alttrapolis.

A deputation from the Institute of British Architects, accompanied ty sone Members of Parliament, waited on Lord John Manners and Gene- ral Peel, on Monday, to put in a complaint that the architects who had carried off the prize in the competition for the new Foreign Office and new barracks, were not allowed to superintend the work. Mr. Beresford Hope introduced the deputation and dated the grievance. Those who responded to the invitation ef Government have lost much in their pri- vate business. The gentlemen who have sent in designs have expended a very large amount of thought, time, and money, the inducement being the chance of having to execute the work if the plans were approved of. Nevertheless, all the work now going to be done was the erection of a small barrack, which would cost about 50001., while the Treasury had thrown over the whole competition and had reverted to the old plan of trusting the work to an official architect. The plans of that gentleman were pronounced to be wholly inadequate, in point of architecture and accommodation. Mr. Hammond of the Foreign Office had stated that the least capacity necessary in a suitable Foreign Office would be 78,000 square feet; whereas, Mr. Pennethorne's designs were for a building of only 38,000 feet. Lord John Manners believed that was exclusive of the upper story ; but Mr. Hope maintained that the design was still in- adequate. Mr. Tite showed that the 50001. expended in premiums for the public office designs among 200 competitors, was insufficient; each of the competitors having, probably, expended on an average not less than 1501. The precedent for giving the execution of the work to the suc- cessful competitor was distinctly marked in the case of the Houses of Parliament, which were intrusted to Sir Charles Barry, although the Government architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was a very eminent man. Professor Donaldson had been the professional adviser of the committee to which the designs for barracks had been submitted, and he had cer- tainly understood that the prizemen themselves were to have the execu- tion of the accepted designs. Mr. Digby Wyat observed that the sum for the proposed barracks was estimated at 100,0001., whereas now' Go- vernment said they only intended to spend 5000/. on a barrack at Not- tingham. The most serious result of the course taken by the Govern- ment would be the effect it would have upon smaller corporations who following the precedent now set them, would have greater disinclination than ever to place confidence in their professional advisers.

To these representations and more besides, Lord John Manners lis- tened very patiently, promising to the subject his best attention, but ex- plaining that he could not undertake to make any statement; nor did he believe that any Government in this country could fulfil the pleasant idea that it was to execute magnificent public works.

General Peel must disclaim any responsibility for anything which had occurred up to that time. He had inquired the reason why the plans of the successful prizemen had not been carried out, and the answer he had received was, that although large sums had been voted for improving barrack accommodation they had all been spent upon old buildings, or upon works which were previously in progress; with the exception of a barrack at Gosport, which, forming a portion of the defences of the lines, could not be built upon the plans selected for premiums. With respect to the trifling sum which was about to be spent at Nottingham, he saw no reason why the prizemen if they could adapt their plans to the cir- cumstances of the case, should not superintend its outlay if they thought fit to undertake so small an affair.

This answer, as it admitted the principle in question, appeared to satisfy the deputation.

At a meeting Of the Court of Aldermen on Tuesday, a letter was read from Mr. N. J. Senior to the Town-Clerk, stating that the Lord Chan- cellor was about to issue a commission of toyer and terminer to try Simon Bernard at the Central Criminal Court. The Lord Chancellor thinks that the names of the Lord Mayor, the Aldermen, the Recorder, the Com- mon Sergeant, and the City Pleader, should be inserted in the commis- sion, and he asked for a list of their names, and this has been supplied. Alderman Copeland thinks that "this is a very pleasing and a very pro- per compliment to the authorities of the City.' The West End and Crystal Palace Railway was opened for traffic on Monday from the station near Chelsea Bridge to the Palace : the bridge was also opened to the public on the same day. The opening of the rail- way was celebrated on Saturday, by a trip along the line the train bearing a party of the Directors of the railway, of the Palm, and of the Brighton Rsilway, and their friends ; who afterwards dined together in the Palace. The new line is about eight miles long. Commencing by the river-bank, it passes under the South-Western Railway, runs alongside of that line to Wandsworth Common, then proceeds by Tooting, Streatham, Balham Hill, and Norwood, to the Crystal Palace station. The cost has been very heavy—between 600,0001. and 700,0001. ; there is a tunnel half a mile long under the Palace and the hill it stands on, and a shorter one at Streatham. A pier is in course of construction at the Battersea terminus for the landing of passengers from steamers : as we have stated on a former occasion, it is proposed to make a bridge across the Thames and carry the line to Pimlico, so as to afford real accommo- dation to the West-end of London. The Crystal Palace line will carry passengers to Brighton, Dover, and other places on the South and South- Eastern coasts.

The Regent Street tradesmen are menaced by an invasion of noise. The new Vestry Board of St. James's proposes to extinguish the reign of M'Adam in that fashionable thoroughfare, and to pave the roadway from end to end with stones just as the Strand and Piccadilly are paved. On Wednesday the tradesmen held a meeting in the Hanover Square Rooms, Mr. Donald Nicoll in the chair, and passed resolutions con- demning the proposed change as injurious to their property. They want to have the Metropolis Local Management Act amended so as to enable them to assess themselves for the cost of paving, cleansing, watering, lighting, and partially watching the street; - and they propose to apply for an injunction to restrain the Vestry from proceeding to pave the carriage-way. [This suggests an extension of "local self- government" not contemplated by the most extreme advocates of parish management. If the prayer of Regent Street is granted how could the prayer of any other street be well denied?]

New Covent Garden Theatre is so far advanced towards completion that Mr. Gye has ventured to fix upon Monday May 15 as the opening night ; the first performance to be a grand opera.' The building was not begun six months ago. Externally it is 100 feet high, 122 feet broad, 240 feet long ; one-fifth larger than the late theatre, and about the same size as La Scala at Milan. The roof, fire-proof, roomy, light, and of enormous strength, is composed of nine great lattice girders of wrought iron, and over them a furrow roof of glass and iron. Between each pair of girders are rooms 90 feet long, 20 wide, and 14 high. To these girders will hang an ornamental dome-shaped ceiling in white and gold. The stage will be an unbroken square of 90 feet, and 50 feet high. The form of the interior is not horseshoe, but shaped like a Greek theatre, a semicircle with prolonged sides. There will be three tiers of boxes, each box being 9 feet 6 inches high. There will be eleven rows of pit-stalls and ten rows of pit-seats. The Queen will have a private box, with a private entrance and staircase ; and the Duke of Bedford similar accommodation on a smaller scale. The grand entrance will be under the portico in Bow Street. The crush-room will be 80 feet long, 30 wide, and 30 high. In order to make the house pay as a speculation, Mr. (lye contemplates a series of dramatic entertainments in the winter months. To carry out this idea, the pit tier of boxes has been con- structed so that they may be entirely removed.

" The thirteenth anniversary- of the Royal Theatrical Fund was cele- brated by a dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern on Monday. Mr. Thackeray from the chair, and Mr. Dickens and Mr. Buckstone made speeches, according to the annual custom. The society has in thirteen years accumulated 10,0001., and expended many hundreds a year to the widow, the orphan, and the distressed. The subscriptions of the evening formed a total of 400/.

In his speech Mr. Thackeray went back to the origin of the drama, and introduced Solon and Thespis.

"Solon, being one of the greatest persons in Athens, consented to witness a dramatic representation by_ Thespis, its discoverer, who went in a waggon —no doubt a stage-waggon, about a theatrical circuit. (Laughter.) Having witnessed the performance Solon sent for Thespis, and having a

large stick in his hand, he said to How dare you tell such a parcel of lies?' Thespis remonstrated, and said that his songs and interludes were not Meant to be taken as matters of fact, but were simply intended to amuse. On which Solon thumped his stick on the ground and said, Begone A man who will tell such fibs on the stage would forge a bill of exchange.' (Laughter.) This story is told in Plutarch's Life of Solon, and I never read of his life after that. (" Hear " and laughter.) There • ate Solons among us even now. There was a Solon in a German band who once said to me that he did not read novels because they were not true. ("Hear, hear !" and laughter.) This was worthy of a Solon, for a Solon may be a pompous humbug, though he thinks himself far above a wandering actor. But because Solon is so wise and virtuous, is there any reason why there shall be no more cakes and ale ? No; despite of Solon's gravity, all youth and humour say we Will have our sport ; Harlequin shall dance with Columbine, the Clown shall eat his sausage, and Hamlet shall kill his wicked uncle, and we will not be horrified at the transaction. Claude Melnotte shall still walk up and down with Pauline under the spangled heavens, and still adorned with a pair of spangled tights, and we will have our sports, and our sports despite of all the Solons with sticks as thick as a beadle's."

Mr. Buckstone said he rose to speak on the same theme for the thir- teenth time.

"Paganini certainly executed many extraordinary andvarious passages on one string of his violin, but to continue for many years to preach from one text is an exploit which, I think, would somewhat puzzle even the Reve- rend Mr. Spurgeon. However, I will endeavour to bees varied as possible, and state facts, and exhibit fancies, as clearly as may be in my power, to the ladies and gentlemen present. I say ladies and gentlemen, because both are not only here tonight, but they are placed according to the arrange- ment of a pious quadrille—suggested by the reverend gentleman I have alluded to—the ladies by themselves, and the gentlemen by themselves ; though I have little doubt, if a dance were to be proposed in the course of this evening, that, in defiance of the plan of the preacher, we should find that the ladies and gentlemen would speedily amalgamate." (Applause and laughter.) Then came praise of Mr. Thaekeray and Mr. Dickens ; a defence of charity-dinners—that "honest and hearty English method of doing good" ; and finally a warm appeal to the pockets of his audience. Mr. Dickens proposed the health of the "noble English writer," "the skilful showman" in "Vanity Fair," who filled the chair that night. He interpolated an account of his duties as a trustee of the fund. "The duties of a trustee of the Theatrical Fund, an office which I hold, are not so frequent or so great as its privileges. He is in fact a mere walking gentleman—with the melancholy difference that he has no one to love. (Laughter.) If this advantage could be added to his character it would be one of a more agreeable nature than it is, and his forlorn position would be greatly improved. His duty is to call every half-year at the bankers, when he signs his name in a large greasy inconvenient book, to certain documents of which he knows nothing, and then he delivers it to the property man and exits anywhere. He, however, has many privileges. It is one of his pri- vileges to watch the steady growth of an institution in which he takes great interest; it is one of his privileges to bear his testimony to the prudence, the goodness, the self-denial, and the excellence of a clam of persons who have been too long depreciated, and whose virtues are too much denied, out of the depths of an ignorant and stupid superstition. And lastly, it is one of his privileges sometimes to be called on to propose the health of the chair- man at the annual dinners of the institution, when that chairman is one for whose genius he entertains the warmest admiration and whom he respects as a friend, and as one who does honour to literature and in whom literature is honoured. I say when that is the ease, he feels that this last privilege is a great and high one." (Loud cheers.) Judging from the frequent bursts of merriment, the theatrical con.vi- vialists must have been highly amused by these oratorical exercitations.

The Artists' General Benevolent Institution held its anniversary din- ner at the Freemasons' Tavern on Saturday ; Lord Elcho in the chair. Ile described the state of affairs as "most satisfactory." The Society has 19,000/. invested. Last year they expended 1010/. in grants. The sum subscribed in the course of the evening was TOO/.

The eleventh anniversary dinner in aid of the fund of the Asylum for Idiots wan held at the London Tavern on Wednesday, the Duke of Wellington in the chair. The society has establishments at Earlswood, Redhill, and Essex Hall, Colchester. They accommodate three hundred patients, and have demands upon them for the accommodation of two hun- dred more. To meet this demand the directors require from 50001. to 10,0001. in addition to their ordinary resources. The dinner produced 35001.

• A British Workman's Emigration Association has been formed to elable workmen of good character to emigrate. A meeting was held on Tuesday in Whiteehapel, to raise funds for promoting the scheme. A

committee was formed for that purpose. Among its members are Lord Ebury, Mr. John Labouchere, Mr. A. F. Ridgway, and Mr. Ilanbury MY. The plan is to lend money to emigrants, trusting to their honesty for its repayment.

The scheme of the Crystal Palace Company for giving an increased value to their shares by the admission of the holders to the Palace on Sunday has been stopped by Vice-Chancellor Page Wood. Mr. Rendall, a shareholder, sought an injunction to prevent the carrying out of the plan, on the ground that Sunday opening is contrary to the Company's charter. The Vice- Chancellor decided that such opening would be a direct violation of the charter; and he granted an inj action.

Vice-Chancellor Page Wood has also refused to accede to a motion on the part of the official managers appointed for winding-up the Eastern Banking Corporation, to restrain certain creditors who would continue proceedings to make the company bankrupt. He does not think that throwing the concern into bankruptcy would be a wise act ; but the creditors have the legal right, and ought not to be debarred from the exercise of it.

William Lakey, late master of the brig Clipper, of Dartmouth, and John Manhood, his mate, have been remanded by the Thames Police Magistrate an a charge of feloniously sinking the vessel at sea, near Dungeness with intent to defraud the underwriters of the ship. Foul play having lx4n sus- pected, the ship was carefully raised from the bed of the sea ; and it was discovered that auger-holes had been made in the hull.

The Thames Police Magistrate has committed 'Attlee Morton, a young married woman, on a charge of stealing 122/. from Charles Scares, a fellow lodger. In the course of many years' service, Scares had saved 137/. 108. ; this he foolishly kept in his room - losing interest and exposing himself to robbery ; and at length nearly all ids hoard was stolen.

Sarah Jones has been committed by the Greenwich Magistrate on four charges of defrauding the South-Eastern and Oxford, Worcester, and Wol- verhampton Railway Companies by means of false statements of hurts received in collisions on the lines.

Fourteen persons were burnt to death in a house in Gilbut Street, Bloomsbury, on Sunday morning. The house was occupied by three families. Mr. Eastwood, his wife and three children, lived in the first-door; Mr. Hedger, his wife and two children, and Mr. Smith, his wife and nine children, on the second-floor. The ground-floor, on a level with the street, was used as a carpenter's shop. Between two and three in the morning a policeman, attracted by a cry, discovered that the horse.was on ire. While he was speaking to a man at one of the windows the flames burst through the shop-window in his face, and a youth, leaping from an upper story, fell upon him. The youth was mortally hurt; the policeman stunned. At this moment John Curie, a working man, came up, and another policeman ; and directed by Eastwood from the window, they dragged a ladder from a build- ing opposite ; placed it against the house, and brought down Eastwood and his family. All the rest in the house perished. Eastwood acted with great coolness. Finding the flames rushing up the stairs he locked the door, and when the ladder was planted firmly, he handed his wife and children one by one out of the window, coming last himself, just as the flames burst into the room. A fire-escape arrived too late, having been delayed by obstructions in the street. The engines did not arrive until the flameah.d gained com- plete ascendancy, but water was abundant, and they speedily extinguished the flames. The house was a ruin. The firemen, however, soon went in to look for the dead. They found fourteen bodies ; the youngest two years old, the eldest fifty-three. There seems reason to believe that all died from suffocation, except Mrs. Smith, whose features showed symptoms of great physical suffering. All, except one lad, were in their night-dresses.

A Coroner's inquest was opened on Tuesday ; when the incidents of the calamity above described were stated by witnesses. Nothing was learnt as to the origin of the fire. The inquest is adjourned to allow a post-mortem examination of the bodies.

The great eight-oared University race—" the Derby of the Thames "— was rowed on Saturday, between the Oxford and Cambridge crews. The course was from Putney Bridge to Mortlake. The throng of people in steam- ers and row-boats and on the banks and bridges was very great, the day being fine. Mr. J. W. Chitty, Fellow of Exeter College, Orford, was um- pire. Shortly after starting both boats had mishaps. The Cambridge men soon began to draw ahead, and continued to increase their advantage, in spite of the gallant efforts of the Oxonians ; and finally the Cambridge boat came in about three lengths ahead of its opponent, performing the dis- tance in 21 minutes 23 seconds.

It has been explained since, by Messrs. Searle and another correspondent of the Times, that the race was no race at all, because the Oxford men were seriously impeded by an accident. " Palinorns " says—" As I have seen the boat in the state in which it came from the race, in the company of the captain and the trainer of the Cambridge crew' perhaps you will allow me to state what it was that prevented Oxford from ever rowing at all like themselves from first to last on that day. At the fourth stroke a wave in the troubled water caught the stroke oar with such tremendoas force as to deflect the strong outrigger of wrought iron into a curve downwards, and to cast the thowl or forward pin of the rowlock, on which the whole pressure of the oar comes, no less than 11 inch from the perpendicular outwards. This inclination equals one-third of the whole height of the rowlock, which was bent therefore 30 degTees from its rectangular position. The effect of this deflection was that there remained no longer anything to row against, and, the cord which lashes the two thowls together being also snapped by the shock, the oar jumped up at every stroke. In consequence, the rowing, which the day before had been as perfect as any ever witnessed, became a mere scramble, for the stroke was gone which alone could give the time and insure uniformity of work, and the unflinching gallantry with which every man rowed down to the very end could not countervail its loss."