quantities for India, to furnish quinine, which has hitherto been brought from Peru and cost the East India Government 40,000l. a year! The visitors to the Gardens in 1860 amounted to 425,314, chiefly for recreation and fresh air, but many botanical students take lodgings in Kew to prosecute their studies.

The Museum of Economic Botany, formed by Sir W. Hooker, is filled with vegetable products, useful in the arts and manufactures, most instructive and interesting. The Herbaria or dried plants from all quarters of the world, are more extensive than any yet brought together; they include those of the old East India Company. The Arboretum and Pleasure Grounds are beautifully kept, and most creditable to the present Director. In short, London and its neighbourhood affords no more pleasing sight. The Gardens are open daily. (See Hints and Suggestions, p. 1.) The salary of the Director is 800l. a year.

V.-HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, or THE NEW PALACE AT WESTMINSTER, on the left bank of the Thames, between the river and Westminster Abbey. Admission on Saturdays, by tickets obtained on the spot. (See below) This is one of the most magnificent buildings ever erected continuously in Europe-probably the largest Gothic edifice in the world. It occupies the site of the old Royal Palace at Westminster, burnt down Oct. 16th, 1834, and covers an area of nearly 8 acres. It has 100 staircases, 1100 apartments, and more than 2 miles of corridors! The building is warmed through 16 miles of steam pipes, and the gas for one year costs 35057. The cost has exceeded two millions sterling. The architect was Sir Charles Barry, and the first stone was laid April 27th, 1840. In its style and character the building reminds us of those grand civic palaces, the townhalls 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 Yorkshire, selected with great care from all 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. 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 Land Front, including a new façade to enclose the Law Courts, is not yet commenced.

The Royal or Victoria Tower, at the S.-W. angle, one of the most stupendous works of the kind in the world, contains the Royal Entrance, is 75 feet square, and rises to the height of 340 feet, or 64 feet less than the height of the cross of St. Paul's. The entrance archway is 65 feet in height, and the roof is 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) was finished by slow degrees in 1857, the architect deeming it of importance that the works should not proceed, for fear of settlements, at a greater rate than 30 feet a-year. The Central Spire, 60 feet in diameter, and 300 feet high, rises above the Grand Central Octagonal Hall. Its exquisitely groined stone vault is supported without a pillar. The Clock Tower (the "Beffroi of London) abutting on Westminster Bridge, 40 feet square, and surmounted above the clock with a decorated roof, rises to the height of about 320 feet. Various other subordinate towers, by their picturesque forms and positions, add materially to the effect of the whole building.

The Palace Clock in the Clock Tower, constructed under the direction and approval of Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, is an eight-day clock, striking the hours and chiming the quarters upon eight bells, and showing the time upon four dials about 30 feet in diameter. The diameter of the dial at St. Paul's is only 18 feet. The Great Bell (Stephen) was cast 1858; it weighs more than 8 tons, but has been cracked like its predecessor, Big Ben.

The Westminster Bridge end of the Palace 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 exceed in number 450, and are by the late John Thomas,

The Cloister Court, surrounded by a richly groined and traceried cloister of 2 stories, of which the upper story is a creation of Sir Charles Barry, is one of the finest features in the building. It is for the most part a restoration, is 49 feet 6 inches from E. to W., and 63 feet from N. to S. It is open to members of the house, but not to the public.

The principal public Entrances are through Westminster Hall, and Old Palace Yard, :—both lead into the Central Octagon Hall, whence the right hand passage will take you to the Lords, and the left to the Commons. Westminster Hall, and the crypt of St. Stephen's Chapel have been skilfully incorporated into the new building. Westminster Hall, the largest room in the world unsupported by pillars, has been somewhat altered in detail internally, to make it accord with the rest of the building. The architect 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. For Westminster Hall, see section xvi. A small staircase descends from the E. corner of the hall into the crypt of St. Stephen's beneath the modern St. Stephen's Hall, and is the only fragment remaining of the ancient Palace of Westminster which escaped the fire. This interesting example of English architecture of the 13th century has undergone a careful restoration. The walls and roof are decorated with paintings, the windows with coloured glass. It is fitted up as a chapel, &c.

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 to be decorated.

On the right hand is the Robing Room, facing the river, decorated with frescoes by Dyce, R.A., of the Legend of King Arthur. 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 Victoria Gallery, decorated with frescoes of events from the history of England, with stained glass windows and a ceiling rich in gilding and heraldry. On one side is the meeting of Wellington and Blucher after the Battle of Waterloo at la Belle Alliance (at which place they did not meet). The death of Nelson occupies the opposite wall,-both are by Maclise, R.A., and executed in the water-glass fresco process,

Passing thence, her Majesty enters the Prince's Chamber, lined with wood carvings and portraits of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns, and containing a marble group by Gibson, of the Queen supported by Justice and Mercy. In the Peers' Robing Room is the fresco of Moses bringing down the Law, by Mr. Herbert, the result of six and a half years' hard labour.

The House of Peers, 97 feet long, 45 wide, and 45 high, a noble room, first opened April 15th, 1847, 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. The Throne, on which her Majesty sits when she attends the House, with the chair for the Prince of Wales; 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 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 Cope, R.A.; the Spirit of Religion, by Horsley, A.R.A., in the centre compartment, over the Strangers' Gallery; and the Spirit of Chivalry, and the Spirit of Law, by Maclise, R.A. The 12 figure windows are filled with stained glass, 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 Thomas. 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 cornice beneath the gallery are the arms of the Sovereigns and Chancellors of England, from Edward III. to the present time.

A Lord Chamberlain's order or Peeress' ticket for a lady to the Galleries or Area of the House of Lords, when her Majesty opens, prorogues, or dissolves Parliament, is highly prized. The opening of Parliament is generally in February, the prorogation generally in July. On these occasions the gallery, which directly fronts the throne, is set apart for ladies. Failing to obtain this, a seat in the "Royal Gallery," the splendid hall through which the procession