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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
Lucre must bear the blame . Talent exists now as it ever did , but population presses against the means of subsistence , and the consciousness that they might by possibility starve , causes the sons of art to make gain their primary consideration . Not to build the best specimens of art , but to build the largest masses of masonry , or stucco work , is the desirable consideration . They are paid by a per centage
on quantity , and not on quality . But good is on the increase . Look at yon market opposite , called Hungerford . It was formerly a hotbed of human diseases , where people purchased food , and absorbed poisonous gases gratis . It can now be cleaned . Let us walk on . This is Covent Garden . It is like a butterfly emerged from a chrysalis . It was formerly a dung heap , studded with hovels , and people crowded upon one another , wet or dry , and steamed Like a simmering caldron . Three times the amount of business may now be done in
the same space under cover . It is a goodly erection , and the motto of its proprietor , the Duke of Bedford , carved in stone beneath his arms , is pregnant with meaning , Che sara , sara What will be , will be . But the * will be / most probably will not be precisely what the house of Russel most covets . They are a Whig race , living on their founder ' s repute , the noted Lord Russel , who , after all that has been alleged respecting him , really died in a Whig quarrel , and not for popular freedom . ' What will be , will be . ' The ' will be * henceforth will be
in favour of the many , not of the few . The ' will be' bids fair to be after a while with a responsible house of representatives . The must be , or rather the must not be , will be left for the house of aristocrats to digest . What bridge is that , father ? The ' Strand Bridge was its original name , but it was rechristened ' Waterloo , ' after the ' field of blood and mud ' when the * drowner
of men , * and many of his royal colleagues in arms , passed over it for the first time . Verily there must be a new christening some day , of many of our public places . Public morality is influenced bynames . We do not say Nero-bridge , or Heliogabalus-street , or Caligulasquare , because they call to mind brutal actions , and modern names to which similar qualities are attached produce a mischievous effect . We would fain forget them . That is a noble structure for a matter of
private speculation . It is what a bridge should be ; but while it proves the excellence of our physical science and skill , it also proves the deficiency of judgment for which our monied capitalists are somewhat remarkable . The proprietors did not build the bridge on the score of its beauty , or as a fine national monument , but as a money-getting speculation , and thus far their funds were wasted . But there it stands , and a magnificent mass of granite it is . We could as easily
build a pyramid , ay arid three times the size of the large one of Gizeh—large as all the pyramids of Egypt put together—were there any object in doing it . But the days of building without utility are passed away . What is that ugly gateway built up across the street for ? It is a remnant of feudal barbarism and ought to be cleared away . It serves only to impede the traffic . In former days , when it was the fashion to cut off people ' s heads , it was the custom to plaee them on
Untitled Article
fiftfi Juvenile Lessons .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1833, page 686, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2624/page/26/
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