sixty-five pictures to form the nucleus of a collection. This is said to be the first picture-gallery erected in England complete in itself; the architect is Sydney Smith, F.R.I.B.A., and the style adopted is a Free Classic, Roman with Greek feeling in the mouldings and decorations. There is a fine portico of six Corinthian columns terminating in a pediment, with the figure of Britannia at the central apex, and the lion and unicorn at each end. The basement, of rusticated stone, ten feet high, runs round the principal elevation. A broad flight of steps leads to the central entrance. The front elevation is about 290 feet in length. The vestibule immediately within the principal door leads into an octagonal sculpture hall, top-lighted by a glass dome. There are besides five picture-galleries, also top-lighted. The pictures, which include the work of the most famous British artists, are nearly all labelled with the titles and artists' names, so a catalogue is superfluous. The collection includes the pictures purchased by the Chantrey Bequest, also a gift from G. F. Watts, R.A., of twenty-three of his own works. The gallery is open from ten to six, and on Sundays in summer after two o'clock. Thursdays and Fridays are students' days.

The gallery stands on the site of the old Millbank Penitentiary, for the scheme of which Howard the reformer was originally responsible. He was annoyed by the rejection of the site he advocated, however, and afterwards withdrew from the project altogether. Wandsworth Fields and Battersea Rise were both discussed as possible sites, but were eventually abandoned in favour of Millbank. Jeremy Bentham, who advocated new methods in the treatment of prisoners, gained a contract from the Government for the erection and management of the new prison. He, however, greatly exceeded the terms of his contract, and finally withdrew, and supervisors were appointed. The prison was a six-rayed building with a chapel in the centre. Each ray was pentagonal in shape, and had three towers on its exterior angles. The whole was surrounded by an octagonal wall overlooking a moat. At the closing of the prison in Tothill Fields it became the sole Metropolitan prison for females, "just as," says Major Griffiths, "it was the sole reformatory for promising criminals, the first receptacle for military prisoners, the great depot for convicts en route for the antipodes."

In 1843 it was called a penitentiary instead of a prison. Gradually, as new methods of prison architecture were evolved, Millbank was recognised as cumbersome and inadequate. It was doomed for many years before its demolition, and now, like the prison of Tothill Fields, has vanished. Even the convicts' burial-ground at the back of the Tate Gallery is nearly covered with County Council industrial dwellings.

Further northward in the Grosvenor Road, Peterborough House once stood, facing the river, and this was at one time called "the last house in Westminster." It was built by the first Earl of Peterborough, and retained his name until 1735, when it passed to Alexander Davis of Ebury, whose only daughter and heiress had married Sir Thomas Grosvenor. It was by this marriage that the great London property came into the possession of the Grosvenor (Westminster) family. The house was rebuilt, and renamed Grosvenor House. Strype says: "The Earl of Peterborough's house with a large courtyard before it, and a fine garden behind, but its situation is but bleak in winter and not over healthful, as being too near the low meadows on the south and west parts." The house was finally demolished in 1809.

Beyond, in the direction of the Houses of Parliament, there are several interesting old houses, of which the best specimens are Nos. 8 and 9, offices of the London Road Car Company, and No. 10. In the first a well-furnished ceiling proclaims an ancient drawing-room; in the second panelled walls and a spiral staircase set off a fine hall. This house has a beautiful doorway of the old scallop-shell pattern, with cherubs' heads and ornamental brackets decorating it. In the third house a ceiling is handsomely finished with dental mouldings, and the edges of the panels are all carved. A mantelpiece of white marble is very fine, and of great height and solidity, with a female face as the keystone.

From Lambeth Bridge the Horseferry Road leads westward. This was the main track to the ferry in ancient days, and as the ferry was the only one on the Thames at London, it was consequently of great importance. It was here that James II. crossed after escaping from Whitehall by night, and from his boat he threw the Great Seal into the river. Horseferry Road is strictly utilitarian, and not beautiful; it passes by gasworks, a Roman Catholic church, Wesleyan chapel, Normal Institute and Training College, all of the present century. North of it Grosvenor Road becomes Millbank Street. The Abbot's watermill stood at the end of College Street (further north), and was turned by the stream which still flows beneath the roadway. In an old survey a mill is marked on this spot, and is supposed to have been built by the same Abbot Litlington who built the wall in College Street (1362-1386). It was still standing in 1644, and mention is made of it at that date in the parish books. The bank was a long strip of raised earth, extending from here to the site of Peterborough House. Strype mentions "the Millbank" as a "certain parcel of land valued in Edward VI.'s time at 58 shillings, and given in the third of his reign" to one Joanna Smith for "services rendered."

Church Street (left) leads into Smith Square. Here stands the Church of St. John the Evangelist. This was the second of Queen Anne's fifty churches built by imposing a duty on coals and culm brought into the Port of London. The new district was formed in 1723, but the consecration ceremony did not take place until June 20, 1728. The architect was Archer, a pupil of Sir John Vanbrugh's, and the style, which is very peculiar, has been described as Doric. The chief features of the church are its four angle belfries, which were not included in the original scheme of the architect, but were added later to insure an equal pressure on the foundations. Owing to these the church has been unkindly compared to an elephant with its four legs up in the air! Another story has it that Queen Anne, being troubled in mind by much wearisome detail, kicked over her wooden footstool, and said, "Go, build me a church like that"; but this sounds apocryphal, especially in view of the fact that the towers were a later addition. The church is undoubtedly cumbrous, but has the merit of originality. In 1742 it was gutted by fire, and was not rebuilt for some time owing to lack of funds. In 1773 the roof was slightly damaged by lightning, and subsequently repairs and alterations have taken place. The building seats 1,400 persons, and a canonry of Westminster Abbey is attached to the living.

The churchwardens of St. John's possess an interesting memento in the form of a snuff-box, presented in 1801 by "Thomas Gayfere, Esq., Father of the Vestry of St. John the Evangelist." This has been handed down to the succeeding office-bearers, who have enriched and enlarged it by successive silver plates and cases.

Smith Square shows, like so much of Westminster, an odd mixture of old brick houses, with heavily-tiled roofs, and new brick flats of great height. In the south-west corner stands the Rectory. Romney and Marsham Streets were called after Charles Marsham, Earl of Romney. Tufton Street was named after Sir Richard Tufton. One of the cockpits in Westminster was here as late as 1815, long after the more fashionable one in St. James's Park had vanished. The northern part of the street between Great Peter and Great College Streets was