According to Mr. Lysons, probably derives its name from the old family of the Bathons, who had possessions in Stepney in the reign of Edward I.

The old ballad of written in the reign of Elizabeth, records the popular local legend of the concealment under this disguise of Henry de Montford, son of the [extra_illustrations.2.146.6] [extra_illustrations.2.146.7] 

Pretty Bessie

My father, shee said, is soone to be seene, The seely blind beggar of Bednall Green, That daylye sits begging for charitie, He is the good father of pretty Bessee.

His markes and his tokens are knowen very well, He alwayes is led with a dogg and a bell; A seely old man, God knoweth, is hee, Yet hee is the father of pretty Bessee.

The sign-posts at have for centuries preserved the memory of this story; the beadles' staffs were adorned in accordance with the ballad; and the inhabitants, in the early part of the century, used to boldly point out an ancient house on as the palace of the Blind Beggar, and show special turrets as the places where he deposited his gains.

This old house, called in the Survey of House, was in reality built in the reign of Elizabeth by John Kirby, a rich London citizen. He was ridiculed at the time for his extravagance, in some rhymes which classed him with other similar builders, and which ranked Kirby's Castle with

Fisher's Folly, Spinila's Pleasure, and Megse's Glory.

The opening, in , of an Eastern branch of the South Kensington Museum at was the result of the untiring efforts of Mr. Cole, aided by Sir Antonio Brady, the Rev. Septimus Hansard, rector of , and Mr. Clabon, Dr. Millar, and other gentlemen interested in the district, and was crowned with success by the princely liberality of Sir Richard Wallace (the inheritor of the Marquis of years' collection of art treasures), who offered to the education committee the loan of all his pictures and many other works of art. The Prince and Princess of Wales were present at the opening of the Museum, which took place .

Sir Richard Wallace's collection, which occupied the whole of the upper galleries, comprised not only an assemblage of ancient and modern paintings in oil, by the greatest masters of past or modern times; a beautiful gallery of water-colour drawings, miniatures, and enamels by French, German, and British artists, but also some fine specimens of bronzes, art porcelain and pottery, statuary, snuffboxes, decorative furniture, and jewellers' and goldsmiths' work. The collection was strongest in Dutch and modern French pictures. Cuyp was represented by pictures, Hobbema by , Maes by , Metzu by , Mieris by , Netscher by , Jan Steen by , Teniers by , Vanderneer by , A. Vandevelde by , W. Vandevelde by , Philip Wouvermans by , Rubens by , Rembrandt by , Vandyck by . In the Italian school the collection was deficient in early masters, but there were excellent specimens of Da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, Carlo Dolce, and Canaletto. Of the Spanish school there were fine specimens of Murillo and Velasquez. The French school was well represented-Greuze by twentytwo works, Watteau by , Boucher by , Lancret by , and Fragonard by . There were works by Horace Vernet, by Bellange, by Pils, by Delaroche, by Ary Scheffer, by Delacroix, by Robert Fleury, by Gericault, by Prud'hon, by Roqueplan, by Decamps, and by Meissonier.

In the English collection Sir Joshua Reynolds stood pre-eminent. His matchless portrait of stood out as beautiful and bewitching as ever, though the finer carnations had to some extent flown. The childish innocence of the found thousands of admirers, though the picture has faded to a disastrous degree; and had crowds of East-end admirers.

Among the superb portraits by Reynolds, in his most florid manner, and daughters of the Marquis of Hertford, and of (a masterpiece), were the most popular. The mildness and dignity of Reynolds was supplemented by the ineffable grace and charm of Gainsborough. Novices in art were astonished at the of of the most delightful child-portraits ever painted. The fine works of Bonington, a painter of genius little known, astonished those who were ignorant of his works. Among his finest productions at were and This king, to the horror of the proud hidalgo, is carrying his children pick-a-back.

Among the French pictures there were -rate Bouchers. This of Madame de Pompadour was a great favourite with the Marquis,

Nichols Street,

New Nichols Street, Half Nichols Street, Turvile Street, comprising within the same area numerous blind courts and alleys, form a densely crowded district in

Bethnal Green

. Among its inhabitants may be found street-vendors of every kind of produce, travellers to fairs, tramps,

dog-fanciers, dogstealers

, men and women sharpers, shoplifters, and pickpockets. It abounds with the young Arabs of the streets; and its outward moral degradation is at once apparent to any

one

who passes that way. Here the police are

certain

to be found, day and night, their presence being required to quell riots and to preserve decency. Sunday is a day much devoted to pet pigeons and to bird-singing clubs; prizes are given to such as excel in note, and a ready sale follows each award. Time thus employed was formerly devoted to cock-fighting. In this locality,

twenty-five

years ago, an employer of labour, Mr. Jonathan Duthiot, made an attempt to influence the people for good, by the hire of a room for meeting purposes. The

first

attendance consisted of

one

person. Persistent efforts were, however, made; other rooms have from time to time been taken and enlarged; there is a hall for Christian instruction, and another for educational purposes; illustrated lectures are delivered; a loanlibrary has been established, also a clothing-club and penny bank, and training-classes for industrial purposes.

Mr. Smiles, in his has an interesting page on the old French Hospital in :--

Among the charitable institutions founded by the refugees for the succour of their distressed fellow-countrymen in England,

the most important was the French Hospital. This establishment owes its origin to a M. de Gastigny, a French gentleman, who had been Master of the Buckhounds to William III., in Holland, while Prince of Orange. At his death, in 1708, he bequeathed a sum of £ 1,000 towards founding an hospital, in London, for the relief of distressed French Protestants. The money was placed at interest for eight years, during which successive benefactions were added to the fund. In 1716, a piece of ground in Old Street, St. Luke's, was purchased of the Ironmongers' Company, and a lease was taken from the city of London of some adjoining land, forming altogether an area of about four acres, on which a building was erected, and fitted up for the reception of eighty poor Protestants of the French nation. In 1718, George I. granted a charter of incorporation to the governor and directors of the hospital, under which the Earl of Galway was appointed the first governor. Shortly after, in November, 1718, the opening of the institution was celebrated by a solemn act of religion, and the chapel was consecrated amidst a great concourse of refugees and their descendants, the Rev. Philip Menard, minister of the French chapel of St. James's, conducting the service on the occasion. Bethnal Bird M--art

From that time the funds of the institution steadily increased. The French merchants of Toulon, who had been prosperous in trade, liberally contributed towards its support, and legacies and donations multiplied. Lord Galway bequeathed a thousand pounds to the hospital, in 1720, and in the following year Baron Hervart de Huningue gave a donation of £ 4,000. The corporation were placed in the possession of ample means, and they accordingly proceeded to erect additional buildings, in which they were enabled, by the year 1760, to give an asylum to 234 poor people.

The French Hospital has recently been removed from its original site to Victoria Park, where a handsome building has been erected as an hospital, for the accommodation of men and women, after the designs of Mr. Robert Lewis Roumieu, architect, of the directors, Mr. Roumieu being himself descended from an illustrious Huguenot family--the Roumieus of Languedoc.

[extra_illustrations.2.146.6] St. Matthew, Bethnal Green

[extra_illustrations.2.146.7] Bonner's House, Bethnal Green