proposed, immediately ballotted for; and the name, with the addition and place of abode, of every other person proposing to become a member, is delivered to the secretary, who reads the same, and inserts the name in a list, which is hung up in the Society's room until the next meeting, at which time such person is ballotted for; and if two-thirds of the members then voting ballot in his favour, he is deemed a perpetual member, upon payment of twenty guineas at one payment, or a subscribing member, upon payment of any sum not less than two guineas annually. Every member is entitled to vote, and be concerned in all the transactions of the Society, and to attend and vote at the several committees. He has also the privilege of recommending two persons as auditors at the weekly meeting of the Society, and, by addressing a note to the housekeeper, of introducing his friends to examine the various models, machines, and productious in different branches of arts, manufactures, and commerce, for which premiums have been bestowed. He has likewise the use of a valuable library, and is entitled to the annual volume of the Society's Transactions.

The time appointed for admission to the paintings or models, is from ten to two o'clock, Sundays and Wednesdays excepted.

The Society distributes premiums for any new discovery in agriculture, chemistry, dyeing, mineralogy, the polite arts, manufactures, and mechanics; also premiums for the advantage of the British colonies, and for the settlements in the East Indies, and a correspondence in each branch is maintained to the same end; and the transactions of the Society are published annually.

Returning through Adam Street to the Strand, we arrived at Bedford Street; here stood the ancient mansion of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford: it was "a large old built house, having a great yard before it for the reception of carriages, and a spacious garden; behind which were coach-houses and stables, with a conveyance into Charles Street, through a large gate.” This house and garden being demolished, the site was covered with Tavistock, Southampton, and other streets.

Q 2

On the opposite side of the Strand are avenues to York Buildings, so called from having been the residence of the archbishops of York. It had been anciently the Bishop of Norwich's inn; but was exchanged in 1535, in the reign of Henry VIII. for the abbey of St. Bennet Holme, in Norfolk. The next possessor, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, had it in exchange for his house called Southwark palace. In the reign of Queen Mary it was purchased by Dr. Heath, Archbishop of York, and called York House. Archbishop Mathew, in the reign of James I. exchanged it with the crown, and had several manors in lieu of it. It was the residence of lords chancellors Egerton and Bacon; after which it was granted to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who rebuilt it most magnificently. In 1648 the parliament bestowed it on General Fairfax, whose daughter and heir marrying George Villiers, the second Duke of Buckingham, the house reverted to its true owner, who resided here for several years subsequent to the Restoration. It was disposed of by him, and several streets laid out on the site, which go under his names and titles: " George Street, Villiers Street, Duke Street, Off Alley, and Buckingham Street."

The only vestige now remaining of the splendid mansion of the Buckinghams, is the Water Gate at the bottom of Buckingham Street. It has been thus justly characterized :

"York Stairs form unquestiouably the most perfect piece of building, that does honour to the name of luigo Jones: it is planned in so exquisite a taste, formed of such equal and harmonious parts, and adorned with such proper and elegant decorations, that nothing can be censured or added. It is at once happy in its situation, beyond comparison, and fancied in a style exactly suited to that situation. The rock-work, or rustic, can never be better introduced than in buildings by the side of water; and, indeed, it is a great question whether it ought to be made use of any where else."* On the side next to the river appear the arms of the Villiers family; and on the north front is inscribed

Critical Re view of Publie Buildings.

245

inscribed their motto: Fidei Coticula Crux,---The Cross is the Touch-stone of Faith. On this side is a small terrace, planted upon the with lime trees; the whole supported by a rate raised houses in the neighbouring streets; and, being enclosed from the public, forms an agreeable promenade for the inhabitants.

York Building Water Works, is an edifice with a high wooden tower, erected for raising Thames water, for the supply of the Strand and its neighbourhood. The works are under the superintendance of a company, incorporated by an act of parliament in the year 1691.

Hungerford Market takes its name from the family of the same name, of Farleigh, in the county of Wilts. Sir Edward Hungerford was created knight of the Bath, at the coronation of Charles II. and had a large mansion here, which he converted into tenements, and a market: over the market-house was a large room, called “The French church," which was afterwards the charity-school for St. Martin in the Fields, but is at present in a state of dilapidation. On the north side of the building is a neglected bust of Charles II.

In Craven Street is a house. No. 7, remarkable for having been the residence of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and at present as the place of meeting for The Society for the Relief of Persons Imprisoned for Small Debts. This Society rose through the well-meant endeavours of the Rev. Dr. Dodd, in 1772; and within fifteen months from the commencement of the plan, they were enabled to discharge 986 persons, many of whom were confined only for their fees! To these belonged five hundred and sixty-six wives, and two thousand three hundred and eighty-nine children, making in all three thousand nine hundred and forty-one souls, essentially relieved by this mode of humanity. It is impossible now to ascertain the number of persons whom this institution has rescued from misery and wretchedness.

The objects of this charity are those, whether men or women, who are actually imprisoned, whose debts, or the composition for them, do not exceed ten pounds; those have the preference

Q 3

who

who are aged and infirm; have the largest families unprovided for; are the most likely to be useful to the comm. nity; and appear to have lost their liberty by unavoidable misfortunes, and not by fraud, vice, or extravagance.* The Committee are empowered to relieve helpless families which suffer by the faults of their principals, aud no debtor can be relieved a second time. The annual subscriptions are two guineas; and those for life are twenty-one.+

Returning once more, a little more eastward, we may notice the great improvements that are now making in the neighbourhood of the Savoy ; and particularly THE STRAND BRIDGE, which

I risk nothing by the assertion, that a period will arrive, when Englishmen will shrink with horror at the idea of a fellow citizen being deprived of his liberty, and disgraced as a prisoner, because he has been unavoidably unfortunate. The practice of indiscriminate imprisonment for debt is a disgrace to an enlightened and civilized nation like our own. Foreigners on this very account, look upon us as regardless of every sentiment of honour or humanity, where our cupidity is concerned ; and very justly reproach us, that our love of money appears to have interwoven itself into our very principles of morality, become a portion of our religious code, and taught us to esteem or despise one another in exact proportion to the quantum of gold, or its representatives, we can respectively command. Hence, say they, we hang our nearest friends and neighbours, if, in the extremes of want and misery they steal to the value of forty shillings, the exact amount of a "capital offence;" and if those neighbours, through the dispensations of Providence, are unable to pay a debt to the amount of ten or fifteen pounds, we first confii e them in prison, and perhaps some months afterwards bring them to trial for the offence, and again imprison them, should they be found guilty of being poor. These things ought not to be allowed among Christians; nor will they long be suffered to exist m this country: the Insolvent Debtors' Law has already somewhat softened the rigour of these cruel measures; but a time will come when even that law will not be required to coun teract the cruelty of any other.

See Mr. Nield's History of this Society, passim.

The Strand Bridge improvement has thrown open some additional specimens of the ruins of John of Gaunt's Palace. The windows are of that large and lofty dimensions, which drew forth the censure of the celebrated Chancellor Bacon, who described them as so full of glass, that one cannot tell, when inside, whether one be out of the Sun.