Hamilton Place, Piccadilly, London.

be a cheaper operation than the destruction of Gloucester House and others behind it . Four plans had been suggested for meeting- the evil which the Bill sought to remedy . One Avas that the Chief Commissioner of Works should , with the authority of the Crown , permit carriages to pass

through the park , but that the right hon . gentlemen had refused , and , he thought , properly refused , to permit . The second was the extension of South Audley-street into Piccadilly . But if any one looked at the map he Avould see that the line of South Audley-street directly impinged upon

Gloucester House , and therefore such an alteration could not be made at a cost of less than £ 300 , 000 or £ 400 , 000 ; besides which , the northern entrance to Audley-street Avas a quarter of a mile from the Edgware-road , the direct access to the Paddington Station , from which came the great bulk of the traffic which IIOAV croAvded Park-lane . On these

and other grounds , therefore , the Metropolitan Board abandoned the idea of prolonging South Audley-street . There remaiued , then , two plans ; one for the opening up of Hamilton-place , ancl the other for the widening of the south end of Parklane . It Avas true that Hamilton-place Avas narrow

at the upper end , but by the purchase and rebuilding of tAvo houses it might be enlarged without great expense ; Avhile , according to the estimates which had been made , the widening of Parklane would involve a sacrifice of at least £ 100 , 000 of public money .

Mr . CoAvpe-r , with his hearty Hertfordshire air , was heard in reply . Park-lane was tbe only direct thoroughfare which lay betAveen the north and south of the district AA'hich extended from Churchlane , Kensington , on the Avest , to Berkeley-street on the east . The traffic which passed through it

was to a great extent that of two great railways , which was forced through a passage not more than 18 ft . wide , so that one or two heavily-laden vans were sufficient to block it up completely , Avhile it Avas exceedingly difficult for three ordinary vehicles to proceed along in a parallel line . Nowhis

, opinion was , that the best course to adopt Avith a vieAV to remedy that state of things , was to widen Park-lane ; but the Metropolitan Board , Avho seemed to have onl y lately awakened to a sense of their duty in the matter , were of opinion that the enlargement of the southern end would involve a

larger expenditure than they ought to undertake . He himself thought the board Avere rather too timid in this matter ; but the majority having decided against the adoption of the plan which he had just mentioned , the alternative lay betAveen doing nothing at all and accepting the proposal contained in the bill under discussion . He would not oppose the introduction or second reading of the bill .

After others had spoken , the bill was read a second time . The " We are seven" houses in Hamilton-place ,

Piccadilly , were , Avhen first erected , thus inhabited : — No . 1 ( west side , end of Piccadilly ) , — Dr . Smallbrooke , Lord Montgomery ( also " Coilsfield , Ayrshire , " Burns ' s " Ye banks and braes and

streams around the Castle of Montgomery" ) . Iu 1813 this house was inhabited by Lady Catherine Tylney Long : — "Long may Long Tnyley Wellesley Long Pole live . "

But long she did not live here ; and No . 1 is dropped by Mr . P . Boyle , " Fashionable Court and Country Guide Office , Vine-street , Piccadilly , " made " for the use of Porters in the Hall , Servants ,. & c , " aud , let me add , Avhose IIOAV scarce Guides of fifty or sixty years since supply very pleasant

reading for lovers of the past in the present day . This No . 1 passed to Lord Foley in 1814 , and in 1818 to Lord High Chancellor Eldon , greatgrandfather of the jn-esent earl , and Crown tenant of No . 1 .

No . 2 . The first OAvner I can find of No . 2 is Francis Russell , Duke of Bedford—Charles James ; Fox ' s and Sir Richard Westmacott's Duke of Bedford . Strange , that owning so large a portion of West-end Loudon as the Russell or Bedford

family oAvned and owns , our ducal Russell should have his London house not on his OAVU property . From Hamilton-place the Duke of Bedford of 1819 removed to No . 13 , St . James's-square , still away from his own vast London jn-ojierty . Andwho Avas the Duke of Bedford's successor in No . 2 ?

Why , Earl Gower , the first Marquis of Stafford and the first Duke of Sutherland . The duke died in 1833 , and the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland and the Countess of Sutherland in her own right retired from stately Stafford House , ancl passed the remainder of her London life in pleasant No . 2-

This countess in her oAvn right was , I may observe , an accomplished artist . No . 3 was first inhabited by Boyle , Earl of Cork and Orrery , from 1810 to 1816 or 1817 , Avhen Lord Foley , of Witley Court , in Worcestershire , " cameinto possession . "

No . 4 Avas first inhabited by Bingham , Earl of Lucan , from whom it passed , in 1814 , to the great Duke of Wellington , whose London house it was Avhen the Battle of Waterloo was Avon by his fine genius for Avar . I wish I had been aware of this fact when compiling my " Handbook of LoAidon . ''

From the Duke , No . 4 passed to Lord Grenville ; next to Mr . Labouchere , the father of Lord Taunton ; next to Mr . Bevan , the banker ; next to the bibliopole , Mr . Grenville , whose fine library , bequeathed by him to the British Museum , was well taken care of—at classic No . 4 .

No . 5 Avas the residence of the Marquis and Marchioness of Conyngham . The Marchioness , the influential favourite of George IV ., Avas living here in her doAvager days , AA'hen the first gentleman