, to be kept seriously in check by the want of means for its natural expansion, and that it has become indispensable to make provision for the future on a great and comprehensive scale, and with the least possible delay. The population of the metropolitan district in 1851 amounted to 2,362,236 (having doubled itself in 40 years). About 200,000 persons enter the city each day on foot by different avenues, and 15,000 by the river steamers. The omnibuses alone perform an aggregate of 7,400 daily journeys through the city. The number of passengers arriving at and departing from the London-bridge group of railroad termini rose in the year 1854 to 10,845,000, from 5,558,000 in the year 1850. At the South-Western Railway, during the same period, the numbers increased from 1,228,000 to 3,308,000. The numbers arriving at and departing from the Shoreditch station in 1854 was 2,143,000; Euston-square, 970,000; Paddington, 1,400,000; King's-cross, 711,000; and Fenchurch-street, 8,144,000. The committee recommend, that wherever the main arteries along which the traffic now flows are inadequate, or severely burdened thereby, relief should at once be sought, either by opening up new routes or by enlarging the old; that more direct lines of communication should be established than now exist between several principal points of the metropolis; that the different railway termini should be connected with each other, and also with the docks, the river, and the Post-office, by railway; that tolls on the roads and bridges within the district of the metropolis should be generally removed; that private enterprises for improving the communication be encouraged and adopted when practicable; that when the improvements have more of the character of a public benefit than a commercial speculation, care be taken to diminish the cost of the undertaking by economising the waste spaces of the river, or by opening new streets through poor neighbourhoods; and, lastly, that all the cost of public improvements, of what kind soever, should be defrayed by a local rate levied on the whole metropolitan district. The committee divide the various plans proposed into two classes,-1st, those that can be recommended on the score of pressing and immediate wants felt, and for the direct relief they would afford; and 2ndly, such as involve large and comprehensive designs for effecting extensive improvements in the whole system of metropolitan communication, and which therefore require to be examined with the utmost care and circumspection. Sir Joseph Paxton's plan for a grand gi dle central railway and boulevard under glass is included in those mentioned, and the evidence and designs of Sir Joseph are especially recommended. The embankment of the Thames is also pronounced to be "a public improvement too long delayed." There are also schemes for a street from the Commercial-road to Holborn, and from Shoreditch to Piccadilly, running parallel with Cheapside, Fleet-street, the Strand, and Holborn, for widening the north side of St. Paul's Cathedral-yard, and improving Holborn. Mr. Pennethorne (the government architect) proposes to open a communication between "Tyburnia" and "Belgravia," through Kensington gardens, and to effect other alterations, all tending to bring Westminster, Chelsea, and Belgravia nearer to Oxford-street and the north-west of the metropolis. Some of these recommendations will be carried out forthwith by the newly-established Metropolitan Board of Works, whose duties commenced (under an Act of Parliament) on the 1st of January, 1856. MODERN LONDON. II.-PALACES OF THE SOVEREIGN. THE Town Palaces are four in number, viz., Buckingham Palace, in which her Majesty resides; St. James's Palace, in which she holds her Drawing-rooms; the beautiful fragment of the Palace of Whitehall, used as a Chapel Royal, but better known as Inigo Jones's Banqueting-house; and the Palace at Kensington, in which her Majesty was born. 1. BUCKINGHAM PALACE, in St. James's Park, was commenced in the reign of George IV., on the site of Buckingham House, by John Nash, and completed in the reign of William IV., but never inhabited by that sovereign, who is said to have expressed his great dislike to the general appearance and discomfort of the whole structure. When the first grant to George IV. was given by Parliament it was intended only to repair and enlarge old Buckingham House; and therefore, the old site, height, and dimensions were retained. This led to the erection of a clumsy building, and was a mere juggle on the part of the king and his architect-knowing as they did that Parliament would never have granted the funds for an entirely new Palace. On her Majesty's accession several alterations were effected by Mr. Blore-a dome in the centre, like a common slop-basin turned upside down, was removed, and new buildings added to the S.; her Majesty entering into her new Palace on the 13th of July, 1837. Other and more extensive alterations have since taken place by the removal of a Marble arch, and the erection, at a cost of 150,000l., of an E. front, under the superintendence of Mr. Blore. The chapel on the S. side, originally a conservatory, was consecrated in 1843. The Grand Staircase is of white marble, with decorations by L. Grüner. The Library is generally used as a Waiting-room for deputations, which, B as soon as the Queen is ready to receive them, pass across the Sculpture-gallery into the Hall, and thence ascend by the Grand Staircase through an ante-room and the Green Drawing-room, to the Throne-room. The Green Drawing-room opening upon the upper story of the portico of the old building is 50 feet in length, and 32 in height. At state balls, to which the invitations generally exceed 2000, those having the entrée alight by the temporary garden entrance, and the general circle enter by the grand hall. All visitors, however, are conducted through the Green Drawing-room to the Picture Gallery and the Grand Saloon. On these occasions refreshments are served in the Garter-room and Green Drawing-room, and supper laid in the principal Dining-room. The concerts, invitations to which seldom exceed 300, are given in the Grand Saloon. The Throne-room is 64 feet in length, and hung with crimson satin, striped. The ceiling of the room is coved, and richly emblazoned with arms; here is a white marble frieze (the Wars of the Roses), designed by Stothard and executed by Baily, R.A. The Mews, concealed from the Palace by a lofty mound, contains a spacious riding-school; a room expressly for keeping state harness; stables for the state horses; and houses for 40 carriages. Here, too, is kept the magnificent state coach, designed by Sir W. Chambers in 1762, and painted by Cipriani with a series of emblematical subjects; the entire cost being 76617. 16s. 5d. The stud of horses and the carriage may be inspected by an order from the Master of the Horse. The entrance is in Queen's-row, Pimlico. In the Gardens is the Queen's summer-house, containing frescoes (8 in number) from Milton's Comus, executed in 1844-5, by Eastlake, Maclise, Landseer, Dyce, Stanfield, Uwins, Leslie, and Ross. The ornaments and borders are by Grüner. The Queen has 325,000l. a year settled upon her, of which 60,000l. a year only is in her own hands; the remainder is spent by the Lord Chamberlain of the Household, the Lord Steward of the Household, and other great officers attached to the Court. The pictures were principally collected by George IV., and include the choice collection of Sir Thomas Baring. The Dutch and Flemish pictures, of which the collection chiefly consists, are hung together. They are almost without exception first-rate works. The portraits are in the State Rooms adjoining. Observe ALBERT DURER: An Altar Piece in three parts.-MABUSE: St. Matthew called from the receipt of Custom.- REMBRANDT: Noli me Tangere; Adoration of the Magi; The Ship-builder and his wife (very fine, cost George IV. when Prince of Wales, 5000 guineas); Burgomaster Pancras and his Wife.-RUBENS: Pythagoras, the fruit and animals by SNYDERS; A Landscape; The Assumption of the Virgin; St. George and the Dragon; Pan and Syrinx; The Falconer; Family of Olden Barneveldt. -VAN DYCK: Marriage of St. Catherine; Christ healing the Lame Man; Study of Three Horses; Portrait of a Man in black; Queen Henrietta Maria presenting Charles I. with a crown of laurel.-MYTENS: Charles I. and his Queen, full-length figures in a small picture.-JANSEN: Charles I. walking in Greenwich Park with his Queen and two children. -N. MAES: A Young Woman, with her finger on her lip and in a listening attitude, stealing down a dark winding Staircase (very fine).— Several fine specimens of CUYP, HOBBEMA, RUYSDAEL, A. VANDERVELDE, YOUNGER VANDERVELDE, PAUL POTTER, BACKHUYSEN, BERGHEM, BOTH, G. DOUW, KAREL DU JARDIN, DE HOOGHE, METZU, (his own portrait), F. MIERIS, A. OSTADE, I. OSTADE, SCHALKEN, JAN STEEN, TENIERS, TERBURG, &c.-SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS: Death of Dido; Cymon and Iphigenia; His own portrait, in spectacles.-ZOFFANY: Interior of the Florentine Gallery; Royal Academy in 1773.-SIR P. LELY: Anne Hyde, Duchess of York. -SIR D. WILKIE: The Penny Wedding; Blind Man's Buff; Duke of Sussex in Highland dress.-SIR W. ALLAN: The Orphan; Anne Scott near the vacant chair of her father, Sir Walter Scott.-Mode of Admission to view the Pictures:-order from the Lord Chamberlain, granted only when the Court is absent. When Parliament is opened, or prorogued, or dissolved, by her Majesty in person, the following is the order observed :The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace at a quarter before 2, being conducted to her carriage by the Lord Chamberlain and the Vice-Chamberlain, and her Crown carried to the House of Lords by one of the Lord Chamberlain's chief officers. The State procession includes a carriage drawn by a set of bays, conveying 3 gentlemen ushers and the Exon in waiting; a carriage drawn by a set of bays, conveying the Groom in waiting, the Groom in waiting to Prince Albert, and the 2 Pages of Honour in waiting; a carriage drawn by a set of bays, conveying the Equerry in waiting, the Equerry in waiting to Prince Albert, and the Groom of the Robes; a carriage drawn by a set of bays, conveying the Clerk Marshal, the Silver Stick in waiting, the Field Officer in waiting, and the Comptroller of the Household; a carriage drawn by a set of bays, conveying the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, the Lord in waiting, the Lord in waiting to Prince Albert, and the Treasurer of the Household; a carriage drawn by a set of black horses, conveying the Lady in waiting, the Lord Steward, the Gold Stick in waiting, and the Groom of the Stole to the Prince. Here the carriage procession is broken by the Queen's Marshalmen, the Queen's Footmen in State, and a party of the Yeoman Guard. Then follows the State Coach drawn by 8 cream-coloured horses, conveying the Queen, Prince Albert, the Mistress of the Robes, and the Master of the Horse. 2. ST. JAMES'S PALACE. An irregular brick building, |