the most transparent and sparkling
water that was to be obtained, which was fetched from far and near. The
boys used to play some trick by placing a large stone up the curved
nozzle, so that when the servants came with their jugs and began to pump
it would send out the stone and through the bottoms of the jugs. It got
complained of, and the parish put a grating which stopped that little
game. The reputation of the water went on till some wag asserted that a
human tooth had been pumped up and found its way to the water bottle on
the dressing table. It then began to dawn on the authorities that it
might not be so wholesome as reported, and the handle of the old pump was
chained up, and soon after the road was widened by taking a part of the
burial ground, and the old pump was done away with.

CHAPTER 14.--Knightsbridge.

At Knightsbridge there used to be a toll collector, but I do not
recollect any toll gate. A man used to come out of a gate in the fence
to collect it, about where the Bank now stands, beside it the Cannon
Brewery, a large building with a cannon at the top, with the back
overlooking the park. That and White's menagerie, adjoining the Fox and
Bull tavern, were pulled down, and one of the first National Exhibitions
was built on the ground. It was for a collection formed by a doctor who
had travelled in China. It was a collection of all sorts of curios,
illustrative of the habits, idol worship and life and industry of the
Chinese, with native workmen and women carrying on their various trades
and domestic apparatus, as they did at home with their temples, and
performances in idol worship. It was first exhibited at the back of the
Alexandra Hotel in a large room in the old barrack yard, and it was such
a success that in the following year the large brick building was built
on the site of the Cannon Brewery. There were a lot of immense stuffed
dragons and winged snakes and flying fish and many-headed monsters and
curious reptiles that had never been seen in Europe before, and several
Chinese ladies sitting on pedestals exhibiting their deformed feet, which
looked like hoofs with a row of small lumps of flesh underneath with
nails that represented the toes. There was a large number of visitors,
and it kept open for about two years, having had some waxworks added to
its attractions.

A little beyond the Alexandra Hotel stood a dairy that was noted for its
asses' milk, which at that time was c