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    March 17, 18(30.1 The Leade? -and Scdura...

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    THE QKEAT DOMESTIC Ml Milt V. W ILL ther...

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    | | The Stores Of Westminster. B 'Rfoue ...

    to" -etlier through the kingdom and elsewhere , these gentlemen reported that they had visited' one hundred and twenty-three quarries , and examined upwards of one hundred ancient edifices with special reference to the durability of their materials , and the practical conclusion at -. which , they had arrived , was that the best stone that could be used in the proposed Palace of Westminster was that of Bolsover , a contract for wluch was in consequence entered into . Not very long afterwards , however , upon pretexts which have never been thoroughly , sifted or explained , this engagement was set aside , and another contracted with the late Duke of Leeds for the exclusive use of the produce of a quarry belonging to him in Yorksliire . Of the inferiority of the material thus substituted for the Bolsover stone , there is unhappily no

    room for question ; yet , inferior though it be , it might have been so used as to lessen ' greasy the effects of the elements upon the decorative portions of the building . No rule , Ave believe , is more generally recognised in such' ma ' tiers , than that of placing stones § 1 all the external parts of an edifice bed-wise , that is , according to the position with regard to the grain in which they are found to have been geologically deposited . The neglect of this ride not only tends to mar the unity of architectural effect by destroying uniformity of colour , but what is far worse , it invites the corrosive action of an impure atmosphere wherever the stones have been placed contrary to the law of their formation . Thus

    nature mutely but inexorably vindicates her own inscrutable wisdom , and sets her indelible brand of rcpi-ohation on the vain and fraudulent attempt to falsify her gifts to mail . Misplaced , the stone is liiore easily workable for ornamental purposes , and hence the temp tation to misplace it . But what is the use of a highly p aid department of Public Works , if these things can be 4 o * ne openly and impudently , in the face of day , week after week , month after month , ar id year after year .,-in tlie most conspicuous and the most expensive building the realm contains ? Under successive ministers the department in question has been presided over by the usual Variety of aristocratic idlers and jobbers . Some of them have been Tories , maivy 6 f them "Whigs : but not one

    of them , it is to be presumed , ever thought of inquiring while the gigantic edifice was in progress , whether the intentions of the Legislature were being honestly carried out , or whether the splendid liberality of Parliament was not in danger of beingthrown away . There cannot be a more damning commentary on the system of what may be called the " thorough-bred monopoly of hi f > h office" than the scandalous narrative of facts before us . The matchless job now brought to light cannot be laid at the door of any one individual / or even at that of any one administration . Chief of delinquents may indeed be counted . those by whom the Report of the Commissio ' n of 18 . 30 was originally set at nought ; hut , on the other hand , it can hardly be imagined that the fatal consequences of the bargain with the J ) uki > of Leeds were foreseen . On the other hand , it "were waste of time

    to try historically to apportion the blame . Be it among themselves , for by their combined ami continuous imbecility , if not complicity , the country has been robbed to an extent hard to estimate in figures ; and the hope it so long cherished of seeing on imperishable monument of its natipnal spirit and munificeii . ee dedicated to the service of its constitutional legislature , seems doomed to disappointment . Specifics without end will no doubt be offered , and experiments of nil sorts will probably be tried to harden the face of the ducal , > ,-. /! / Wp ' nH ' vn shnnns of Westminster , and to " arrest the progress and deceptive stone ? of Westminsterand to " arrest the progress

    , of premature- decay . . But we nre slow of faith in these onipirical devices . We never pass by Buckingham Tnlncc after oiuj of its periodical " paintings-down , " that we arc not painfully struck with the likeness to . " a newly repaired and ro-embellished range V most eligible mansions at very low prices" in somo second xrtte watering-place . More than one . e we have unconsciously found our eye wandering in search of the usual bill in the window of tho ground floor which tells one where " . further pnrUeuhirs may be had . " It is of no use asking us to remember that the -three conts of best oil colour / bund to be indisnensnble , conconl a

    pnlnce-front built of really expensive stone , 'Expensive enough if you will ; but as to being rccilSv . © can only believe in tho reality of ' its rottenness , or of the roguery with which it must havo been chosen and used . It is provoking to seo tho residence of tlie Qr ' , annually daubed over in this fuehion to keep it in decent , plight , ; but it is enough to try the temper of any people to be told thnt a similar process is now tho only certain method of saving from utter dilapidation a national edifice on which wo hnvo expended move than Two Millions sterling .

    March 17, 18(30.1 The Leade? -And Scdura...

    March 17 , 18 ( 30 . 1 The Leade ? -and Scduralay Analyst . 251

    The Qkeat Domestic Ml Milt V. W Ill Ther...

    THE QKEAT DOMESTIC Ml Milt V . W ILL there bo a single dissentient voice wine from tho grout army of English mutrqua when wq decluru that " fc > orvnntw " arc tho greatest domestic misery of tho present day P Taxoo uro flometliing 1 ; menslcu in a full nursery are not to jjo snoozed at ;

    smoky chiinnies are vexatious , draughty rooms and damp walls , and ; haying 1 the family ; plate stolen'through an open kitchen window , are all sturnbHhg-blocks and pitfalls on the road . to happiness , but they are flocci , iiauci . nihill , pin , —nothing compared with the . gigantic domestic . misery of the present day- ' —Servants . There is not a single house you can enter where the great misery has not spread , or where some old voice does not sum up the discussion of John , or M ' auy ' s iniquities , witli the time-h . rioured exclamation , " Servants are not what they . used , to be . " What tariff of items would sum up all their . crimes ? They break the dinner service ,

    'thej' tear the carpets , they star the pier-glass , fcliey let the chandelier drop on the best tea set , they fracture '• windows , they , dislocate chairs , they grease the table cloth , they leave doors unlocked , and they set the house on fire-. You -would , indeed , think , to : 'hear some angry and desponding matrons , that servants had no other , object in life than to put out their master ' s temper , and mar his domestic happiness . Be it for us to discuss briefly the causes that render the social position of servants now different from , what it ouce was , and to point out some simple remedies by which the great domestic misery might be ( if not removed ) alleviated . civilized

    It is a sad and humiliating thing , and hard for the over to believe , that civilization should bring with it so many drawbacks . We get the clock ,, and we forget to know . how to use that indestructible timepiece , the sun . " Yt e get the railway engine for our demon hack horse , and . we lose the savage hunter ' s endurance of leg . We get spectacles , and we lose the far-reaching eye of our fathers . In servants , as in other things , we feel one of the penalties of progress . It is because our servants are no longer the ignorant feudal drudges and blind dependent serfs they once were , that they grow independent and restless . It is not the less sad to think that the old family nurse , who dandled the children of two generations , is now a bygone creature like the Dodo , or the sabre-toothed tiger that they show you in Surgeons' Hall . Yon must engage a good many " red-breeched JonN "

    Thomases before you find the old clansmen , who in war threw themselves before their wounded master and died calling out , " Another for Hector ! " 'The-stuck-up gentleinan who condescends to be your butler aud winetaster , and refuses to disgrace ... himself by wearing livery , is a mail of a very different stamp from the old faithful clansman . No ! it is not wages and " parqujsites * ' that make a servant die willingly for a master . In our shifting * swifter , and more , variable modern life these servants of other xlays are impossible . In this modern struggle for place and for . higher seats , it is the servant who , standing between the rich and the poor , and in soine degree shares both their weak-nesses , that is the quickest and keenest to imbibe this restlessness , to learn the new power of his race , and to desire to exercise it . To marry , to leave service , to take a shop , to . emigrate , are all now open to the servant ; and ,

    knowing it , they assert their independence often capriciously , often insolently . The increased cheapness . of dress now enables the female servant , without extravagance , to dress in gowns very little inferior to those of her mistress ; and this , perhaps , contributes a little to her ignoring the differences of rank between herself and her superiors . Improved education now makes the . mule servant much less openly inferior to his master—perhaps sometimes , Ins vanity may induce him to think , a little his superior . In days when footmen become , sometimes , school masters and district curates , it is difficult to expect that the old broad distinction can be maintained between master and servant . Turn thei-n away , they have but to come to Lyndon and get a , better place ; or if they savo money they may go to Australia , and there ,. wi th prudence , become capitalists and enjoy the luxury oif having servants' in their turn . r .

    " It if , perhaps , natural ' in these days of freedom and emancipation of opinion that tho more turbulent aud independent servants should imagine that a certain slight taint of slavery now bungs about the livery . We all know how degraded ; i being in tho eyes of the republican epbobi of our alleys is the vcd-plushed , plurnp calved footman , with tho pink and white fat face , and tho whito ^ reaseil liiiir . Tlie London poor mim ' s son dreams of the delight of being n costermemga-, and having a " shallow" piled with huts or oranges ; but lie never covets the gilt cane or the aiguill ' oUcs ^ Can wo wonder that men of the despised condition seek some equivalent thr this petty slavery ? The bettor ones try to prove their'independence by impudence—^ the worse make up for tho loss of i ' reodom by cheating and thieving . , But can the whole defect bo on tho servants' sidoP Havo

    tho mistress or master nothing to blame in -themselves P \ Vns tboro ever a quarrel where one side was all black and tho othor all wliito ? Do we not , as rulers , rather tighten a clmin that wo ought generously fco loosen P Does the uii ' Mtross lip-sUiirn in lie ) 'scon led conservatory , or in her airy drawing-room , that seems earpeUcd with roso-1 oaves—it is so soft and warm , ever think bow much loss pleasant- for the poor country girT , who has lately loft some green Devonshire valley , iH that . RublcrrumiiM cellar with tho irongrated window tbftt in London wo call n kilehonP h it dioorliil work to run up and down Ntnirs , and toil iiiocsauntly irmn mx in the morning till twolvo nt night P In it lieulthy or nluiimuit to Jivo six

    days in a collar without wltiiiK <'«» t »« >»« ll 10 d « »»; ? , 1 ( V no '; rathor azotic and untMinimm to allow " no followovH , including , of course * among them tho tnio l"vor and tho lutnro buobmid , whou MiHsBT . ANOni'Xup ^ tiiirH him her porpetuul w // wiiml '' I ' '' ' ' " « rotruhir rogiinent of admirers nightly in attondaucoP Dom . IUq hurried miiiulu of dint with tho buUor or tho pot-boy compensato for nil Hint mifviiHiiifr <<>>! » "d liunnful Hulitiulo P And is it ii wondor it is bitterly ooiitranted with tlio ^ oujnp miHtruwH endk-MH juhiihomonta , or tl ' iut nuirriago unil omiyTiifion arc looked jinnn iih iluMlruijIu tormhintioriH to bw \ x u toilsome , oliourloufl , mid uupitiwl Hr .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17031860/page/7/