REGENT STREET AND REGENT'S PARK.

ROUTE V.-REGENT STREET-PORTLAND PLACE-THE WALLACE COLLECTION-MARYLEBONE ROAD-REGENT'S PARK-THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS-EDGWARE ROAD.

Again starting from Piccadilly Circus, let us turn up Regent Street and further explore "Shopland."

Plan I. D. 8.

Regent Street.

Nearest Stations.-North end, Oxford Circus (Central London and Baker Street and Waterloo); South end, Piccadilly Circus (Baker Street and Waterloo and Great Northern and Piccadilly).

Both Regent Street and Regent's Park owe their existence to a magnificent whim of George IV, who, as Prince Regent, lived in Carlton House, which stood on the spot now occupied by the southern half of Waterloo Place. He conceived the idea of building a villa on or near Primrose Hill (then a rural spot), and projected a fine new road, three miles long, to connect it with Carlton House. The villa never became a reality; but Regent Street did, and the New or Regent's Park followed. The street was laid out in 1813-20 by the architect Nash, of whom it was said :

"Augustus at Rome was for building renown'd,

For of marble he left what of brick he had found;
But is not our Nash, too, a very great master,
He finds us all brick and he leaves us all plaster?

At first the Quadrant was graced on either side by colonnades supported by fluted columns, but these having proved a hindrance to trade by excluding light from the shops, were removed in 1848. The uniformity on which Nash prided himself has been sadly broken of late years, but the lower part of the east side still presents an almost unbroken façade, the effectiveness of which can hardly be disputed. The building immediately facing us, surmounted by a figure of Britannia, is the County Fire Office. Continuing round the curve we have on either side some of the most famous shops in London, the windows of which are an unfailing attraction to crowds of people. Beyond Swan & Edgar's, on the left, the new Piccadilly Hotel is being built on the site of the old St. James's Hall and Restaurant. The block has frontages both to Regent Street and Piccadilly. Just beyond Vigo Street is the New Gallery, where many leading artists exhibit. Glasshouse Street on the right leads to Golden Square, familiar to readers of Nicholas Nickleby. Further north is Great Marlborough Street, with a somewhat noted police court where the seamy side of West End life is focussed. Marlborough Street and other thoroughfares adjacent to Regent Street are much favoured by music publishers and musical instrument makers. Conduit Street and Maddox Street, on the left of Regent Street, both lead into New Bond Street (p. 156), while Hanover Street brings one in a few yards to Hanover Square, where are the headquarters of a number of learned societies, including the London Zoological Society (p. 182). At the north-west corner, in Tenterden Street, is the Royal Academy of Music, founded in 1822, and granting the coveted degrees of A.R.A.M. and L.R.A.M. In George Street, running south from the Square, is the church of St. George's, Hanover Square, where so many fashionable marriages take place. It dates from 1713, and contains several stained glass windows made in Mechlin at least two centuries earlier. Amongst the marriages recorded in the registers are those of Sir William Hamilton to Emma Harte, afterwards "the friend of Nelson," in 1791; Benjamin Disraeli to Mary Anne Lewis in 1839; George Eliot in 1880; and Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-eight, widower, ranchman," and Edith Kermit Carow (Dec. 2, 1886).

66

At Oxford Circus (Plan I. C. 8), one of the busiest 'bus centres, Regent Street crosses Oxford Street (p. 183), and then continues northward viâ Langham Place and Portland Place to the Marylebone Road. On the western side is the Polytechnic, acquired by the late Mr. Quintin Hogg in 1882, and now an important and

"

flourishing institution, with something like 11,000 students attending its numerous technical and science classes. The Poly trips to Switzerland, Paris, Norway, etc., are very popular. The Memorial of Mr. Quintin Hogg, at the junction of Regent Street and Langham Place, was "erected by members of the Polytechnic to the memory of their founder.” Nearly opposite is the Queen's Hall. The promenade concerts and other functions attract large crowds daily during the season. The large hall will seat 3,000. In Great Portland Street, close at hand, a new concert hall is being erected at a cost of £100,000, to replace St. James's Hall. St. George's Hall is used by Messrs. Maskelyne and Devant as a "home of magic and mystery." All Souls' Church, with its peculiar “extinguisher" spire, was designed by Nash. The Langham Hotel, one of the largest of its kind and a family hotel of the first order, occupies a commanding position at the head of Portland Place, one of the most spacious of London's thoroughfares, having a width of 120 ft. These severely plain mansions contain some beautiful Adams' ceilings, door and fireplaces. At 110, Hallam Street (formerly Charlotte Street), immediately to the east, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born in 1827 (tablet). Portland Place terminates in Park Crescent, close to which is Portland Road Station, though it would puzzle the most learned of London topographers to say where Portland Road is now to be found. Opposite is Trinity Church, Marylebone, with a curiosity in the shape of an open-air pulpit, a memorial of Canon Cadman.

Margaret Street, which crosses Regent Street immediately to the north of Oxford Street, contains All Saints' Church, famous for its musical services and the lavish decoration of the interior. At No. 74a, is the Parkes Museum of Hygiene (open 10 to 6). Mortimer Street leads through a somewhat frowsy locality to the Middlesex Hospital, between which and Tottenham Court Road is Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, where at No. 76 (tablet) Constable, the great landscape painter, lived from 1822 until his death in 1837. Many of his most famous pictures were painted here, including "Salisbury Cathedral and "The Corn Field."

On the other (western) side of this upper part of Regent Street we have Cavendish Square (Plan I. C. 7). Holles Street, connecting Cavendish Square with Oxford Street, was the birthplace of Lord Byron in 1788. The house, formerly No. 24, has been demolished, and the site is now occupied by part of the premises of Messrs. John Lewis and Co., who have erected a bronze bust to the poet's memory. Harley

Street, Wimpole Street and other thoroughfares in the neighbourhood of Cavendish Square are noted for the large number of consulting physicians and specialists residing in them. But they have interesting literary as well as medical associations:

No. 15, Wimpole Street (tablet), was the home, before her marriage, of Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Henry Hallam's Constitutional History of England and The Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th and 17th Centuries were written at No. 67 (also marked by a tablet), where he resided from 1819 to 1840; and at No. 82 Wilkie Collins died in 1889. In Harley Street (No. 73) lived Sir Charles Lyell, the great geologist ; No. 38 (formerly 13) was the home of Barry Cornwall and Adelaide Anne Procter; and William Beckford, the eccentric author of Vathek, lived at No. 100. Anthony Trollope died at 34, Welbeck Street. No. 23, Queen Anne Street (tablet) was for a time the home of J. M. W. Turner. In Devonshire Street, further north, lived Sir John Herschel, the great astronomer (No. 56-tablet); while No. I, Devonshire Terrace, at the corner of High Street and Marylebone Road (tablet), was the home from 1839 to 1851, of Charles Dickens. Here he wrote, amongst other works, The Old Curiosity Shop, Martin Chuzzlewit and portions of Dombey & Son and David Copperfield. At No. 7, Bentinck Street (tablet) a great part of Gibbons' Decline and Fall was written.

Bentinck Street leads into Manchester Square, on the north side of which is Hertford House, the stately mansion containing The Wallace Collection.

Plan I. C. 7.

Nearest Stations.-Bond Street (Central London), Baker Street (Metropolitan and Baker Street and Waterloo Railways). Admission.-Free on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 4, 5, or 6 p.m., according to season. On Mondays from 12 a.m., except Bank Holidays, when the opening is at 10 a.m. Also on Sundays from beginning of April to end of October, from 2 p.m.

On Tuesdays and Fridays from io a.m., on payment of 6d. Catalogues.-Paintings, 6d. (abridged, 2d.); Furniture and Objects of Art, 6d.; European Armour and Arms, 6d.

This superb, and in some respects unrivalled, collection of pictures, furniture, porcelain, miniatures, enamels and European and Oriental arms and armour was bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace, on condition that the Government should give a site in a central part of London, and build thereon a special museum to contain it. Eventually the conclusion was come to that no temple could more fittingly enshrine these priceless treasures than their old home. Hertford House was accordingly purchased, and to some extent reconstructed for the purpose, at a cost of £100,000, the public opening taking place in 1900. The collection was formed in the main by Francis Charles, third Marquis, and Richard, fourth Marquis

of Hertford, and supplemented by Sir Richard Wallace, to whom it passed by bequest. The first-named nobleman enjoys a dubious fame as the Marquis of Steyne of Thackeray's Vanity Fair. Whatever his foibles, no one will question his taste. As has been well said, "those who enter Hertford House feel the impress of a single cultured personality who bought these beautiful objects, not only because they were rich and rare, but because they were beautiful in themselves, and delightful to be associated with in the intimacy of private life. Hertford House is not only a museum; it is a palatial home." Judged merely as a picture gallery, it is certainly one of the finest in Europe, being notably strong in masters of the French school of the eighteenth century. The English, Dutch, Italian and Spanish schools are also worthily represented. The collection of artistic furniture of the periods of Louis XIV, XV and XVI is unique; while the Sèvres porcelain can only be rivalled by the collections at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. The collection of arms and armour includes the choicest pieces of the Debruge, Meyrick and Nieuwerkerke collections.

In December, 1903, a very fine Renaissance bronze relief, measuring 7 ft. by 2 ft., was brought to light, having been temporarily hidden by a large portrait of the Duke of Wellington and his secretary. The bronze represents "The Dance of the Muses," and is a beautiful work, full of life and movement. The general arrangement of the rooms is as follows:

of eighteenth century.

Passing the turnstile we enter the hall, and at once go through

the door on our right to