A NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY.

THE view from Richmond Hill is, of course, one of the most famous in the world, and one of the easiest for Londoners to reach. For those who go by train the journey is not long, but for those who can manage it the better way is to travel by road. To cross Richmond Park from, say, Barnes Common is not merely to enjoy the pretence of a walk in the country—the sort of makeshift with which town-dwellers have to be satisfied, and of which the relative merits are exalted in the philosophy of urban life into something absolute—it is to be in the country. It is to be in as noble a park, with woods and great trees, with vistas that convoy a sense of immensity, with bracken and pools and doer, as you could find by travelling the whole length of England. And then, within a few yards of the gates of Richmond Park, at the top of Richmond Hill, you come upon the glorious view with which we wish now to associate a definite scheme. The wooded aides of the hill fall away steeply from the crest, and as you look westward you see the Thames in a broad gleaming band curving away into the distance. If the day be clear, you see a romantic succession of wooded ridges and hills in Surrey and the most beautiful part of Middlesex. At your feet lie Petersham and Ham Common, and, eastwards, Kew and the Old Deer Park, and the site of the former Palace of many Kings and the ancient town of Richmond with its beautiful bridge. The gentleness and delicacy of the expansive scene master every one. Other views in our country are grander, more rugged, vaster, but it

would not be easy to find any view in England which is more exquisitely characteristic. Every Londoner knows this ; and every one who has seen it—as every Londoner with the least sense of beauty presumably has—hopes to return to it again and again. As Sir Walter Scott said of it, " To a man of taste it must be always new." The eye is for ever straying from the shining curve of water to try to explore the dim recesses of the wooded land, and for ever being attracted back to that central magnet of the view :—

" Though deep, yet clear ; though gentle, yet not dull ; Strong without rage ; without o'erflowing, full."

It is the Thames in its wondrous strategic position of beauty which presides over the spirit of the scene. These is a noble passage in The Heart of Midlothian about this view, but not more full of appreciation than the picture deserves. The Duke of Argyll is driving Jeanie Deans in his chariot, and Scott says :- " The carriage rolled rapidly onwards through fertile meadows, ornamented with splendid old oaks, and catching occasionally a glance of the majestic mirror of a broad and placid river. After passing through a pleasant village, the equipage stopped on a com- manding eminence, where the beauty of English landscape was displayed in its utmost luxuriance. Here the Duke alighted, and desired Jeanie to follow him. They paused for a moment on the brow of a hill, to gaze on the unrivalled landscape which it presented. A huge sea of verdure, with crossing and intersecting promontories of massive and tufted groves, was tenanted by numberless flocks and herds which seemed to wander unrestrained and unbounded through the rich pastures. The Thames, here turreted with villas, and there garlanded with forests, moved on slowly and placidly, like the mighty monarch of the scene, to whom all its other beauties were but accessories, and bore on its bosom a hundred barks and skiffs, whose white sails and gaily fluttering pennons gave life to the whole."

" We hare nothing like it in Scotland," said the Duke, though

his mind must have gone back to his own Invoraray. Whereupon Jeanie, the dairymaid, simply remarked in a sentence which was " equally professional and national," " It's brew rich feeding for the cows, and they have a fine breed o' cattle here," and added that she would as soon look upon the sea from Arthur's Seat.

Whenever the view from Richmond Hill has been threatened, Londoners, though nearly as placid as their river, have been sufficiently moved to ensure that no mischief shall be done. The view has been for ever secured by the arrangements with Lord Dysart's trustees in 1896, by the Act of Parliament of 1902, and by the co-operation in the same year of the London County Council and the Richmond Council, when the estate on the opposite bank of the river was purchased. Although the view as a whole is safe, there is always the possibility that the wrong thing—or at least not the best thing—may be done architecturally at various points. The site which has caused more rumour and discussion than any other is that on which stands the Star and Garter Hotel—a building which had been shorn of its once famous prosperity, and had fallen on evil days. It is with this building that the scheme to which we wish to direct our readers' attention is concerned. The hotel is already being used as a hospital where lie sixty men paralysed by wounds.

It is proposed to build here, instead of the present hotel, a great hospital to hold two or three hundred soldiers and sailors

who have been permanently disabled in the war. This is the

scheme of the " British Women's Hospital Star and Garter Building Fund," and the appeal for money is made to women only. It is a grand scheme, and we hope and believe that it will be fulfilled worthily. It is impossible to conceive a more

tragic spectacle—yet tragic with the nobility of true tragedy— than that of men hopelessly stricken down in their early years.

Their eyes, their hearts, their brains, will retain the qualities of youth, but their bodies will impose upon their capacity for active pleasure the most fatal of all physical disabilities. Can one imagine a case which urges more strongly on those who are

able to give the duty of providing what solace can be found for these gallant and helpless men ? Can one imagine a spot in which a helpless body that is still able to feast visually upon

the fairest scenes of England could find more satisfaction ?

We are sure that it would be quite impossible. The junction of the hospital and the scene is a great idea. The building must match the whole conception.

The bare facts of the scheme aro these. The site and building were bought by the Auctioneers' and Estate Agents' Institute, which presented thorn to the Queen. The Queen has decided to hand them over to the British Red Cross Society on condition that a home is provided for men rendered incurably helpless by the war. The British Red Cross Society have asked the British Women's Hospital to raise the necessary funds. Specially light movable beds are to be supplied, so that the nurses can easily

move the patients on to the verandas, which will command the glorious landscape below. We confess that at first the decision to pull down the present building struck us as an unnecessary extravagance. In most cases an old building can be very well adapted ; but in this instance we have boon absolutely con- vinced of the necessity of rebuilding by a statement by Sir Frederick Treves. His case for rebuilding is unanswerable. He says:— "I found the old building quite impossible to adapt to the require- ments of a modern hospital, for the reasons that the basement was dark, very badly ventilated, and in other ways unsuitable. One could hardly have asked the domestic personnel to take up their quarters in the basement. Moreover, we should have had to put fireproof floors on five levels. This question of fire-precaution is one which has to be strongly borne in mind in a hospital of this character. It is a familiar experience of those who have to do with the paralysed that they have a great dread of fire. As an instance of the precautions we are taking in this direction, I may mention that the beds are of a special invention—a sort of ' perambulator' beds, which can be easily wheeled by women, so that any of the wards can be evacuated by the nurses alone, if necessary, in a few minutes. Again, we should have had to carry out balconies some thirty feet, at a cost of many thousands of pounds ; for without the balconies no beds could have been put in the open air. The arrangement of the rooms was inconvenient, and the roof was found to be so defective that a new one would have had to be built. Then there were no lifts. We were advised by experts that the cost of adapting the old building would have exceeded that of an entirely new structure. In these circumstances it was decided to rebuild. Happily, in this we are very favourably placed. The architect. Mr. Gilbert Scott, is generously giving us his services without fee of any kind, and the builders have agreed to carry out the work at a charge of no more than 10 per cent. on the actual cost. The original hotel is said to have cost £140,000, a large proportion of which was put in the foundations, being on a slope. These foun- dations are being used for the new building, as is also a good deal of the old material. The new building will cost £50,000, including the putting of the gardens in order. The annexe is already in use, and over sixty patients and the necessary personnel are already housed there. The annexe has been found to bo in itself, with its lofty and spacious ball-room, so suitable for a hospital ward that it was decided to retain it. Its architecture will not bo in keeping with the new building, which is to be Italian in character, but in this the public will recognize the desire to be as economical as possible. All the money given is to be devoted to the benefit of the inmates ; nothing will be wasted on show and ostentation."

We have only a few words to add in heartily commending this scheme to our women readers. Here is something which is not less than a national opportunity. Tho view from Rich- mond Hill is a most precious national possession. The building. we repeat, ought to be worthy of its position. It is not, of course, necessary to be extravagant in order to fit the occasion. Dignity, impressiveness, appropriateness, are all at the command of art without the expenditure of vast sums. We have a fooling that we should like the building to be lofty, but that may possibly be undesirable for a hospital. The verandas, however, should surely be a feature. The men should, above all, find spaciousness here, for here they will spend a large part of their lives. The verandas might be like the decks of a great ship ; and over the bulwarks will be seen that superb panorama of the English homeland for whose sake these splendid follows gave unques- tioningly all that they had to give. Visitors who make the easy journey from London and gaze from the verandas or terraces upon the valley of the Thames will, perhaps, derive an inspira- tion that will enable them to measure—if it can be measured— the debt of gratitude owed to the helpless mon who lie near them. If Mr. Scott rises to the occasion, we shall have on Richmond Hill one of the greatest, as it will be one of the most moving. of all the memorials of the war.

Donations may be sent to the Hon. Treasurer, Lady Cowdray. Cheques should be made payable to The British Women's Hospital, and crossed " London County and Westminster Bank" Address : 21 Old Bond Street, W.