The Walls, Even Under The
Porticoes, Have Been So Pierced, In Order That The Whole Space Might
Be Utilized Without Loss Of Light; And The Effect Is Very Mean.
The
windows are small, and without ornament - something like a London
window of the time of George III.
The effect produced by a dozen
such at the back of a noble Doric porch, looking down among the
pillars, may be imagined.
In the interior of this building the Minister of the Interior holds
his court, and, of course, also the Commissioners of Patents. Here
is, in accordance with the name of the building, a museum of models
of all patents taken out. I wandered through it, gazing with
listless eye now upon this and now upon that; but to me, in my
ignorance, it was no better than a large toy-shop. When I saw an
ancient, dusty white hat, with some peculiar appendage to it which
was unintelligible, it was no more to me than any other old white
hat. But had I been a man of science, what a tale it might have
told! Wandering about through the Patent-office I also found a
hospital for soldiers. A British officer was with me who pronounced
it to be, in its kind, very good. At any rate it was sweet, airy,
and large. In these days the soldiers had got hold of everything.
The Treasury chambers is as yet an unfinished building. The front
to the south has been completed, but that to the north has not been
built.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 20 of 531
Words from 5012 to 5270
of 142339
