Part 32 (2/2)

[Footnote II-40: A respectable London merchant, and native of Flanders, to whom I am much indebted for very important services]

Around the wooden scaffold, stairs run down to the botto, who inspects the work under Mr Brunel's direction, conducted me When arrived at the bottom of the pit, we found ourselves at the entrance of the tunnel, which then ran already, one hundred and twenty feet under ground, to the bed of the Thames It was conceived that about one-third part of the work had been coes, one of the out Along the partition wall of those two vaults, there is on each side a somewhat elevated side-walk for pedestrians; this wall is open in some places in order to adhted by as, which is contained in copper barrels

The manner that the work is conducted, cannot be clearly explained without a drawing The scaffold, upon which the work out the earth, consists of thirty-six s in three rows above each other This scaffold is at the end of the tunnel, and rests exactly against the earth to be taken away There are three round with a pick-axe, the other to shovel it out of the box, and the third to throw it on a cart, in which it is carried into the pit, whence it is raised in the buckets

For the safety of the workmen, cross-ti out The first work his excavation, removes the upper beam and hacks out the earth behind it; which done, he takes away the second beam, and removes the second tier of earth, then the third, &c If sufficient earth, about a foot wide, has been dug away froin the sa this ti in the same proportion at the vault which has to support the earth above the tunnel When, however, all the earth before the whole scaffold has been taken away, it is moved forward by means of steel screws Both above and below the scaffold there are iron plates, with sharp edges, to facilitate theof it On this plan the work proceeds at the rate of two feet in twenty-four hours; it is hoped that it would be completed in two years tiret verymet with Mr Brunel, who is likewise the inventor of the block-ines

In Leicester square there were two fine panorah, and the other that of Mexico;[II-41] the fornized every place, owing tothe second, I regretted anew thatthe last winter did not permit me to undertake a journey to Mexico The beautiful blue sky reminded nized the lofty Andes from the description, which I have so often read of thee froenerally styled In order to give an idea of the ives a representation of the circus on the great square during the tiht, and not far fro in New York]--TRANS]

At Regent's place a diorama was to be seen You are conducted into a pretty dark round saloon, and you perceive there, through a square hole, a painting that is lighted in arepresents a church in Scotland called Rosslyn chapel You seem to be at the entrance of the church, and you see that the sun darts his beams from the side and causes multifarious shades, on account of the bushes and trees in front of the s of the church In the rear of the church you see a s to a yard, planted with underwood, and in the back ground, a Gothic building By and by the sun disappears, and you perceive by the effect of light, that a stor; then you see the effect of rain, and after this disappears, you enjoy the finest sunshi+ne The illusion is so perfect, that you seem to hear the rain In the interior of the church several objects are represented with the greatest accuracy, viz a part of a scaffold, to which ropes are attached, a basket with tools, &c The Gothic pillars of the church display a particularly handso for a considerable tiiven with a bell The floor on which the spectators stand, turns to another opening through which you have a view of the city of Rouen, in France Now the saht as in the other piece are displayed, and you iine yourself to be in the place, which is represented to your sight But the first piece made the best impression on me The finest part of this dioras

I was delighted at the fine view of the newly-finished buildings of Regent's park, the construction of which was begun during o This new quarter consists of palaces At Mr Ackerreatest variety of fancy articles It is only to be regretted that the works published at his establish personally acquainted with Mr Ackermann, this venerable philanthropist is plain in appearance, but is very interesting in his conversation He spoke much with me about my happily finished travels, and invited ed to decline this invitation on account of the short time which remained at my disposal I next visited the store of another Gerical instruments, Mr Weiss; he is a native of Rostock, but already more than thirty years established in this city, and particularly in ical instruland He showedwhich there was one for re the operation of cutting He showed e as a chesnut, which had been extracted fro operation Moreover, he showed me a poison pump of his own invention, by means of which, poisons that have been sed, may be extracted from the stomach This machine consists of a brass tube which contains the puum, which terminates in a sack of the sah the throat into the stomach, and when the sack has entered the stoh the flexible tube into the brass one By turning the handle of the puain, by means of which another valve on the other side of the brass tube opens, and to this another elastic tube is attached, through which the extracted poison is ejected Then the handle is turned a second ti to the tube that is fixed in the stomach, and the operation is continued until no poison is left in the stoo, by irl, who had taken a considerable dose of arsenic in a fit of aive, at certain times, in the British institution, Pallmall street, a public exhibition of their collections of precious paintings Just now there was the king's collection of paintings from his palace, Carlton-house, because they were about to demolish this palace, and in its place erect an edifice after the model of the Parthenon at Athens, which is calculated to contain the works of English artists This is a fine idea, and certainly encouraging for the artists of this nation, but it is a pity that it causes the destruction of this elegant palace The British institution is a building which consists of three large halls, and which receive their light fros of Flelish, and a few Italian and French There were seven pieces by Rubens, ast which I particularly noticed his own likeness and that of his first wife, finished in the same manner as those in the collection of Mr

Schamp at Ghent, and at Warwick Castle; besides these, a landscape with figures, representing the history of St George, with the portraits of Queen Henrietta Maria and Charles I for who which the portraits of Charles I in three viehich his lady had sent to the statuary Bernini at Ro therefrom A sketch, studies of horses and horsemen, of remarkable value, and a full-size portrait of Gaston de France, and two portraits of Queen Henrietta Maria, which, like that of her unfortunate husband, I ht call unavoidable, because it is to be found alland I found seven pieces by Re which were several excellent portraits, and his own; they were all easily distinguished by his particular colouring

Fourteen paintings by Teniers, collections of people; small portraits; a view of the towns of Holland, and a couple of landscapes, one of which represents likewise, the artist, his wife, and his gardener; a real orna a village festival, had been on the artist's harpsichord I admired two other pieces, in the same style, by J Ostade, and seven by A Ostade; six by Jan Steen One of the latter, very excellently finished, represented an elderlyto the reproaches of a young girl, for his niggardliness; she holds forth to hi hiht, by Schalken, and a portrait by Holbein, are likeorthy of attention Nine pieces by Wouver skirmishes and country scenes Seven pictures by Mieris are to be known by their fine keeping Three pieces are by G Douw, one by Slingelandt, and five by Metzu A landscape by Ruisdael, and two by Hobbema, attracted my particular attention, as well as eleven pieces by Vandevelde, representing sea-pieces, landscapes, and views of several cities of Holland; two of the latter are finished by him and Vanderheyden jointly; I observed likewise, four very fine pieces by Vanderwerff, one of the the Rohters, and the fourth two children

The collection is likewise rich in paintings of animals; there are four capital works by G Potter, one of the A piece by Hondekoeter, representing a chicken, belongs likewise to this class, as well as ten pieces by Cuyp, in which the landscapes are very well finished A these I enjoyed particularly a caed in currying his horse Six very good pieces, by Bergheht not to be omitted, nor a handsoround

Besides these pieces, there is a good collection of other paintings of the same school, but it would lead me too far, to mention them all From other schools there are but a few and of less value A landscape with sheep, by titian; Christ taken down froelo and Venusti, and another piece by Gonzalez As of modern tiarth; a domestic scene, by Greuze, and several pieces of an Italian painter, Zeffani One of theenerally known by the copperplate of Bartolozzi, represents the Royal Academy of London, and the other the Gallery of Florence, with the portraits of several Englishmen of note, who sojourned at that time in Florence By the sa the interior of two royal palaces, with the children of George III and their mother These tasteless pieces, cos, ht pieces by Sir Joshua Reynolds, a which his own portrait and two full-size portraits of the Portuguese Chief Marshal Count von der Lippe, and of the English General Marquis of Granby These two pieces are uish in the countenance of Count von der Lippe and in his whole posture, his profound and enterprising spirit, and in the features of Lord Granby his great benevolence, which procured him in the army the name of the soldier's friend The features of the count excite respect, while those of the lord claim your attachment I was much less pleased with the historical pieces of Sir Joshua The s was undoubtedly the interior of the choir of a Capuchin chapel by the French painter Granet The expression of the countenances of the monks is unparalleled; in some you see piety, in others listlessness; another couplein the , tall, stout monk, is the personification of fanaticism Near the altar stands a monk in the sacerdotal habit, with two choristers and tapers in their hands, the ht is very well executed; it enters through a largein the back ground, and ray beard of the priest I think this piece one of the finest of the whole collection I saw here a great entlemen and ladies, and it is said to be fashi+onable to visit this splendid gallery in the afternoon

On the 26th of July, (the anniversary of the day on which I first landed on Around at Boston,) I went to the custoe for Ostend on board the stea there at anchor At the custom-house I was quite surprised I expected to see the splendid, newly-erected palace for the offices of the custoo, I had ad but ruins They said that the foundation had not been well enough examined upon which the custo cracked, the large, splendid hall was near falling down, and in order to prevent this accident, they were obliged to de were yet supported by beams, but they soon will have to demolish theentleman who made the contract to have the house built, lays the blame of this bad work upon the architect, and he upon a commission, under whose control he acted

The Earl of Liverpool, of one hundred and thirty tons, with two engines, left London at eleven o'clock, A M, and on the nextat six o'clock I landed at Ostend At four o'clock, P M I proceeded by the way of Bruegge to Ghent During this journey I remembered an observation which I had heard frequently in A Europe for the first tireater impression than the old monuments, which trace the time past for ood taste of preceding generations

I found this observation perfectly true, byfrom A but a bustling present struggling for future improvement

On the 28th of July, at four o'clock, P M, I arrived at Ghent

THE END