APSLEY HOUSE 45 lived Hudson, the "Railway King." In 1854 Queen Victoria paid a state visit there, when it was occupied by the French Ambassador. The Emperor Louis Napoleon held a levée at the house in 1855. Apsley House, which stands near the corner of Hyde Park, has a curious history. The site is said to have been given by George II. to an old soldier named Allen, who had fought under that King at Dettingen. Allen's wife kept an apple stall, which in course of time, and through the thrift of its owners, became a small cottage. Riding out one morning, the King met Allen, and, evidently thinking he looked like an old soldier, stopped and spoke to him. Allen, it seems, told the King of his means of gaining a living. The King asked him what he could do for him. "Please, your Majesty, to give me a grant of the bit of ground on which my hut stands, and I shall be happy." "Be happy," said the King, and he ordered the grant to be made. In course of time Allen died, leaving a son who had become an attorney. The then Chancellor gave a lease of the ground to a nobleman—the apple stall having vanished. Neighbours thought that the site had lapsed to the Crown. A stately house was built thereon, and the young attorney put in a 46 FAMILIAR LONDON claim. After some negotiation, a sum of £450 a year ground-rent was settled upon to be paid to Allen. He or one of his family afterwards sold the ground to Lord Apsley, who became Lord Bathurst; and he gave the house he built there the name it still bears. In 1820 the house was purchased by the nation and settled as an heirloom on the dukedom of Wellington. In political disturbances in Piccadilly the windows of Apsley House were broken by the mob, and the Duke put iron shutters and never took them down-nor did he ever fail to point to them on occasions when crowds saluted him with cheers. Someone remarked, ""Tis strange that the Duke will not renounce his political errors, seeing that no pains have been spared to convince him of them.” up Hyde Park Corner, where stood the old tollgate, is now a very beautiful point in this great Metropolis. In April 1750 it was prophesied that a great earthquake would demolish the city and its suburbs, and Charles Knight tells us that "for some three days before the date fixed the crowds of carriages passing Hyde Park Corner westwards, with whole parties removing into the country, was something like a procession to Ranelagh or Vauxhall." A newspaper of that date says: "In |