revivals.

The part of the borough lying to the north of Oxford Street includes
both the oldest and the most aristocratic quarters. Bryanston and
Montagu Squares have been already noticed.

Portman Square was begun about 1764, but not completed for nearly twenty
years. The centre was at first a shrubbery or wilderness, and here the
Turkish Ambassador placed a summer-house or kiosk, where he used to sit
when the Turkish Embassy was in this Square. Thornbury says he was then
occupying Montagu House, but Smith says the Embassy was in No. 78, and
Montagu House is now numbered 22. However, it is possible that the
numbers have been altered. The list of the names of the present
inhabitants reads like a page from the Court Guide. Among the most
important are those of the Duke and Duchess of Fife at No. 15, and
Viscount Portman at Montagu House.

This house was built for Mrs. Montagu, a celebrated blue-stocking of the
eighteenth century. She was born at York in 1720, and came to Montagu
House in 1781. Here she founded the "Blue-Stocking" Club, and gathered
round her many famous men and women. On May 1 every year she gave a
feast to all the chimney-sweeps of London, "so that they might enjoy one
happy day in the year," an expression hardly appreciated now when the
lot of chimney-sweeps is so very different from what it was then. Timbs
remarks of the house: "Here Miss Burney was welcomed and Dr. Johnson
grew tame." The lease reverted to the Portman family in 1874.

York Place, Baker Street, and Orchard Street form a long line cutting
straight through from Marylebone Road to Oxford Street. Baker Street was
named after a friend of W. H. Portman's. The combined thoroughfare is
uniformly ugly, with stiff, flat houses and some shops. Nos. 8 and 9,
York Place were once occupied by Cardinal Wiseman, and later by Cardinal
Manning. They are now Bedford College for Ladies. The Baker Street
Bazaar was originally designed for the sale of horses, and behind it,
until 1861, was held the Smithfield Cattle Club Show. Later, the bazaar
was the scene of Madame Tussaud's well-known waxworks.

Portman Chapel, near Adam Street, was built in 1779. Between King and
George Streets is Little George Street, in which is a French chapel,
built in the reign of George III. by _emigres_ from the French
Revolution. It is a Catholic chapel, and is called "Chapelle de St.
Louis de France."

Orchard Street was named after W. H. Portman, of Orchard Portman in