of Gibbon we will conclude our notices of St. James's Street. Lord Byron, at the time when the publication of his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" rendered his name for the first time conspicuous in the literary history of his country, resided at No. 8 in this street. It was from this house that the proud and misanthropic poet departed, on a melancholy and well-known occasion, to take his seat in the House of Lords as a peer of the realm,-" in a state," says Moore, "more lone and unfriended, perhaps, than any youth of his high station had ever before been reduced to on such an occasion,-not having a single individual of his own class, either to take him by the hand as friend or acknowledge him as acquaintance." Nothing can be more strikingly dramatic than the account which his relative, Mr. Dallas, gives of this painful passage in the life of the great poet. "I was passing down St. James's Street," he says, "with no intention of calling, when I saw his chariot at the door, and went in. His countenance, paler than usual, shewed that his mind was agitated, and that he was thinking of the nobleman* to whom he had once looked for a hand and countenance in his introduction to the house. He said to me, 'I am glad you happened to come in; I am going to take my seat, perhaps you will go with me.' I expressed my readiness to attend him; while, at the same time I concealed the shock I felt on thinking that this young man, who, by birth, fortune, * His relative, the late Earl of Carlisle. and talent stood high in life, should have lived so unconnected and neglected by persons of his own rank, that there was not a single member of the senate to which he belonged, to whom he would or could apply to introduce him in a manner becoming his birth; I saw that he felt the situation, and I fully partook of his indignation." The subsequent scene in the house of Lords is graphically described by Dallas but is too long for insertion. "We re turned to St. James's Street," he says, "but he did not recover his spirits." THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ST. JAMES'S STREET. BENNET STREET.—ARLINGTON STREET.-PARK PLACE.- ST. JAMES'S PLACE.-CLEVELAND ROW.-KING STREET. ALMACK'S. LITTLE RYDER STREET.-BURY STREET. THE streets diverging from St. James's Street are all of them more or less associated with some person of celebrity or some event of interest. As we descend towards St. James's Palace, the first opening to the right is Bennet Street, a small avenue leading to Arlington Street. At No. 4, Bennet Street, in the apartments which he occupied on the first floor, Lord Byron composed the "Giaour," the "Bride of Abydos," and the "Corsair." He resided here during a great part of the years of 1813 and 1814, and sometimes in his letters amuses himself with playfully styling it Benedictine Street. Let us pass on to Arlington Street, so called from the Bennets Earls of Arlington, which, considering how small a number of houses it contains, has been inhabited by a greater number of persons of note and genius than perhaps any other street of the same size in London. As early as the reign of Queen Anne, we find it containing the residences of several persons of rank. Here, in 1708, were residing the Duke of Richmond, Lord Brook, Lord Cholmondley, Lord Guildford, and Lord Kingston. Here, before her marriage, in the pride of youth, of beauty, and of genius, resided Lady Mary Wortley Montagu ;*— here, in 1739, lived the celebrated William Pulteney, afterwards Earl of Bath,† and to this street, three years afterwards, retired his great rival, Sir Robert Walpole, when his famous defeat in the House of Commons terminated his long political career: it was here that the great minister breathed his last. In a small house, adjoining that of his father, his scarcely less celebrated son, Horace Walpole, resided for many years, and from hence many of the most charming of his letters are dated. To Arlington Street, when Prince of Wales, George the Second retired to sulk with his small court after his memorable quarrel with his father; and here the celebrated Duke of Cumberland, the "Butcher" of Culloden, dined the same day on which he died. Charles James Fox resided for some time in Arlington Street: and here at the house of the Duke of Rutland, lamented by every one but his creditors, his late Royal Highness the Duke of York breathed his last. As we pass down St. James's Street, the next opening on the west side is Park Place. At No. 9 lived the well-known antiquary, Sir William Musgrave, and in this street Hume the historian resided when Under Secretary of State in 1769. We next arrive at St. James's Place, a street in which the * "Letters and Works of Lady M. Wortley Montagu." houses remain nearly the same as they existed in the days of Queen Anne. Here, the celebrated Addison had a house, and in this street occasionally resided Thomas Parnell, the poet, the friend and correspondent of Congreve, Addison, and Steele, of Swift, Pope, Gay, and Arbuthnot. Future chroniclers of the local associations of London, will point out the residence of a third poet, Mr. Rogers, and will do honour to the walls where Byron, Southey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Campbell have been favoured guests, and in which, at different times, have assembled all the wit, the beauty, and the talent of the present century. In St. James's Place, in a house overlooking the Green Park, lived the charming and beautiful Mary Lepel, Lady Hervey, the idol of her contemporaries, and celebrated in verse by Pope, Gay, Voltaire, Arbuthnot, Pulteney, and Lord Chesterfield :— Now Hervey, fair of face, I mark full well, With thee, youth's youngest daughter, sweet Lepel. GAY. Lady Hervey writes from Ickworth Park on the 5th of April, 1749,-" I am preparing a dwelling that will suit better with my purse, though not so well with my inclination. I have paid dear to make that dwelling look as like the country as I can; but I have been too much used to grass and green trees to bear the changing them for brick walls and dust." Lady Hervey could scarcely have fixed on any spot in London which had more the * "Lady Hervey's Letters." |