principally occupied as lawyers' offices, were of comparatively modern
construction. Since, these too, have disappeared, and there is little to
call it to mind but the location the inn once occupied.

The Gothic hall, with its timber roof,--part of the original structure
(_tempo_ Richard II.),--was standing as late as 1818, when the entire inn
was rebuilt by one Peto, who it is to be inferred built the row in which
were the lodgings occupied by Dickens.

In the west end of London changes have been none the less rapid than in
the east. The cutting through of Northumberland Avenue, from Trafalgar
Square to the river, laid low the gardens and mansion of Northumberland
House. Of this stately mansion it is said that it looked more like a
nobleman's mansion than any other in London. It was built, in about 1600,
by the Earl of Northampton, and came into the hands of the Percies in
1642. Stafford House is perhaps the most finely situated mansion in the
metropolis, occupying the corner of St. James' and the Green Parks, and
presenting four complete fronts, each having its own architectural
character. The interior, too, is said to be the first of its kind in
London. The mansion was built by the Duke of York, with money lent by the
Marquis of Stafford, afterward Duke of Sutherland; but the Stafford family
became owners of it, and have spent at least a quarter of a million
sterling on the house and its decorations. Apsley House, at the corner of
Piccadilly and Hyde Park, is the residence of the Dukes of Wellington, and
is closely associated with the memory of _the_ duke. The shell of the
house, of brick, is old; but stone frontages, enlargements, and
decorations were afterward made. The principal room facing Hyde Park,
with seven windows, is that in which the Great Duke held the celebrated
Waterloo Banquet, on the 18th of June in every year, from 1816 to 1852.

In the seventeenth century the Strand was a species of country road,
connecting the city with Westminster; and on its southern side stood a
number of noblemen's residences, with gardens toward the river. The
pleasant days are long since past when mansions and personages, political
events and holiday festivities, marked the spots now denoted by Essex,
Norfolk, Howard, Arundel, Surrey, Cecil, Salisbury, Buckingham, Villiers,
Craven, and Northumberland Streets--a very galaxy of aristocratic names.

Again it is reiterated: the names are, for the most part, actually those
now