66

and civilization of the present with those of the past; gaining amusement now, and now wisdom, and sometimes both combined. Boswell, speaking of the entertainment the streets afforded him, remarks, I have often amused myself with thinking how different a place London is to different people. They whose narrow minds are contracted to the consideration of some one particular pursuit, view it only through that medium. A politician thinks of it only as the seat of government in its different departments; a grazier as a vast market for cattle; a mercantile man as a place where a prodigious deal of business is done upon 'Change; a dramatic enthusiast as the grand scene of theatrical entertainments; a man of pleasure as an assemblage of taverns, &c.; but the intellectual man is struck with it as comprehending the whole of human life in all its variety, the contemplation of which is inexhaustible." To all the classes thus enumerated by the Laird of Auchinleck, and to many others, we shall address ourselves, or rather, to the last only, which comprises in its wide extent man of every grade and profession; not only politician, grazier, merchant, dramatist, and man of pleasure, but the poet, the man of letters, the painter, the musician, the divine, the soldier, the sailor, and the lawyer. We shall be less exclusive than Boswell, and look for the intellectual without reference to profession. Our first journey shall be from

HYDE PARK CORNER TO CHARING CROSS.

But first, although we confess to a predilection for the antiquities of the metropolis, we must cast a moment's glance at Apsley House, the mansion of the Duke of Wellington.

This mansion, which since its enlargement has been extolled at least as highly as it deserves, was in the first instance built from a design furnished by the Messrs. Adams for Lord Chancellor Apsley. When, in 1828, it came into possession of "The Duke," the taste of Sir Geoffrey Wyattville was called into requisition. From his designs, and under his superintendence, Apsley House was wholly remodelled and greatly enlarged; and the result is a substantial building, which cannot offend the most fastidious taste, but which will not extort any great amount of admiration. It has a rusticated basement: and the principal front offers to the eye a pediment supported by four Corinthian columns. The interior is very splendid. The picture gallery and the ball-room, which extends the whole depth of the building, are extremely beautiful.

Apsley House is interesting, as being the residence of the greatest captain and one of the greatest men of this or of any former age. Time, which must make it venerable, will confer more and more lustre upon it; and a century hence, what we now look upon with curiosity will be regarded with reverence.

The architectural taste of Mr. Decimus Burton is shown conspicuously in the entrance to Hyde Park, which was completed in 1828. The frontage of this beautiful building is 107 feet in length. It consists of a screen of fluted Ionic columns, with three arches for carriages, and two entrances for foot passengers. Four handsome columns sustain the entablature of the central gateway. Above this is a frieze, which runs round the four sides of the building. This frieze bears testimony to the genius and skill of Mr. Archibald Henning, a worthy son of the highly ingenious and ill-requited John Henning. It represents a naval and military triumphal procession. The side gateways are ornamented by two insulated Ionic columns. Messrs. Bramah manufactured the gates, which are exquisite specimens of bronzed iron-work.

The other, commonly called the triumphal arch, is of the Corinthian order, and was built about the same time as the one we have just described. Four columns, two on each side of the arch, sustain the portico. Six Corinthian pilasters adorn the arch itself. The front towards the Green Park presents exactly the same appearance as the other. The vaulted roof in the centre is wrought into elegantly sculptured compartments. There is a chamber within for the porter; and a small stair-case leads to the summit. G. R. and the royal arms are disposed alternately along the entablature. The gates of this arch, equally beautiful with those of its opposite neighbour, were likewise manufactured by Messrs. Bramah.

Some years ago, as our readers are probably aware, it was decided to commemorate the achievements of the Duke of Wellington by a testimonial. The execution of this work was confided to the competent genius of Mr. Wyatt. That gentleman entered upon his grateful task, and completed, undoubtedly, the largest equestrian statue in the world. The work finished, it became a grave question where it was to be placed. A committee of noblemen and gentlemen of reputed taste was accordingly formed, to take into consideration at what spot, or on what eminence this mighty man and horse might most worthily be stationed. The committee (having obtained Her Majesty's sanction and approval) at length decided that the top of the triumphal arch was the place of all others to show to admiration

the beauty of Mr. Wyatt's magnificent statue, and in accordance with this decision it has been since erected there.

This district, now covered by many noble mansions, including those of Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, the late Duchess Countess ́of Sutherland, the Earl of Cork, and others; and including Hamilton Place, and the other streets towards Bath-House, was, a century ago, one of the most deplorable in the neighbourhood of London, and swarmed with low public-houses, bearing the following signs, viz. : The Pillars of Hercules,' "The Golden Lion," "The Triumphant Car," "The Horse Shoe," "The Red Lion," The Running Horse," The Swan," The BarleyMow," "The White Horse," and "The Half Moon." last gave names to streets.

66

66

66

The two

These public-houses, about the middle of the last century, were much visited on Sundays; but those contiguous to Hyde Park were chiefly resorted to by soldiers, particularly on review-days, when there were long wooden seats fixed in the street before the houses for the accommodation of six or seven barbers, who were employed on field-days in powdering those youths who were not adroit enough to dress each other. Yet it was not unusual

for twenty or thirty of the elder soldiers to bestride a form in the open air, where each combed, soaped, powdered, and tied the hair of his comrade, and afterwards underwent the same operation himself.

It was to one of these low public-houses that Sir Richard Steele and the unfortunate poet, Savage, retired to order a dinner without the money to pay for it, and where the former remained some hours in pawn, as it were. Johnson, in his affecting Life of Savage, relates, That one day he was desired by Sir Richard, with an air of the utmost importance, to come very early to his house the next morning. Savage went accordingly, found the chariot at the door, and Sir Richard waiting for him, and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither they were to go, Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to inquire. The coachman was ordered to drive on, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to Hyde Park Corner, where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired to a private room. Sir Richard then informed him that he intended to publish a pamphlet, and that he had desired him to come thither that he might write for him. They soon sat down to their work. Sir Richard dictated, and Savage wrote till the dinner that was ordered was put upon the table. Savage was surprised at the meanness of the entertainment, and after some besitation ventured to ask for some

wine, which Sir Richard, not without reluctance, ordered to be brought. They then finished their dinner and proceeded in their pamphlet, which they concluded in the afternoon. Mr. Savage then imagined his task was over, and expected that Sir Richard would call for the reckoning and return home; but he was deceived in his expectations, for Sir Richard told him that he was without money, and that the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner could be paid for. Savage was, therefore, obliged to go and offer their new production for sale for two guineas, which, with some difficulty, he obtained. Sir Richard then returned home, having retired that day only to avoid his creditors, and composed the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning."

Before proceeding further from Hyde Park Corner, we should not omit to mention that in the year 1642, when London was fortified against the Royal Army, a large fort with four bastions was erected close to the spot where the noble arch now stands. Men, women, and children alike took part, such was the enthusiasm of the Roundheads against the Cavaliers in erecting these fortresses all round both London and Southwark. As Butler sings in his Hudibras,

"From ladies down to oyster-wenches,
Laboured like pioneers in trenches,
Fell to their pickaxes and tools,

And helped the men to dig like moles."

The now aristocratic thoroughfare, known as Park Lane, was called formerly Tyburn Lane. The large house at the south-west corner, now inhabited by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, was formerly in the occupation of the Earl of Elgin. Here were first exhibited the famous marbles which will ever

bear his Lordship's name. Byron, in his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," written at a time when he felt inclined to sneer and carp at everything, calls this house a stone shop," and

"General mart

For all the mutilated blocks of art."

Three years afterwards, in 1811, Byron's indignation against Lord Elgin for the spoliation of Greece still enduring, he wrote his bitter "Curse of Minerva," in which the Goddess, addressing Britain, exclaims,

"'Scaped from the ravage of the Turk and Goth,
Thy country sends a spoiler worse than both.

Survey this vacant, violated fane,

Recount the relics torn that yet remain ;

These Cecrops placed, this Pericles adorn'd;

That Adrian rear'd when drooping science mourn'd.
What more I owe, let gratitude attest.

Know, Alaric and Elgin did the rest."

In the year 1816, Parliament voted the sum of £35,000 for the purchase of the marbles, and they were removed from their former place of exhibition to the British Museum, where they remain, fine studies, accessible to English artists; but enduring mementos of a very unworthy cupidity.

The house No. 133, Piccadilly, was built by the late Duke of Queensberry for the celebrated Kitty Frederick. The first house on the right hand was, it is said, designed by George III., to whom are also attributed the designs for the Trinity House on Tower Hill, and the Office of Ordnance, which formerly stood in Margaret Street, at the east end of St. Margaret's Church, but which was demolished during the alterations completed in that part of Westminster about the year 1822.

The ground behind the opposite houses, between the back of Lord Coventry's, No. 106, and the south side wall of the Earl of Chesterfield's garden, in Curzon Street, was, in 1722, an irregular space; "May-fair Row" and "Hay-hill Row" being, at that time, the only regular buildings. There was, within memory, on the western portion, partly on the site of Hertford Street, an old wooden public-house, one of the original signs of the "Dog and Duck," behind which, towards the north, was a sheet of clear water, nearly two hundred feet square, surrounded by a gravel walk of about ten feet in width, boarded up kneehigh, and shaded all round by willows. This pond was notorious for that cruel sport called "Duck Hunting," so long the delight of the English butchers. The ground upon which Hertford Street, Curzon Street, Shepherd's Market, &c., stand, was annually for many years covered with booths during the period of May Fair. The following copies of a few of the original showbills may afford some entertainment for the lovers of the Drama.

WILLIAM REX.
MAY-FAIR.
MILLER'S

OR THE LOYAL ASSOCIATION BOOTH,

AT THE UPPER END OF

BROOK-FIELD MARKET,

NEAR HYDE PARK CORner.