fices have been built. The incongruous top story and the present façade of the old building are also new. Nearest Piccadilly is a handsome building in the Italian Renaissance style, completed in 1872 from designs by Banks and Barry, and occupied by several learned societies, to whom the rooms are granted by Government rent-free; in the E. wing are the Royal, Geological, and Chemical Societies, and in the W. the Antiquarian (with a collection of paintings, chiefly old portraits), Astronomical, and Linnaean.

The Royal Society, or Academy of Science, the most important of the learned bodies of Great Britain, was founded in 1660, and received its charter of incorporation from Charles II. three years later. As early as 1645, however, its germ existed in the meeting of a few men of learning, far from the turmoil of the Civil War, to discuss subjects relating to the physical and exact sciences. The first number of its fmous Philosophical Transactions appeared in 1665. It now comprises 750 members, each of whom is entitled to append to his name the letters F. R. S. (Fellow of the Royal Society). The Library of the society consists of about 50,000 vols. and 5000 MSS. The rooms contain portraits and busts of celebrated Fellows, including Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Halley, Sir Humphrey Davy, Watt, and Sir William Herschel; also a telescope which belonged to Newton, and the MS. of his 'Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica'; and the original model of Davy's safety lamp.

An arcade leads through the building into the inner court. On the N. side is the exhibition building of the Royal Academy of Arts (founded in 1768), in the Renaissance style, erected by Smirke in 1868-9. At the top of the façade are 9 statues of celebrated artists: Phidias, Leonardo da Vinci, Flaxman, Raphael, Michael Angelo, Titian, Reynolds, Wren, and Wykeham. The Exhibition of the Royal Academy (transferred in 1869 from Trafalgar Square to Piccadilly), which takes place here every year from May to the beginning of August, attracts immense numbers of visitors (admission 1s., catalogue 18.). It consists of paintings and sculptures by modern (mainly) British artists, which must have been finished during the previous year and not exhibited elsewhere before. The 'Private View' of the Exhibition, held by invitation of the Academicians before it is thrown open to the public, is always attended by the cream of society and is one of the events of the London Season. The Academy also organises every winter an exhibition of works of old masters belonging to private individuals. Above the exhibition-rooms three galleries (open daily 11-4, free) have been built, which contain some valuable works of early art, the diploma pictures presented by Academicians on their election, and the Gibson collection of sculpture. Among the ancient works are: *Mary with Jesus and St. John, a relief by Michael Angelo; *Madonna, Holy Child, and St. Anna, a celebrated cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci, executed in 1503 for the church Dell'Annunziata at Florence; Copy of Leonardo's Last Supper, by his pupil Marco d'Oggionno, from which Morghen's engraving was taken; Woman at a well, ascribed to Giorgione but considered by Frizzoni to be an early work of Seb. del Piombo; portrait by Giorgione. The diploma works include good specimens by Reynolds and Wilkie. The Library, on the first floor, contains a fine collection of books and prints.

At the back of the Academy, and facing Burlington Gardens, is the new building of London University (not to be confounded with University College in Gower Street), another Renaissance structure, erected in 1869 from designs by Pennethorne. (London University is not a teaching establishment but an examining board, granting degrees in arts, science, medicine, and law, to candidates of either sex wherever educated.)

The effective façade is decorated with a series of statues. Above the portico are those of Milton, Newton, Harvey, and Bentham (as representatives of the four Faculties), by Durham; over the cornice in the centre, Plato, Archimedes, and Justinian, by Woodington, and Galen, Cicero, and Aristotle, by Westmacott; in the W. wing, Locke, Bacon, and Adam Smith, by Theed, and Hume, Hunter, and Sir Humphrey Davy, by Noble; in the E. wing, Galileo, Laplace, and Goethe, by Wyon, and Cuvier, Leibnitz, and Linnæus, by Macdowell. The interior contains a spacious lecture room, a number of other apartments, in which the graduation examinations take place twice annually, and a valuable library. A marble statue of Queen Victoria, by Boehm, was erected here in May, 1889.

Close by, at 1 Savile Row, is the Royal Geographical Society. Richard Brinsley Sheridan died at 14 Savile Row in 1816.

On the N. side of Piccadilly, a little beyond Burlington House, is the Albany, let out in chambers, and numbering Canning, Byron, and Macaulay among quondam residents. Byron passed the first part of his married life at 139 Piccadilly, where his daughter Ada was born in Dec., 1815.

St. James's Church (Pl. R, 22; 1), on the S. side of Piccadilly, built by Wren in 1682-84, and considered (as to the interior) one of his finest works, contains a marble font by Grinling Gibbons, who also executed the handsome foliage over the altar. The stainedglass windows, representing the Passion and other scenes, are modern. The vestry is hung with portraits of former rectors.

The Museum of Practical Geology, erected in 1850, is a little farther to the E. It is open daily, Fridays excepted, from 10 to 5 (in winter 10-4), and on Mondays and Saturday till 10 p.m.; it is closed from 10th August to 10th September. The building contains, besides the geological museum, a lecture-room for 500 hearers, and a library. Entrance by Jermyn Street (Nos. 28-32).

The HALL contains busts of celebrated geologists: on the right, Murchison, Greenough, De la Beche, Castletown, William Smith, and Jukes (behind); on the left, Buckland, Playfair, Hall, Sedgwick, and Hutton; at the pillars near the entrance, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. At the upper end is a colossal copy of the Farnese Hercules in Portland limestone. Then English, Irish, and Scotch granite; alabaster; Portland limestone from the island of Portland, near Weymouth in Dorsetshire; Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Irish marbles; auriferous quartz; malachite; a large block of solid copper; and numerous varieties of limestone. These are partly in the rough, and partly polished and cut in the shape of large cubes, squares, tablets, or short columns. Also terracotta statuettes, copies of ancient statues, vases, and pieces of tesselated pavement. The mosaic pavement in the middle of the hall deserves notice.

On the FIRST FLOOR We first observe a large vase of Siberian avanturine quartz, a gift from the Emperor of Russia; a geological model of London and its vicinity; a steel salver, inlaid with gold, presented by the Russian Administration of Mines to Sir Roderick Murchison. On the S. side is a collection of porcelain, glass, enamels, and mosaics from the earliest period down to the present day. Then, in table-cases at the sides of the room, iron, steel, and copper, at different stages of their manufacture. We notice in a case on the right (E.) side a penny rolled out into a strip of copper, 10 yds. long. The cases in the form of a horse-shoe in the middle of the room contain the collection of non-metallic minerals: here are seen all kinds of crystallisations, particularly of precious stones, from quartz nodules with brilliant crystals in the interior up to the most exquisitely polished jewels. Models of the largest known diamonds, such as the Koh-i-noor and the Regent Diamond, are also exhibited in these cases. The metalliferous minerals, or ores, occupy the wall-cases. Other cabinets are filled with agates, some of which are artificially coloured with oxide of iron, and the precious metals, including a model of a huge nugget of pure gold.

In the other parts of the saloon and in the adjoining apartments are exhibited geological relief-plans and models of mines, metallurgical processes, and various kinds of machinery. The two upper galleries, running round the hall, chiefly contain fossils, which are of little interest to the ordinary visitor.

On the N. side of Piccadilly, opposite the Geological Museum, is St. James's Hall (p. 43), which has another entrance in the Regent Quadrant (p. 224). We next reach Regent Circus (p. 224), and then, on the right, the Haymarket (p. 218). At this point Piccadilly proper comes to an end. Coventry Street, its eastern prolongation, containing the Prince of Wales Theatre (p. 42), leads on to Leicester Square (Pl. R, 27; 1), a quarter largely inhabited by French residents, and adorned in 1874 with flower-beds and a marble statue of Shakspeare, in the centre, bearing the inscription, 'There is no darkness but ignorance'; at the base are four waterspouting dolphins. The corners of the garden are embellished with marble busts of Reynolds, Hunter, Hogarth, and Newton, all of whom lived in or near the square. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) this neighbourhood became a favourite resort of the more aristocratic French Protestant exiles. Leicester House and Savile House, once situated in the square, were occupied by members of the royal family during the first half of last century; and Peter the Great was entertained at Savile House by the Marquis of Carmarthen (1698). Down to the beginning of the present century the open space in the centre was a frequent resort of duellists.

The Alhambra Theatre (p. 43), on the E. side of the square, was burned down in 1882, but was rebuilt in 1883-84. The site of Savile House, on the N. side of the square, is occupied by the Empire Theatre (p. 43).

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20. Regent Street. Oxford Street. Holborn. All Saints' Church. University College. St. Pancras' Church. Foundling Hospital.

Regent Street (Pl. R, 23, 26; 1), one of the finest streets in London, and containing a large number of the best shops, was laid out by Nash in 1813, for the purpose of connecting Carlton House, the residence of the Prince Regent, with Regent's Park. It is 1 M. in length, and extends from Waterloo Place, Pall Mall (p. 218), across Oxford Street, to Portland Place. To the right (E.), at the corner of Charles Street, stands the Junior United Service Club, and on the same side, at the corner of Jermyn Street (with the Geological Museum, p. 222), is the Raleigh Club. The street then reaches Regent Circus, Piccadilly (see p. 223; known as Piccadilly Circus), whence Piccadilly leads to the W., Coventry Street to the E., and the wide Shaftesbury Avenue (p. 144) to the N.E. The vacant triangle in the centre of the Circus is to be occupied by a Memorial Fountain to Lord Shaftesbury, by Alfred Gilbert. Beyond the Circus Regent Street describes a curve to the W., forming the so-called Quadrant. On the left is the entrance to St. James's Hall (see above). Vigo Street, at the end of the Quadrant, leads on the left to the new building of London University (p. 222). Farther on, to the left, we pass New Burlington Street, Conduit Street, and Maddox Street.

Between Hanover Street and Prince's Street we observe the colonnade of Hanover Chapel. HANOVER SQUARE, on the left, is embellished with a bronze statue of William Pitt (d. 1806), by Chantrey. On the E. side of the square is the St. George's Club, occupying the site of the long popular Hanover Square Concert Rooms; on the W. side, the Oriental Club; and at the N. W. angle, in Tenterden Street, the Royal Academy of Music. In George Street, leading out of the square on the S., is St. George's Church, built by James, with a classic portico, and three stained-glass windows, brought from Malines about 1520. It is the most famous church in London for fashionable weddings. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu died in George Street in 1762.

The intersection of Regent Street with Oxford Street (p. 225), which extends for a long distance in both directions, is called Regent Circus, Oxford Street, or simply Oxford Circus. The second short cross-street beyond Oxford Street (1.) leads to CAVENDISH SQUARE, which contains an equestrian statue in marble of the Duke of Cumberland (the victor at Culloden in 1746), by Chew, and a bronze statue of Lord George Bentinck (d. 1848), by Campbell. Harcourt House, on the W. side of the square, is the mansion of the Duke of Portland. The old Polytechnic Institution, between Cavendish Square and Regent Street, has been sold to the Young Mens' Christian Institute.

Adjacent, at 13 Mandeville Place, Manchester Square, is Trinity College, an incorporated institution for the study of music and arts. Lord Byron was born in 1788 at 24 Holles Street, between Cavendish Square and Oxford Street; the house, however, has since been rebuilt. He was baptised in Old Marylebone Church, at the top of Marylebone High Street (Pl. R, 20), where Charles Wesley was buried in 1778. This was the old church (rebuilt in 1741) which figures in the 'Rake's Marriage' by Hogarth (see p. 167).

All Saints' Church (Pl. R, 24; 1), in Margaret Street, to the E. of Regent Street, a brick edifice in the Early English style, built by Butterfield in 1850-59, is lavishly decorated in the interior with marble and gilding. The E. wall of the choir is frescoed by Dyce in the style of early Christian art.

At the N. end of Regent Street is Langham Place, with All Souls' Church, erected by Nash. The large building on the other side is the Langham Hotel (p. 7). From this point PORTLAND PLACE, one of the widest streets in London (120 ft.), leads to Park Crescent, Park Square, and Regent's Park (p. 228).

Oxford Street (Pl. R, 19, 23, 27; I, II), the principal artery of traffic between the N. W. quarter of London and the City, extends from the Marble Arch (at the N.E. corner of Hyde Park, p. 259) to Holborn, a distance of 11/2 M. The E. portion of this imposing street contains a number of the most important shops in London, and presents a scene of immense traffic and activity; while the W. end, with the adjoining streets and squares (particularly Grosvenor Square and Berkeley Square on the S. and Portman Square on the N.), comprises many aristocratic residences. Edgware Road, which begins at the W. end of Oxford Street (see Pl. R, 15), follows the line of the old Roman road to St. Albans. Many of the houses in Grosvenor Square and Berkeley Square (with its plane-trees) still have bits of fine old iron-work in front of their doors, with extinguishers for the links or torches formerly used. Horace Walpole died at 11 Berkeley Square in 1797; Clive committed suicide at No. 45 in 1774. No. 38, now the town-house of Lord Rosebery, was the house from which the daughter of Mr. Child, the banker, eloped with the Earl of Westmorland in 1782, and was afterwards the residence of their daughter Lady Jersey (d. 1867) and her husband. The 'Blue Stocking Club' met at Mrs. Montagu's (d. 1800), in the N.W. corner of Portman Square. At the foot of South Audley Street, which runs to the S. from the S.W. corner of Grosvenor Square, is Chesterfield House (Pl. R, 18; IV), with a fine marble staircase and the library in which the 'Chesterfield Letters' were written. In Brook Street, which runs E. from Grosvenor Square, is a house (No. 25) distinguished by a tablet indicating that Händel used to live here. Brook Street soon crosses New Bond Street, leading from Oxford Street to Piccadilly (p. 220) and containing numerous handsome shops and several picture-galleries (comp. p. 45).

BAEDEKER, London. 7th Edit.

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