LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA TH= CITIE OF LONDON ^& 1560 - ' ----. --. --T*V V.--:-^> : : -.'-^3'4$&> ^.-^-T.^v^mu iis^wv^XSraB lj -:^t ^i^Hfe^m>^ - ~~^.-- RIVER. A WANDERER IN LONDON OTHER WORKS BY E. V. LUCAS Mr. Ingleside Listener's Lure Over Bemerton's London Lavender Loiterer's Harvest One Day and Another Fireside and Sunshinfc Character and Comedy Old Lamps for New The Hambledon Men The Open Road The Friendly Town Her Infinite Variety Good Company The Gentlest Art The Second Post A Little of Everything Harvest Home A Swan and Her Friends A Wanderer in Florence A Wanderer in Holland A Wanderer in Paris The British School Highways and Byways in Sussex Anne's Terrible Good Nature The Slowcoach Sir Pulteney The Life of Charles Lamb and The Pocket Edition of th Works of Charles Lamb : I. Miscellaneous Prose ; II. Elia ; III. Children's Books IV. ; Poems and Plays ; V. and VI. Letters. [Cr* A WANDERER IN LONDON /^ E. V/ L U G A S WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BT NELSON DAWSON AND THIRTY-SIX OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS FIFTEENTH EDITION, REVISED METHUEN & CO. LTD. 96 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON DA 6S4- : 1% First . Published , September 1900 Second Edition . , . October 1906 Third Edition , . December /yo6 Fourth Edition . January f9&j Fifth Edition .... /nne 1907 Sixth Edition .... January 1908 Seventh Edition , . , July iqcy Eighth Edition . January 1310 Ninth Edition . November igto Tenth Edition . , . May 1911 Eleventh Edition . , . November 1911 Twelfth Edition . February 1912 Thirteenth Edition. , December 1912 Fourteenth Edition . May loij Fifteenth Edition . August 1913 CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAQB * No. i LONDON AND PICCADILLY . * i CHAPTER II. ROMANCE AND THB WALLACE PICTURES . 17 CHAPTER III. 2 MAYFAIR AND THE GEORGIANS ... i 3 CHAPTER IV. ST. JAMES'S AND PICCADILLY EAST . % 42 CHAPTER V. TRAFALGAR SQUARE AND GREAT ENGLISHMEN . ( 56 CHAPTER VI. THE NATIONAL GALLERY AND THE BRITISH MASTERS. 66 CHAPTER VII. THE NATIONAL GALLERY II: ITALIAN SCHOOLS . t 73 CHAPTER VIII. THE NATIONAL GALLERY III: OTHER FOREIGN SCHOOLS , . 80 CHAPTER IX. THE STRAND AND COVENT GARDEN ...*. 89 CHAPTER IX. FLEET STREET AND THE LAW ....... 105 Ti CONTENTS CHAPTER XI. PA6S ST. PAUL'S AND THE CHARTERHOUSE ...... 115 CHAPTER XII. CHBAPSIDE AND THK CITY CHURCHES ...... 138 CHAPTER XIII. THE AND TOWER THE AMPHIBIANS , . , 151 CHAPTER XIV. WHITECHAPBL AND THE BORO' ....... 106 CHAPTER XV. HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBCRV . , , , , 177 CHAPTER XVI. THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND SOHO ...... 192 CHAPTER XVIL THE PARKS AND THE Zoo ..... 306 CHAPTER XVIII. KENSINGTON AND THE MUSEUMS .,;,, 213 CHAPTER XIX. CHELSEA THE RIVE* . AND . i , 135 CHAPTER XX. WESTMINSTER AND WHITEHALL 247 INDEX 267 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR THE TOWER AND THE TOWER BRIDGE . Frontispiece PICCADILLY LOOKING EAST To face page 16 ST. STREET ST. JAMES'S AND JAMES'S PALACE . ,,46 TRAFALGAR SQUARE 76 THE CITY FROM WATERLOO BRIDGE .... 90 ST. MARY-LE-STRAND ....... no IN THE TEMPLE GARDENS, FOUNTAIN COURT . 128 ST. PAUL'S FROM THE RIVER 138 THE CHARTERHOUSE ....... 146 ST. DUNSTAN'S-UN-THE EAST 168 THE MONUMENT .....,,. ,, 176 STAPLE INN . 188 KENSINGTON PALACE FROM THE GARDENS . 198 CANNON STREET STATION FROM THE RIVER . , 320 WESTMINSTER ABBEY 252 THE VICTORIA TOWER, HOUSE OF LORDS . 266 Yfl LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN MONOTONE DUTCH LADY. Frans Van Mierevelt (Wallace Collec- To tion) ......... face pa;e \ THE PARABLE OF THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. Rem- brandt (Wallace Collection) S THE LADY WITH A FAN. Velasquez (Wallace Collec- tion) 12 SAN GIORGIO MAQOIORE, VENICE. Francesco Guardi (Wallace Collection) 18 SUZANNE VAN COLLEN AND HER DAUGHTER. Rem- brandt (Wallace Collection) 22 THE LAUGHING CAVALIER. Frans Hals (Wallace Collection) 28 THE SHRIMP GIRL. William Hogarth (National Gallery) 32 LADY READING A LETTER. Gerard Terburg (Wallace Collection) , 36 INTERIOR OF A DUTCH HOUSE. Peter de Hooch (National Gallery) 38 A TAILOR. Gianbattista Moroni (National Gallery) . ,, 40 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS fc PORTRAIT or A YOUNG SCULPTOR. Andrea del Sarto (National Gallery) ....... To face page 43 THE HOLY FAMILY. Leonardo da Vinci (Diploma From a Photograph by F. Hollyer THB NATIVITY. Piero della Francesca (National Gallery) ......... ^ ^ THE ENTOMBMENT. Rogier Van der Weyden (Na- tional Gallery) . ...... jg THE MADONNA OP THE MEADOW. Marco Basaiti (National Gallery) ....... 60 MOUSEHOLD HEATH. Old Crome (National Gallery) . 66 PORTRAIT OF Two GENTLEMEN. Sir Joshua Rey- nolds (National Gallery) ..... M 74 MOTHER AND CHILD. Romney (National Gallery) . 80 ADMIRAL PULIDO PAREJA. Velasquez (National Gallery) ........ w 88 From a Photograph by W. A. Mansell & Co. MADONNA AND LAUGHING CHILD. Antonio Rossellino Desiderio des (or Settignano) (South Kensington) . 93 THE DEATH OF PROCRIS. Piero di Cosimo (National Gallery) g ..........f g From a Photograph by W. A. Mansell & Co. VIROIN AND Titian CHILD. (National Gallery) . ., n6 THE AVENUE AT MIDDBLHARNIS. Meindert Hob- bema (National Gallery) ..... ,, 120 CHICHESTER CANAL. J. M. VV. Turner (National Gallery) ....... 126 CORNELIUS VAN DER GEBST. Antony Van Dyck (National Gallery) ...... 132 VIRGIN AND CHILD. Filippino Lippt (National Gallery) To face pagt 136 From a Photograph by W. A. Mansell ft Co. MERCURY INSTRUCTING CUPID. Correggio (National Gallery) 140 VIRGIN AND CHILD. Botticelli (National Gallery) i5 2 THE ADVENTURE OF THE KINGS. By Jan Gossart de Mabuse (National Gallery) . *7 JEAN AND JEANNB ARNOLFINI. Jan van Eyck (Na. tional Gallery) ,, 184 THE DEMETER OF CNIDOS. (British Museum) . 194 From a Photograph by W. A. Mansell & Co. CHRIST WASHING PETER'S FEET. Ford Madox Brown (Tate Gallery) aio HAMPSTEAD HEATH. John Constable (South Ken sington) . 226 MRS. COLMANN. Alfred Stevens (Tate Gallery) . , ( , 238 NOON. Jean Baptiste Camille Corot (National Gallery) 256 VIRGIN AND CHILD. Andrea del Sarto (Wallace 260 Collection) ,, NOTE The reproduction of "The Holy Family" by Leonardo da Vinci has been made by permission of Mr. F. Hollyer, 9 Pembroke Square, W., from whom carbon prints can be obtained. PREFACE TO FIFTEENTH EDITION OINCE this book was written, in 1905-6, London has undergone many and vast changes. She has added to her treasures a museum wholly devoted to the illustration of her the National has wondrous past ; Gallery been enlarged and is being re-arranged; South has re-built the Kensington Museum been ; ha"s Tate Gallery been extended and enriched ; the Victoria Memorial has been erected ; the Edward Memorial has been ordained ; the decision to beautify Buckingham Palace has at last been reached a and ; new superb opera house has been built and has failed ; taxi-cabs thousands theatres have multiplied by ; picture hundreds and the has lost by ; Underground its smoke for ever. These are but a few of those changes which any writer who sets out to enumerate the charms of London has to take into consideration. When I came to the task of revision it almost n xii PREFACE TO FIFTEENTH EDITION seemed as if to write a new book London Re- visited were best. But perhaps wiser counsels prevailed, and I have retained the old title and done what I could to bring the text into line with 1913. A perfect reviser, however, would be at work almost daily, and as an example of the necessity for such vigilance and persistence, I may remark that very soon after this edition goes to press the priceless Layard collection of Old Masters will arrive at the National Gallery. June, 1913. A WANDERER IN LONDON CHAPTER I NO. I LONDON AND PICCADILLY A Beginning No. i London Charing Cross in Retirement A Walk down Piccadilly Apsley House The Iron Duke's Statues An Old Print Rothschild Terrace Changes The March of Utilitarianism The Plague of New Buildings London Architecture The Glory of Disorder A City of Homes House collecting The Elusive Directory Kingsley's Dictum The House Opposite Desirable Homes London's Riches The Smallest Hous* in London Women Clubmen A Monument to Pretty Thoughtfulness The Piccadilly Goat Old Q Rogers the Poet. whichever way we turn, is so vast and LONDON,varied, so rich in what is interesting, that to one who would wander with a plastic mind irresponsibly day after day in its streets and among its treasures there is not a little difficulty in deciding where to begin, and there is even greater difficulty in knowing where to end. Indeed, to a book on London to a thousand books on London there is no end. But a beginning one can always make, whether it is appropriate or otherwise, and since I chance to live in Kensington and thus enter London by Kensington Gore and Knightsbridge, there is some fitness in beginning at 1 % A WANDERER IN LONDON Hyde Park Corner, by that square, taciturn, grey house just to the east of it which we call Apsley House, but which I have always been told is really No. 1 London if any No. 1 London there be. Let us then begin t No. 1 London just as a Frenchman bent upon dis- covering the English capital would begin at Charing Cross : Charing Cross, one of the meeting places of East and West, whose platform William the Conqueror would surely have kissed had he waited for the Channel steam-boat service. To take a walk down Fleet Street the cure for ennui invented by the most dogmatic of Londoners is no longer an the bustle is too but to take amusing recreation, great ; a walk down Piccadilly on a fine day remains one of the pleasures of life : another reason for beginning with No. 1 London. Piccadilly between Hyde Park Corner and Devon- shire House is 'Jill eminently a promenade. But only as far as Devons^;Ve House. Once Berkeley Street is crossed the saunterer is while the and the suOjjs begia, jostled ; Green Park having vanished behind the Ritz Hotel, the sun and the freshness are lost too. But between those two ducal houses on a smiling day one may enjoy as fair a walk as in any city in the world.