The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 329, August 30, 1828

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Various. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 329, August 30, 1828

NEW CHURCH, BUILDING AT STAINES

THE SPECTRE'S VOYAGE

HARVEST HOME

STANZAS TO, AND IN ILLUSTRATION OF, A LANDSCAPE BY CLAUDE

MARCH OF "IMPROVEMENT."

INTRODUCTION OF SILK INTO EUROPE

LADIES' FASHIONS

RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF SMITHFIELD

THE ANECDOTE GALLERY

THE ANDALUSIAN ASS

SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY

IMPROVED SAFETY LAMP

EPITAPH ON A FRENCH SCOLD

THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS

PENELOPE, OR LOVE'S LABOUR LOST

DIALOGUES ON FLY FISHING

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

PAROCHIAL HISTORIES

THE GATHERER

IAMBICS

BISHOP AND NEGUS

POLITE EVIDENCE

BELL ROCK LIGHT-HOUSE

NEWSPAPER WONDERS

IMPROMPTU ON RELIEVING A BEGGAR

Отрывок из книги

Who has journeyed on the Exeter road without noticing the town of STAINES, with its host of antiquarian associations—as the Stana (Saxon) or London Stone,1 its ancient bridge, for the repair of which three oaks out of Windsor Forest were granted by the crown in the year 1262, besides pontage or temporary tolls previous to the year 1600.—Dr. Stukeley's conjectures respecting the Via Trinobantica passing here—and the old parish church, the situation of which appeared to denote the site of the more ancient town of Staines. It is here too, that the tourist begins to imagine himself in rure, after he has been whirled through the brick and mortar avenues of Kensington, and Hammersmith, and the unsightly lane-street of Brentford,2 with all its cockney reminiscences of equestrianism and election squabbles; Hounslow and its by-gone days of highway notoriety and powder-mill and posting celebrity, and Bedfont, with its yew trees tortured into peacock shapes, and the date 1704. Then, who does not recollect and venerate the convivial celebrity of this route, its luxurious inns, and their "thrones of human felicity;" along which Quin, Dr. Johnson or Shenstone could scarcely have accomplished a stage a day!

In our days, hundreds of London tourists breakfast at the Bush, although, after sixteen miles' ride, their appetites do not require this stimulant any more than do the glories of the Bush cellars after dinner.

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As one act of public spirit generally leads to another, the erection of a new stone bridge is projected at Staines; it is to be nearer the church than the present bridge, and will afford a better view of the new structure. An elegant stone bridge was erected here in 1796, but two of the piers sinking, the bridge was taken down, and an iron one substituted; this failed, and has since been supported by wooden piles and frame-work.

These additions, alterations, and improvements, ought to be made now; and I doubt not, in the course of time, all warehouses will be removed from the banks of the Thames, above Blackfriars' Bridge, and that streets will run by the waterside as at Dublin. Also the time will come when the houses round St. Paul's will be pulled down and rebuilt in the Grecian style of architecture to correspond with the cathedral (the wonder of England), and be re-erected at a much greater distance from it.

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