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THE STRAND BRIDGE.

This was the first of the newlyprojected bridges, and is to cross the Thames from a place midway between Somerset House and the Savoy, to the opposite shore of Lambeth Marsh, over which roads and streets are to be opened to the Obelisk in St. George's Fields, and to Kennington. It was designed and is building under the direction of Mr. RENNIE.

It consists of ninè equal arches, and is intended, like the bridges of the an

cients, to be perfectly flat, a circum stance highly favourable to the draught of carriages across it, and without any apparent subtraction from its beauty.

Each arch is to be 120 feet span; the piers 20 feet thick, with Tuscan columns; the width within the parapets 42 feet, the foot-paths being 7 feet each, and the road-way 28 feet. The capital of the company is 800,000l. for the bridge and other improvements.

THE VAUXHALL BRIDGE.

This bridge is to extend from Millbank to Smith's Tea-gardens, which nearly adjoin Vauxhall Gardens, and is intended to connect the roads branching from that spot to Hyde Park Corner, by a straight road and street across Tothill Fields to Eaton-street, Pimlico, and Grosvenor-place. The architect is Mr. J. WALKER. It is to consist of

nine arches of equal span in squares of cast-iron, on piers of rusticated stone, formed of fragments, united by means of Parker's cement. The total width will be 809 feet, the span of the arches 78 feet, the height 29 feet, and the clear breadth of the road-way 36 feet. The small crosses represent the triple lamps The estimated cost is above 300,0001, THE SOUTHWARK, OR NEW LONDON BRIDGE.

It is proposed that this bridge shall form a communication from the bottom of Queen-street, Cheapside, being the direct line of Guildhall, to Bankside, and thence to the various Kent and Surrey roads. It is designed by Mr. RENNIE, and is to consist hut of three grand arshes; the centre of 240 feet span, and

the side ones of 210 feet each. The arches are to be composed of cast iron, and the piers and abutments to be of stone. The cost is estimated at 287,000). and there can be little doubt but its tolls will yield from 50 to 60,000l. per an num, though London bridge should be rebuilt.

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THE NEW

TOM HOUSE.

The Custom House which was erected fu 1718 being altogether inadequate to the increased trade of the Port of London, the wharfs and warehouses to the westward of it, between Thames-street and the Thames, have been purchased and pulled down, and the building, of which we here present the design of the principal front, is to be erected on the scite. The architect is Mr. DAVID LAING, and this front possesses a degree of taste too evident to require our praise. The builder is Mr. PETO. The length will be nearly double that of the old Custom House, being 490 feet, and the width 108 feet. It is calculated to admit the disposition of 650 officers and clerks, and the employ ment, without confusion, of 1050 tidewaiters, and other assistants. The

ground floor and cellars are to consist of vaults and warehouses for goods under bond; and in the centre of the first floor will be the long-room, 190 feet by 67, surmounted by an elegant dome. The water front bere represented is to be of stone, with Ionic columns at each end, and a double flight of steps at the principal entrance in the centre. The quay is to be extended in front into the river, and a new wall and quay are to be formed from the Tower to Billingsgate. Other improvements are also proposed in the access to this busy spot. At present the excavations for the sewers and foundations present an extraordinary picture of human industry, and bring to light foundations of former wharfs, sewers, and pavements of streets, 1000 years old.

THE DEBTORS' PRISON, CRIPPLEGATE.

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This prison, which is built for the purpose of distinguishing the confinement of debtors from that of criminals, in the crowded criminal prisons of Newgate and the Compters, had its origin in the observations published by Sir Richard Phil. lips in his Letter to the Livery of London, (pp. 90-92,) which were ably and honestly supported by a committee of the corporation of London, appointed to report on them. The first stone was laid by Ald. Wood in July 1813, and the part intended for city debtors is nearly finished for their reception. It is to be regretted that the high price of ground has too much limited the areas for exer

cise, and that there is at present no en trance from Red-Cross-street for the city side, which is kept distinct from the county side, the only entrance being a common and remote one from WhiteCross-street. The accommodations will however far exceed those hitherto possessed by this unhappy class of persons, while the scite, being little more than a quarter of a mile from St. Paul's, does not remove the incarcerated from the vortex of humanity, and the attention of their friends. The architect is Mr. MONTAGUE, the city surveyor, and the building and ground will cost not less than 80,0001.

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THE NEW BETH EM HOSPITAL.

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If the asylum of St. Luke's has by its magnitude and arrangements astonished all beholders, much more will the erection of this vast and splendid pile of buildings, serve as an honour to the taste and moral feelings of the British nation.

The old hospital of Bethlem, or Bedlam, in Moorfields, having become ruinous and dangerous in several parts, and also unequal to the number of cases which have required relief, it was determined to appropriate its scite to more profitable buildings, and to rebuild where ground was less costly, and more room attainable. Accordingly the present

structure was designed by Mr. LEWIS, and is now nearly completed, in the road which leads from Newington to Westminster Bridge, at an expence of 95,000l. It is 580 feet long, and capable of receiving in this front, 200 patients.

Another line of building extending to the south, is designed for an equal number; and also for 60 criminal lunatics, the charge of, which latter department exclusively belongs to government. The ground occupied by the buildings, and intended for the exercise of the patients is twelve acres.

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This splendid and munificent establishment has been formed during the present war, for the purpose of maintaining and educating the orphan or unprotected legitimate children of warrant and non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the regular army. It is calculated to lodge at least one thousand children, in the proportion of 700 boys to 300 girls; and in subordination to its objects, there is an infant institution at the Isle of Wight, from which, at a proper age, the children are removed for education to this asylum.

The boys, if they consent, are to be placed in the army as private soldiers; and the girls, and other boys, are bound out apprentice, or put to service. The

education of the boys is chiefly of a mi. litary character, the instructors bearing the titles. of Serjeant-Major, SerjeantAssistants, &c.

The scite of the building is opposite the north-east corner of the enclosure of Chelsea Hospital, and the whole structure and its appurtenances accord with the liberal spirit in which the British parliament has, of late years, granted the public money for military purposes. As far as it provides for the education and maintenance of children, otherwise destitute, whose killed or maimed parents have claims on the gratitude of the government, it must have the heartfelt approbation of every Englishman and father of a family.

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The design of a building of this nature, for the punishment, employment, and reformation of offences of secondary turpi tude, usually punished by transportation for a term of years, has been conceived since the disputes began which terminated in the separation of the American States. The plan for colonizing New South Wales, led to a general system of expatriation to the Antipodes; which, as applied to definite periods, was CRUEL and UNJUST, because the wretched objects were precluded from the power of ever returning, however short might be the intended period of their punishment! A strong and affecting memorial of the sheriffs of London, in 1807, (vide Letter to the Livery, page 110,) led to several parliamentary notices and remonstrances against this indiscriminate mode of transportation, which was in all cases, in effect for life; and in consequence, this place

of punishment and reform has been projected at MILLBANK, and no culprits are, w we understand, in future to be sent to New South Wales, except those irretrievable and enormous cases that require transportation for life.

The plan of this erection is, it is known, partly that of Mr. JEREMY BENTHAM-the culprits are to be confined in circular buildings, with windows so constructed that the overseer from a room in the centre may be able to view every one of their rooms. The external wall encloses no less than eighteen acres of ground; and within that space, there are to be six of these circular buildings, each capable of lodging and employing, from 150 to 200 prisoners; with a chapel, infirmary, and other conveniences.

The view is limited to the entrance lodge, because the surrounding wall will. conceal the low circular buildings, and

these

these being dead on their outsides, will never afford any object for graphic representation.

royal mercy, towards the contrite and reformed, cannot fail to be attended with salutary effects, and to alleviate those abuses of power and aggravations of misery, to which men are sometimes liable, under the best intentioned and best constructed codes of laws.

The design, if conducted in the spirit of charity and benevolence towards our fallen fellow creatures; and if made constantly subservient to the exercise of the ** In our next we propose to introduce the Now Mint, the Commercial Hall, the Auction Mart, the Royal Military College at Blackwater, the London Museum, and one or two other objects. We shall then give a succession of fine buildings, lately erected or in contemplation, at Edinburgh, Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Portsmouth, Plymouth, &c. &c. for all which, we earnestly solicit the communications of drawings and descriptions as soon as may be convenient, from friendly and public-spirited correspondents.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR,

THE following essay was read before

the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in January 1811, immediately after the close of Monsieur Gregory Von Feinagle's lectures on the Art of Memory, (who was present). As it has not yet been published; if you think it worthy a place in the Monthly Magazine, it is at your service.

THOMAS JARROLD, M.D.

On the Art of Memory. Memory is to the old man what anticipation is to the young; it places him where he would be, and feasts his ima gination on nature's best gifts; it imparts to the withered countenance a glow of animation; it directs the mind as sight directs the body. If there be no memory there is no judgment; the absence of memory is idiotism. But memory is not characteristic of man, brutes possess and enjoy the faculty. A dog set at liberty seeks his master, it therefore must remember him. A flock of rooks are guarded by a centinel; they must recollect past dangers, and anticipate some in future. Anticipation arises out of memory. But I am not designing to degrade man by thus speaking of animals. The memory of man is connected with his jument; the memory of brutes with their ons. Memory in man lessens his passions, because his judgment corrects them; but memory in brutes heightens theirs. Ani mals are trained and domesticated by the connection between memory and passion; a vicious horse throws a timid rider, but carries the person it fears. It would be an easy and pleasant task to trace the difference between the operation in man and in animals, but more in portant considerations are before us.

The memory of man, like his senses, is capable of improvement, its capacity may be so enlarged as to embrace a multitude

of subjects, and to hold the particulars of each at command; indeed the great busi

ness of education in our early years is

to correct the disposition and improve the memory. Dr. Priestley seems to have been of opinion that the memory may be improved up to the age of 40; after that period, he says, "if we gain one fact we lose the recollection of another." How far it is desirable to pay par ticular attention to the cultivation of the memory, when the years of childhood are past, is a subject worthy of consideration, but which has not met with proportionate attention. Before the art of writing was invented, a good memory was of inestimably greater importance, and held in higher honour, than at the present day. The persons of the British bards were sacred, because to them were committed the archives of their country, and the depository was their memory;" there they stored the history of their nation, and made use of poetry as their system of mnemonics. The Egyptian priests, for the same purpose, made use of hierogly phics, the art of which they taught the Jews, who practised it in their journey through the wilderness. Some rude nations assist their memories by forming mounds of earth, and heaping together masses of stone; others by cutting notches in trees, or by strings of shells, or the seeds of plants; every age is desirous that its deeds shall not be forgotten, and if the art of writing be unknown memory alone can preserve them. To tear off the hair, to amputate a finger, to lacerate the body are mementos of personal calamities, which die when the event ceases to interest.

As soon as the age of barbarism is past, and the art of writing is made known to a people, their deeds are placed beyond the reach of further error, when the sacredness of the bard, and the expounder of hieroglyphics, ceases. A good memory has however many admirers, and va

rious

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