The Hall contains some hundreds of tattered flags and battle trophies, portraits of Charles II and of past Governors, a large painting of the Battle of Waterloo, cases of unclaimed medals, and some old leather "black Jacks." The Chapel, rendered additionally interesting by Herkomer's famous picture, "The Last Muster," contains a fine altar-piece, carvings by Grinling Gibbons, and an altar-cloth presented by Charles II. The communion service was a gift from James II. At the Sunday services the men occupy the forms in the middle, the Governor and other officers the cushioned pews at the back, and visitors are accommodated at the sides. Between the Hospital and the river are some attractive Gardens with shady avenues, admission to which is free. They occupy part of the site of the old Ranelagh Gardens, the scene of so many merry junketings in the eighteenth century. To the west is the pretty Chelsea Suspension Bridge, and beyond it the Grosvenor Road railway bridge, where tickets are collected for Victoria. The soaring chimneys of the great Generating Station at Lots Road, near the river, are a conspicuous feature of the views hereabouts. The station, the largest of the kind in the world, supplies the current by which the District, Baker Street and Waterloo, and other electric railways are worked. Turning westward along the pleasant Chelsea Embankment, with Battersea Park (p. 300) on the opposite bank, we shortly reach the Botanic Garden, leased in perpetuity by Sir Hans Sloane to the Apothecaries Company as a physic garden, so that apprentices and others may better distinguish good and useful plants from those that bear resemblance to them and yet are hurtful." A College was erected in 1902 at a cost of £6,000 for the accommodation of students. Cheyne Walk, a terrace of red-brick Queen Anne mansions overlooking the river, has many interesting associations. At No. 4 lived Maclise the painter, and here George Eliot died in 1880, after a residence of three weeks only. In the Embankment Gardens a fountain, surmounted by a bust by Ford Madox Brown, recalls the fact that Dante Gabriel Rossetti (18281882), "honoured among painters as a painter, and among poets as a poet," lived at No. 16. The Walk extends beyond Albert Bridge, and here, at the extreme western end (No. 119-tablet by Walter Crane) Turner, the great landscape painter, spent his last years and died. A Statue of Thomas Carlyle by Boehm marks the foot of Cheyne Row, a spot which no literary pilgrim omits to visit. Carlyle's House (No. 24--formerly 5-Cheyne Row) was purchased by public subscription in 1895, and is now At open daily, 10 till sunset, at a charge of Is., (Saturdays, 6d.), or 6d. each for parties of ten or more. In the various rooms may be seen a number of interesting personal relics, furniture, letters, etc. the top of the house is the sublime garret "where Frederic the Great was written, double-walled to keep out the sound. The Returning to the Embankment, we have to the west of Cheyne Row, Lawrence Street, where the manufacture of the famous old Chelsea China, which fetches almost fabulous prices, was carried on. At the corner of the Embankment and Church Street is Chelsea Old Church, one of the most interesting churches in the Metropolis. It was built in 1307-27, and altered to its present shape about 1660. See Henry Kingsley's The Hillyars and the Burtons, in the opening chapters of which the old Church figures prominently. There are many ancient monuments, and some chained books, including a Vinegar Bible." headless remains of Sir Thomas More may possibly be in the tomb he himself erected here, in blissful ignorance of the impending tragedy, but it is very doubtful. His head, we know, was interred at St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, after being exposed for fourteen days on London Bridge. At the south-east corner of the churchyard, close to the Embankment, is the monument of Sir Hans Sloane, who died in 1753, aged 92. Adjoining is the Chelsea Hospital for Sick and Incurable Children. In Church Street is the Rectory, where the brothers Charles, George and Henry Kingsley passed their boyhood. By following Church Street northward we should strike the King's Road again and could take a 'bus along it to Sloane Square. In Manresa Road, on the left, is the Chelsea Public Library, a costly building in the Queen Anne style, containing a number of Keats relics lent by Sir Charles Dilke and some very interesting prints of bygone Chelsea. Adjoining is the SouthWestern Polytechnic, recently extended. In King's Road we pass the Chelsea Town Hall, and the ornate Palace Theatre. If followed in the other (south-westward) direction, King's Road would lead us through Parsons Green to Putney Bridge, the starting-point of the famous Oxford and Cambridge Boatraces. On the Middlesex bank is Fulham Palace, for upwards of seven centuries the official residence of the Bishops of London. The grounds are encircled by a moat about a mile in circuit. The Bishop's Walk along the bank of the river is a very pleasant promenade. About half a mile beyond, on the Surrey side, are the grounds of the Ranelagh Club (polo, tennis, etc.). The house, known as Barn Elms, was a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Sir Francis Walsingham. CHARING CROSS TO THE CITY. ROUTE VIII. THE STRAND-COVENT GARDEN-ALDWYCH AND KINGS WAY -WATERLOO BRIDGE-THE VICTORIA EMBANKMENT-TEMPLE BARLINCOLN'S INN FIELDS-THE TEMPLE-FLEET STREET-LUDGATE CIRCUS. Turning this time citywards, let us follow the Strand and Fleet Street, a line of thoroughfare surpassing even Oxford Street in the volume of traffic constantly passing between east and west. The latter part of the route, after passing Temple Bar, is within the City, and therefore outside the strict limits of this section of the Guide, but it will be better for purposes of continuity to regard Farringdon Street as the boundary. Plan II. D. 9 and 10. The Strand. Nearest Stations.-Western end, Trafalgar Square (Baker Sreet and Waterloo), Charing Cross (District); eastern end, Temple. Recent widenings have effected great improvements, and with its soaring hotels, fine playhouses and handsome shops, the Strand can now challenge comparison with any thoroughfare in Europe. Nor is the interest by any means confined to the buildings. The intelligent visitor has only to pause in any doorway to take stock of the crowds of all ranks, ages, con ditions and nationalities that surge unceasingly by, to have an epitome not merely of metropolitan life but almost of the life of the world. Certainly no other street in London so happily combines the aspects of business and amusement. In Elizabethan times, and long afterwards, the Strand was bordered by aristocratic mansions, with gardens extending down to the riverside. The names still survive in such streets as Burleigh Street, Villiers Street, Bedford Street, Southampton Street, etc. Indeed, there is hardly a street in the neighbourhood of the Strand the name of which would be sought unsuccessfully in the British peerage. From Charing Cross to Temple Bar, where the famous griffin marks at once the commencement of the City and of Fleet Street, the Strand is almost exactly seveneighths of a mile long. the Northumberland Avenue we have already dealt with (p. 83). The new premises of Coutts' Bank occupy site of the old Lowther Arcade, or toyland," long the joy of children. Charing Cross Station (South-Eastern and Chatham Railway) has in its courtyard a replica of the old Charing Cross (p. 80). The District Railway station of the same name is close to the river, and is reached by way of Villiers Street. Nearly opposite, in King William Street, is the Charing Cross Hospital, recently extended by the addition of the Louise Ward. On the south side is the Tivoli Music Hall and Restaurant, with a gilded exterior modelled on the guild houses in the Brussels Market Place. To the south, between the Strand and the river, lies the quarter known as The Adelphi, built by the brothers Adam. Adelphi Terrace, overlooking the Victoria Gardens and Embankment, is one of their finest works. David Garrick died at No. 5 in 1779; No. 7 is the Savage Club. In John Street is the Society of Arts, established in 1754 for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and commerce. In the hall are some large allegorical paintings by Barry. No. 14 is the headquarters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. On the north side of the Strand, opposite Adam Street, is the Adelphi Theatre, long famous for melodrama, and just beyond is the Vaudeville. Great changes have taken place on the south side, consequent on the erection of the huge Hôtel Cecil, now extending from the Embankment right through to the Strand, and occupying an area of 21 acres. There are thirteen floors, and upwards of a thousand apartments. A new carriage drive from the Strand leads directly to the quadrangle, generally spoken of by habitués as "the beach." Not to |