foreign division of the nave, where the French organ took up the strain, and the delicate lady, whose tempered sway is owned by a hundred millions of men, pursued her course amongst the contributions of all the civilised world. As she passed the gigantic equestrian figure of Godfrey de Bouillon, by the Belgian sculptor, Simonis, which seems the very impersonation of physical strength, we could not but be struck by the contrast, and by the reflection how far the prowess of the crusader is transcended by the power of well-defined liberty and constitutional law. The brilliant train having at length made the complete circuit of the building, Her Majesty again ascended the throne, and pronounced the Exhibition opened. The announcement was repeated by the Marquis of Breadalbane as Lord Steward, followed immediately by a burst of acclamations, the bray of trumpets, and a royal salute across the Serpentine. The royal party then withdrew; the National Anthem was again repeated; and the visitors dispersed themselves through the building, to gratify their curiosity without restraint." It would be impossible, and indeed superfluous, within the space at our command, to attempt to give anything even like a résumé of the multifarious articles here brought together; suffice it to say, that the Exhibition comprised most of the best productions in the different branches of art, manufactures, &c., from all parts of the civilised globe, and that it became properly enough called the "World's Fair," for it attracted visitors from all parts of the world. We have already mentioned the glass fountain in the transept; that object, from its central position, was invariably fixed upon as the rendezvous, or meeting-place, by family groups or parties of visitors, in case of their losing sight of one another in the labyrinth of tables and articles which thronged the building. Another object, which we cannot well pass over, was the famous Koh-i-noor, or "Mountain of Light," which had been specially lent by Her Majesty. This royal gem-the value of which has been variously stated at from £1,500,000 to £3,000,000—appeared to be one of the greatest curiosities of the Exhibition, judging from the numbers congregated around it during the day. The Exhibition was open for 144 days, being closed on the 11th of October. The entire number of visitors was above 6,170,000, averaging 43,536 per day. The largest number of visitors in one day was 109,760, on the 8th of October; and at two o'clock on the previous day 93,000 persons were present at one time. The entire money drawn for tickets of admission amounted to £506,100; and after all expenses were defrayed, a balance of £213,300 was left over, to be applied to the promotion of industrial art. At the time when the Exhibition was over, so firm a hold had the fairy-like palace obtained upon the good opinion of the public, that a general desire for its preservation sprung up. Application was made to Government that it should be purchased and become the property of the nation; but it was ruled otherwise. The building was, however, not doomed to disappear altogether, for a few enterprising gentlemen having stepped forward, it was rescued from destruction. It was decided that the building should be removed to some convenient place within an easy distance of London, and accordingly it was transferred to Sydenham, where a fine estate of three hundred acres had been purchased, on which the edifice was raised again in increased grandeur and beauty, and where, under the name of the Crystal Palace, it soon became one of the most popular places of recreation in or near the metropolis. The whole building was removed from Hyde Park before the close of 1852; and in the following year it was proposed to place upon the site a memorial of the Exhibition, to include a statue of Prince Albert-the originator of this display of the industry of all nations. The spot ultimately chosen for the memorial, however, is somewhat to the west of the ground covered by the Exhibition building; in fact, it is just within the southeastern enclosure of Kensington Gardens, directly opposite the centre of the Horticultural Gardens, and looking upon the South Kensington establishments, in the promotion of which the Prince Consort always took so deep an interest. The memorial, which took upwards of twenty years before it was completed, and cost upwards of £130,000, was erected from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott. It consists of a lofty and widespreading pyramid of three quadrangular ranges of steps, forming, as it were, the base of the monument, which may be described as a colossal statue of the Prince, placed beneath a vast and gorgeous Gothic canopy, about thirty feet square, supported at the angles by groups of columns of polished granite, and "surrounded by works of sculpture, illustrating those arts and sciences which he fostered, and the great undertakings which he originated." The memorial partakes somewhat, in the richness of its colours, decorations, and mosaics, of the Renaissance Gothic style; and its whole height from the roadway is 176 feet. The first flight of granite steps, forming the basement, is 212 feet wide, with massive abutments of solid Pimlico.] DERIVATION OF "PIMLICO." 39 granite. At the four corners of the second flight of state, and attired in his regal-looking robes of steps are gigantic square masses of carved as a Knight of the Garter. This great work was granite, occupied with colossal groups of marble entrusted to Mr. Foley. The roof of the canopy statuary, emblematical of Europe, Asia, Africa, and is decorated with mosaics, representing the royal America, and executed respectively by Messrs. arms and those of the Prince on a ground of blue Macdowell, Foley, Theed, and Bell. Above the and gold. At the angles of the four arches above topmost flight of steps rises the memorial itself, the canopy are marble figures, life-size. The the podium or pedestal of which is carved with spandrils of the arches above the trefoil are filled nearly 200 figures, life-size, and all more or less in with rich and elaborate glass mosaics on a gilt in high relief. They are all portrait-statues of ground, portraying Poetry, Painting, Sculpture, celebrities in the different walks of art, literature, and Architecture. One of the main features of science, &c. At the four corners of this, again, the whole design is the beautiful spire, in which as on the base below, are allegorical groups of every portion of the metal surface is covered with statuary-one of Commerce, by Thornycroft; one ornament; the surface in many parts is coated of Manufactures, by Weekes; one of Agricul- with colours in enamel, with coloured marbles and ture, by Marshall; and one of Engineering, by imitation gem-work; and up to the very cross itself, Lawlor. The statue of the Prince-which was which surmounts the whole, there is the same not completed till early in the year 1876-is amount of extraordinary detail and finish, as if richly gilt, and rests upon a pedestal fifteen feet each part were meant for the most minute and bigh; it represents the Prince sitting on a chair close inspection. CHAPTER IV. "I'll have thee, Captain Gilthead, and march up And take in Pimlico."-Old Play. Etymology of Pimlico-The Locality Half a Century Ago-Warwick Square-Vauxhall Bridge Road-The Army Clothing Depôt-St. George's Square-The Church of St. James the Less-Victoria Railway Station-New Chelsea Bridge-The Western Pumping Station, and Metro. politan Main-Drainage Works-St. Barnabas Church-St. Barnabas Mission House and Orphanage-Bramah, the Engineer and Locksmith-Thomas Cubitt, the Builder-The "Monster" Tavern--The "Gun," the "Star and Garter," and the "Orange" Tea-Gardens"Jenny's Whim"-Tart Hall - Stafford Row-St. Peter's Chapel and Dr. Dodd-Richard Heber and his famous Library. THE name Pimlico is clearly of foreign derivation, and it has not a little puzzled topographers. Gifford, in a note in his edition of Ben Jonson. tells us that "Pimlico is sometimes spoken of as a person, and may not improbably have been the master of a house once famous for ale of a particular description ;" and we know, from Dodsley's "Old Plays," and from Ben Jonson's writings, that there was another Pimlico at Hoxton, or (as the place was then termed) Hogsdon, where, indeed, to the present day there is a "Pimlico Walk." It is evident, from a reference to The Alchemist of Ben Jonson, that the place so named at "Hogsdon" was a place of resort of no very good repute, and constantly frequented by all sorts of people, from knights, ladies, and gentlewomen, down to oyster-wenches : "Gallants, men. and women, And of all sorts, tag-rag, been seen to flock here, knight is represented as sending his daughter to Pimlico "to fetch a draught of Derby ale." It is antecedently probable, therefore, that the district lying between Chelsea and St. James's Park should have got the name from an accidental resemblance to its antipodes at Hoxton. And this supposition is confirmed by Isaac Reed, who tells us, in Dodsley's "Old Plays," how that "a place near Chelsey is still called Pimlico, and was resorted to within these few years on the same account as the former at Hogsdon." It may be added that Pimlico is still celebrated for its ales, and also that the district is not mentioned by the name of Pimlico in any existing document prior to the year 1626. "At this time"-i.e. the reign of Charles I., writes Mr. Peter Cunningham-" Pimlico was quite uninhabited, nor is it introduced into the ratebooks of St. Martin's (to which it belonged) until the year 1680, when the Earl of Arlingtonpreviously rated as residing in the Mulberry Gardens-is rated, though still living in the same In another play of about the same period a worthy house, under the head of Pimlico. In 1687, seven years later, four people are described as living in what was then called Pimlico-the Duke of Grafton, Lady Stafford, Thomas Wilkins, and Dr. Crispin. The Duke of Grafton, having married the only child of the Earl of Arlington, was residing in Arlington House; and Lady Stafford in what was then and long before known as Tart Hall." Arlington House, as we have seen,* was ultimately developed into Buckingham Palace. The district of Pimlico may be regarded as embracing the whole of Belgravia, which we have already dealt with in a previous chapter, as well as the locality extending from Buckingham Palace Road to the Thames, and stretching away westward to Chelsea. This latter portion includes the Grosvenor Road and the Eccleston sub-district of squares, terraces, and streets, nearly all of which have sprung up within the last half-century. Vauxhall Bridge, and so on to Kennington and Not far from St. George's Square stands an extensive range of buildings, known as the Army Clothing Depôt-one of the largest institutions that has ever been established for the organisation and utilisation of women's work. "Previous to the year 1857," observes a writer in the Queen newspaper, "all the clothes for the British army were made by contractors, whose first thought seemed to be how to amass a fortune at the expense of the makers and the wearers of the clothes primarily, and of the British public indirectly. But in that year the Army Clothing Depôt was established, somewhat experimentally, in Blomberg Terrace, Vauxhall Road; the experiIn the map appended to Coghlan's "Picture of ment answering so well, that an extension of the London," published in the year 1834, the whole of premises became imperative. In 1859 the present this division of Pimlico, between Vauxhall Bridge depôt was opened, although since then it has Road and Chelsea (now Buckingham Palace) largely increased, and has not yet, apparently, come Road, appears unbuilt upon, with the exception to the full stage of its development. The whole of of a few stray cottages here and there, and a few the premises occupy about seven acres, the long blocks of houses near the river; the rest of the block of buildings on the one side being used as space is marked out as gardens and waste land, the Government stores, while the corresponding intersected by the Grosvenor Canal, the head of block consists of the factory. The main feature which, forming an immense basin, is now entirely of the latter is a large glass-roofed central hall of covered by the Victoria Railway Station. Its three storeys, with spacious galleries all round on rustic character at the above date may be inferred each storey. The ventilation is ensured by louvres, from the fact, that a considerable portion of the so that the whole atmosphere can be renewed in space between the two roads above mentioned the space of five minutes or so; the temperature is is described as "osier beds," whilst a straight kept at an average of 60° to 63°, and each operative thoroughfare connecting the two roads is called enjoys 1,200 cubic feet of air, so that we have at Willow Walk. These osier beds are now covered the outset the three requirements of light, air, and by Eccleston Square and a number of small streets warmth, in strongly-marked contrast to the crowded adjacent to it; whilst "Willow Walk" has been rooms of the contractor, or the more wretched transformed into shops and places of business, and chamber of the home-worker. Five hundred and is now known as Warwick Street. On the north twenty-seven women are at present working in the side of Warwick Street, covering part of the "old central hall, and five hundred in the side rooms, Neat House" Gardens, to which we have already which also accommodate about two hundred men. referred, t is Warwick Square, which is bounded on This forms the working staff of the factory, which the north-east by Belgrave Road, and on the comprises, therefore, what may be called the pick south-west by St. George's Road. In Warwick of the sewing-machine population in London. It Square stands St. Gabriel's Church, a large build- may well be imagined that the prospect of so ing of Early English architecture, erected from the comfortable an abiding place would attract great designs of Mr. Thomas Cundy, who was also the numbers of workpeople; and, indeed, this has architect of St. Saviour's Church, in St. George's been so much the case that very rigorous rules Square, close by. Vauxhall Bridge Road, which have been obliged to be made to guard against dates from the erection of the bridge, about the unworthy admissions. The good of the public year 1816, is a broad and well-built thoroughfare, service' is the motto of the factory, and everything opening up a direct communication, by way of else must yield to that; so that, both for in-door Grosvenor Place, between Hyde Park Corner and and out-door hands, all candidates must first of • See Vol. IV., P. 62. † See Vol. IV., p. 3. See Vol. IV., p. 9. Pimlico. J THE MAIN-DRAINAGE WORKS. 41 London Bridge and Holborn Viaduct, and also serves as the joint terminus of the Brighton Railway and of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. Like the stations at Charing Cross and Cannon Street, which we have already described, the Victoria Railway Station has a "monster" all appear before a committee, consisting of the matron, the foreman cutter, the foreman viewer, and the instructor, who are held responsible for the selection of proper persons. In-door candidates as needlewomen must be healthy and strong, and, if single, between the ages of seventeen and thirty; if married or widows, they must have no children | hotel-" The Grosvenor"-built in connection with at home young enough to demand their care. These points being settled, the candidates are examined as to any previous training or fitness for army work, and are required to show what they can do. If all these requirements are satisfactory, the matron inquires into their character, and finally they are examined by the doctor, who certifies to their fitness, after which they are placed in a trial division in the factory for further report and promotion." St. George's Square, with its trees and shrubs, presents a healthful and cheering aspect, almost bordering on the Thames, just above Vauxhall Bridge. It covers a considerable space of ground, and is bounded on the north side by Lupus Street-a thoroughfare so called after a favourite Christian name in the Grosvenor family, perpetuating the memory of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester after the Norman Conquest. St. Saviour's Church, which was built in 1865, is in the Decorated style of Gothic architecture, and with its elegant tower and spire forms a striking object, as seen from the river. In Upper Garden Street, which runs parallel with Vauxhall Bridge Road, is the Church of St. James the Less, built in 1861, from the designs of Mr. G. E. Street, R.A. The edifice was founded by the daughters of the late Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol (Dr. Monk) as a memorial to their father, who was also a Canon of Westminster. It is constructed of brick, with dressings of stone, marble, and alabaster; and it consists of a nave, side aisles, a semi-circular apse, and a lofty tower and spire. The roof of the chancel is groined, and is a combination of brick and stone. A very considerable amount of elaborate detail pervades the interior. The chancel is surrounded by screens of brass and iron, and over the chancel-arch is a well-executed fresco painting, by Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A., of "Our Saviour attended by Angels." Some of the windows are filled with stained glass. The building, including the decorations, cost upwards of £9,000. The Victoria Railway Station, situated at the northern end of Vauxhall Bridge Road, covers, as we have stated above, a considerable portion of the basin of the old Grosvenor Canal; it unites the West-end of London with the lines terminating at it. The lines of railway, soon after leaving the station, are carried across the Thames by an iron bridge of four arches, called the Victoria Bridge, and then diverge. a On the western side of the railway bridge is handsome new bridge, which now connects this populous and increasing neighbourhood with Battersea and Vauxhall. The railway bridge somewhat mars the structural beauty of the one under notice; but when looked at from the embankment on either side, "above bridge," or, better still, from a boat in the middle of the river, the bridge appears like a fairy structure, with its towers gilded and painted to resemble light-coloured bronze, and crowned with large globular lamps. The bridge, which is constructed on the suspension principle, is built of iron, and rests upon piers of English elm and concrete enclosed within iron casings. The two piers are each nearly ninety feet in length by twenty in width, with curved cutwaters. The roadway on the bridge is formed by two wrought-iron longitudinal girders, upwards of 1,400 feet, which extend the whole length of the bridge, and are suspended by rods from the chains. At either end of the bridge are picturesque lodgehouses, for the use of the toll-collectors. The bridge was built from the designs of Mr. Page, and finished in 1857, at a cost of £88,000. Nearly the whole of the river-side between Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge forms a broad promenade and thoroughfare, very similar in its construction to the Victoria Embankment, which we have already described, and of which it is, so to speak, a continuation-the only break in the line of roadway being about a quarter of a mile between Millbank and the Houses of Parliament, where the river is not embanked on the north side. This roadway is known partly as Thames Bank, or Thames Parade, and partly as the Grosvenor Road. One of the principal buildings erected upon it is the Western Pumping Station, which was finished in 1874-5, completing the maindrainage system of the metropolis. The foundation-stone of the structure was laid in 1873, and the works cost about £183,000. This station provides pumping power to lift the sewage and a part of the rainfall contributed by the district, together estimated at 38,000 gallons per minute, a power, supplied from two boilers similar to those | Board of Works, comprises 117 square miles of for the principal engines. This engine and its sewers, and, as each was concluded, it added to boilers are erected in a separate building to the the health and comfort of the inhabitants of the rear of the main buildings, near the canal. The metropolis. The main sewers are eighty-two miles works further comprise coal vaults, settling pond, long, and cost about £4,607,000; and the local and reservoirs for condensing water, repairing-shops, boards and vestries assisted in completing the stores, and dwelling-houses. for the workmen and work, which comprised 635 miles of sewers. superintendent in charge of the works. In all they cover nearly four acres. The principal enginehouse is situate facing the main road and river, and the height of this building rises to upwards of seventy-one feet. But all this is dwarfed by the chimney-shaft, which is very nearly the height of the Monument, being only ten feet short of it. The shaft is square, and the sides are relieved by three recessed panels, arched over a short distance At the western extremity of Buckingham Palace Road, near Ebury Square, stands a handsome Gothic church, built in the severest Early English style, which has acquired some celebrity as "St. Barnabas, Pimlico." It was built in 1848-50, as a chapel of ease to St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, under the auspices of its then incumbent, the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett. Attached to it are large schools, a presbytery or college for the officiating clergy, |