The architect of the Central Market is Francis Goodwin, Esq., and it is but justice to say, that it is highly creditable to his taste and skill. The front is of the Grecian order, and perhaps the largest piece of masonry in the county of York, with the fewest observable joints. It is expected to prove an advantageous investment.
[2] Too much praise cannot
be conferred on this and similar instances
of
provincial improvement; while it is much to be regretted
that
such praise cannot be extended to the metropolis
of
England;
for, strange to say, LONDON is still without a
market-place
suitable to its commercial consequence. Hence,
Smithfield
market is almost a public nuisance, while its extensive
business
is settled in public-houses in the neighbourhood; and
the
hay
market, held in the fine broad street of that name,
but ill
accords
with the courtly vicinity of Pall Mall and St. James’s.
It
is, however, to fruit and vegetable markets
that this
observation
is particularly applicable: for instance, what
a
miserable
scene is the area of Covent Garden market.
The
non-completion
of the piazza square is much to be lamented, while
splendid
streets and towns are erecting on every side of the
metropolis.
How unworthy, too, is the market, of association with
Inigo
Jones’s noble Tuscan church of St. Paul, “the
handsomest
barn
in Europe.” To quote Sterne, we must say
“they manage these
things
better in France,” where the halles, or
markets are among
the
noblest of the public buildings. Neither can any
Englishman,
who
has seen the markets of Paris, but regret the absence
of
fountains
from the markets of London. They are among the
most
tasteful
embellishments of Paris, and their presence in the
markets
cannot be too much admired. Water is, unquestionably,
the
most
salutary and effective cleanser of vegetable filth
which is
necessarily
generated on the sites of markets; but in London its