designs. Eventually
the committee had at their disposal a total sum of L120,000, since
the public subscribed another L10,000, while L50,000 was voted by
Parliament. Some years later a joint stock company was formed and built,
as a private speculation, the Albert Hall.

The architect whose design was selected, both by the committee and by
the Queen, was Mr. Gilbert Scott, whose industry, conscientiousness,
and genuine piety had brought him to the head of his profession.
His lifelong zeal for the Gothic style having given him a special
prominence, his handiwork was strikingly visible, not only in a
multitude of original buildings, but in most of the cathedrals of
England. Protests, indeed, were occasionally raised against his
renovations; but Mr. Scott replied with such vigour and unction in
articles and pamphlets that not a Dean was unconvinced, and he was
permitted to continue his labours without interruption. On one occasion,
however, his devotion to Gothic had placed him in an unpleasant
situation. The Government offices in Whitehall were to be rebuilt; Mr.
Scott competed, and his designs were successful. Naturally, they were in
the Gothic style, combining "a certain squareness and horizontality of
outline" with pillar-mullions, gables, high-pitched roofs, and dormers;
and the drawings, as Mr. Scott himself observed, "were, perhaps, the
best ever sent in to a competition, or nearly so." After the usual
difficulties and delays the work was at last to be put in hand, when
there was a change of Government and Lord Palmerston became Prime
Minister. Lord Palmerston at once sent for Mr. Scott. "Well, Mr. Scott,"
he said, in his jaunty way, "I can't have anything to do with this
Gothic style. I must insist on your making a design in the Italian
manner, which I am sure you can do very cleverly." Mr. Scott was
appalled; the style of the Italian renaissance was not only unsightly,
it was positively immoral, and he sternly refused to have anything to do
with it. Thereupon Lord Palmerston assumed a fatherly tone. "Quite true;
a Gothic architect can't be expected to put up a Classical building;
I must find someone else." This was intolerable, and Mr. Scott, on his
return home, addressed to the Prime Minister a strongly-worded letter,
in which he dwelt upon his position as an architect, upon his having won
two European competitions, his being an A.R.A., a gold medallist of the
Institute, and a lecturer on architecture at the Royal