city, and will be advantageous to those who aim at such advancement by the same noble medium! The ROTUNDA is a large room, where the brokers assemble to transact their business, where the public make purchases in the funds, and where bargains are daily concluded. The dome, which originally covered this building, having been constructed of very perishable materials, and partly covered with copper, without any regard to the preservation of the timbers, was surveyed in 1794, and found to be in such a dangerous and ruinous state, as to render it necessary to take the whole down. Lanthorn lights, made to open, were then proposed to light the saloon. The great iron stoves, which formerly occupied a vast space, were ordered to be removed, and open fire places adopted in their stead, as being less prejudicial; and these also encreased the space, as well as the ventilation of the building. The present structure is fifty-eight feet in diameter, and the same number of feet in height to the gallery, under the lanthorn lights. The whole is of solid materials, without timber, and was erected in 1795, from the designs and under the direction of John Soane, Esq. R. A. Adjoining to the Rotunda is the TRANSFER OFFICE, through which is the entrance to the NEW THREE PER CENTS. WARRANT OFFICE. The Consol Office being found too small for the prodi gious encrease of debts in the funds. The magnificent room, by the above description, was erected by Mr. Soane, from models of the antient Roman baths, and consists of arches springing from piers, fancifully ornamented. In the centre is a dome, on which is a lanthorn light, decorated with caryatides, which support its roof. The great arches and soffites The inhabitants of Caria, a city of Peloponessus, having joined the Persians in a war against the rest of the Greeks, and that war be ing terminated by the defeat of the Persians, the Greeks declared war against soffites of the cieling are enriched with sunk pannels, roses, and other antique ornaments; the whole being a close imitation from the antients. There is no timber in any part of the construction of this building. At the end of this room is the INTERIOR OFFICE, which was constructed in consequence of a regulation mad a few years since, for more effectually securing the public from depredations by forgery, and other illegal practices. The egress from the rooms into Lothbury is under a pavilion of Corinthian columns, partly formed from models of the temple at Tivoli, in the Italian states, and partly from the antient structures at Athens. The great roses in the cieling are exact copies, both in form and dimensions, with those in the temple of Mars the Avenger, built by the em peror Augustus, after the battle of Actium; and were executed from a model cast from the original at Rome. BANK STOCK OFFICE. This and the surrounding offices were built by Sir Robert Taylor, from the exact model of the church of St. Martin in the Fields, about the year 1766. Being, however, upon a survey, found in a ruinous state, two of the rooms have against the Cariates, took their city, demolished it, put all the males to the sword, carried the females into captivity; and, to treat them with the greater ignominy, forbad the ladies to divest themselves of their robes, or any of their ornaments, that so they might not only be once led in triumph, but, in a manner, suffer the shame of it all their lives after, by appearing constantly in the same dress as on the day of tri-. umph and further, as an everlasting testimony of the punishment inflicted on the Caryates, and to inform posterity what had been the nature of their chastisement, the architects of that time, instead of columns, employed the representations of these women to support the entablatures of their public buildings. The Lacedemonians did the same thing after the battle of Platea; erecting with the spoils taken from the enemy, a gallery, which they called Persian, wherein statues, in the form of captive Persians, in their usual dresses, supported the vault; intending thereby to punish that nation in such a manner as its pride had merited, and leave to posterity a monument of the valour and victories of the Lacedemonians.-Sir William Chambers's Treatise on Civil Architecture, p. 36, been been pulled down, namely, THE BANK STOCK OFFICE, and the office adjoining, and it is intended that they shall form one of THE CONSOL OFFICES. The new buildings are in combustible; and are entirely constructed of solid materials, exactly upon the same principle, in the same forms, and the stile of decoration as the room last described. LOTHBURY COURT. This is of a triangular form, and gives immediate access to the CONSOL OFFICES, and to the BULLION COURT and OFFICE. It has been formed at different periods; the columns and their capitals are of the Corinthian order, and are copied from the remains of that elegant specimen of antient architecture, the lesser temple of the Sybils, near Tivoli, one of the most perfect examples of the Corinthian order. The entablature and attic are in the true Grecian stile, taken from ruins as far dated as the time of Pericles. The south side is an imitation of the triumphal arch of Constantine the Great, at Rome, with statues representing the four quarters of the globe. The bassi relievi are spiritedly executed by the eminent skill of the late Thomas Banks, Esq. R. A. and allegorically represent the Thames and the Ganges, allusive of the vast extent of British commerce. The front, containing THE LODGE, having been built long before the other parts were in contemplation, is, therefore, totally unconnected with those already described; but we understand it is intended, that this shall correspond with the other sides, according to a design made for that purpose, by which the whole will be uniform and magnificent. CHIEF CASHIER'S OFFICE. This room is of large dimensions, proportioned to the importance and extent of the business that is transacted there. The construction of the office is of solid materials, without timber, and is in imitation of the Temple of the Sun and Moon, at Rome. The stile of decoration is of the most simple kind, and the lights are conveyed from large and lofty windows. VOL. III. No. 54. Connected |