CHAPTER I.

TRAFALGAR SQUARE AND THE NATIONAL

L'

GALLERY.

ET us find ourselves again at Charing Cross, which forms the south-eastern angle of Trafalgar Square, a dreary expanse of granite with two granite fountains, intended to commemorate the last victory of Nelson. Its northern side is occupied by the miserable buildings of the National Gallery; its eastern and western sides by a hideous hotel and a frightful club. Where the noble Jacobian screen of Northumberland House (which was so admirably adapted for a National Portrait Gallery) once drew the eye away from these abominations by its dignity and beauty, a view of the funnel-roof of Charing Cross Railway Station forms a poor substitute for the timehonoured palace of the Percy's! In the centre of the square is a Corinthian pillar of Devonshire granite, 145 feet in height, by W. Railton, erected in 1843. It supports a statue of Nelson by E. H. Baily, R.A., a very poor work, which, however, does not much signify, as it can only be properly seen from the top of the Duke of York's column, which no one ascends. The pedestal of the column is decorated by reliefs.

North. The Battle of Nile by Woodington.

South. The Death of Nelson by Carew.

West. The Battle of St. Vincent by Watson and Woodington.
East. The Bombardment of Copenhagen by Ternouth.

The noble lions at the foot of the column were added by Sir E. Landseer in 1867. Only one of them was modelled: a slight variation in the treatment adapted the others to their pedestals. Their chief grandeur lies in their mighty simplicity.

At the south-west angle of the square is a statue of Sir

C. S. Napier by Adams; at the south-east angle a statue of Sir Henry Havelock by Behnes. On a pedestal at the north-west corner is an equestrian statue of George IV. by Chantrey, intended to surmount the Marble Arch when it stood in front of Buckingham Palace. The corresponding pedestal is vacant, and likely to remain so: there has never been a pendant to George IV.

On the east side of Trafalgar Square is its one ornament. Here, on a noble basement, approached by a broad flight of steps, rises the beautiful portico of the Church of St.