e, not the name of the house from the
locality.

Regent Street is Nash's great memorial. The conception is undoubtedly
fine, namely, a vast avenue to lead from Carlton House to a country
mansion to be built for George IV. in Regent's Park. Nash's great idea,
the combining of many separate buildings into one uniform facade, is
here seen at its best. At first a lengthy colonnade supported by columns
16 feet high ran on either side of the quadrant, but this darkened the
shops, so it was removed. The street is famous for its shops, which line
it from end to end; it has also the merit of being wider than most of
the London streets.

The part of the parish lying to the east of Regent Street is quite
uninteresting except for Golden Square, which has been well described by
Hatton as "not exactly in anybody's way, to or from anywhere." The
square is mentioned in both "Humphrey Clinker" and "Nicholas Nickleby."
Here Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, lived, 1704-1708, and Mrs. Cibber
in 1746. Angelica Kauffman lived in the centre house on the south side
for many years. It was in the vicinity of the square that the great
burial-ground for the plague-stricken dead was formed in the reign of
Charles II. It was chosen as being well away from the town. Pennant
says: "Golden Square, of dirty access, was built after the Revolution
or before 1700. It was built by that true hero Lord Craven, who stayed
in London during the whole time: and braved the fury of the pestilence
with the same coolness as he fought the battles of his beloved mistress,
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia." It was in Golden Square that De Quincey
took leave of Ann, whom he was never to see again.

Piccadilly Circus was formed at the same time as Regent Street, though
it has been altered since. The Criterion Theatre and Restaurant are on
the south-east side. On this site formerly stood a well-known coaching
inn called the White Bear. One of Shepherd's charming sketches in the
Crace Collection illustrates the courtyard of the inn. Benjamin West,
afterwards P.R.A., put up here on the night of his first sojourn in
London. In the centre of the circus is a fountain in memory of the
seventh Earl of Shaftsbury. This was designed by Alfred Gilbert, R.A.,
and consists of a very light metal figure of Mercury on a very solid
aluminium pedestal.

In Piccadilly itself there is the somewhat gloomy-looking geological
museum, with entrance in Jermyn Street, open free to all comers. The