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 596 LONDON national institute of fine arts. The Edgeware road, a great and popular thoroughfare, leads from the W. end of Oxford street, and pro- ceeds due N. to St. John's Wood, which is a charming locality, most of the houses being provided with gardens and almost entwined in flowers and evergreens. Bayswater, Maida hill, and almost all the streets clustering round Kensington gardens and Kensington proper, contain delightful residences, which are eager- ly sought by City people ; the population of Kensington, with Brompton, Hammersmith, and Fulham, has consequentlv increased from 185,000 in 1861 to 283,000 in 1871, and about 325,000 in 1874. Other airy localities have largely increased, especially Islington, which had 155,341 in 1861 and 213,749 in 1871. The Harrow road, diverging from the Edgeware road, leads to the famous village and school of that name, as well as to Kensal Green cemetery. Mayfair, including Ourzon street, Hill street, Chesterfield house, Berkeley square, and a large portion of the streets and squares between Pic- cadilly and Grosvenor square, built mostly on ground belonging to the duke (late marquis) of Westminster, was for nearly 100 years, until the rise of Belgravia, the great centre of high life. Sydney Smith said that the parallelogram be- tween Piccadilly, Bond street, Park lane, and Oxford street included more of beauty, wealth, wit, and fashion than any other part of the world. Tyburnia, the northern wing of the West End, is principally inhabited by profes- sional men, merchants, and artists. Belgravia, the southern wing of the West End, built be- tween 1826 and 1852, includes Belgrave and Eaton squares, and is the most fashionable lo- cality in the West End. In this vicinity are Brompton and Chelsea. N. E. of Tyburnia is the Regent's park district, extending from the N. side of the Euston (formerly New) road to Camden Town and Somers Town. Be- tween 1849 and 1873 6,578 new streets were laid out in the police area, and 262,563 houses built. The squares are numerous, and those in the West End are remarkable for their fine trees, but in other respects they are imper- fectly cultivated. The best known West End squares are Belgrave, Eaton, Portman, Man- chester, St. James's, Berkeley, and Hanover; the most fashionable is Grosvenor square, and the most salubrious and best cultivated is Cav- endish square. Among the largest are Eaton (also one of the most select), 1,637 by 371 ft. ; Cadogan, 1,450 by 370; Bryanston, 814 by 198 ; and Montagu, 820 by 156. Most of those previously mentioned range from 500 to nearly 700 ft. Two other divisions of squares are situated between Regent street on the west and Gray's Inn lane and Chancery lane on the east ; Holborn and Oxford street form the boundary line between them. South of that line are the squares which, having once been the seats of rank and elegance, have become rather un- fashionable. North of it are Russell square and the Bedford and Bloomsbury square dis- trict, which are now chiefly inhabited by law- yers and merchants. Further E. are Great Ormond, Queen, Brunswick, and Mecklenburg squares, where lodging houses abound. North of this range are Regent, Torrington, Wo- burn, Gordon, Tavistock, and Euston squares. Soho square, near Oxford street, was one of the gayest in the days of George III. and of the prince regent (afterward George IV.), and is to be embellished like Leicester square. The latter has become in the present century the haunt of foreigners, and was disfigured by unseemly sights and exhibitions; but in 1874 a beautiful garden laid out in it by Ba- ron Grant was thrown open to the public, and there is a movement in favor of admitting Albert Memorial Monument. the people to the gardens in all the squares. Seventy-one new squares were formed in the police area between 1849 and 1873. The pub- lic parks are among the greatest attractions of London, and have been justly called its lungs. (See PABK.) Hyde park (area about 400 acres), connecting the Green park with Kensington gardens, with a fine sheet of water called the Serpentine, is a fashionable resort belonging to the crown, and is indebted for its beauty to William III. and Queen Caroline. The bridle road from Apsley house to Ken- sington gardens, known as Rotten Row, a cor- ruption of the French route du roi ("king's drive"), is thronged with brilliant cavalcades during the season. The present greatest artis-