All the door-ways throughout the first and second stories are trimmed with double facia antepagmentiæ. Those in the basement and attic have single faced trimmings. They are all executed of white marble, each jamb, or antepagment, being in one stone extending through the entire t..ickness of the wall, two feet, and to the height of the door, the headpiece running through in like manner; thus completing the whole doorway with an entire architrave round it, in each apartment. In the large room, the architrave mouldings round the doors are enriched; and there is also over each door a bold enriched cornice supported by elegant Grecian consoles. It is proper to state also, that in this room all the walls, to the entire height of the Corinthian entablature, are faced with marble ashler. The trimmings to the windows correspond with those of the doors, in their respective apartments.

We have already mentioned that the beautiful corridors which extend round the large room, are constructed of iron; and as the iron work is an important item in the character and cost of the edifice, it is proper here to notice such other portions of this work as are conspicuous to the public eye.

The permanent doors, the window sashes, together with the different railings, are all constructed of iron; and in design and workmanship, they are, it is believed, unequalled by any known work of the kind in this or any other country. The elegant stands that support the mahogany desks and tables in the various offices are also made of iron. The large doors at the two principal entrances are more than three inches in thickness through the rails and stiles. The panels, eight on each side, are deeply sunken, and the mouldings enriched. Nearly all the doors throughout the building are made with sunken panels on both sides, and have a chaste Grecian ornament at each end of the panels. The locks were made by Messrs. Day & Co., which is a sufficient guarantee of the superior make and quality of the article.

All the iron work above mentioned is painted in beautiful bronze green. The color is a deep rich olive, composed of six different paints, and laid on in many different coatings. Each coating has been rubbed down with pumice stone, until a fair and even surface is obtained; then a blending of gold powder, and two coatings of the purest varnish rubbed down, complete the process. The result of a process so difficult and expensive is this that the doors, so finished, have the appearance of metallic work in real bronze; that rich and beautiful alloy so much admired, and so much used by the ancients in their statues, vases, &c. The wooden fly-doors are also painted in similar style. This work, and much other painting, graining, and labelling, were all done by Mr. John Hodgkin, of this city. All the iron work was furnished by Mr. J. G. Tibbets, and executed at his establishment in Grand street, from designs and drawings furnished by the architect.

This building is thoroughly fire-proof, not having one particle of wood or other combustible material in any part of its construction. All the floors rest upon arches of the most durable kind, being made of hard burnt bricks laid in hydraulic mortar. The mortar was composed of cement from the Rosendale works, N. Y., and sharp sand, in equal parts.

The pavements of all the floors are of blue and white marble, furnished and prepared by Messrs. Hubbard, Fox & Co., from their quarries, at West Stockbridge, Mass. All the cross-walls are two feet thick, and are built of the same kind of materials used in the construction of the arche. The main walls are constructed of marble throughout, though in many instances their interior is faced with brick and plastered. The roof also is constructed entirely of marble, and in a manner so firm, compact, and secure, as to render leakage utterly impossible. It is supported on arches. of the strongest masonry, strengthened still more with iron chain bars in every lateral direction. The large tile pieces are 4 feet long, and 3 feet 2 inches broad, 5 inches in thickness at the edges under the saddle, 4 inches across the middle, and 3 inches at the lapping. The lap is 6 inches. The saddle-pieces are 4 feet long, 15 inches broad, and 7 inches thick through at their apex. The marble of the roof and that for the skirting of the attic rooms and passages, was furnished and prepared by Messrs. Butler & Hall, from their quarries at East Chester, N. Y., 20 miles from this city. With this exception, including the marble flooring, all the marble of the superstructure was furnished and prepared by Messrs. Masterton & Smith, from the quarries of Messrs. Kain & Morgan, at East Chester. This marble is of granular formation, and purely white. The marble of the basement walls and buttresses was furnished by Messrs. Matthews, Hall & Co., from the Morrisania quarries, near West Farms, 12 miles from this city, and was worked by Messrs. Rogers & McBride, of this city. This marble is, in every respect, inferior to the East Chester marble.

The separate stones, of which the greater portion of the building is constructed, are of very large dimensions. All the pieces, 28 in number, forming the water table on the flanks, measure nearly 4 feet square and 12 feet 7 inches long; and their average weight is about 20 tons each. Two of the large buttress stones weigh nearly 30 tons each.

The stones of the architrave, in the large Doric entablature, are the same length, and nearly as large square as those in the water-table. The cornice pieces also, are very large stones, both on the horizontal lines and up the pediments. The key-stones at the apex of each pediment, the highest stones in the building, and upon which are formed the accroters at the summit, each weigh upward of twelve tons. The five pieces forming each shaft of the columns of the porticos are also large stones, weighing from ten to twelve tons each. Also the blocks, of which the entire range of ante upon each flank is formed, are large stones, weighing from 6 to 8 and 9 tons each. The shafts of the sixteen Corinthian columns in the rotunda of the large room weigh ten tons each. Beneath these, in the basement are the same number of columns, of heavy proportions, and nearly the same weight.

The execution of the marble-work of the superstructure is highly creditable to the contractors who furnished it. Equally so is the work of placing and securing such immense masses of stone in the structure, to those to whose charge the rearing up of this splendid edifice has been committed; and among those who, under the architect and superintendent, filled important stations on the work, we take pleasure in naming Mr.

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28

Edward Cook, the master-mason, Mr. John Getchell, principal stonesetter, Messrs. Cole & Barnes, plasterers and stucco-men, Mr. H. Bruhn, master-carpenter. Nor must we forget Mr. Butcher, the boss rigger, for his industry, care and skill, at whose hoarse commands the ropes, rocks, rugged men and machinery were all made to move; and who, during a seven years' service, never permitted one solitary stone to fall from its place, nor a human limb to be broken!

All the ornaments in stucco were executed by Mr. H. Kneeland, after the original designs of the architect, Mr. Frazee. The four lions' heads upon the eaves were executed by Mr. George Mortimer, from a model made by Mr. Frazee, who also gave the designs for all the furniture throughout the several apartments of the building. The mahogany furniture was all furnished by Mr. Abm. Storm, cabinet-maker, Broadway, near Grand street.

There is no building, perhaps, of modern time, so well built as this; none that is throughout constructed of such imperishable materials and workmanship. Every point of lateral thrust from the arches, or other pressure, is guarded and held secure by the strong arm of iron. Chainings, made of bars four inches broad and one inch in thickness, and of the best quality of wrought iron, extend across the building in every direction, at each series of the vaulting over the rooms and passages, thus binding and securing those heavy masses of stone and masonry, and holding them together in lasting unity, more firm and enduring than if the whole edifice were cut out of a single stone.

The blocks of marble, composing the columns of the porticos, are so closely united in the column, that the joints can scarcely be seen; and were the several pieces of a uniform color, the columns would certainly have the appearance of being cut out of a single stone each. The plan of grinding one block upon another, as they were successively set in the column, until the stones made a perfect contact at the joint, entirely round the column, is an invention of Mr. Frazee; no work of this kind had hitherto been known to exist in architectural structure. We were pleased to see Mr. Frazee's method subsequently pursued with success, in the setting of the columns in the large room of the Merchants' Exchange.

The building of the Custom House was commenced in May, 1834, and the edifice finished, with its furniture complete, in May, 1842.

It has cost

Cost of the furniture,

[New York Commercial Advertiser.]

$960,000 00

25,000 00

$985,000 00

THE QUEEN'S PRISON.

A BRIEF notice of the Act of Parliament relating to the Queen's Prison, which came into operation on Tuesday, appeared in the Times on Friday last. It appears that all the prisoners now residing in the Fleet and Marshalsea prisons, who shall not speedily obtain their discharge, must, within a specified time, be removed to the Queen's Prison. Some extraordinary removals will take place from the Fleet prison of persons who have been confined a very long period. One man, named Jeremiah Board, has been an inmate twenty-six years, and in whose case considerable property has been obtained by the Insolvent Debtors' Court. The present act relating to insolvent debtors, by the operation of the compulsory clause, has been productive of considerable benefit, and persons who had previously enjoyed their property in the rules or within the walls have found that the law was in a measure enabled to reach them. Already has the " din of preparation" towards the alterations in the Queen's Prison been heard, and the several portions in the prison to distinguish the "classes" expected to be shortly made. A marked distinction will take place in the prisoners who have undergone a rehearing and those who have not, especially among those who have been remanded by the Insolvent Debtors' Court, and parties who refuse to file their schedules under the compulsory clause. These two sets will be confined in the first class. By the recent act the Secretary of State is ordered to prepare rules for the government of the prison, which are to be laid before Parliament, and in which some strict orders respecting the supply of food are expected to be detailed, as would seem by a clause in the bill against "extravagance, and for the discipline of the prison." The future appointment of the keeper of the prison will be in the gift of the Secretary of State, and not, as at present, in the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench. The salary in future is fixed at £800. The act likewise abolishes the office of coroner for the prison, and directs that the inquests shall be held within the prison by the coroner for the city of London and borough of Southwark. There are 225 rooms in the Queen's Prison, where there are at present about 130 persons, a few of whom have since Tuesday last taken up their quarters, rather than be removed under the warrant of Lord Denman. There are about 120 persons in the Fleet, with about 50 in the Marshalsea. As many as 800 persons have resided in the Queen's prison, making a striking contrast to the number now confined. In the Fleet considerable numbers have been confined, but it now presents a desolate aspect, as also the Marshalsea, which has stood a number of years. These two prisons will be shortly closed, and will vest in the Commissioners of Woods and Forests. It is expected that the Fleet prison will be pulled down. At the present period there are upwards of 400 confined in Whitecross-street prison, besides a number discharged on bail by the Insolvent Debtors' Court. It is said to be in contemplation to abolish the prison in Southwark called "The Borough Compter," or "Clink," in Tooley-street, which is a prison for the Borough Court of Record of the Borough of Southwark, prisoners taken

under executions from the Court of Requests, and prisoners for criminal offences within that jurisdiction, the latter of whom is now extremely small, in consequence of the sittings of Aldermen at the town-hall having been discontinued, and the business transferred to the magistrates at Union-hall. The subject is now before the Court of Common Council, and it is proposed to remove the debtors to Whitecross-street Prison. London Times.

THE AXLES OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.

THE accident on the Versailles Railway by the breaking of the front axle of a four-wheeled locomotive engine having given rise to some difference of opinion as to what would be the effect of a broken front axle of the four-wheeled engines used in this country on the London and Birmingham, the Eastern Counties, the Midland Counties, the North Union, and other railways using this description of engine, the London and Birmingham Railway Company, with their usual liberality, undertook some experiments for this purpose. The object was to ascertain the effect of a broken fore-axle, and whether any thing could be suggested from these effects which could increase the public safety. As no front-axle of this kind of engine had ever been known to break, it was determined to cut one, so as to insure its breaking. Accordingly, a few days since, the fore-axle of one of the ordinary passenger-engines was cut nearly through its entire thickness, at a short distance from one of the bearings, (as being the most severe test,) and was started from Wolverton without any load. The engine ran eight miles, and it was then examined, and the axle found to be broken quite in two. The engine was then crossed over to the other line of rails, (passing through the points,) and returned back to Wolverton, without any accident whatever. The next day the engine, precisely in the same state in which it had been left on the preceding day, was started from Wolverton with a train of six loaded luggagetrucks attached, weighing about 35 tons, and it proceeded, without stopping, to Watford, a distance of 34 miles. At this time the speed was about 25 miles an hour, when one of the fore wheels slipped inside the rails, but the engine exhibited no signs of breaking down. The wheel was replaced on the rail, and the engine again started and ran 12 miles further, when one of the fore-wheels and both the driving-wheels slipped off the rails, and the engine ran 200 yards over the cross-sleepers, but without the slightest indication of breaking down. The wheels were again replaced on the rails, and the engine then ran safely to Camdentown, a distance of 52 miles, which it accomplished in three hours and a half, including all the time lost in twice replacing the wheels on the rails. The total distance run by the engine after the axle was broken quite through was upwards of 60 miles; and the experiment is considered to afford the most satisfactory evidence of the perfect safety of the fourwheeled engines when made with inside bearings. The fracture of the