Tecto quum vidit in illo Magnum habitatorem.--Juvenal.

Quitting May Fair, we now turn to the southwest, down , in order to look in upon [extra_illustrations.4.360.1] , with which we were obliged to deal very briefly in our walk along the mansions of . This house, so many years the residence of the late, and still the residence of the present Duke of Wellington, forms a conspicuous object on entering London from the west, occupying as it does the corner of and . Its situation is of the finest in the metropolis, standing upon the rising ground overlooking the parks, and commanding views of the Kent and Surrey hills in the far distance. Its site is said to have been a present from George II. to a discharged soldier, named Alien, who had fought under that king at Dettingen. His wife here kept an apple-stall, which by the thrifty couple was turned by degrees into a small cottage. The story of this present has been often told, but it will bear telling yet once again:--When London did not exist so far as , George II., as he was riding out morning, met Allen, who

What can I do for you?

Please your majesty to give me a grant of the bit of ground my hut stands on, and I shall be happy.

Be happy,

In , Allen's son or other kin sold the ground to Henry, Lord Apsley, Lord Chancellor, afterwards Lord Bathurst, who gave to the

The father of Lord Chancellor Apsley, the Earl Bathurst, was of the most genial and agreeable of the friends of Pope, who has referred to him in the often quoted lines in terms of respect and affection :--

Oh! teach us, Bathurst, yet unspoiled by wealth,

That secret rare, between th' extremes to move

Of mad good-nature and of mean self-love.

Come, my good friends, since the old gentleman is gone to bed, I think we may venture to crack another bottle!

In the mansion was purchased by the nation, and settled as an heirloom on the illustrious dukedom of Wellington. It was then leasehold only. Mr. Peter Cunningham tells us that

the Crown's interest in

Apsley House

was sold to the duke by indenture, dated the

15th of June, 1830

, for the sum of

£ 9,530

, the Crown reserving, however, a right to forbid the erection of any other house or houses on the same site.

In the mansion was enlarged, and the original exterior of red brick was faced with a casing of Bath stone, designed by Mr. B. Wyatt. At this time the front portico and the west wing were added; but, says Mr. Peter Cunningham,

the old house still remains intact, so much so, indeed, that the hall door and knocker belonged to the original Apsley House.

Battle of Waterloo, with Napoleon in the Foreground,

good, very good; not too much smoke.

Chelsea

Pensioners reading the Gazette of the Battle of Waterloo,

Art and Artists in England,

Christ on

the Mount

of Olives,

In the tumults which broke out in London in on account of the opposition of the duke and the Tory party to the Reform Bill, the windows of Apsley House were broken by the mob. In consequence of this, the duke had all his windows cased with iron shutters, like those of shop-fronts in our leading thoroughfares, and made bullet-proof; and though often entreated to have them removed when his popularity returned, he steadily refused to allow the change to be made, as he had no confidence in the smiles of popular favour, and would often say that they were a standing proof of the vanity of the world's applause. With reference to the manner in which the fury of the multitude in the above-mentioned year vented itself on the duke, we glean a little intelligence in the following extract from Mr. Raikes'

Journal :

I can remember well,

the time when the duke returned to England, after his brilliant campaigns, crowned with the battle of Waterloo; at that time he was cheered by the people wherever he went, and lauded to the skies. Afterwards, at

the period of the Reform Bill, the fickle people forgot all his services, and constantly hooted him in the streets.

One

morning, as he was coming from the Tower on horseback, the rascally mob attacked him with so much virulence and malice, that he was exposed to considerable personal danger in the street. I was in that year at a ball given by him at Apsley House to King William IV. and his Queen, when the mob were very unruly and indecent in their conduct at the gates; and on the following days they proceeded to such excesses, that they broke the windows of Apsley House, and did much injury to his property. It was then that he caused to be put up those iron blinds to his windows, which remain to this day as a record of the people's ingratitude. Some time afterwards, when he had regained all his popularity, and began to enjoy that great and high reputation which he now, it is to be hoped, will carry to the grave, he was riding up

Constitution Hill

, in the Park, followed by an immense mob, who were cheering him in every direction; he heard it all with the most stoical indifference, never putting his horse out of a walk, or seeming to regard them, till he leisurely arrived at Apsley House, when he stopped at the gate, turned round to the rabble, and then pointing with his finger to the iron blinds which still closed the windows, he made them a sarcastic bow, and entered the court without saying a word.

The shutters remained outside the windows of the house down to the death of the duke in , after which they were removed by his son and successor.

On every to the last, the duke celebrated his Waterloo dinner in the large gallery. Mr. Rush, in his

Court of London,

The king sat on the right hand of the duke. Just before the dessert courses, the duke rose and gave as a toast,

His Majesty.

The guests all rose and drank it in silence, the king also rising and bowing to the company. A few minutes afterwards the king gave

The Duke of Wellington,

introducing his toast with a few remarks. The purport of these was, that had it not been for the exertions of

his friend upon his left

(it was so that he spoke of the duke), he, the king, might not have had the happiness of meeting those whom he now saw around him at that table; it was, therefore, with peculiar pleasure that he proposed his health. The king spoke with great emphasis and great apparent pleasure. The duke made no reply, but took in respectful silence what was said. The king himself continued sitting whilst he spoke, as did the company in profound stillness under his words.

These banquets were continued from year to year down to the duke's death. As years rolled on, the familiar faces gradually fell off, and the number of chairs for his guests-his old comrades in armsgrew smaller and smaller.

On state occasions, the chief ornament of the duke's sideboard was the celebrated shield presented to him by the City of London. It is of pure gold, and was manufactured by Messrs. Rundle and Bridge, from the designs of Thomas Stothard, R.A. On it are represented, in basrelief and in alto, the most important of the duke's victories; and it is said that its cost was nearly . In fact, a dinner at Apsley House has been almost described in anticipation by Virgil, in a passage of his

AEneid,

On Tyrian carpets, richly wrought, they dine;

With loads of massive plate the sideboards shine;

And antique vases, all of gold embossed

(The gold itself inferior to the cost

Of curious work), where, on the sides, were seen

The fights and figures of illustrious men,

From their first founder to the present Queen.

Down to within a few weeks of his death, the duke used to ride out every afternoon, on his way to or the Park. His appearance, as he passed from the gate of Apsley House into , at his accustomed hour, was of the sights of London which

country cousins

the observed of all observers.

A stranger could recognise him amidst the peers by the marked respect they showed to him. The duke was the best-known and most popular man in London. There were people constantly waiting at the entry to the

House of Lords

, and not unusually in the vicinity of

the Horse Guards

, to get a peep at him; and he had been so long accustomed to acknowledge the homage paid to him by all classes, on his appearing in public, that the habit had become mechanical with him. Every well-bred person raised his hat to the duke; and the duke, sitting

on horseback in his calm, impassive manner, and looking straight before him, lifted

two

fingers towards his hat to everybody. It was quite a scene when he chanced to walk along

Regent Street

, or some of the more frequented thoroughfares in the neighbourhood of

the Horse Guards

or the Houses of Parliament. A knot of followers instantly fell into his wake, augmenting as he proceeded. Shopkeepers rushed to their doors, or peered out of their windows, to catch a glance of him.

The Duke!

passed from lip to lip. You could see in the countenance of all sorts of people as they approached and passed-and all sorts of people is a wide word in the streets of London-a pleased expression as they recognised the duke. It was less striking to observe the respectful greetings of the better-conditioned classes, than the cordial interest which the common people evinced in the great captain. The omnibus-driver would point him out to his outside passengers; the cad on the steps behind, to his

insides.

The butcher's boy, as he dashed along on his pony, drew bridle to look at the duke. Cabmen, cadgers, costermongers, and

gamins

, gentle and simple, young and old, paused for a moment to gaze at the man whom they delighted to honour.

To write a complete biography of

the duke

throughout his long career, he appears the same honourable and upright man, devoted to the service of his sovereign and his country, and just and considerate to all who served under him. As a general, he was cautious, prudent, and careful of the lives of his men; but when safety lay in daring, as at, the battle of Assaye, he could be daring in the extreme. He enjoyed an iron constitution, and was not more remarkable for his personal intrepidity than for his moral courage. The union of these qualities obtained for him the appellation of the

Iron Duke,

by which he was affectionately known in his later years. His tastes were aristocratic, and his aides-de-camp and favourite generals were almost all men of family and high connections. Altogether, he was the very type and model of an Englishman; and in the general order issued by the Queen to the Army, he was characterised as

the greatest commander whom England ever saw.

On the , the

great Duke

[extra_illustrations.4.364.3]  stands between other memorials of the illustrious duke--the [extra_illustrations.4.364.4]  mounted on horseback surmounting the arch which leads to , and the statue of Achilles in . The of these statues was modelled by Mr. Matthew C. Wyatt and his son, James Wyatt; it occupied years, and is said to have taken more than tons of plaster. It represents the duke upon his horse

Copenhagen,

the group is cast in about

eight

pieces, which are fastened with screws and fused together,

thirty

men being often employed at

one

time upon the bronze. It was conveyed upon an immense car, drawn by

forty

horses, to the

Green Park

Arch,

September 26th, 1846

, and was raised by crabs. The entire group weighs

forty

tons; is nearly

thirty

feet high; and within half of the horse

eight

persons have dined.

G. R. IV.,

On fine afternoons,

the sun casts the shadow of the duke's equestrian statue full upon Apsley House, and the sombre image may be seen gliding, spirit-like, over the front.

Of the statue of Achilles, erected in the duke's honour by the ladies of England, we shall have more to say when we come to our chapter on . It has not, however, been by the aid of statuary alone that the memory of the duke has been kept alive; for it is said that within twentyfive years after he fought his last crowning battle, there were already in Europe bridges, museums, public squares, and streets, which bore the name of Waterloo. How many more have been added since we can scarcely estimate.

We have already mentioned the toll-gate at , and the old lodge adjoining it, which stood by the entrance into the Park. Appended to it was a small cottage, known to the public as the

Curds-and-Whey House.

Curds-and-Whey House,

Hyde Park Corner

is a worthy terminal mark to a great metropolis,

To

one

who has been

long in city pent,

the view from the Achilles along the elm row, towards the Serpentine, has a park-like appearance, that makes him feel out of town the moment he reaches it. To the traveller from the country, on the contrary, the view across the

Green Park

, towards

Westminster Abbey

, is truly courtly and metropolitan. The triumphal archways on either side corroborate the impression of stately polish; the magnificent scale of

St. George's

Hospital is worthy the capital of a great nation; and Apsley House seems placed there in order that the

hero of a hundred fights

may keep watch and ward on the outskirts of the central seat of power of the land whose troops he has so often led to victory.

In our view of this spot, on page , is shown the old toll-gate which formerly stood here. It had a milestone nestling under it, which gave it quite a rural appearance. It would have been amusing to have stood by the side of the old toll-gate, and to have seen the

quality,

London,

for some

three

days before the date fixed, the crowds of carriages passing

Hyde Park Corner

westwards, with whole parties removing into the country, was something like a procession to Ranelagh or

Vauxhall

.

Incredible numbers of people, being under strong apprehensions that London and

Westminster

would be visited by another and more fatal earthquake on this night, according to the predictions of a crazy life-guardsman, and because it would be just

four

weeks from the last shock--as that was from the

first

-left their houses, and walked in the parks and the fields, or lay in boats all night; many people of fashion in the neighbouring villages sat in their coaches till day-break; others went off to a greater distance, so that the roads were never more thronged, and lodgings were hardly to be procured even at Windsor; so far, and even to their wits' end, had their superstitious fears, or their guilty. consciences, driven them.

This going off to Kensington, or Hounslow, or Windsor, to avoid the earthquake, reminds of the old Duchess of Bolton, who, on Whiston's prophecy of the approaching destruction of the world, prudently resolved to be off to. China, in order to escape so inconvenient an accident. Lady Hervey writes to her friend, Mr. Morris, with reference to this silly panic:

The Ides of March are come, and will, I am persuaded, be past in all safety before you receive this letter, in spite of prophets and prophecies. The newspapers are filled with accounts of a

hundred

little subaltern earthquakes which have been felt in many different places, but which I take to be only the ghosts of the more

considerable

one

which haunt the timorous ..... Fear is an epidemic distemper; there is scarcely anything that is more contagious. I dare say at this minute

nine

parts in

ten

of the inhabitants of

Westminster

are shaking as much from this fear as they would from the earthquake if it was really to happen.

popular delusion

On the

8th of March

, at half-past

five

in the morning, the sky being very clear and serene, and the air very warm, the inhabitants of London, and to a great extent round the City, were alarmed by the shock of an earthquake, that came with great violence, especially about

Grosvenor Square

. This was preceded, about

five

o'clock, by a continual though a confused lightning, till within a minute or

two

of its being felt, when a noise was heard resembling the roaring of a great piece of ordnance, fired at a considerable distance, and then instantly the houses reeled,

first

sinking, as it were, to the south, and then to the north, and with a quick return into the centre.

A parallel to this

popular delusion

Paris,

May 14

.-A report which had prevailed here that this city was to be destroyed by a comet in the night between the

12th

and

13th

of this month, so terrified many weak and credulous people, that whole families actually quitted Paris on that account, and are gone into foreign countries.

But it is time for us to resume our perambulation. Leaving Apsley House, we now travel northwards, and following in the main the course of , we shall, before long, find ourselves at Tyburn, which, for the present, must be the limit of our journeyings in the west of the metropolis, as we are bound to find our way back to the central regions of Bloomsbury, by a route embracing and the large district which lies to the north of it.

, in the reign of Queen Anne, was a desolate bye-road, generally spoken of as

the lane leading from

Piccadilly

to Tyburn.

lane

This strange abode,

Haunted London,

had neither staircase nor doors .. Vertue, in a MS. dated

1728

, describes a visit which he paid to the house, which was

choked up with unfinished statues and pictures,

the sad relics of their father's wayward and eccentric genius.

At the point where and meet, there was erected, in , at the cost of , an ornamental fountain by Thornycroft. The money expended on it was a part of

The large mansion as we go up is Holdernesse House, at the corner of . It is the residence of the Marquis of Londonderry, and stands on a site formerly occupied by the town mansion of the D'Arcys, Earls of Holdernesse, a title long since extinct. It is said that the father of the Lord Londonderry travelled in the north of Ireland as a commission agent for a Scottish house of business, and that when his son rose to the surface in the political world, he was glad to petition the Earl of Galloway for leave to hook himself on to an obscure branch of the family tree of the Scottish house of Stewart.

The mansion- of the most spacious and splendid in London-though little known to the world outside, was built, about the year , from the designs of Messrs. S. and B. Wyatt, and commands a charmingly rural view over the expanse of . Here is a magnificent picture-gallery, containing, among other pictures, some full-length portraits of British and foreign monarchs of the present century by Sir Thomas Lawrence, as also a collection of articles of -some of which were presented to the Marquis of Londonderry by the Allied Sovereigns--vases, and tables of malachite. The sculpture-gallery contains several works by Canova and other great masters.

Great , a broad thoroughfare, leading up, like an avenue, to the front of , immortalises the family name of the old Earl of Chesterfield, its builder. Lord Palmerston lived, for many years prior to , at No. . Next door, was living Mr. Alexander Raphael, the Roman Catholic sheriff of London and Middlesex, whose money largely helped to ensure the return of O'Connell to Parliament as member for Carlow. No. was, for many years, the residence of. the Duke of Wellington's friend, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, afterwards Lord Raglan; and from this house he started, in the spring of , to take the command of our army in the Crimea, where he died in . No. was for some time the town residence of the gallant Field-Marshal, the Viscount Hardinge, formerly Governor-General of India, and successor of the Duke of Wellington as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Facing the entrance to this street, and opening into the park, is .

, the next turning northward, connects with . At his house in this street, in , died, at an advanced age, Soame Jenyns, the well-known man of letters, essayist, poet, and convert from infidelity, and many years M.P. for Cambridge. His kindly and genial character made him very popular in society; but his various writings have come, for the most part, to be forgotten. It is said that no words of illnature or personality ever passed his lips, except his memorable epigram and epitaph--for it is both --on Dr. Johnson :

Here lies Sam Johnson. Reader, have a care;

Tread lightly, lest you wake a sleeping bear.

Religious, moral, generous, and humane

He was; but self-sufficient, proud, and vain;

Fond of, and overbearing in, dispute;

A Christian and a scholar--but a brute!

The house No. in this street was the last town residence of Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was, no doubt, the lawful wife of George IV. She died in , leaving her house to the Damer family. At No. , lived the Lord Yarmouth of the Regency, before his father's death raised him to the House of Peers as Marquis of Hertford.

is the name by which a narrow and winding thoroughfare, leading behind into , is dignified. It is clearly only an enlargement of a rural bye-road, probably worn by the wheels of carts and wagons proceeding from the market-gardens of to the market in the Brook Field, already mentioned. It consists of some half-a-dozen small houses, on side only of the street, and has few reminiscences, social, literary, or political.

, the residence of Mr. R. S. Holford, the gardens of which face on the side, and on the other, is of the handsomest of the many modern mansions of London. It is in the ornate Italian style, and stands on the site of an older mansion of the same name, which was of the residences of the late Marquis of Hertford, who died there in . This nobleman, who, as Earl of Yarmouth, was a well-known figure under the Regency, married Mademoiselle

Old Q.

funeral.

I believe in a resurrection,

The present mansion was built in -, from the architectural designs of Mr. Lewis Vulliamy. It is faced with Portland stone, and in plan forms a parallelogram, about feet wide by feet in depth, very nearly the size of Bridgewater House. The grand staircase is of marble, and the interior generally is fitted up with great completeness. The arrangement of the west front, facing , is original and effective, the mouldings and dressings generally having been carefully studied. The principal cornice displays a large amount of carving, and its size may be judged from the fact that the stones composing the chief projection of it are each upwards of feet square. There is a bold stone screen wall round the house, with a lodge at the south-west corner.

This mansion,

is a very good specimen of masonry, and is built for long endurance. The external walls are

3

feet

10

inches thick, with a cavity of about

5

inches, and the proportion of stone is great, and the bonders numerous; the stones are all dowelled together with slate dowells; and throughout, the greatest care appears to have been taken by the architect to ensure more than usually sound construction. If the New Zealander, who is to gaze on the deserted site of fallen London in some distant time to come, sees nothing else standing in this neighbourhood, he will certainly find the weather-tinted walls of

Dorchester House

erect and faithful, and will, perhaps, strive to discover the meaning of the monogram which appears on the shield beneath the balconies,

R.S.H.,

that he may communicate his speculations to some

Tasmanian Society of Antiquaries,

perhaps not more pugnacious, if less erudite, than our own.

Scattered through the principal apartments of Mr. Holford's mansion is a splendid collection of pictures, mostly by the ancient masters, many of them being of -rate celebrity. The gallery contains, , fine specimens of Titian, Velasquez, Tintoretto, Vandyke, Murillo, Teniers, Wouvermans, and other artists. Among the pictures are of the Caracci series, painted for the Giustiniani Palace, by Agostino and Ludovico Caracci. These famous pictures came to England in the Duke of Lucca's collection, and not being purchased for the , after some negotiation with the trustees, they were subsequently exhibited in most of the cities of the United Kingdom, before they were separated to pass into the hands of private gentlemen. Then there are several of Rubens' exquisite sketches, among them the slight for his

Entry of Henry IV.,

Assumption of the Virgin,

Compleat Angler,

Pilgrim's Progress,

On the north side of is , which runs into , . In this street stood the Roman belonging to the Portuguese Embassy, and called after it the Portuguese Chapel. The building was removed about the year , when it was superseded by the Jesuit Church in , as already mentioned. In this street (at No. ) lived Lord Melbourne, while occupying the post of Premier. In , Mdlle. D'Este, daughter of the Duke of Sussex, lived at No. ; and at No. , Lord Holland. In this street, also, lived Vice-Chancellor Sir John Leach.

is so called on account of its proximity to Grosvenor Chapel. In it, in , lived General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, who, having gained laurels in Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercromby, and subsequently in the Peninsula under Wellington, became involved in the unfortunate matter of Queen Caroline, and for his censure of the course pursued by the members of the Crown, was degraded and dismissed from the army; he was, however, subsequently reinstated, and attained the rank of general. He was for many years M.P. for ; and for some time, just before his death in , he held the post of Governor of Gibraltar.

Of , which runs parallel with , across the middle of , we have spoken in a previous chapter.

A fine and spacious mansion, No. , between Mount and Upper Grosvenor Streets, was for many years the residence of the Marquis of Breadalbane,

In lived William, Duke of Cumberland, more frequently known as

the butcher,

The corner house of and , formerly numbered , , was the residence of Mr. Benjamin Disraeli for more than years, including the period of his Premiership. It had belonged to Mr. Wyndham Lewis, for a short time his colleague in the representation of Maidstone, whose widow (afterwards Lady Beaconsfield) he married in , soon after her husband's death. He occupied it down to the year before his Premiership.

On the south side of this street is Grosvenor House, the town residence of the Duke of Westmnister. It was formerly called ; and in it lived the Duke of Gloucester, younger

The celebrated

Grosvenor Gallery

Sigismonda,

In the words of Dr. Waagen, in his

Art and Artists in England,

makes a truly princely appearance, by its extent, the value of the pictures, and the manner in which they are hung ..... It is rich in the works of the great painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools of the

seventeenth

century, and in works of Rembrandt it is perhaps the

first

in England, after the private collection of royalty.

The Wise Men's Offering,

Ixion,

Sarah sending away Hagar;

Visitation of St. Elizabeth,

The following extract from Mr. H. C. Robinson's Diary, under date , will give a good idea of the merits of this gallery :--

I accompanied to the Marquis of Westminster's, to see his pictures. The pleasure of seeing them was rather enhanced than diminished by my better acquaintance with the great master-pieces in Italy. There are here some delightful specimens of Claude, which are equal to any on the Continent; there are also capital Rembrandts and Rubenses. It is true that there are but few of the great Italian masters, yet Guido's

Fortune

(a duplicate) is

one

of the most beautiful pictures that I know. Westall was here with--, and I could hear him giving the preference in colouring to Sir Joshua's

Mrs. Siddons

over every picture in the room. The

Blue Boy

of Gainsborough is a delicious painting.

It only remains to add that the duke very freely allows the gallery to be seen by the working classes; and that, with this end specially in view, has allowed access to it, under certain conditions, on Sundays, an example of liberality and consideration which might be followed in other quarters.

The Duke of is the head of the family of Grosvenor--a house which, although its connection with the English peerage is scarcely a century old, can lay claim to as noble a descent as any of our Norman houses. In fact, the Grosvenors have been of knightly dignity since the Conquest. Its head was the individual who, towards the close of the century, carried on, for long years, the memorable controversy of Scrope Grosvenor, before the High Court of Chivalry, the judges being the Lord High Constable, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edward III., and the Earl Marshal, Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham.

Kings, warriors, mitred abbots, bishops, statesmen, and poets, appear on the scene.

Four hundred

witnesses, not

one

of lesser degree than

a gentleman having knowledge of arms,

were called on to give evidence-among them John of Gaunt, Owen Glendower, Hotspur, and Geoffrey Chaucer. The question before the Court was such as may well raise a smile now-a-days, when everybody is, forsooth, a

gentleman,

and when everybody who likes to pay the tax can assume what armorial bearings he pleases, without fear of punishment; it was simply the right to bear a particular plain coat of arms, heraldically described as

Azure, a bend or.

The plaintiff was Sir Richard de Scrope, of Bolton, the friend and comrade of the Black Prince; the defendant was Sir Robert Grosvenor, a Cheshire knight. We will not attempt to give an outline of the pleadings: suffice it to say, that the decision of the Court was in favour of Scrope, the same arms,

within a plain bordure argent,

being allowed to Grosvenor--the present arms of the family.

The Grosvenors were raised to a baronetcy in , but did not attain the peerage till the early years of the reign of George III., when Sir Richard Grosvenor was created Baron Grosvenor of Eaton, in the County Palatine of Chester. His lordship was advanced to the dignities of Viscount Belgrave and Earl Grosvenor years later. The earl was raised to the Marquisate of at the coronation of William IV. The ducal title was conferred by Her Majesty in . The title chosen by Earl Grosvenor for his marquisate is, at all events, appropriate; for it is from within the boundaries of the fair City of that the [extra_illustrations.4.371.6] 

Continuing our walk up , we pass, at No. , the residence of [extra_illustrations.4.372.1] , Bart., the venerable and indefatigable champion of the religious and social interests of the Jewish race in every part of the world.

Dudley House, at the north-western corner of , is the residence of the Earl of Dudley, and is also noted for containing a gallery of pictures of the Flemish and Italian schools. The collection formed here by the late earl is described by Dr. Waagen in as a very mixed . He enumerates a few by Bellini, Francia, Cuyp, Rysdale, &c., adding,

I looked in vain for the

Three Graces,

by Raphael, which Passavant saw there.

Venus

Here lived the eccentric Earl of Dudley, who died in . His lordship, who was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Mr. Canning's

but,

I am a moderate man, and don't feel it. Lord Durham, they tell me, has not bread!

On occasion, when the of a forthcoming dinner at the

Clarendon

My wants and wishes are moderate in such matters. I consider a good soup, a small turbot, a neck of venison with asparagus, and an apricot tart, is a dinner for an emperor-when he can't get a better.

Of his lordship's extraordinary absence of mind, and his unfortunate habit of

thinking aloud,

trop fin

, but that diplomatists of his (Prince L.'s) standing were not so easily caught.

With high birth, wealth, and everything in his favour, Lord Dudley ended in a ridiculous failure. He is tersely described by of the ladies of the Court of George IV., as

a man who promised much, did little, and died mad.

he was the only man of

sentiment

whom she had met in England.

, which connects with the north-west corner of , has had at different times some distinguished residents; among others, William Gerard Hamilton, M.P., known as

single-speech Hamilton.

In , No. was occupied by the wealthy and eccentric Mr. Ball Hughes. In , No. was the residence of the celebrated engineer, Sir John Burgoyne; and at No. lived Lord Ashley (since Earl of Shaftesbury). In this street, too, at time, resided the Hon. Mrs. Damer, the sculptor. She was a daughter of General Conway, and the widow of Mr. John Damer, who, as we have seen, whilst quite a young man, shot himself at a tavern in Covent Garden. She was a great friend of Horace Walpole, who left her a life interest in Strawberry Hill.

, which runs north and south from Mount to Chapel Streets, parallel to , still commemorates the name of the queen of Charles II. Our readers will not have forgotten that, at time, this name was given to ; and, in all probability, when thus quietly dropped out of use for the great thoroughfare, it was preserved in connection with this modest and retiring street by some lover of the Stuart line of kings. The street is narrow, and consists of little more than a dozen houses, all old-fashioned, and rather

, which extends northwards from to , crossing , Upper Grosvenor, and Upper Brook Streets, has numbered among its residents at various times a few names which have become famous, such as [extra_illustrations.4.374.1] , the greatest chemist of his age, who lived at No. ; Mr. William Beckford, of Fonthill celebrity, who, in , occupied No. ; Mr. Serjeant Goulburn, who lived at No. ; and Miss Lydia White, who, in , died at her residence, No. . This lady, Mr. Peter Cunningham tells us, was

celebrated for her lively wit and for her blue-stocking parties, unrivalled, it is said, in the soft realm of

blue

May Fair

went to poor Lydia White's, and found her extended on a couch, frightfully swelled, unable to stir, roughed, jesting, and dying. She has a good heart and head, and is really a clever creature; but, unhappily, or rather, happily, she has set up the whole staff of her rest in keeping literary society about her. The world has not neglected her. She can always make up a circle, and generally has some people of real talent and distinction.

peer for life,

In , which runs eastward from into , lived and died the Rev. Sydney Smith, the witty canon of . A native of Woodford, in Essex, he was born in the year , and having entered the Church, became curate of Amesbury, in Wiltshire.

The squire of the parish,

took a fancy to me, and requested me to go with his son to reside at the University of Weimar; before we got there, Germany became the seat of war; and, in stress of politics, we put into Edinburgh, where I remained

five

years.

the delight and wonder of society.

Peter Plymley's Letters,

In this street lived Lord Cochrane, whose name became notorious in connection with a certain stock-jobbing fraud of a most extraordinary kind, which was played off in the metropolis, and of which we have already given the particulars, but which may be briefly summarised here. It appears that between and in the forenoon of Monday, the , a person, wearing a white cockade, passed rapidly by the , in a post-chaise, drawn by horses, and decorated with sprigs of laurel. Much about the same time a chaise similarly decorated, and a person of the same description within, was seen in the vicinity of Downing Street--not proceeding directly thither, but wandering about, apparently in want of a guide. Much excitement was caused by the appearance of these individuals, coupled with the rumours which had been spread abroad, to the effect that the mission of the man with the cockade was not to the British Government, but to the French princes here; and that he had certainly arrived at the residences of the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Bourbon. of the actors engaged in this conspiracy, named De Berenger, was traced to the house of Lord Cochrane, in this street. After some lapse of time in consequence of investigations of the committee appointed by the Stock Exchange, these persons, together with some or others, were brought to trial before Lord Ellenborough,

for conspiring to defraud that body, by circulating false news of Bonaparte's defeat, his being killed by the Cossacks, &c., to raise the funds to a higher price than they would otherwise have borne, to the injury of the public and to the benefit of the conspirators.

Crossing , at right angles at its western end, is . No. in this street was once the residence of Lord Overstone, the eminent and wealthy banker, who here had a fine gallery of pictures. In this street lived the Duchess of Gordon. Though strictly pious in her

In this street resided Lord William Russell, brother of the and Dukes of Bedford, who, on the , was murdered in his bed by his valet, Courvoisier. From the confession which Courvoisier made, after finding his case was hopeless, it appears that, in the middle of the night, when the family had retired to rest, Lord William, feeling indisposed, dressed himself, and went down stairs, where he found the valet busy in packing up the valuables, apparently with intent to carry them away. He taxed him with his crime, and, telling him he should be discharged the next morning, returned to his bed. Courvoisier, in despair, after waiting some time, seized a carving-knife, went up to his master's room, and, finding him fast asleep, savagely cut his throat. The murderer was tried at the , and, being found guilty, was executed in the following July.

Passing once more into , we have to direct our attention to or more houses before closing this chapter. The of these, No. , was, in , the residence of the late Lord Ellenborough, some time Governor-General of India; at No. were living the Misses Berry, Horace Walpole's friends; and the large house at the northern end, next to , and backing on to Camelford House, was for many years the residence of the late Duke of Somerset, whose wife, of the fair trio of Sheridan sisters, sat as the

Queen of Beauty

Having now reached the northern extremity of , we have on our left the ; but of this, and also of and Tyburn, we shall speak in subsequent chapters.

[extra_illustrations.4.360.1] Apsley House

[extra_illustrations.4.362.1] Peel's Wedding in Waterloo Gallery

[extra_illustrations.4.364.2] Walmer Castle

[extra_illustrations.4.364.3] Apsley House

[extra_illustrations.4.364.4] colossal figure

[extra_illustrations.4.371.1] handsome open stone colonnade or screen

[extra_illustrations.4.371.2] the western wing of the mansion, containing the picture-gallery

[extra_illustrations.4.371.3] Concert at Grosvenor House--Academy of Music for the Blind

[extra_illustrations.4.371.4] Facsimilie of letter sent by Gainsborough

[extra_illustrations.4.371.5] Gainsborough

[extra_illustrations.4.371.6] The Sisters by Gainsborough

[extra_illustrations.4.372.1] Sir Moses Montefiore

[] See Vol. III., p. 258.

[extra_illustrations.4.374.1] Sir Humphry Davy

[] See Vol. I., p. 478.

[extra_illustrations.4.375.1] Advertisement of Book on London Parks