f it was probably
written here. He published also while here "The Rose and the Ring," the
outcome of a visit to Rome with his daughters, and after "The Newcomes"
was completed he visited America for a second time on a tour of
lectures, subsequently embodied in a book, "The Four Georges." By his
move from Young Street he was nearer to his friends the Carlyles in
Chelsea, a fact doubtless much appreciated on both sides. He contested
Oxford in 1857, and in the following year began the publication of "The
Virginians," which was doubtless inspired by his American experiences.
In 1860 he was made editor of the _Cornhill_, from which his income came
to something like L4,000 a year, and on the strength of this accession
of fortune he began to build a house in Palace Green, to which he moved
when it was complete (p. 53).

It has been remarked that this is rather a dismal neighbourhood, with
the large hospitals for Cancer and Consumption facing each other across
the Fulham Road, and the Women's Hospital quite close at hand. It is
with the Consumption Hospital alone we have to do here, as the others
are in Chelsea. This hospital stands on part of the ground which
belonged to a famous botanical garden owned by William Curtis at the end
of the eighteenth century. The building is of red brick, faced with
white stone, and it is on a piece of ground about 3 acres in extent,
lined by small trees, under which are seats for the wan-faced patients.
The ground-plan of the building resembles the letter H, and the system
adopted inside is that of galleries used as day-rooms and filled with
chairs and couches. From these the bedrooms open off. The galleries
make a superior sort of ward, and are bright, with large windows, and
polished floors. There is a chapel attached to the hospital, which was
chiefly presented by the late Sir Henry Foulis, after whom one of the
galleries is named, and who is also recalled in the name of a
neighbouring terrace. The west wing of the hospital was added in 1852,
and towards it Jenny Lind, who was resident in Brompton, presented
L1,600, the proceeds of a concert for the cause. There is also an
extension building across the road. Here there is a compressed air-bath,
in which an enormous pressure of air can be put upon the patient, to the
relief of his lungs. This item, rendered expensive by its massive
structure and iron bolts and bars, cost L1,000, and is one of the only
two of the kind in existence, the other b