houses erected upon the bridge. Such was the liability they suffered of having their windows broken by the bargemen, when they inadvertently permitted candles to burn in the back rooms. Mr. Deputy James Hodges declared, that he "had frequently known it happen, that coals had been thrown through the windows of the houses out of the barges going under the bridge; and that, as he is informed, the reason is, that the candle-lights in the houses make it dangerous in the night-time to go through the lock. That people on the river have always a glimmering light, by which they can distinguish objects, unless a very thick fog. That light leaves them, just when they come to shoot the locks, as far as the shadows of the houses extends, and thereby they lose the possibility of discerning the passage between the sterlings."

At length, the whole street becoming a losing concern, measures were taken to improve the bridge. This gentleman observed, "that the estate is in so bad a condition that it must be taken down; and that the City of London built ten houses, which did not bring them in 27. per cent., and the estate must soon come to nothing." Two persons elected by the livery of London, as bridge-masters, received the rents and profits; which, with those of other estates appropriated for London bridge, amounted, in 1755, to 64577. 2s. 6d. in favour of the bridge; but the corporation did not conceive themselves capable of supporting the expenses of the intended alteration.

The Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London appointed, in pursuance of the act of 29 George II., twelve aldermen, and twenty-four commoners, to put the act in execution. Those persons found it necessary to convert two arches into one, and erected a temporary bridge* over it: the toll on which amounted to about 20007. in eighteen months: that ordered to be collected from boats passing under the arches, was so difficult to obtain, that, though it had been estimated at 1600l., but 6451. had been received in the same length of time. Mr. Dance declared, in 1758, " that the works then remaining to be done would require 55,000l., exclusive of 4000l., the cost of the temporary bridge, and necessary purchases to the amount of 14,000l."

By an act of the 7th of George III., the sum of 30,000l. was granted to the city (as trustees of the estate appropriated to the support of London bridge,) for purchasing and redeeming the tolls thereon; and the lease of the same; the tolls themselves, as well as those of the bridge at Blackfriars, which were intended to have ceased at Michaelmas, 1770, being by the said act to have continuance until the city should, by and out of the same, be reimbursed what they should advance in payment.

It is asserted by our historians, that the piers of London bridge were built by the trifling labour of emptying the river; and by turning the course of the stream to the south, in a canal cut from Rotherhithe to Battersea. This ridiculous story had its origin from that of Canute conveying his flat-bottomed vessels round the bridge, which he might readily accomplish by the exertions of his army, who soon dug a canal fit for the purpose; which required no coffer-dams, or extraordinary work to resist the pressure of water. Stowe and his continuators have collected many particulars of casualties attending this bridge; but they have omitted the following extract from Lidgate's poem, descriptive of Henry the Sixth's entry into the metropolis from France, which is highly amusing.

LIDGATE'S VERSES.

"All of assent who so can conceive

Their noble king ware glad to receive.

* This temporary bridge was wholly consumed by fire, April 11, 1758.

Their clothing was of colour full covenable
The noble mayor clad in red velvet ;
The sheriffs, the aldermen full notable,
In furred cloaks, the colour of scarlet.
In stately wise when they were met,

Each one were well horsed, and made no delay,
But with the mayor rode forth in this way.

The citizens, each one of the city,

In this intent that they were pure and clean,
Choose them of white, a full fair line,

In every cast, as it was well seen,

To shew the truth that they did mean,
Toward the king, had made them faithfully,
In sundry devises, embroidered richly.
And for to remember of other aliens,
First Genevans, though they were strangers,
Florentines, and Venetians,

And Easterlings, clad in this manner,
Conveyed, with servants and their officers,
Stately horsed, after the mayor riding,
Passed the suburbs to meet with the king,
To the Black heath; when they did attain,
The mayor, of prudence in especial,
Made them move in ranges twain,
A street between each party, like a wall;
All clad in white; and the most principal
Afore, in red, with the mayor riding;
Till time that he saw the king coming.
Then with his spurs he took his horse anon,
That to behold it was a noble sight.
How like a man he to the king is gone,
Right well cheered, of heart glad and light,
Obeying to him, as him ought of right."

The arches are of unequal dimensions and form, some of them being semi-circular, and others pointed. Notwithstanding the improvements in 1756, many accidents happened here, and many lives are annually lost, through the want of sufficient passage for the water, on the reflux of the tide, which occasions a fall of nearly five feet. The piers are from twenty-five to thirty-four feet in thickness, and with the sterlings and immense quantities of stone and chalk, sunk here to protect the dilapidated foundations, they reduce the water-way to 450 feet, nearly one half of the total width of the river in this part. The length of this bridge is 915 feet, its width 45 feet; and the span of the centre arch is 72 feet.

REGENT'S PARK,

MARYLEBONE.

Rus in urbe.

THIS delightful district, including a double drive of four miles variety, is one of the most fashionable resorts in the environs of the metropolis, whither hundreds of the gay world flock daily as a recreative alternative to the fatigue and bustle of the crowded town.

"When we first saw that the Marylebone Fields were enclosed, and that the hedge-row walks which twined through them were gradually being obliterated, and the whole district artificially laid out, (there is nothing more wretched than the first process of planting and making roads,) we underwent a painful feeling or two, and heartily deplored the destructive advances of what generally goes by the name of improvement. Old recollectionsrecollections of youth, upon which we love to dwell as we advance into the shadowed part of our life's road, are remorselessly stricken aside by this change in pleasant localities; we almost mourn over the loss of the old trees and paths which stood as quiet mementos of the cheerful rambles of our boyish days, or, it may be, of love-hallowed walks, and looks, and tender words first ventured under the influence of the fields and the comparative retirement. Nothing makes the lover bold and the mistress tender so well as the fresh and fragrant air, the green herbage, the quiet and privacy of country spots, which, when near towns, are more exciting by the contrast.

"A few years, however, have elapsed, and we are not only reconciled to the change alluded to, but rejoice in it. A noble park is rapidly rising up, if we may use such an expression, and a vast space, close by the metropolis, not only preserved from the encroachment of mean buildings, but laid out with groves, lakes, and villas, with their separate pleasure-grounds, while through the whole place there is a winding road, which commands at every turn some fresh features of an extensive country prospect.

"This is, indeed, a desirable appendage to so vast a town as London, more especially as the rage for building fills every pleasant outlet with bricks, mortar, rubbish, and eternal scaffold-poles, which, whether you walk east, west, north, or south, seem to be running after you. We heard a gentleman say, the other day, that he was sure a resident of the suburbs could scarcely lie down after dinner, and take a nap, without finding, when he awoke, that a new row of buildings had started up since he closed his eyes. It is certainly astonishing: one would think the builders used magic, or steam at least, and it would be curious to ask those gentlemen in what part of the neighbouring counties they intend London should end. Not content with separate streets, squares, and rows, they are actually the founders of new towns, which, in the space of a few months, become finished and inhabited. The precincts of London have more the appearance of a newly-discovered colony than the suburbs of an ancient city.*

*For instance: in what, a short time back, were the Bayswater fields, there is now a popu lous district, called by the inhabitants "Moscow;" and at the foot of Primrose Hill we are amazed by coming upon a large complication of streets, &c., under the name of " Portlaud Town." The rustic and primæval meadows of Kilburn are also filling with raw buildings and incipient roads; to say nothing of the charming neighbourhood of St. John's Wood Farm, and other spots nearer town. "The artificial causes of the extension of the town," says Mr. Nash, in one of his Reports to the Commissioners of His Majesty's Woods, "are the speculations of builders, encouraged and promoted by merchants dealing in the materials of building, and attornies, with monied clients, facilitating, and, indeed, putting in motion, the whole system, by disposing of their clients' money in premature mortgages, the sale of improved groundrents, and by numerous other devices, by which their clients make an advantageous use of their money, and the attornies create to themselves a lucrative business from the agreements, assignments, leases, mortgages, bonds, and other instruments of law, which become necessary throughout such complicated and intricate transactions. It is not necessary for the present purpose to enumerate the bad consequences and pernicious effects which arise from such an unnatural and forced enlargement of the town, further than to observe, that it is the interest of those concerned in such buildings, that they should be of as little cost as possible, preserving

"The noble appropriation of the district of which we are now speaking is not so much a change as a restoration. It was formerly a park, and had a royal palace in it, where, we believe, Queen Elizabeth occasionally resided. It was disparked by Oliver Cromwell, who settled it on Colonel Thomas Harrison's Regiment of Dragoons for their pay; but, at the restoration of Charles II. it passed into the hands of other possessors, from which time it has descended through different proprietors, till, at length, it has reverted to the crown, by whose public spirit a magnificent park is secured to the inhabitants of London. The expense of its planting, &c. must have been enormous, but money cannot be better laid out than on purposes of this lasting benefit and national ornament.

"The plan and size of the Park is in every respect worthy of the nation. It is larger than Hyde-Park, St. James's, and the Green-Park together; and the trees planted in it, about ten years ago, are already becoming umbrageous. The water is very extensive. As you are rowed on it, the variety of views you come upon is admirable: sometimes, you are in a narrow stream, closely overhung by the branches of trees; presently, you open upon a wide sheet of water, like a lake, with swans sunning themselves on its bosom; by and by, your boat floats near the edge of a smooth lawn, fronting one of the villas; and then, again, you catch the perspective of a range of superb edifices, the elevation of which is contrived to have the effect of one palace. The Park, in fact, is to be belted with groups of these mansions, entirely excluding all sight of the streets. One of them is, indeed, finished; and gives a satisfactory earnest of the splendid spirit in which the whole is to be accomplished. There will be nothing like it in Europe. The villas in the interior of the Park are planted out from the view of each other, so that the inhabitant of each seems, in his prospect, to be the sole lord of the surrounding picturesque scencry.

"In the centre of the Park there is a circular plantation of immense circumference, and in the interior of this you are in a perfect Arcadia. The mind cannot conceive any thing more hushed, more sylvan, more entirely removed from the slightest evidence of proximity to a town. Nothing is audible there except the songs of birds and the rustling of leaves. Kensington Gardens, beautiful as they are, have no seclusion so perfect as this.

"We cannot recommend a better thing to such of our readers as have leisure, than a day spent in wandering amidst the union of stately objects and rural beauty which constitute the charm of Marylebone Park."

Literary Pocket Book.

an attractive exterior, which Parker's stucco, coloured bricks, and balconies, accomplish; and a fashionable arrangement of rooms on the principal floors, embellished by the paper-hanger, and a few flimsy marble chimney-pieces, are the attractions of the interior. These are sufficient allurements to the public, and insure the sale of the houses, which is the ultimate object of the builders; and to this finery every thing out of sight is sacrificed, or is no further an object of attention than that no defects in the constructive and substantial parts shall make their appearance while the houses are on sale; and, it is to be feared, that, for want of those essentials, which constitute the strength and permanency of houses, a very few years will exhibit cracked walls, swagged floors, bulged fronts, crooked roofs, leaky gutters, inadequate drains, and other ills of an originally bad constitution; and it is quite certain, without a renovation equal to re-building, that all those houses, long, very long, before the expiration of the leases, will cease to exist, and the reversionary estate the proprietors look for will never be realized, as it is not till the end of the builder's term that the proprietor of the fee will be entitled to the additional ground-rents laid on by the builder. It is evidently, therefore, not the interest of the Crown that Marylebone Park should be covered with buildings of that description.

FOR several years past, the visitors of our metropolis have been delighted with the splendid and tastefully executed Panoramic paintings of Messrs. Barker and Burford. The Diorama is, however, a mechanical improvement on these exhibitions, which consists in placing the pictures on painted scenery, intended to form the exhibition, within a building so constructed, that the saloon or amphitheatre, containing the spectators, may be caused to revolve at intervals, for the purpose of bringing in succession two or more distinct scenes or pictures into view, and without the necessity of the spectators removing from their seats. From this arrangement of the revolving saloon, the scenery or pictures themselves remain stationary, and, therefore, admit of the application of the improved method of distributing or directing the daylight upon or through them, so as to produce the effects of varying the light and shade, by means of a number of coloured transparent and moveable blinds or curtains, some of which blinds are placed behind the picture or scenery, for the purpose of intercepting and changing the colour and shade of the rays of light, which are permitted to shine or pass through certain semi-transparent parts of the said picture or scenery, and thereby effect many curious changes in the appearance of the colour, in proportion as the said coloured blinds are moved up and, down, which motion is performed in a particular order by certain lines or cords connected with suitable machinery. Others of these coloured transparent blinds or curtains are situated above and in front of the pictures or scenery, so as to be moveable by the aid of cords or lines as aforesaid, and by that means to distribute or direct the rays of light which are permitted to fall upon the face of the picture, at the same time that the rays of light, in passing through the coloured blinds, effect many surprising changes in the appearance of the colours of the painting or scenery, and thereby form this pleasing exhibition.

It will be seen that the Diorama differs from the Panorama in this respect, that instead of a circular view of the objects represented, it exhibits the whole picture at once in perspective, and is decidedly superior in the accuracy with which the objects are depicted, and in the completeness of the illusion.

This exhibition, after having long delighted and surprised the gay world at Paris, was first opened in London, Sept. 29th, 1823. The views first exhibited, were the Interior of Canterbury Cathedral, and a picturesque view of the Valley of Sarnen, in Switzerland.

In 1824, the views were changed to those of Brest Harbour, and Chartres Cathedral, and in March, 1825, Holyrood Chapel was substituted for Brest Harbour;-all which scenes are represented in the accompanying Engravings.