"The undersigned Ne•chants of the City of London are of opinion, that, in fhe construction of the new Royal Exchange, sufficient attention has not been paid to the comfort of those ho attend the same, and beg most respectfully to submit to the Gresham Committee the fidlowing alterations, which are necessary before they can assemble there without danger to their health and personal comfbrt. The alterations sug gested are :-1. That the area be covered in. '2. That some remedy be provided to remove the cold damp from the pavement. That a remedy be also provided to protect them from the currents of air.'' The above petition has been signed by iNleissrs. Barings, Hothsehilds, Heath, Norris Prevost, 1)oxat and Co., Lemme and Co., and some hundreds of the first firms in the city. After much discussion in Committee, the clerk was directed to communicate to the memorialists :— " That hi the month of September, in the year 1S3S, before the I Iresham Committee took any steps whatever as to the erection of a new building, they applied by circular to most of the leading merchants and brokers, requesting their opi nion as to whether the new Exchange should be a covered hall, or partially open, as in the original Exchange of Nr. T. Gresham, and in the one recently destroyed ; that besides, the Committee took every opportunity, by personal inquiry, of ascertaining the wishes of their fellow-eitizens on the subject ; that the result of the circular, and of these inquiries, was, that a large majority wished the Exchange to be partially open, as heretofore, alleging the great noise in the Bourse at Paris, and the necessity for ventilation of the most free kind, as their reasons for the decision ; that in consequence of this determination, they directed a part of the merchants' area to be left uncovered as before, but that, for greater shelter, they further directed that the covered space should be increased from one-halt; (the proportion of the space covered in the late building.) to two-thirds; and that the architect of the present edifice had strictly followed out these instructions; and, for these reasons, the Committee could not comply with the wishes of the merchants ; that, with regard to currents of air, the committee had directed such inner doors to be put up, at the north and south entrances, a4 might check the draughts, at the same time pro viding that such doors should not interfere with the extensive uses of the area of the Exchange, as a thoroughfare to all the neighbouring streets, the Bank, the Stock Exchange, and other important public and private buildings of the neie.hbourhood." We have given the above, as apropos to the question of a roofed or unroofed area, though this is hardly the proper place for a petition delivered some months after the Exchange had been opened for business. Such a petition, however, proves clearly the justice of the observations we, in CO111111011 With the great body of the profession, have urged to the cen tral space of the building having been left, uncovered.
To return from this apparent digression.—Afte• much con sideration as to whether the material employed should be magnesian limestone, similar to that used for the Houses of Parliament, it was determined that the whole of the of the building, with the exception of the soele or stylobate (which was to be of granite) should be Portland stone of the best quality. This point having been decided, the Gresham Committee at length found themselves in a position to enter On the contracts for the new structure. About fourteen of the principal builders were applied to, and sent in tenders; and those of :Messrs. Webb for the first contract, (the excavation and concrete foundation) ; and of Mr. J. J ack s,un for the second (the super-structure),—were accepted. The first was for £8,000—the last for LI 15.000.
In excavating the merchants' area, (originally intended to have been left solid,) for the purpose of extending the base ment beneath that part of the plan : a number oh' antiquities were discovered, beneath what was the west wall of the tbrmer building ; in particular, the remains of some Roman structure were found, which proved, on examination, to have been built on a very large pit or pond, irregular in shape, but about 50 feet in length from north to south, 31 in breadth. and 13 in depth. This pit was filled with hardened mud, in which were immense quantities of bones of sheep, of bones and horns of stags, also numerous fragments of the red Roman pottery, usually called Samian ware, pieces of glass, and glass vessels, broken lamOs, &c., and several copper coins, two of the emperor Vespasian, the remainder of Domi tian—all of which antiquities were, by the terms of the con tract, reserved for the Gresham Committee. On Monday the 17th January, 184'2, the first stone was laid by His Royal Highness Prince Albert, with much state and cere mony, a full description of which appeared in the newspapers of the day ; and the works then proceeded with such rapidity, that in three years from that date the new Ih e al Exchange was completed—a very brief space of time for such a work, especially considering that it consists entirely of stone.
On Nonday the 28th of October, 1844, the Exchange was opened by Queen Victoria in person. The " pomp and
circumstance" of such a ceremonial are not for a work like the present, they have been duly chronicled by those publications which record so faithfully and so minutely events like these : but the following observations, which appeared in one of the newspapers at the time, seem so pertinent to the subject, that we think their insertion here not inappropriate. " The pre sent ceremonial," says the writer, " will, in many things, resetnble that which was presided over by the Virgin Queen for state and its observance': partake of the tradi tional, and are transmitted down with comparatively slight changes. But in all else how different ! What an empire! and what a metropolis! How vast the increase in all that constitutes the strength of nations, in the England of Vic toria, since it was the England of Elizabeth ! The empire is one of many tongues and nations ; the population of its chief city is counted, not by thousands, but by hundreds of thousands ; and as for the commerce of the realm and city of Gresham's royal mistress, it was, as compared with that of the England and London of to-day, but as the rivulet to the ocean ; its development has been as vast as that which could bring Dodona's forest frotn an :morn cup.' Between the day on which a Queen of England passed through the Tem ple-Gate to open the first Royal Exchange—and the hour which will see another Queen of the same fair land pass along the same road on the same august errand—great has been the destiny of England among the nations of the world ! At this point the mind naturally goes forward to the future, and asks itself the question, what will be the state of this crowning pity,' of the traffickers of the earth, when three centuries shall have passed over the now white walls, the fhir chambers, and sculptured portico. of' the new Exchange ? What will be the condition of the empire, when the gene ration that gazes on the pageantry of to-clay, shall—with many succeeding ones—be mingled with the dust'? They are solemn questions; and, happily for us, can find no answer froin human intelligence. The misery. of Adam, when the angel, inlilton's i Ilimortal epic, revealed to hint time doom of the future race of nein, is but a tope of what would be felt In .. if he coining time were not. with infinite wisdom and merry. bidden from our ken. The past we know ; the pre sent we can govern : for the future we can only hope, making our tans such as to render a cheerful hope justifiable. Let the spirit of commerce, then, when it takes up its new abode, work with the energy and activity that have always marked it. Above all, let it preserve that integrity and commercial honour which have been so long the pride of the English merchant. and then will it have done the best to secure a still fmther development or the N•e:11th, extent, power, and number of that realm over which Elizabeth watched, and which Victoria now rules; queens, who, differ ing in much, vet resemble each other in the extent to which they have commanded the loyalty and affection of the people; and in this also—that the commercial activity of their res pective received the countenance of both. In its reticence to our history, the opening of the NEW 1ZOYAL EXCHANGE by QUEEN VICTORIA, is one of the most interest ing events of modern times." We must not conclude our description of this magnificent building, without reference to the sculpture with which the new loyal Exchange has been adorned. That by Mr. Richard \V estmacott, in the tympanum of the pediment at the west front, deserves the earliest and highest mention, both from its position and its merit. in subject, it nevertheless avoids the objections to which such compositions are generally liable. It consists of seventeen figures, carved in compact limestone, and, with two exceptions, modelled as entire and detached figures. The which feet high, represents Commerce ; with her mural crown, her cornucopia, bee-hive, and other accessories. Iler left hand holds the charter of the Exchange. her right rests on part of a ship; two dolphins and a shell forming her pedestal. The groups on either side consist. on the right, of three British merchants in their ie rlibes—as lord-mayor, alderman, and common-councilman ; two Asiatics, a luindoo, and a M ahom medal', in appropriate Costume; a Greek bearing a jar; an Armenian scholar. anal a Turkish merchant ; and, on the left, of two British merchants examining some woven fabric shown to them by a Persian ; a Chinese ; a sailor of the Levant ; a negro ; a British sailor cording a bale of cot ton. &c.; a super-cargo, or factory agent. The opposite angles are filled with anchors, jars, packages, and other nan_ tical and commercial emblems. The arches of the upper story are decorated with the arms of various nations, accord ing to the order determined at the congress of Vienna—the arms of England occupying the centre of the eastern side. The sheltered walk for the merchants also has the ceiling and sides panelled, painted, and emblazoned with the arms of countries and monarchs ; namely, Edward the Confessor. Edward III.. Elizabeth, and Charles II. In the south-east angle there is a statue of Queen Elizabeth, and in the south west a statue of Charles 11.