so many public works manifest the increasing taste, or luxury of the
age, they employ and give encouragement to numerous artists, artisans,
and tradesmen.

Of _the Royal Palace_, suffice it to remark, in this place, that it
is a large pile of building,--has been carried on with great rapidity of
execution,--its whole exterior is stone, many parts of which are adorned
with sculptured statues, basso-relievo, and other ornaments,--that a
highly-decorated triumphal arch, composed of fine white, marble, is
to be raised, at a short distance from the centre of the principal
front--and that the interior is to be splendidly adorned with marble,
scagliola, and other rich materials; whilst the galleries, armoury,
chapel, state-rooms, &c. are to display the most gorgeous ornaments of
the cabinet-maker, upholsterer, decorative painter, and other artisans.

_The Park_, in front of this palace, which had continued for nearly
a century in one state of formal, tasteless insipidity, has been laid
out as a large pleasure-garden, interspersed with lawn, clusters of
shrubs and flowers, winding walks, varied surface, and a lake, whose
margin is made to wind with every inequality of surface, spreading
occasionally into a broad expanse, and then contracting to a narrow arm.
In the midst of the larger spaces are islands, covered with aquatic
trees and shrubs.

_The Gardens_, or _Pleasure Grounds_, belonging to the Palace,
partake of the same character; but are adorned with shrubs, plants, and
flowers of a more choice description. A large piece of water is likewise
formed in the midst of these Gardens.

_Belgrave Square, and Vicinity_. Immediately to the west of the