or profession, and address, and enclosing a recommendation from some well-known householder in London. The applicant must not be under 21 years of age. The permission, which is granted without limit of term, is not transferable and is subject to withdrawal. The Reading Room tickets entitle to the use of the new Newspaper Room (comp. p. 236). It is possible for strangers to get permission to use the Reading Room for a single day by personal application at the office of the Principal Librarian, to the left of the First Græco-Roman Room. Tickets for visitors to the Reading Room are obtained on the right side of the entrance hall. Visitors are not allowed to walk through the Reading Room, but may view it from the doorway. The Libraries contain a collection of books and manuscripts, rivalled in extent by the National Library of Paris alone. The number of printed books is about 1,500,000, and it increases at the rate of about 30,000 volumes per annum.

23. St. James's Palace and Park. Buckingham Palace.

The site of St. James's Palace (Pl. R, 22; IV), an irregular brick building at the S. end of St. James's Street, was originally occupied by a hospital for lepers, founded previously to 1190. In 1532 the building came into the possession of Henry VIII., who erected in its place a royal palace, said to have been designed by Holbein. Here Queen Mary died in 1558. Charles I. slept here the night before his execution, and walked across St. James's Park to Whitehall next morning (1649). The palace was considerably extended by Charles I., and, after Whitehall was burned down in 1691, it became the chief residence of the English kings from William III. to George IV. In 1809 a serious fire completely destroyed the eastern wing, so that with the exception of the interesting old brick gateway towards St. James's Street, the Chapel Royal, and the old Presence Chamber, there are few remains of the ancient palace of the Tudors. The state rooms are sumptuously fitted up, and contain a number of portraits and other works of art. The initials HA above the chimney-piece in the Presence Chamber are a reminiscence of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn. It is difficult to obtain permission to inspect the interior. The guard is changed every day at 10.45 am., when the fine bands of the Grenadier, Coldstream, or Fusilier Guards play for 1/4 hr. in the open court facing Marlborough House. Though St. James's Palace is no longer the residence of the sovereign, the British court is still officially known as the 'Court of St. James's'.

On the N. side, entered from Colour Court, is the Chapel Royal, in which the Queen and some of the highest nobility have seats. Divine service is celebrated on Sundays at 10 a. m., 12 noon, and 5.30 p. m. A limited number of strangers are admitted to the two latter services by tickets obtained from the Lord Chamberlain; for the service at 10 no ticket is required, - The marriage of Queen Victoria with Prince Albert, and those of some of their daughters, were celebrated in the Chapel Royal.

Down to the death of Prince Albert in 1861, the Queen's Levées and Drawing Rooms were always held in St. James's Palace. Since then, however, the drawing-rooms have taken place at Buckingham Palace, but the levées are still held here. A levée differs from a drawing-room in this respect, that, at the former, gentlemen only are presented to the sovereign, while at the latter it is almost entirely ladies who are introduced. Richly dressed ladies; gentlemen, magnificent in gold-laced uniforms; lackeys in gorgeous liveries, knee-breeches, silk stockings, and powdered hair, and bearing enormous bouquets; well-fed coachmen with carefully curled wigs and three-cornered hats; splendid carriages and horses, which dash along through the densely packed masses of spectators; and a mounted band of the Life Guards, playing in front of the palace;

such, so far as can be seen by the spectators who crowd the adjoining streets, windows, and balconies, are the chief ingredients in the august ceremony of a 'Queen's Drawing Room'. A notice of the drawing-room, with the names of the ladies presented, appears next day in the newspapers.

In the life of a young English lady of the higher ranks her presentation at Court is an epoch of no little importance, for after attending her first drawing-room, she is considered 'out', and enters on the round of balls, concerts, and other gaieties, which often play so large a part in her life.

On the W. side of St. James's Palace lies Clarence House, the residence, since 1874, of the Duke of Edinburgh and his consort, the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. Marlborough House, on the E. side of the palace, see p. 220.

St. James's Park (Pl. R, 21, 22, 25, 26; IV), which lies to the S. of St. James's Palace, was formerly a marshy meadow, belonging to St. James's Hospital for Lepers. Henry VIII., on the conversion of the hospital into a palace, caused the marsh to be drained, surrounded with a wall, and transformed into a deer-park and riding-path. Charles II. extended the park by 36 acres, and had it laid out in pleasure-grounds by Le Nôtre, the celebrated French landscape gardener. Its walks, etc., were all constructed primly and neatly in straight lines, and the strip of water received the appropriate name of 'the canal'. The present form of St. James's Park was imparted to it in 1827-29, during the reign of George IV., by Nash, the architect (see below). Its beautiful clumps of trees, its winding expanse of water enlivened by water-fowl, and the charming views it affords of the stately buildings around it, combine to make it the most attractive of the London parks. In 1857 the bottom of the lake was levelled so as to give it a uniform depth of 3-4 ft. The new suspension bridge, across the centre of it, forms the most direct communication for pedestrians between St. James's Street and Queen's Square, Westminster, Birdcage Walk on the S. side of the park, and Westminster Abbey.

The broad avenue, planted with rows of handsome trees, on the N. side of the park, is called the Mall, from the game of 'paille maille' once played here (comp. p. 218). At the E. extremity, near Carlton House Terrace, is the flight of steps mentioned at p. 219, leading to the York Column (p. 219). Birdcage Walk, on the S. side of the park, is so named from the aviary maintained here as early as the time of the Stuarts.

At the E. end of Birdcage Walk is Storey's Gate, leading to Great George Street and Westminster. In Petty France, to the S. of Birdcage Walk, Milton once had a house. - A battalion of the Royal Foot Guards is quartered in Wellington Barracks, built in 1834, on the S. side of Birdcage Walk; the interior of the small chapel is very tasteful (open Tues., Thurs., & Frid., 11-4). The Government Offices (p. 183), the India and Foreign Offices, and beyond them the Horse Guards and Admiralty, lie on the E. side of St. James's Park. In an open space called the Parade, between the park and the Admiralty, are placed a Turkish cannon captured by the English at Alexandria, and a large mortar, used by Marshal Soult at the siege of Cadiz in 1812, and abandoned there by the French. The carriage of the mortar is in the form of a dragon, and was made at Woolwich.

Buckingham Palace (Pl. R, 21; IV), the Queen's residence, rises at the W. end of St. James's Park. The present palace occupies the site of Buckingham House, erected by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in 1703, which was purchased by George III. in 1761, and occasionally occupied by him. His successor, George IV., caused it to be remodelled by Nash in 1825, but it remained empty until its occupation in 1837 by Queen Victoria, whose town residence it has since continued to be. The eastern and principal façade towards St. James's Park, 360 ft. in length, was added by Blore in 1846; and the large ball-room and other apartments were subsequently constructed. The palace now forms a large quadrangle. The rooms occupied by Her Majesty are on the N. side.

A portico, borne by marble columns, leads out of the large court into the rooms of state. We first enter the Sculpture Gallery, which is adorned with busts and statues of members of the royal family and eminent statesmen. Beyond it, with a kind of semicircular apse towards the garden, is the Library, where deputations, to whom the Queen grants an audience, wait until they are admitted to the royal presence. The ceiling of the magnificent Marble Staircase, to the left of the vestibule, is embellished with frescoes by Townsend, representing Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night.

On the first floor are the following rooms: Green Drawing Room, 50ft. long and 33 ft. high, in the middle of the E. side; *Throne Room, 66 ft. in length, sumptuously fitted up with red striped satin and gilding, and having a marble frieze running round the vaulted and richly decorated ceiling, with reliefs representing the Wars of the Roses, executed by Baily from designs by Stothard; Grand Saloon; State Ball Room, on the S. side of the palace, 110 ft. long and 60 ft. broad; lastly the Picture Gallery, 180 ft. in length, containing a choice, though not very extensive collection of paintings. PICTURE GALLERY. The enumeration begins to the right. Carracci, Christ in the Garden; *182. Frans Hals, Portrait of a man, dated 1636;

BAEDEKER, London. 7th Edit.

17

180. Dujardin, Three peasants by a wall; 172. G. Schalcken, Girl with a candle; *174. Rembrandt, Portrait of himself; 170. Teniers, Scholars at table; 171. Dujardin, Shepherd boy and cattle; 176. Teniers, Peasants dancing (dated 1645); *168. A. Cuyp, Evening scene, with figures; 165. N. Berchem, Shepherdess wading through a river (1650); *164. Rembrandt, Lady with a fan (dated 1641), the counterpart of a picture in Brussels; *163. Rubens, The Falconer; *159. Isaac van Ostade, Scene in a village street; 157. Jan Steen, Card-players. 154. Rembrandt, Adoration of the Magi (dated 1657), a celebrated work.

The impasto of the light on this picture is remarkably bold, being

of a beautiful golden tone, rich and mellow'.

Vosmaer.

*155. Van Dyck, Madonna and Child with St. Catharine; *152. A. van Ostade, Boors talking (1650); *149. Rubens, Landscape; 150. Rubens, St. George and the Dragon; 147. A. van Ostade, Boors smoking (1665); *148. Metsu, Lady with a champagne glass; 145. Van Dyck, Charles I. on horseback; 141. F. Mieris, Woman selling grapes (dated; erroneously attributed to G. Dou); 135. A. Cuyp, Cavalier; 140. Cuyp, Harbour; 136. Pieter de Hooghe, Woman spinning; *134. Claude Lorrain, Europa; 132. Metsu, Concert; 133. A. van de Velde, Scene on the beach (dated 1666); *129. Hobbema, Mill (dated 1665); 131. Rembrandt, Portrait of an old man. *126. Rubens, Pythagoras (the fruit by Snyders); 118. Wouwerman, Horsefair; 110. Cuyp, Lady and gentleman riding in a wood; 116. Rubens, Pan and Syrinx; 113. Paul Potter, Cattle (dated 1640); 109. Teniers, Rocky landscape; 107. Jan Steen, Violinist and card players; 104. W. van de Velde, Calm (1659); *103. J. Steen, Woman pulling on her stockings (1663); 106. Cuyp, Grey horse; 100. J. van Ostade, Village street (dated 1643).

We now pass into the DINING ROOM, which contains a series of portraits of English sovereigns, several being by Gainsborough. In an adjoining room is Sir Frederick Leighton's Procession in Florence with the Madonna of Cimabue. We then return to the

PICTURE GALLERY, and examine the works on the opposite wall. 98. A. van der Werff, Lady in a swoon; 91. Backhuisen, Rough sea; 92. Teniers, Camp scene (dated 1647): 88. Berchem, Shepherds at a ford; 89. Cuур, Stag-hunt; 98. Teniers, Peasants dancing; *86. A. Cuyp, Ducks on a lake; 83. Jan Steen, Interior; *84. A. van de Velde, Cattle pasturing; 82. Сиур, Cattle and shepherds by a canal; 72. Ascribed to Rubens, The Pensionary John of Oldenbarneveld visited by his son after his condemnation; *67. A. van de Velde, Landscape with shepherds (1659); *68. Paul Potter, Cavalier in front of a hut (1651); *64. J. Steen, Family scene; 62. Hobbema, Landscape; *59. J. van Ruysdael, Evening scene with windmill, a masterpiece; 57. Wouwerman, Hay harvest; 54. A. van Ostade, Reading the papers (1650); 56. J. Steen, Brawl of peasants beside a canal (1672); *52. A. van de Velde, Hunting in a forest; 50. Van Dyck (?), Three cavaliers, a sketch for the finished picture in the Berlin Museum; 51. Van Dyck, Virgin and Child; 48. A. van Ostade, Peasants sitting round the fire; *45. N. Maes, Girl in a listening attitude stealing down a winding staircase (of a radiant golden tone). **41. Rembrandt, 'Noli me tangere' (morning light; dated 1638).

Rembrandt's friend, Jeremias de Decker, dedicated a sonnet to the praise of this picture. **40. Terburg, Lady writing a letter, with an attendant, the chefd'oeuvre of this great master of scenes of refined domestic life; *34 Rubens, Assumption of the Virgin, sketch for the picture at Brussels; 29. A. van Ostade, Family scene (1668); 28. W. van de Velde, On the beach; *30. Rembrandt, Burgomaster Pancras and his wife, painted in 1645; 26. F. Mieris, Boy blowing soap-bubbles (1663); 22. P. de Hooghe, Card-players (1658), one of the artist's masterpieces; 23. Cuyp, Evening scene; 18. Dou, Mother nursing her child, very minute in the details; 14. P. Potter, Farm scene (dated 1645). *10. Rembrandt, A ship-builder, occupied in making a drawing of a ship, is interrupted by his wife, who has just come into the room with a letter (dated 1633).

'The momentary nature of the simple action, the truth of the heads, the wonderful clearness of the full bright sunlight, and the conscientious Waagen. It was

execution, render the picture extremely attractive'. purchased by George IV., when Prince of Wales, for 50001.

7. Teniers, Peasants dancing; 2. A. van Ostade, Backgammon players (1670); *Titian, A summer storm amid the Venetian Alps, an effective rendering of unusual natural phenomena (painted about 1534).

Permission to visit the Picture Gallery may sometimes be obtained (during the Queen's absence only) from the Lord Chamberlain on written application.

The Gardens at the back of the Palace contain a summer-house decorated with eight frescoes from Milton's 'Comus', by Landseer, Stanfield, Maclise, Eastlake, Dyce, Leslie, Uwins, and Ross.

The ROYAL MEWS (so called from the 'mews' or coops in which the royal falcons were once kept), or stables and coach-houses (for 40 equipages), entered from Queen's Row, to the S. of the palace, are shown on application to the Master of the Horse. The magnificent state carriage, designed by Sir W. Chambers in 1762, and painted by Cipriani (cost 76601.), is kept here.

To the N., between Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly, lies the GREEN PARK, which is 60 acres in extent. Between this and the Queen's private gardens is Constitution Hill, leading direct to Hyde Park Corner (p. 260). Three attempts on the life of the Queen have been made in this road.

24. Hyde Park. Kensington Gardens and Palace. Holland House.

Park Lane, a street about 1/2 M. in length, connecting the W. end of Piccadilly with Oxford Street, forms the eastern boundary of Hyde Park (Pl. R, 14, etc.), which extends thence towards the W. as far as Kensington Gardens, and covers an area of 390 acres. Before the dissolution of the religious houses, the site of the park belonged to the old manor of Hyde, one of the possessions of Westminster Abbey. The ground was laid out as a park and enclosed under Henry VIII. In the reign of Elizabeth stags and deer were still hunted in it, while under Charles II. it was devoted to horseraces. The latter monarch also laid out the 'Ring', a kind of corso, about 350 yds. in length, round an enclosed space, which soon became a most fashionable drive. The fair frequenters of the Ring often appeared in masks, and, under this disguise, used so much freedom, that in 1695 an order was issued denying admission to all whose features were thus concealed.

At a later period the park was neglected, and was frequently the scene of duels, one of the most famous being that between Lord Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton in 1712, when both the principals lost their lives. Under William III. and Queen Anne a large portion of the park was taken to enlarge Kensington Gardens; and, finally, Queen Caroline, wife of George II., caused the Serpentine, a sheet of artificial water, to be formed. The Serpentine