Though nothing comparable to the Hausmannizing of Paris by systematized and uniform reconstruction was accomplished in London in the mid-Victorian period, great changes and improvements were introduced. Bridges were built, the river was partially purified and the Thames Embankment carried out. The state of the "ancient river, shining as he goes, mail-clad in morning to the ancient sea" of Henley's phrase, was a hideous scandal in the 'fifties. Father Thames may on occasion have appealed to the eye, but he continually affronted the nose. In 1858 the growth of London was estimated to reach 5,816,900 by 1901. Yes, says _Punch_, but what if the Thames is not purified? In June of that year the nuisance, aggravated by a dry summer, was painfully brought home to legislators in session at Westminster. Constant protests were raised in both Houses, and when Lord John Manners asserted that the Central Board of Works stopped the way, _Punch_ would have liked to see Thwaites--the chairman--and his "gabbling colleagues" committed to prison until they had purged their contempt for our river. A month later the drought and the bad drainage produced a regular panic, and on July 15 Disraeli introduced a Bill authorizing the cleansing of the Thames and giving the Board of Works power to raise a special rate (which _Punch_ called the Stinking Fund) and a free hand in construction. The stench of the river continued to inspire a succession of poems, paragraphs and articles throughout the rest of the year, including an address to the Thames (after Tennyson), and beginning, Bake, bake, bake, O Thames, on thy way to the sea! And I would that thy stink could poison A Bishop, Peer or M.P. The subsequent discontinuance of these tirades is a tolerably safe indication that the nuisance was being seriously grappled with. Eight years later, in the autumn of 1866, Father Thames, though still a disreputable figure, is allowed by _Punch_ to use the _tu quoque_ argument against a Parliamentary critic at a time when electoral corruption was calling loudly for reform. [Illustration: BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION HON. MEMBER (on Terrace of Parliament Palace): "O, you horrid, dirty old river!" FATHER THAMES: "Don't _you_ talk, Mister Whatsyername! Which of us has the cleaner hands, I wonder?"]