VICTORIA PARK, Bethnal-green, equal to the entire area of Kensington Gardens, originated as follows:-In the 4th and 5th years of Her present Majesty's reign, an Act was passed to enable the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to complete the sale of York House, and to purchase with the proceeds a Royal Park. The Duke of Sutherland paid 72,000l. for the remainder of the lease of York House, and this money was applied to the purchase of about 290 acres of land, situated in the parishes of St. John, Hackney; St. Matthew, Bethnal-green; and St. Mary, Stratford-le-Bow, county of Middlesex. Nearly one-third of the acreage mentioned is taken for building ground; the rest is Victoria Park. Its site had been previously market-gardens and brickfields. The ornamental lake is made over the rough brickfield, near to which stood Bishop Bonner's famous hall. The Park is bounded on the north side by Hackney; on the south by Sir G. Duckett's Canal, running nearly east and west; and on the west by the Regent's Canal. It is divided into two portions--the Ornamental or West Park, and the East Park. In the former there is an ornamental lake about ten acres of surface, with three islands. Here boats are hired out; and there are waterfowl of various kinds. On the south-west side of the lake there is a fine avenue of elm trees, with a carriage-drive and shady walks; and an arcade, furnished with seats. On the northwest end of the lake is a walk called "The Vale," which is planted with choice trees, shrubs, and flowers. Close adjacent are the greenhouses and pits for raising and wintering the plants. In this portion of the Park there are several separate flowergardens, riband borders 300 yards long, and mixed flower-beds. The East Park is used for games, and contains two bathing lakes, which are well supplied with water. These are much frequented; as many as 7000 persons often bathe here in one morning. The extent of these two lakes is about six acres. At the extreme end of the Park is the cricket-ground, of 35 or 40 acres. Here 60 or 80 wickets are often pitched on Saturdays. About one-third of the way through the Park is the superb Victoria Drinking-fountain, presented by Miss Burdett Coutts, described at page 358; and, to add to the means afforded for public exercise and recreation, there is a gymnasium, as there are also swings and merry-go-rounds. The Park has often 30,000 visitors in a single day. Wednesday afternoon is the children's day. In the neighbourhood has been swept away a wretched village of hovels, once known as Botany Bay, from so many of its inhabitants being sent to the real place. Formerly this Park was on Sundays the great resort of controversialists, especially such as believe in all manner of unbelief, and who attracted here congregations of different persuasions; but the preaching of so many of them being language of the most blasphemous description, in 1856, all preaching here was forbidden by authority.

In fine weather, when the band plays, over 100,000 persons are frequently collected in this Park. The people are orderly, most of them being of the humbler classes, and their appreciation of the flowers is quite as keen as that of frequenters of the West-end parks. Some of the Spitalfields weavers have a great fondness for flowers, and contrive somehow or other in the most unlikely places to rear very choice varieties. In small, wretched-looking yards, where little air and only the mid-day sun can penetrate, you may see patches of garden, evidently tended with uncommon care, and yielding to their cultivators a fair reward in fragrance and in blossom. Some of the weavers even manage by bits of broken glass and a framework which just holds together, to put up something which does duty as a greenhouse; and in this triumph of patience and ingenuity they spend much of their leisure, happy when they can make up a birthday bouquet for some friend or relation. The flowers in the neighbouring park, with their novel grouping and striking contrasts of colour, are, of course, a continual fund of pleasure to these poor artisans, and gladden many a moment when perhaps work is not too plentiful and home thoughts are not very happy. In Victoria Park the plants and flowers are labelled in letters which he who walks may read, without need of getting over fence or bordering. A smaller lake than that in which the boating and the bathing go on is devoted to yacht-sailing. This amusement seems almost confined to East London; and here on a summer evening, when a cap-full of wind is to be had, you may see the lake whitened by forty or fifty toy boats and yachts, of all rigs and sizes, while here and there a miniature steamboat is puffing and panting. There is even a yacht-club whose members compete with their toy-yachts for silver cups and other prizes. The expense of keeping up a yacht here is not considerable, and the whole squadron may be laid up until wanted in a boathouse provided for the purpose. But the matches and trials of these tiny craft are a special attraction of the Park, and draw together every evening hundreds of people. Ample space is available for cricket; and in the two gymnasia candidates for swinging, jumping, and climbing appear to be never wanting.-Times, September, 1861

PARLIAMENT HOUSES, THE,

STYLED also "New Westminster Palace," occupy the site of the Royal Palace of

the monarchs of England, from Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth.

Westminster Palace is first named in a charter of Edward the Confessor, "made" soon after 1052: here the Confessor died, Jan. 14, 1066. On the Easter succeeding, King Harold came here from York. William the Norman held councils here; and in 1069 Alfric, Abbot of Peterborough, was tried before the king in curia at Westminster, this being one of the first records of the holding of a law-court on this spot. William Rufus added the Great Hall, wherein he held his court in 1099; ss did also Henry I. Stephen founded the palace chapel, which was dedicated to St. Stephen. In the reign of Henry II., Fitzstephen records: "on the west, and on the bank of the river, the Royal Palace exalts its head, and stretches wide, an incom parable structure, furnished with bastions and a breastwork, at the distance of two miles from the City." The Close Rolls, in the Tower of London, contain many curious entries concerning the palace in the time of John and Henry III.: here, in a great council, Henry confirmed the Magna Charta and the Charta de Foresta : in his reign, also, the gibbet was removed from the palace. In 1238 the whole palace ↑ was flooded by the Thames, and boats were afloat in the Great Hall. There are numerous records in this reign of painting and decorating the palace, storing its cellars with wine, &c. (See PAINTED CHAMBER, p. 625.) Of the repairs of the mews, the new buttery and kitchen, and the rebuilding and painting of St. Stephen's Chapel, in the reign of Edward I., there are minute accounts. In 1298 the palace was nearly destroyed by fire, but was restored by Edward II. St. Stephen's Chapel was completed by Edward III. The poet Chaucer was clerk of the palace works in the reign of Richard II., who rebuilt Westminster Hall nearly as we now see it. In 1512 a great part of the palace was "once again burnt, since which time it has not been re-edified only the Great Hall, with the offices near adjoining, are kept in good repairs; and it serveth, as before it did, for feasts at coronations, arraignments of great persons charged with treasons, keeping of the courts of justice, &c.; but the princes have been lodged in other palaces about the City, as at Baynard's Castle, at Bridewell, and Whitehall (sometimes called York Place), and sometimes at St. James's." (Strype's Stow's London, vol. ii. p. 628, edit. 1755.) Some buildings were added by Henry VIII., who is supposed to have built the Star Chamber; a portion of which, however, bore the date 1602. Parliaments were held in Westminster Hall temp. Henry III., and thenceforth in the Painted Chamber and White Chamber. After the Suppression, the Commons sat in St. Stephen's Chapel, until its destruction by fire Oct. 16, 1834, with the House of Lords, and the surrounding Parliamentary buildings. The scene of the conflagration was painted by J. M. W. Turner, R.A.

The demesne of the Old Palace was bounded on the east by the river Thames; on the north by the Woolstaple, now Bridge-street; on the west by the precincts of St. Margaret's Church and Westminster Abbey, behind Abingdon-street; and on the south by the line of the present College-street, where formerly ran a stream, called the Great Ditch (now a sewer), outside the palace garden-wall.

Among the more ancient buildings which existed to our time, was the Painted Chamber. Next was the Old House of Lords (the old Parliament Chamber), rebuilt by Henry II. on the foundations of Edward the Confessor's reign; the walls were nearly seven feet thick, and the vaults (Guy Fawkes' cellar) had been the kitchen of the Old Palace: this building was taken down about 1823, prior to the erection of the Royal Gallery and Entrance, by Soane, R.A. Southward was the Prince's Chamber (then also demolished), with foundations of Edward the Confessor's time, and a superstructure with lancet-windows, temp. Henry III.: the walls were painted in oil with scriptural figures, and hung with tapestry representing the birth of Queen Elizabeth. Next was the Old Court of Requests, supposed to have been the Great Hall of the Confessor's palace: this was, until 1834, the House of Lords, and was hung with tapestry representing the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588: it was destroyed in the Great Fire, after which the interior was refitted for the House of Commons.

The Armada Tapestry was woven by Spiering, from the designs of Henry Cornelius Vroom, at Haarlem, for Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of the English fleet which engaged the Armada. It was sold by him to James I., and consisted originally of ten compartments, with borders containing portraits of the officers of the English fleet. These hangings were engraved by Pine in 1739. St. Stephen's Chapel had its beautiful architecture and sumptuous decoration hidden

GROUND-PLAN OF THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

until the enlargement of the interior in 1800, when its painting, gilding, and sculpture, its traceried and brilliant windows, were discovered. Among the mural paintings were the histories of Jonah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Job, Tobit, Judith, Susannah, and of Bel and the Dragon; the Ascension of Christ, and the Miracles and Martyrdom of the Apostles; and in the windows were the stories of Adam and Eve, and of Noah and his family, of Abraham, Joseph, and the Israelites; and of the Life of the Saviour, from his baptism to his crucifixion and death. Among the decorations were figures of angels and armed knights, Edward III. and his family, and heraldic shields. The jewels, vestments, and furniture of the chapel were very superb. The Cloisters were first built in 1356, south of the chapel, on the spot subsequently called Cotton Garden.* The Crypt, or under-chapel of St. Stephen is described at p. 304.

On the south side, probably, was the small chapel of St. Mary de la Pewe, or Our Lady of the Pew; wherein Richard II. offered to the Virgin, previously to meeting the insurgents under Wat Tyler in Smithfield, in 1381. Westminster Hall will be described hereafter. Upon its western side were built the Law Courts, by Soane, R.A., upon the site of the old Exchequer Court, &c. On the east side of New Palaceyard was an arch, temp. Henry III., leading to the Thames; and the old Exchequer buildings and the Star Chamber, described at p. 450. On the northern side of New Palace-yard, directly fronting the entrance-porch of the Great Hall, on a spot subsequently hidden by the houses on the terrace, stood the famous Clock-tower, built and furnished with a clock, temp. Edward I., with a fine of 800 marks levied on ChiefJustice Sir Ralph de Hingham for altering a record: the keepers of this clock-tower were appointed by the Sovereign, and were paid 6d. a day at the Exchequer. The tower was taken down about 1707; and its bell, "Great Tom of Westminster," was subsequently re-cast (with additional metal) for the great bell of St. Paul's Cathedral. Hatton describes the House of Commons, altered by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1706, as "a commodious building, accommodated with several ranks of seats, covered with green cloth (baize ?), and matted under foot, for 513 gentlemen. On three sides of this house are beautiful wainscot galleries, sustained by cantaleevers, enriched with fruit and other carved curiosities."

Of the House of Lords, in 1778, we have a portion in Copley's fine picture of the fall of the great Earl of Chatham. Of the several Gates to the old palace, the only one of which we have any record is that begun by Richard III. in 1484, at the east end of Union-street, and taken down in 1706; and a century later, in a fragment of this gate built into a partition-wall, was found a capital, sculptured with William Rufus granting a charter to Gislebertus, Abbot of Westminster: this capital was sold by Mr. Capon to Sir Gregory Page Turner, Bart., for 100 guineas. A plan of the old palace, measured 1793-1823, is engraved in Vetusta Monumenta, vol. v.; in J. T. Smith's Antiquities of Westminster; and in Brayley and Britton's Westminster Palace, 1836, admirably illustrated, from drawings by R. W. Billings.

For rebuilding, in 1836 was selected from 97 sets the design of Charles Barry, R.A. The coffer-dam for the river-front was commenced 1837; the river-wall 1839; and, on April 27, 1840, was laid the first stone, at the north end of the Speaker's house. The exterior material is fine magnesian limestone, from Anston, in Yorkshire; and Caen stone for the interior; the river-terrace is of Aberdeen granite; the whole building stands on a bed of concrete 12 feet thick. The vast pile covers about eight acres, and has four principal fronts, the eastern or river being 940 feet in length. The plan contains 11 open quadrangles or courts, which, besides 500 apartments and 18 official residences, flank the royal state-apartments, the Houses of Lords and Commons, and the great Central Hall. The interior walls are fine brick; the bearers of the floors are cast-iron, with brick arches turned from girder to girder; the entire roofs are of wrought-iron covered with cast-iron plates galvanized; so that timber has not been used in the carcases of the entire building; and the principle of making the Palace as nearly fire-proof as possible in the roofs has been thoroughly carried out.

* Sir Robert Cotton had a house and garden abutting against the Painted Chamber; and it was there that his collection of MSS., now in the British Museum, was originally stored. In Cotton House in 1820, were lodged the Italian witnesses against Queen Caroline on her Trial.

The New Palace is the largest public edifice which has been erected for several centuries in England; and in the arrangement of its apartments for the transaction of public business, in its lighting, ventilation, fire-proof construction, supply of water, &c., it is the most perfect building in Europe. The style is Tudor (Henry VIII.), with picturesque portions of the town-halls of the Low Countries, and three grand features: a Clock Tower at the northern extremity, resembling that of the Townhouse at Brussels; a great Central Hall, with an open stone lantern and spire; and the Royal or Victoria Tower, at the south-west angle.

In 1841 was issued the Fine Arts Commission for rebuilding the Houses of Parliament; and in 1843 the Commission to superintend the completion of the New Palace. Certain portions of the external stonework having decayed, a Commission was issued to investigate the cause; competing chemical processes were adopted as remedies by hardening or indurating the stone, which had been injudiciously selected: time can only decide the merits of these processes. For details, see Year-Book of Facts, 1861 and 1862.

The vast edifice covers at least twice the site of the old Palace of Westminster, about half the new ground occupied being taken from the Thames. The East or River Front has at the ends projecting wings, each 120 feet in length, with towers of beautiful design, leaving between them a terrace 700 feet long, and 33 feet wide. The entire length is 940 feet. The wing-towers have crested roofs, and open-work pinnacles, which, with those of the bays, carry gilded vanes. Between the principal and one-pair floors is a rich band of sculpture, composed of the royal arms of England in each reign, from William I. to Queen Victoria. The band below the principal floor is inscribed with the date of each Sovereign's accession and decease; and the panels on each side of the coat-of-arms have sceptres and labels, with badges and inscriptions. In the parapet of each bay is a niched figure of an angel bearing a shield. The carved panels of the six oriel windows have the arms of Queen Victoria, to indicate that the building was erected in her reign. The wing-towers, with their octagonal stone pinnacles and perforated iron ornaments at their angles and crests, remind one of the picturesque roofs of the châteaux and belfry-towers of the Low Countries.

The North Front has bays and buttresses similar to those of the River Front; the bands are sculptured with the quarterings of the kings of England between the Heptarchy and the Conquest, inscriptions and dates of accession, &c.; while the niches between the windows in each bay contain effigies of the Sovereigns whose arms are below. This front terminates at the west with the Clock Tower and turreted lantern spire. The height of this tower is 316 feet from high-water mark (Trinity standard) to the top of the sceptre on its roof. The clock has the largest dials in the world—that is, where the clock is an integral portion of the design; the only larger one being that of Mechlin, the dial of which is of open metal-work, applied over, but unconnected with the architecture. The roof is fully ornamented and finished with gilding and colour to an extent not elsewhere to be seen in this country. For this tower two great hour-bells were provided; both of which were broken, as described at p. 44. The weight of gold-leaf used in decorating the clock-tower up to June 30, 1857, was about 95 ounces; cost of gold-leaf 8901. 6s. 3d.; wages of artificers, 2297. 11s. 3d.; completion of the work, about 4007. The gold is pure, and treble the thickness of ordinary gold-leaf.

The Clock was made by Mr. Dent, junior, from the designs of Mr. E. Denison, about 1855. The four dials are 22 feet in diameter, and are considered to be the largest in the world, with a minute-hand, which, on account of its great length, velocity, weight, friction, and the action of the wind upon it, requires at least twenty times more force to drive it than the hour-hand. This clock goes for 8 days. The great wheel of the going part is 27 inches in diameter; the pendulum is 15 feet long, and weighs 680 pounds; and the scape-wheel, which is driven by the musical-box spring, weighs about half an ounce. All the wheels, except the scape-wheel, are of cast-iron. The barrel is 23 inches in diameter, but only 14 inches long, as it does not require a rope above a quarter of an inch thick. The second wheel is 12 inches in diameter. The great wheels have all 180 teeth, the second wheel of the hour striking part has 105, and a pinion of fifteen. The great wheels in the chiming part of the clock are 38 inches in diameter. The clock is said to be at least eight times as large as a full-sized cathedral clock. It occupies its keepers two hours a week in winding it up. It goes with a rate of under one second a week, in spite of any atmospheric changes. (Curiosities of Clocks and Watches, p. 205.) It reports its own time to Greenwich by electrical connexion, and the clockmaker who takes care of it receives Greenwich time by electricity, and sets the clock right whenever its error becomes sensible, which seldom has to be done more than once a month. It may be relied on within less than one second a week, which is seven times greater accuracy than was required in the original conditions. The entire machinery of the clock occupies a space 16 feet long, by 5 feet in width, and its weight is over four tons. An arrangement is also made which will admit of the wheels being taken out of the frame singly with