Brunswick Square, immediately to the west of the Foundling Hospital, lived John Leech, the caricaturist. At 13, Great Coram Street, leading from the Square to Woburn Place, Thackeray lived before going to Kensington. Tavistock House, at the north-east corner of Tavistock Square, was the home from 1850 to 1860 of Charles Dickens. Here Bleak House and Little Dorrit were written.

In Great Ormond Street stood for fifty years the Working Men's College, founded in 1854 by F. D. Maurice, Thomas

Hughes, author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, and others, with the object of providing University teaching for working men and others in humble positions. It was the pioneer of the many institutions for technical and commercial instruction which have since been established. The College has recently been transferred to a new building in Crowndale Road, St. Pancras, the foundation stone of which was laid by the Prince of Wales on the 16th July, 1904. Adjoining are the Royal Children's Hospital and the Homœopathic Hospital.

Returning to Theobalds Road, we cross it to Bedford Row, a short but wide road, almost entirely tenanted by solicitors, at the top of which we turn left and enter the precincts of

Gray's Inn (Plan I. C. 10), one of the four great Inns of Court, originally founded for the education and lodging of law students, to one or other of which all barristers are "admitted." Gray's Inn occupies an extensive area, from Holborn to Theobalds Road, most of the offices lining the western side of Gray's Inn Road and overlooking the pleasant gardens, with their fine plane trees (planted, it is said, by Francis Bacon), and well-kept lawns. In the Elizabethan Hall Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors is believed to have been acted in 1594. The Archbishop's Window in the Chapel, unveiled in 1899, has figures of Becket, Whitgift, Juxon, Laud and Wake, the last four all members of the "Ancient and Honourable Society."

Gray's Inn Road is a dingy and unattractive thoroughfare running northward from Holborn to King's Cross. On the right, about half a mile up, is the Royal Free Hospital, founded in 1828. Slightly to the east, bordering the northern part of Farringdon Road, and occupying the site of the old Coldbath House of Correction on the sarcastically named Mount Pleasant, are huge postal buildings where provincial letters and newspapers are sorted and despatched.

Close to the junction of Gray's Inn Road with Holborn stone pillars mark the City Boundary, though it will be more convenient to regard Holborn Circus, a few yards eastward, as the limit of our present ramble.

Holborn

[Plan I. C. 10 and 11],

the eastward continuation of New Oxford Street, takes its name from the Old Bourne, or burn, a tributary of the Fleet River, which formerly flowed through the hollow now spanned by the Viaduct. Here are many fine shops and stores, including Wallis's and Gamage's. On the north side, close to Gray's Inn Road, is the large red-brick block occupied by the Prudential Assurance Company, recently extended by the demolition of Furnival's Inn, where Dickens was living when he began the Pickwick Papers. Opposite Gray's Inn Road are some of the Oldest Houses in London, dating from the Elizabethan period, their projecting timbered fronts forming the street side of Staple Inn (p. 197).

Chatterton, the boy poet, committed suicide in a garret in Brooke Street, immediately west of the Prudential Offices.

At the north end of this street is St. Alban's Church, superbly decorated and noted for its ritualistic services. The chapel on the south side is a memorial of the Rev. A. H. Mackonochie (d. 1887), the first vicar, whose recumbent figure, in eucharistic vestments, is to be seen in a recess. A beautiful allegorical painting records the manner of his death amid his ancestral Highlands, where his frozen body was found guarded by a faithful deerhound.

The imposing façade of the Birkbeck Bank is adorned with busts of famous generals and others. An archway beneath the old houses gives access to quaint little Staple Inn, with its oldworld courtyard. Though long an inn connected with the law, it owes its name to an earlier use when it served as a kind of custom house where wool was weighed and the dues upon it collected. For a full history see Staple Inn, G. E. Williams. Further east, close to Fetter Lane, is Barnard's Inn, where Pip of Great Expectations lodged. Here are the new buildings of the Mercers' School, the old hall of the inn being utilized as a dining-room. The school has a history extending over four centuries and a half. Dean Colet, of St. Paul's, and Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange, were scholars.

From Holborn Circus (Plan I. C. 11) a penny 'bus, or the Tube, will take us back, in a few minutes, to our starting point at Oxford Circus.

ROUTE VII.-THE BROMPTON ROAD-CHURCH OF THE ORATORY-THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM-THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUMTHE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE-CHELSEA HOSPITAL-CARLYLE'S HOUSE.

One more excursion will complete our sightseeing in the West of London, and leave us free to devote some attention to the City and South London. This trip to South Kensington, or "Museum Land," must perforce be omitted by the hurried visitor, but no one with time to spare should fail to make himself acquainted with our great national collections.

From Charing Cross we may either take train to South Kensington, or proceed by 'bus viâ Piccadilly, Knightsbridge and the Brompton Road. Given fine weather, the 'bus ride is one of the most interesting and enjoyable in the Metropolis. Piccadilly we have already described (p. 154). At Albert Gate (p. 169) we turn in a south-westerly direction along the Brompton Road. Here are Harrod's Stores, and several of the finest business establishments in London, so that the pavements are generally crowded with shoppers. Here, too, is Tattersall's, the famous Horse Market. In about half a mile we have on the right the well-known

Plan II. F. 5.

Church of the Oratory.

Admission free at all times when the Church is open, and to all the services. Open daily from 6.15 to 12.30, 2.30 to 6.30, and 7.30 to 10 p.m. On Saturdays and during the services visitors are not allowed to walk about the Church for the purpose of seeing it.

Services. Sundays, Mass at 6.30, 7, 7.30, 8, 8.30, 9 and 10 a.m.; High Mass, 11; Vespers and Benediction 3.30; Evening Service, Sermon and Benediction, 7 p.m.

Weekdays, Mass 6.30, 7, 7.30, 8, 8.30, 9 and 10 a.m.; Evening Service at

8 p.m.

The Oratory is largely attended even by non-Catholics, on account of its musical services. It was opened by Cardinal Manning in 1884, and is a fine specimen of the Italian Renaissance style, from the designs of Mr. H. Gribble. The exterior dome was erected in 1896, the façade, with two flanking belfry towers, a year later. The nave is the widest in England, except those of the new Westminster Cathedral and York Cathedral. It is remarkable for its lofty marble pilasters. There are nine side chapels, all elaborately decorated with mosaics and carvings. The sanctuary is 50 ft. wide and 75 ft. in length, and is panelled with marble. Behind the high altar is a picture of St. Philip Neri, the sixteenth century founder of the community. The pair of seven-branched candlesticks are copied from those in the Arch of Titus. The choir stalls are beautifully carved. In the eastern transept is the Lady Altar, originally erected at Brescia in 1693, and brought to this country in 1886. It is a magnificent work. The organ contains upwards of 4,000 pipes. On the west side of the Oratory grounds, overlooking the Brompton Road, is a Statue of Cardinal Newman (1801-90), who seceded to the Catholic Church in 1845, and introduced the Institute of the Oratory to England.

Beyond is the new southern façade of the Victoria and Albert Museum, of which the foundation stone was laid by Queen Victoria in 1899, but as the entrance is still in Exhibition Road it will be more convenient to keep along the Cromwell Road (deriving its name not from Oliver, but from the Protector Cromwell), and see first the

Plan II. F. 5.

Natural History Museum.

Admission. The Museum is open free daily from 10 till 6, April to August, and 10 till 4, 4.30, 5 or 5.30 other months." On Mondays and Saturdays from 1st May to middle of July, it is open till 8 p.m., and thence to the end of August till 7 p.m. Also on Sundays from 2 till 7 p.m. or dusk. Closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday.

Catalogues.-General Guide 3d. Guides to various Departments 4d. and 6d. Refreshment Room on first floor at head of staircase.

Nearest Station.-South Kensington (District and Great Northern and Piccadilly).