Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/139

 whose courtesy many of the above facts have been obtained."

Still further changes have taken place during the last decade, and with the disappearance of the old "Penn" has gone the last trace of the past, for the modern residences which have arisen on the site have nothing in common with the old paddock in which Hastings' mares and their foals ran free.

The first lot, described in the advertisement, was the land lying to the west of Hastings House, and extending as far as Alipore Road. This ground, which is now divided by Judges' Court Road, and on which the Judges' Court House and other houses now stand, was at that time one unbroken block of sixty-three biggas. It was laid out in lawns and gardens, in which were planted cinnamon and other rare and valuable trees, which Hastings was desirous of introducing into Bengal. Separating this lot from "the Penn," or paddock, was a drive, leading to the principal gate of Hastings House; this is now a branch road, but was originally the carriage drive within the grounds. The paddock gate probably opened on to this drive, and facing it was "the old house," on a site occupied now by a house of later date, which may contain some