hence crowded up and blocked in by masses of brick-and-mortar, wherein their form, size, and individuality are lost. Far different is this present subject of ours, with its imposing mass standing out clear upon three of its sides: on the south a pleasant and historic garden, on the north and west open spaces where the loiterer loves to linger 'mid the greenery of the trees, the shade of their branches, and the cool downfall of the long, straight jet of water, whose musical plashing has as soothing a sound now, as had the falls of the headlong Anio on the worn-out nerves of Virgil's Mæcenas. Benches are there, in which the idler—but twenty steps removed from the roar of Fleet Street, the tumult of the Strand, and longing to rest his tired eyes upon Nature's graceful curves and lines of beauty; eyes which have been strained by the "shoe-sole" ornament of the hideous Law Courts-can linger, in calm and placid repose of mind, and enjoy at leisure the finest town view in London.
There are other fine town views in London. He who stands at the foot of the Serpentine when the sun is setting on a fine evening in autumn, sometimes falls in with an after-glow which, for colour, variety, and change, as the orange pulses of quivering light shoot out their passing radiance, is but little if at all inferior to the sundowns in a mountainous country,