OPENING OF STAINES BRIDGE.
This ceremony took place on Monday. It was as gay as the day was bright; and the day was not brighter than were the countenances of the good King and gentle Queen, under whose auspices the work was com- menced and completed. The annual festival of Easter Monday had left the inhabitants of the surrounding district leisure to attend; and it hardly required the presence of Royalty to insure a numerous troop of spectators, though that presence doubtless attracted many who would otherwise have contented themselves with pleasures more easily acces- sible and nearer home.
From an early hour of the day, crowds of persons of all ranks flocked into the town, many of them from London; and proceeded to take up their positions in the new houses built near the bridge, and in other places which could command a view of the approaching ceremony. Of such there were abundance; many stands were erected by the river side, and on the whole of the line between the old and new bridges, from which a very good view might be obtained. The fronts of most of the houses near the bridge were decorated with flags and laurel branches, and the windows of all were filled with fashionably dressed ladies and gentlemen. The preparations made on and near the bridge were of a more ambi- tious character. Two very splendid triumphal arches were erected, one at each end of the bridge.. These were composed of laurels and other evergreens on a wooden frame-work, and decorated with stripes and knots of bunting, so contrived as to appear, even at a short distance, like solid pieces of architecture." On the top of each was a flag-staff, on Which the Royal standard was hoisted as soon as their Majesties ar-
• rived. From various other parts of the bridge a variety of flags and colours were displayed. The tickets of admission within the barriers of the bridge were so sparingly and judiciously distributed as to prevent the risk of any inconvenient crowding. At two o'clock, the band of the 9th Lancers, in their new uniforms, marched into the town, and took up a position about midway between the two bridges ; a detach merit of the same regiment, about the same time, passed over the new bridge on to the Egham Road, on which they were to act as an escort to their Majesties. At the south side of the bridge, some companies of the Grenadier Guards were stationed to receive the Royal visiters on their arrival.
At four o'clock, the Royal party arrived at the barrier at the Surry side. Their Majesties were accompanied by a numerous suite; and were received by as hearty a cheer as had sounded through the sedges of Father Thames since first his waters took their course seaward.
When their Majesties had passed through the second triumphal arch and entered Staines' they were met by .a deputation of the inhabitants, headed by the Rev. Mr. Govett, who, in the name of his fellow towns- men, delivered the following address- " wo, your Majesty's most loyal Intl dutiful subjects, the inhabitants of the ancient town of Staines, beg humbly to approach your Majesty, not in the idle language of flattery, but with the honest sincerity and cordial attachment of linglishmen,to express to your Majesty our most grateful souse of your Majesty's kindness and condescension in thus visiting our ton n. We presume to congratulate your Majesty on the comple- tion of this bridge, commenced and finished under your Majesty's auspices. We look back with feelings of pride and veneration to the history which informs us of the visit of Kin; .1011u to this ancient town, on the eve of the signing of the great charter of our liberl i..s and rights, and we trust that this your royal visit will equally live in the grateful remembrance of ourselves and our posterity. And we, your Maje,ty's loyal subjects, devoutly pray that Divine Providence may long preserve your Majesty and your Majesty's Royal Consort to reign as well over as iu the hearts and affections of your Majesty's most loyal people."
We wish Lord Grey would appoint a reporter royal, for the purpose of attending his Majesty on such occasions as those we are noticing.
It is a hard thing, that while the words of so many insignificant indi- viduals are forced upon our notice, those which drop from the lips of our Sovereign, must, for lack of such an organ, be lost to his peo- ple. George the Third, we believe, could not speak at all in public ;
George the Fourth was too fastidious to speak unless by the card ; but William the Fourth can think for himself and speak for himself, as every
King of England is entitled to do. The King, on the present occasion, began his unpremeditated reply, by expressing the satisfaction with which he received this dutiful address from the inhabitants ; in whose
welfare, as having long known them, and been a resident in their neigh- bourhood, he felt much interested. He went on to observe, that he had when a subject laid the first stone of the bridge, and that it now gave him sincere pleasure, as a Sovereign, to conclude a work which he had then commenced. He concluded by adverting to the allusion made in the address to King John ; and 'declared, with great energy, that no example of other Kings was required to remind him that it was his duty to maintain the liberties and promote the interests of his subjects, and that his loving people would ever find him ready to per, form it.
This ceremony done, the King, with the Queen and the Royal suite, proceeded on foot to the centre of the bridge, which his Majesty leisurely inspected; and then returned to the north side, where having resumed his carriage he drove off for Windsor, amidst the repeated cheers of the people.
His Majesty was dressed in plain clothes. The reporters describe him as walking feebly on returning from the bridge. It may have been so ; but the fact is, the King's appearance at all times might justify such a remark in a superficial observer. His Majesty stoops from the neck ; he is—we speak it with reverence—round-shouldered ; in his upper works, the very model of a sailor—of one who has in lus youth been accustomed to walking between-decks, where the proudest must be content to stoop if he would avoid a broken head. It is, in a great measure, this inclination of the body, derived from early habit, which makes the King appear older and less vigorous than if he had the straight back and rigid neck of a vieux On the retirement of the Royal party, the Commissioners and their friends, to the number of nearly one hundred, proceeded to the Cla- rence Hotel, where a splendid cold collation was served up in the ball- room, which was most tastefully fitted up and decorated for the oc- casion.
Of the New Bridge, whose opening we have been describing, we quote the following description from the Times—" It consists of three very flat segmental arches of granite. The middle arch of 74 feet span, and the two side arches of 66 feet each ; besides two side arches of 10 feet each for the towing-paths, and six brick arches of 20 feet span each, two on the Surry side, and four on the Middlesex side, to allow the floods to pass off. " The whole is surmounted by a plain bold cornice; and block parapet of granite, with pedestal for the lamps, and a neat toll-house. The approaches to the Bridge on either side form gentle curves of easy ascent. The cost of the Bridge and approaches has been about 41,000/. The appearance of the whole is very light and elegant. This is owing chiefly to the slight dimensions of the piers, which are smaller in proportion to the span of the arches they support than those of any other bridge in England ; but this slight appearance does not, we understand, detract in any degree from their strength, or from the durability of the superincumbent structure." The good people. of Staines have, it appears from the same authority, been unfortunate of late in their bridges—‘f The first erection men- tioned in the archives of Staines, was a wooden bridge, said to have been erected in the year 1262; it was constructed of piles of oak driven into the bed of the river and covered with planks. We hear of no new erection from that period down to the year 1794; but from that year to the present, there have been not less than four new bridges in succession, and on nearly the same site. In the year 1794 and 1795, a new bridge, of three semicircular arches of stone, from the design of the celebrated Paul Sandby, was erected, but, from some defect in its construction, it lasted only five years, when it was replaced by a very elegant bridge of one arch, of 180 feet span, of cast iron, from the design of Mr. Thomas Wilson, the architect of the celebrated bridge over the river Weir, at Sunderland. The design was attributed to the noted author of the Rights of Man; but the arch designed by him was cast in the year 1790, by Messrs. Walkers, at Rotherham, whence it was brought to London, and erected at the bowling-green of the York- shire Stingo publichouse, where it was exhibited to the public; Paine not being able to defray the expense, the arch was taken down and car- tied back to Rotherham; part of it was afterwards used in the Sunder- land bridge, and part, it is supposed, in the Staines bridge. This last, like its immediate predecessor, was not destined to last long, for it had scarcely been opened one month, when it was found necessary to close it to the public, the arch having sunk in a very alarming degree. His late Majesty King George the Third was said to have been among the last to pass over it. In this emergency the late Mr. Rennie was con- sulted, who pronounced the bridge altogether dangerous, in consequence of the weakness of the abutments. No alternative remained but to remove the iron bridge entirely, and patch up the old wooden bridge Until a new one of wood was built. That bridge, which is the present old bridge, continued to stand, with various repairs and alterations, until the year 18:1S, when, in consequence of the decay of the piles, and the continual heavy expenses required to uphold it, the Commissioners determined to build a new one of more durable materials. Messrs. Rennie were therefore applied to for designs, and a bill was brought into Parliament to authorize the Commissioners to raise funds. The works were commenced in the spring of 1829, and on the 14th of Sep- tember following the first steno was laid by their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Clarence (their present Majesties). Since then, the works have been carried on tertheir present completion under the direction of Mr. G. Rennie and Mr. Brown, the superintendents, and Messrs. Jolliffe and Banks, the contractors."
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