incongruous fashion with odds and ends of third-rate statuary, imitation
bronzes, etc., until it looks like an old curiosity-shop. The University,
though comparatively an old building, still holds its ground amongst the
best, and may well be proud of its splendidly proportioned hall, built in
fifteenth-century Gothic. The Roman Catholic Cathedral, which has just
been opened, is also well proportioned. The length is 350 feet; width
within transept 118 feet; width of nave and aisle 74 feet; height about
ninety feet. There is to be a central tower 120 feet high, and two towers
with spires which will rise to a height of 260 feet. The Anglican
Cathedral, though not large, is a handsome building with two towers, in
fourteenth-century Gothic. The Post Office will for many years remain a
fragment of what may or may not be a handsome building. The Town Hall has
evidently been built with the idea of at all hazards making it larger
than the Melbourne Town Hall. So far it is a success. But architecturally
it is nothing more than a splendid failure--over-decorated and
ginger-bready. Curiously enough it is built upon the site of the
burial-place of the early settlement---forming a sort of Westminster
Abbey for the first settlers. There are four theatres, but none well
fitted or decorated. Palatial hospitals and asylums of course abound, but
the Parliament House is wretchedly small.

Unfortunately Sydney has very few reserves, and those few she keeps in
bad order, with the exception of the Botanical Garden, situated on an arm
of the land almost entirely surrounded by water. It is the most charming
public garden I have ever seen; inferior to that of Adelaide in detail,
but superior in the _tout ensemble_. Almost equally beautiful is the
situation of Government House, a comfortable Tudor mansion, but rather
small for purposes of entertainment.

Amongst the commercial buildings, the new head offices of the Australian