of Chandos at Edgeware. The curious Library still remains where Lord Chesterfield wrote his celebrated Letters, of which Dr. Johnson said, "Take out their immorality, and they should be put into the hands of every gentleman." The busts and pictures which once made the room so

interesting have been removed, but under the cornice still run the lines from Horace

"Nunc. veterum. libris. nunc. somno. et. inertibus. horis

Ducere. solicitæ. jucunda . oblivia. vitæ."

"We shall never recall that princely room without fancying Chesterfield receiving in it a visit of his only child's mother-while probably some new favourite was sheltered in the dim, mysterious little boudoir within."-Quarterly Review, No. 152.

Lord Chesterfield was one of the first English patrons of French cookery: his cook was La Chapelle, a descend

ant of the famous cook of Louis XIV.

Chesterfield died

in the house in 1773, and in accordance with his Will was interred in the nearest burial-ground (that of Grosvenor Chapel), but was afterwards removed to Shelford in Nottinghamshire.

"Lord Chesterfield's entrance into the world was announced by his bon mots; and his closing lips dropped repartees, that sparkled with his juvenile fire."-Horace Walpole.

The Garden of Chesterfield House, mentioned by Beckford as "the finest private garden in London," has been lamentably curtailed of late years.

In the vaults of Grosvenor Chapel is still buried Ambrose Philips (1762), described by Lord Macaulay as a good Whig, and a middling poet," and ridiculed by Pope as

"The bard whom pilfered pastorals renown;

Who turns a Persian tale for half-a-crown;

Just writes to make his barrenness appear,

And strains from hard-bound brains eight lines a year.

Here also rests Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1762), who introduced the Turkish remedy of inoculation for the smallpox (practising it first upon her own children), and who was the authoress of the charming" Letters "which have been so often compared with those of Madame de Sévigné. A tablet commemorates "John Wilkes, a Friend of Liberty (1797). This chapel is one of the places where public thanksgivings were returned (1781) for the acquittal of Lord George Gordon.

North Audley Street and Orchard Street lead in a direct line to Portman Square, so called from having been built on the property of William Henry Portman of Orchard

Portman in Somersetshire (died 1796).

Dorset Square,

Orchard Street, Blandford Square, and Bryanston Square, on this property, take their names from country houses of the Portman family. No. 34 (Sir Edward Blackett, Bart.), prepared [for the marriage of William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, with Lady Waldegrave in 1766, has a beautiful drawing-room decorated by the brothers Adam, and hung with exquisite tapestry. The detached house at the northwest angle is Montagu House, which became celebrated from the parties of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, the "Queen of the Blues," who here founded the Bas Bleu Society, whence the expression Blue Stocking. Her rooms, decorated with feather hangings to which all her friends contributed, are celebrated by Cowper.

"Mrs. Montagu was qualified to preside in her circle, whatever subject was started; but her manner was more dictatorial and sententious than conciliatory or diffident. There was nothing feminine about her; and though her opinions were generally just, yet the organ which conveyed them was not soft or harmonious."-Sir N. Wraxall.

Johnson used to laugh at her, but said, "I never did her serious harm; nor would I,-though I could give her a bite; but she must provoke me much first."

In the garden which surrounds the house Mrs. Montagu used to collect the chimney-sweeps of London every May

Day and give them a treat, saying that they should have at least one happy day in the year. Her doing so originated in her discovering, in the disguise of a chimney-sweep, Edward Wortley Montagu (Lady Mary's son), who had run away from Westminster School. Mrs. Montagu died in 1800, aged eighty: she is commemorated in Montagu Square and Street.

Baker Street, which leads north from Portman Square, contains Madame Tussaud's famous Exhibition of Waxwork Figures. Many of these, especially those relating to the French Revolution, were modelled from life, or death, by Madame Tussaud, who was herself imprisoned and in danger of the guillotine, with Madame Beauharnais and her child Hortense as her associates.

Seymour Street and Wigmore Street* lead west to Cavendish Square. On the left is Manchester Square, containing Hertford House, the large brick mansion and Picture Gallery of Sir Richard Wallace, who inherited it from Lord Hertford. The pictures, which are not shown to the public, include several good works of Murillo, some fine specimens of the Dutch School, and the "Nelly O'Brien," "Mrs. Braddyl," "Mrs. Hoare," and other works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. The residence here of the second Marchioness of Hertford will recall Moore's lines

66

'Oh, who will repair unto Manchester Square,
And see if the lovely Marchesa be there,

And bid her to come, with her hair darkly flowing,
All gentle and juvenile, crispy and gay,

In the manner of Ackermann's dresses for May?

Cavendish Square, laid out in 1717, takes its name

Wigmore Street and Wimpole Street derive their names from country-seats of the Earls of Oxford.

(with the neighbouring Henrietta Street and Holles Street) from Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, who married, in 1713, Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford. In the centre stood till lately a statue of William Duke of Cumberland (1721-65), erected in 1770 by his friend General Strode. On the south side is a statue of Lord George Bentinck, 1848. The two houses at the north-east and north-west angles were intended as the extremities of the wings of the huge mansion of the great Duke of Chandos, by which he intended to occupy the whole north side of the square, but the project was cut short by his dying of a broken heart in consequence of the death of his infant heir, while he was being christened with the utmost magnificence. On the west is Harcourt House, built 1722 for Lord Bingley, and bought after his death by the Earl of Harcourt, who sold it to the Duke of Portland.* It has a courtyard and porte-cochère, like those in the Faubourg St. Germain. At No. 24 lived and painted George Romney, always called by Sir Joshua Reynolds, whom he had the honour of rivalling, "the man of Cavendish Square.” Princess Amelia, daughter of George II., lived in the large house at the corner of Harley Street. In No. 24, Holles Street Lord Byron was born in 1788. There is little more worth noticing in the frightful district to the north of Oxford Street, which, with the exception of the two squares we have been describing, generally marks the limits of fashionable society. We may take Harley Street as a fair specimen of

The neighbouring Welbeck Street and Bolsover Street are named from country-houses of the Portland family; but the great mass of streets in this neighbourhood-Bentinck Street, Holles Street, Vere Street, Margaret Street, Cavendish Street, Harley Street, Foley Place, Weymouth Street-commemorate the junction of the great Bloomsbury and Marylebone estates by the marriage of William Bentinck, Duke of Portland, with Margaret Cavendish Harley in 1734.