nurses, and to nurse any who were sick in the parish.

In 1850 the almshouses and ground were sold, and the proceeds devoted to Vandon's Charity Account. Part of the funds was used to purchase a plot of ground in Lambeth, where new almshouses were erected, and after the death of the recipients of the charity these were let to tenants, and the proceeds devoted to supplying nurses for the poor.

The towering blocks of Queen Anne's Mansions, the highest flats in London, rear themselves at the east end of York Street. These are partly on the site of a house occupied for very many years by Jeremy Bentham (see p. 32).

The Guards Barracks, known as the Wellington Barracks, face Birdcage Walk. They were opened in March, 1834, and enlarged in 1859. The long line of yellow-washed building differs little from the usually-accepted barrack model.

At the east end of the barrack yard stands the chapel, with an extraordinarily massive portico. It was built in 1839-40 on the model of a Grecian temple. The building is well proportioned, but the interior was not at first thought worthy of the exterior. Accordingly, in 1877 the chapel was closed, and a sum of money arising from the sale of the Guards' Institute was devoted to the purpose of a complete internal reconstruction. The work was put into the hands of Sir G. E. Street, R.A., who carried it out in the Lombardian style, with an apse at the eastern end, and over the apse a semi-dome.

Within, every spare foot of wall-space is utilized, and, besides being a perfect storehouse of memorials of departed Guardsmen, the chapel is full of rich but unobtrusive decoration. The sweep of the high pillars and arches of light stone relieves the richness of the mural ornamentation. The side-walls of the nave are covered by an arcade enclosing panels of marble mosaic. The heads of the arches are filled in by terra-cotta groups in high relief, representing Biblical subjects. Between and below the panels are tablets to the memory of those who have served in the Guards.

Between the windows are other tablets, of which the most interesting is that inscribed: "Soldier, Sportsman, Author, George Whyte Melville's memory is here recorded by his old friends and comrades, the Coldstream Guards." The chancel screen and pulpit are of white Sicilian marble, with handsome panels and a base of Belgian black. In the spandril of the arch on the south side of the chancel is a marble medallion of the Duke of Wellington, presented by his son, and in the corresponding position on the north side one of the Duke of Marlborough, presented by the Earl of Cadogan. The stalls are of stained oak. The altar is of oak, with walnut panels and ebony shafts. The reredos is lined by beautiful glass mosaics, and the semi-dome is mosaic work to match. This sounds a mere catalogue, but it is quite impossible to give any idea of this singularly richly-decorated chapel without descending to detail. The tattered colours used at the Crimea and Waterloo hang from their staves on the pillars. Anyone is admitted to parade service on Sunday mornings by ticket, to be procured beforehand by writing to the chaplain.

Queen Anne's Gate was formerly Queen Square. At a corner stands a statue of Queen Anne without date. Many of the houses show quaintly carved porches with wooden brackets and pendants, and are obviously of the date which the name implies. Jeremy Bentham lived in Queen Square Place, now covered by part of Queen Anne's Mansions, for fifty years of his life, and here he died in 1832. His skeleton, clothed as in life, is now possessed by University College, London. His house was called The Hermitage. His friend and disciple, James Mill, came to be his tenant in 1814, in what was then 1 Queen's Square, now 40 Queen Anne's Gate. Here he completed his great History of India, published in 1818.

After Mill, Sir John Bowring, first editor of the Westminster Review, established by Bentham, occupied the house now numbered 40. Peg Woffington also lived in Queen Square, which was a fashionable place of residence in the last century, a reputation it still retains. Both Great and Little Queen Streets partake of the old-world look of the seventeenth century, and show quaint keystones and carving of various designs over the doorways.

The Broadway formerly included the part now occupied by Great Chapel Street, and reached to Strutton Ground. In James I.'s reign a license was granted for a haymarket to be held here, which license was renewed from time to time. Dick Turpin, the highwayman, is said to have lived in one of the small courts off the Broadway, and to have issued from thence on his marauding expeditions. Perhaps this was Black Horse Yard, which name still appears. There is on every side evidence of that mingling of poverty and riches which has been in all ages so characteristic of Westminster, a parish which contains at the same time splendid Government buildings and squalid slums, one of the most magnificent cathedrals in the world and some of the foulest courts.

In Newcourt's map of 1658 Tothill Street is completely built, while there are very few streets to the south of the present Victoria Street. Walcott says of this street that it "was inhabited by noblemen and the flower of the gentry in Westminster." In Elizabeth's time the houses had large gardens attached. Edmund Burke lived in Tothill Street, also Thomas Southerne, the dramatist, who was a constant attendant at the Abbey; and Thomas Betterton was born here about 1635. His father was an under-cook in the service of Charles I. Betterton wrote a number of plays, but is best remembered as an actor.

The Aquarium, 600 feet in length, stands on the site of a labyrinth of small yards. To one of these the Cock public-house gave its name. Tradition says that the Abbey workmen received their wages at the Cock in the reign of Henry III. At the eastern corner, where Tothill and Victoria Streets meet, is the Palace Hotel, a very large building, with two Titanic male figures supporting the portico in an attitude of eternal strain. This is on part of the site of the Almonry. This Almonry is thus described by Stow: "Now corruptly the Ambry, for that the alms of the Abbey were there distributed to the Poor. Therein was printing first practised in England." Caxton is often spoken of, incorrectly, as the inventor of printing. That credit belongs to Gutenberg, a native of Mainz, but Caxton was the first who brought the art to England and printed English books. He was born in the Weald of Kent, and his father was a citizen of London. As a boy, Caxton was sent to a house of English merchants at Bruges, and there he remained for many years, rising steadily in reputation. There he came in contact with a man named Colard Mansion, who had brought the art of printing to Bruges. Caxton seems to have seen at once the vast importance of the invention, and got Mansion to print two books in English, the first ever set up in the language. These were: "A Recuyell of the Historyes of Troie," printed 1474; and "The Game and Playe of the Chesse." Apparently the experiment met with success. Caxton soon after left the house of business, married, and became secretary to the Duchess of Burgundy, but he was not long in her service, for he returned to England in 1476. He brought over with him printing-presses and workmen, and settled in Westminster. He placed his press, by permission of the Prior (afterwards Abbot) Islip, in the Almonry just outside the gatehouse.

His house was called Reed (Red) Pale, and was situated on the north side of the Almonry. A