Stands Scotland where it did?--Shakespeare.

Having finished our

tour of the Thames

[extra_illustrations.3.330.1] , since , has been chiefly known as the head-quarters of the Metropolitan Police, a force instituted in that year, under the auspices of Sir Robert Peel. It is bounded on the east by what were once the grounds of , and is now divided into Great and Middle , the latter division lying close to Yard. Both yards together constitute a poor and mean space, irregularly built, and which certainly is no credit to the city of which it forms so important a part. How few of our readers, or of the Metropolitan Police Force themselves, are aware that those mean buildings cover the site of what was once a magnificent palace, built by our Saxon sovereigns for the reception of the kings of Scotland, as often as they visited this country.

Old writers describe the locality as lying a little to the south of , on the eastern side of the highway leading thence to , where there stood a

palace with large pleasure-grounds extending to the river;

great buildings have been, for the receipt of the kings of Scotland, and other estates of that country.

a large plot of ground enclosed with brick [walls], and called Scotland.

This property,

London in the Olden Time,

was given by the Saxon King Edgar to Kenneth III., King of Scotland, for his residence, upon his annual visit to London to do homage for his kingdom to the Crown of England. It continued afterwards to be the residence of the Scottish kings when they attended the English Parliament as barons of the realm. The last of the Scottish royal family who resided here,

was Margaret, Queen of Scots, and sister to King Henry VIII., who had her abiding there when she came to England after the death of her husband,

Londoniana

The Scottish kings appear to have been anciently regarded as members of the English Parliament; and there are instances among the Tower Records of the issuing of writs to summon their attendance at

Westminster

. Thus in Pinkerton's Iconographia Scotica is an engraving of Edward I. sitting in Parliament, with Alexander King of Scots on his right, and Llewellyn Prince of Wales on his left; and this is said to have been taken from a copy of an ancient limning formerly in the English College of Arms.

The situation and extent of the mansion and grounds which occupied this site are well known to the antiquary and topographer. Concerning the details of the palace, however, we are much in the dark. There is no print of it in existence, so far as we have been able to discover; and almost all that is known about it prior to the Reformation is that it was allowed to fall into decay by Henry VIII.- most probably on account of the part which James had taken in siding with the French in the wars between the countries.

In the reign of Elizabeth the palace had become a ruin; and upon the union of the Scottish and English crowns the of the palace had ceased to exist. It was therefore dismantled, and partly demolished, its site being devoted to some of the offices of the Government, for which its proximity to fitted it admirably.

Here John Milton lived whilst serving the Government of the Commonwealth, and acting as Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell, and here he lost an infant son. Here died, in the early part of the last century, that mixture of Hercules and Adonis, the eccentric

Beau Fielding,

Part of the remains of the Palace was, for many years, the official residence of the Surveyor of Works to the Crown.

Here,

lived Inigo Jones; here died his successor, Sir John Denham, the poet of Cooper's Hill, and his successor again, Sir Christopher Wren; and here, in a fantastic house, immortalised by Swift in some ludicrous lines, lived Sir John Vanbrugh. The house of the latter was designed and built by himself, from the ruins of

Whitehall

, destroyed by fire in

1697

.

Mr. P. Cunningham, in his

Life of Inigo Jones,

Near his house in

Scotland Yard

, Inigo Jones, uniting with Nicholas Stone, the sculptor, buried his money in a private place. The Parliament published an order encouraging servants to

Scotland Yard, About 1720.

inform of such concealments, and as

four

of the workmen were privy to the deposit, Jones and his friends removed it privately, and with their own hands buried it in

Lambeth Marsh

.

Sir John Vanbrugh, who died in , was celebrated in his day not merely as an architect, but also as a comic poet and an accomplished man of letters. He was Comptroller of the Royal Works and Palaces, and his house between and , which he built for himself, was remarkable for its tiny dimensions. His friends called it a

pill-box,

Lie heavy on him, earth, for he

Laid many a heavy load on thee.

build house.

In the buildings of Vanbrugh, who was a poet as well as an architect, there is a greater display of imagination than we shall find, perhaps,

in any

other; and this is the ground of the effect we feel in many of his works, notwithstanding the faults with which many of them are charged. For this purpose Vanbrugh appears to have had recourse to some principles of the Gothic architecture, which, though not so ancient as the Grecian, is

more so to our imagination

, with which the artist is more concerned than with absolute truth.

To speak of Vanbrugh,

in the language

of a

painter, he had originality of invention, he understood light and shadow, and had great skill in composition. To support his principal object he produced his

second

and

third

groups in masses. He perfectly understood, in his art, what is the most difficult in ours, the conduct of the background, by which the design and invention are set off to the greatest advantage. What the background is in painting, in architecture

is

the real ground on whichh the building is erected and no architect took greater care that his work should not appear crude and hard--that is, that it

did not

abruptly start out of the ground without expectation or preparation.

This is a tribute which a painter owes to an architect who composed like a painter, and was defrauded of the due reward of his merit by the wits of his time,

who did not understand the principles of composition in poetry better than he, and who knew little or nothing of what he understood perfectly-

the general ruling principles of architecture and painting

. Vanbrugh's fate was that of the great Perrault. Both were the objects of the petulant sarcasms of factious men of letters, and both have left some of the fairest monuments which to this day decorate their several countries--the facade of the Louvre, Blenheim, and Castle Howard.

It need scarcely be remarked here, in explanation of the allusion of Sir Joshua Reynolds, that Vanbrugh was almost as celebrated for his comedies as for his architecture. Rowe thus mentions him:--

I'm in with Captain Vanbrugh at the present,

A most sweet-mannered gentleman and pleasant;

He writes your comedies, draws schemes and models,

And builds dukes' houses upon very odd hills.

For him, so much I dote on him, that I,

If I was sure to go to heaven, would die

.

There was, in -, at the corner of , opposite the Admiralty, a large house for which Josiah Wedgwood was in treaty, in order to establish a show-room or gallery of his pottery and porcelain at the West End; but, from some reason or other, the negotiation dropped through.

Here, too, was a celebrated coffee-house named

Well's,

Manners and Customs of London

Whereas,

six

gentlemen (all of the same honourable profession), having been more than ordinarily put to it for a little pocketmoney, did, on the

14th

instant, in the evening, near Kentish Town, borrow of

two

persons (in a coach) a certain sum of money, without staying to give bond for the repayment; and whereas, fancy was taken to the hat, peruke, cravat, sword, and cane of

one

of the creditors, which were all lent as freely as the money: these are therefore to desire the said

six

worthies, how fond soever they may be of the other loans, to un-fancy the cane again, and send it to Well's Coffee-house, in

Scotland Yard

, it being too short for any such proper gentlemen as they are to walk with, and too small for any of their important uses, and, withal, only valuable as having been the gift of a friend.

It was in that a knight, Sir John Ayres, with the aid of retainers, in a fit of ungrounded jealousy, waylaid Lord Herbert of Cherbury, whom he attacked with swords and daggers, though he did not succeed in wounding him, as we learn from that noble lord's

Life.

Early in the present century the or Marshalsea was held in . The court had jurisdiction of all civil suits within miles of the palace. The process was short and not expensive, judgment being obtained in weeks.

In , on the formation of the new police, introduced by Sir Robert Peel to supersede the ancient

Charlies,

In the Metropolitan Police Force consisted of men. Of this number the duties absorbed superintendents, inspectors, sergeants, and constables. The proportion of old constables in the Metropolitan Police shows a steady increase, and is a good test of the popularity of the service. In there were men whose service exceeded years, and in that number had increased to ; the number of young constables in the year , with an authorised strength of men, being very nearly the same as in , when the strength had increased to . In there are various other departments besides that connected with the Police Force. Here is the Prisoners' Property Office and also the office for cab and omnibus licences. If articles are left in a cab they can be applied for at the Police Office in , whither every cab-driver is bound to take them.

The office for cab licences and regulations, before its removal to , had been for many years located in , in the Strand. We learn from a letter addressed to the Earl of Strafford in , that

The Maypole

He hath erected, accg to his ability, some

four

hackney coaches, put his men in livery, and appointed them to stand at The Maypole, in the Strand, giving them instructions at what rates to carry men into several parts of the town, where all day they may be had. Other hackney men seeing this way, they flocked to the same place, and perform their journeys at the same rate, so that sometimes there is

twenty

of them together, which disperse up and down, so that they and others are to be had everywhere, as watermen are to be had at the waterside. Everybody is much pleased with it, for whereas before coaches could not be had but at great rates, now a man may have

one

much cheaper.

The use of hackney coaches was but very trifling in ; for among the many monopolies granted by the king was which gave rise to the use of sedan chairs in London. This grant was made to Sir Sanders Duncombe, who had probably seen them at Sedan, in France, where they were made; it is expressed in the following terms:--

Whereas the streets of our cities of London and

Westminster

, and their suburbs, are of late so much encumbered with the unnecessary multitude of coaches that many of our subjects are thereby exposed to great danger, and the necessary use of carts and carriages for provisions thereby much hindered; and Sir Sanders Duncombe's petition, representing that in many parts beyond sea people are much carried in chairs that are covered, whereby few coaches are used among them; wherefore we have granted to him the sole privilege to use, let, or hire a number of the said covered chairs for

fourteen

years.

This patent was soon followed by a proclamation against hackney coaches, strictly commanding,

That no hackney coach should be used in the City of London, or suburbs thereof, other than by carrying of people to and from their habitations in the country; and that no person should make use of a coach in the City except such persons as could keep

four

able horses fit for his Majesty's service, which were to be ready when called for under a severe penalty.

That sedan chairs were in use in the East long before they were known in France or in London is clear from the fact that is introduced in Sir G. Staunton's Embassy to China. And if a classical origin be sought for them, it is on record that Pliny states that his own uncle was accustomed to be carried abroad in a chair.

At the end of the , and throughout the greater part of the eighteenth century, the sedan chair was the vehicle almost always employed by

the quality

Hackney coaches, superseding as they did the old

sedans,

hackney chairs,

chair,

carriage.

Book for a Rainy Day,

hackney chairs were so numerous that their stands extended round Covent Garden, and often down the adjacent streets.

of cabs and the police-or, rather, parliamentary regulations for the suppression of drunkenness-we may be pardoned for giving the following curious piece of information relating to the

Jarveys

Original:

I will add

one

more instance of change. A retired hackney-coachman, giving an account of his life to a friend of mine, stated that his principal gains had been derived from cruising at late hours in particular quarters of the town to pick up drunken gentlemen. If they were able to tell their address, he conveyed them straight home; if not, he carried them to certain taverns, where the custom was to secure their property and put them to bed. In the morning he called to take them home, and was generally handsomely rewarded. He said there were other gentlemen who pursued the same course, and they all considered it their policy to be strictly honest. The same calling is said to have been pursued for many years in Paris. The tariff for taking the drunkard home is-or was-

ten

sous; and his conductor was known as

L'Ange Gardien.

Instead of a few dozens of chairs and hackney coaches, the people of London, writes Mr. Diprose, in his

Book about London,

are now daily whisked about the town in upwards of

three thousand

cabs and

twelve hundred

omnibuses, besides a fleet of river steamers. These conveyances annually carry more passengers than

three

times the number of the whole population of the United Kingdom.

Hard by the north side of , in a blind alley called Craig's Court, opening out of and backing upon what was once the western side of the garden of , is Harrington House, a dull, heavy, and gloomy mansion, belonging to the Earls of Harrington. Here, too, is the establishment of Messrs. Cox and Co., the great army agents; whilst close by, as nearly as possible on the site of what is now Mr. Wyld's map repository, stood the

Northumberland

Between and the river-side in the rear was

Man's,

Old Man's

Young Man's.

Journey through England,

The Scots,

go generally to the British, and a mixture of all sorts to the Smyrna. There are also other little coffee-houses much frequented in this neighbourhood- Young Man's for officers; Old Man's for stock-jobbers, paymasters, and courtiers; and Little Man's for sharpers.

, which we cross on our way to Middle , was formed about the year . It is a broad thoroughfare now connecting with , opposite the Admiralty. Here several of the houses are used as Government offices-such as those of the Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues; the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, and Church Estates Commissioners; Parks, Palaces, and Public Buildings; and Commissioners in Lunacy. No. is of the offices of the Metropolitan Police, of whom we have already spoken. Here, too, are the offices of the Habitual Criminals' Registers and Receivers. The house No. , adjoining the entrance to Middle , was for many years occupied by the Royal Geographical Society, whose rooms are now in Savile Row.

A portion of Middle is occupied by the [extra_illustrations.3.334.2] , the entrance to which is in Yard. This institution was founded in , and contains a splendid collection of arms and accoutrements, and models illustrative of the naval architecture of various nations. of the models are particularly worthy of notice--that of

The Field and Battle of Waterloo,

The South of the Crimea and Siege of Sebastopol,

A ship on her way to the West Indies fell in with and chased a suspicious-looking craft, which had all the appearance of a slaver. During the pursuit the chased vessel threw something overboard. She was subsequently captured, and taken into Port Royal to be tried as a slaver. In absence of the ship's papers and other proofs, the slaver was not only in a fair way to escape condemnation, but her captain was anticipating the recovery of pecuniary damages against his captor for illegal detention. While the subject was under discussion, a vessel came into port which had followed closely in the track in the chase above described. She had caught a shark; and in its stomach was found a tin box, which contained the slaver's papers. Upon the strength of this evidence the slaver was condemned. The written account is attached to the box.

The United Service Institution was established as a central repository for objects of professional art, science, and natural history, and for books and documents relative to those studies, or of general information. The annual subscription is , and the sum of constitutes a member for life. The Museum consists of a commodious suite of rooms, and a library on the ground-floor. Admission free is afforded to soldiers and sailors in uniform, and to the general public by a member's order. Lectures are delivered, and papers read on naval and military subjects, at frequent intervals, by officers and professional men; to these lectures members have the privilege of introducing friends (ladies or gentlemen) either personally or by ticket.

At No. in Yard (now demolished) was the office of the Comptroller-General of the Exchequer, where was formerly held

The Trial of the Pyx,

In the course of the last century the greater part of what had been the

Private

Privy

Among the

first

of these,

on the site of the small-beer cellar [of which a view is preserved in No.

4

of Hollar's prints of

Whitehall

], is the house of the Earl of Fife.

Fife House was for some years occupied by the Earl of Liverpool during his premiership; and it was within its walls that he breathed his last, in the month of . The house was pulled down about the year , to make roomfor improvements. It had for a few years been used as the receptacle of the collection forming the East India Museum, which was removed hither on the demolition of the in . The contents of this Museum were afterwards removed to the new India Office in . Here, close by, in , lived the Right Honourable James Abercromby, before he became

Leading from the palace down to the river were pairs of stairs--the public, the other known as the

privy

the other,

is made up in the old wall adjacent to the house of the Earl of Fife, where the arch of the portal remains entire.

Coaches,

had been introduced into England by Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel,

one

of Elizabeth's admirers, but the spirited princess seems to have disdained their use.

How would he have been laughed at in the days of Elizabeth, when a great queen rode on horseback to

St. Paul's

, who should have foretold that in less than

two

centuries no

man of fashion would cross the street at the westend to dinner, without the effeminate covering and conveyance of an easy chair?

The last occasion on which Her Majesty wen by state upon the Thames was in , when she opened the new in the City. On that occasion she embarked and landed on her return at , as her proud predecessor Elizabeth had often landed before her. Since that year we believe that the royal barge has been allowed to slumber in its dry-dock, and the royal bargemaster and watermen have enjoyed a sinecure.

[extra_illustrations.3.330.1] Scotland Yard

[] Testimonial to Sir Edward Henderson

[] Taking out Cab Licenses

[] Last of Cab Duty

[] Cabman

[] Cabstrike

[] National Liberal Club,Whitehall Place

[extra_illustrations.3.334.2] United Service Museum

[] Lord Cathcart's House, Whitehall

[] Surviving Officers of Trafalgar