THE HOUSE OF LORDS

Is situated on the northern side of the building, about two hundred yards east of the Victoria Tower; the exterior presents no enriched architectural features; but its massive walls are well proportioned, and please the eye by their solid appearance. As seen from the House Court, the exterior shows a low and boldly embattled portion, resting on an arcade of flattened arches, with windows of square form, traceried, and having moulded weather-tables; a string-course, with pateræ, runs along above the window. This portion serves as the corridor of the House, and projects many feet from the main building. Above this, the six finely-proportioned windows of the House are seen; and between each a plain massive buttress. The windows have weather-tables, and a string-course, with pateræ, decorates the walls above the windows, whilst lofty battlements crown the whole.

The interior presents a noble room, ninety feet by forty-five feet; and in height forty feet: without doubt the finest specimen of Gothic architecture in Europe. The general effect on entering, is gorgeous in the extreme such a blaze of gilding, carving and coloured decorations is not to be elsewhere found in England; whilst the noble proportions of the apartment, the elaborately carved panels, and the brilliant colours which meet the eye on every side, contribute to produce a coup d'œil at once startling and beautiful. At the upper end is the throne which her Majesty occupies on state occasions: to the right is a chair for the Prince of Wales: and to the left a corresponding one for Prince Albert. The Lord Chancellor sits immediately below the throne on what is called the Woolsack. In the centre is the clerks' table, which together with the chairs, are formed of oak, by Mr. Webb of Old Bond Street; and to the right and left are benches, covered with red morocco leather, for the exclusive use of the Peers. The ceiling is most striking in its appearance; the massive tie-beams, apparently of solid gold, so richly bedight as they are with that precious metal, and the minute carving which fills up the lozenge-formed compartments, aided by the glowing and harmonious colours of the devices, painted on the flat surface of the ceiling, all produce an absolutely imposing and gorgeous effect. The House is lighted by twelve windows, six on each side, ornamented with quatrefoil tracery, filled with stained glass, executed by Messrs. Ballantine and Allan, of Edinburgh, representing the kings and queens of Scotland and England, both consort and regnant, chronologically arranged from William the Norman, to William IV. From the windows downwards, the walls are lined with elaborately-carved oak panelling: at every third panel is an exquisitely carved pillar, crowned with a bust of one of the kings of England.

At each end of the apartment are three archways, corresponding in size and mouldings with the windows; on the surface of the wall, within the arches, are the following fresco paintings, illustrative of the functions of the House of Lords, and of the relation in which it stands to the Sovereign. In the recesses at the south end are the following:-Edward III. conferring the Order of the Garter upon Edward the Black Prince. bv C. W. Cope, A.R.A.; the bap