ublic--and during the two days it was on view, it was visited by 100,000
persons.

The building this column had seemed slow, but that was nothing compared
to its completion; the bas reliefs were long in being placed, and it was
not till 31 Jan., 1867, that Landseer's four couchant lions were exposed
to public gaze. Of the progress of its building, _Punch_ (25 Nov., 1843)
has some very fine fooling.

"THE NELSON COLUMN DRAMA.

The earliest announcement of the late Covent Garden management, was a
piece entitled 'Trafalgar Square, or the Nelson Monument.' We have
obtained the following slight information respecting it. The drama is
described as 'a grand architectural and historical burletta,' in two
acts; and the prologue was to have been spoken by Mr. Widdicomb, as
_Time_. The two acts comprise the commencement and completion, and a
lapse of twenty years is supposed to take place between them, in which
time 'the boy,' who is the principal character, becomes a middle-aged
man. The following speech is very fine. The boy enquires of the mason
when the column will be finished, who replies, in an interval of the
steak banquet, which they are enjoying together:

_Mason_.--I've asked that fearful question of the stars,
Who wink responding--of the Board of Works,
Whose works have bored us--of the misty moon,
Towards whose lodgings, after years of toil,
We rise no nearer. All were still, but now,
Whilst gazing on that steak of beef,
Sent up to form our capital repast,
And cheer us in our lonely solitude,
I hope the best--the best can hope no more.
'Twill rise, like College honours, by degrees,
And to our limbs a pillar be, of ease:
Our hearts are warm--although upon the frieze.

The following duet is also introduced by the man and the boy in the
second act:

BOY.

I remember, I remember,
When I was a little boy,
On the column, in November,
I was given some employ.

I helped the man to build it,
And we labour'd hard and long,
But the granite came up slowly,
For we were not very strong.

I remember, I remember,
How we raised its form on high,
With one block in December,
And another in July.

BOTH.

We remember, we remember,
When St. Martin's bells were rung,
In