Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/703

Rh LONDON. 695 LONDON. They aro men whoso characters have undergone strict investigation, and they are employed extensively as watchmen of premises, attendants at large shops and places of public resort, messengers, porters, and in many other ways upon occasions where honesty, obedience, and intelligence are requisite. The offices of the corps it 3, Exchange-court, and 419A, Strand, and there vgular official tariff published and issued by which of the public who may wish to employ the men may . the exact price they have to pay for their services. < orps possesses an excellent band, which performs on rammer evenings in St. James's Park, and may be hired lea, balls, concerts, or any similar entertainments. The principal cricket-field of London is at " Lord's," in St. John's Wood, near the Regent's Park. Here the t matches of the season are played; and the ground upon certain occasions, such as that of the match be- n the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Me schools, the Gentlemen and the Players, and rs, is crowded with spectators, many of whom be- to the highest classes of society. " Lord's" is under patronage and control of tho " Marylebone Cricket '," which has there a house for dining, and for keep- the implements of the game in, on the ground ; and re is also a tennis-court, billiard-room, and a refreshment-house for the use of the general public, and on certain occasions a "grand stand" is erected. Tho Marylebone Club numbers among its members ieveral noblemen and gentlemen of tho highest rank, and its picked eleven aro probably the finest set of cricketers in the world. At Kennington Oval there is also an excellent cricket-ground, where many first-rate lies are played; and another close to the cattle- ket in Islington. There is a tennis-court in Charles- street, Haymarket, close to the Haymarket Theatre ; several public and private billiard-rooms in the Strand, Regent- street, Leicester-square, and various places ughout the metropolis. The annual rowing-match between two eight-oars of the .Universities of Oxford and Cambridge takes place during the long vacation, I on the Thames, between Mortlake and Putney, and ites great interest and excitement among all classes of the community ; and the Thames, Leander, and other I rowing-clubs, have their boats, subscription-rooms, &c., 1 at Westminster, and elsewhere, on the banks of the r. Boats aro let out for hire on the ornamental I waters of tho Serpentine and in St. James's Park, and 1 in the evenings of the summer months rowing forms tho isement of a considerable number of young Lon- "rs. Sunday excursions are much in vogue among y classes of the community, and the boats and I railways to Greenwich, Richmond, Hampton Court, . lipping Forest, and tho various suburban places I to and from which conveyance can be had at a cheap, are, during the spring and summer months, filled ngers. A great many excursionists also go >;;8, Brighton, Margate, Southampton, &e., by I cheap trains or boats, which leave London early in the I morning, and return the same night, or extend their I rtay from Saturday till Monday. The suburbs also ith the villas and residences of merchants anc rs who travel to and fro daily to their various I places of business, and whose families enjoy a purer air iter quiet than is to bo obtained in London. On hatliam, and Dover railway there is a cheap u's train in the morning and evening, and this i ml to be a great boon to those who by the modern uients and alterations in London havo been m ejected from their houses, and aro obliged to live a long I way from their work. The same plan is also in operatioi j on tho Metropolitan or Underground railway from Far o Paddington. Several societies, however benevolent individuals, have taken up the subject o illy experienced by labourers and the opera II tive classes in obtaining suitable dwelling-places, anc lises whore they may be housed both decently anc ply. At Bethnal Green Miss Burdett Contts has mo houses, arranged in three distinct blocks il: nd forming three sides of a quadrangle. Each block > five stories high, and has shafts for tho removal of ust, baths, washhouses, closets, and similar fittings and ppliances for securing the health [and cleanliness of heir inhabitants. There aro 170 families residing here, who occupy all tho rooms, which are let to them in ets of from one to three rooms, at a rent varying from 2. to 5s. a week. Mr. George Peabody, a benevolent merchant, has given the munificent sum of 150,000 or the same purpose ; and in Lisson Grove, at Lambeth, n Eagle-court in the Strand, opposite to Somerset louse ; in Ward's-place, Essex-road, Islington ; in jove-lano, Shadwell ; and in Commercial-street, Shore- ditch localities in which hitherto the worst classes of ,he community herded together, without any regard to cleanliness or decency there are ranges of buildings, jrovided with comfortable kitchens, plenty of water, arge windows, sinks, cupboards, &c., and in some cases with workshops attached, all designed for the express pur- jose of ameliorating both the physical and moral status of their occupants. The sum of 23,542 has also been expended in the purchase of land and the erection of Duildings at Tower-buildings, Brewhouse-lane, Wapping [where nearly tho whole of the dwellings for 60 families are occupied), at King's-cross-road, Bagniggo Wells, and in Old St. Pancras-road. These latter buildings
 * companies havo been formed for tho purpose of building
 * onsist of five blocks, two of which are fully occupied,

and, as they are all in tho immediate vicinity of tho Great Northern railway station at King's-cross and several large manufacturing establishments, it is ex- pected that they will soon be completely filled, as the applications received already exceed the number of tenements, although they are constructed so as to afford ample accommodation for 100 families. Negociations aro also pending for a piece of land in tho City-road, about a mile from the Bank, as a site for three blocks of buildings ; and in Greenwich a subscription has been set on foot for the purchase of a vacant piece of ground near the parish church, on which it is proposed to erect three or four blocks of buildings, to be let at a cheap rate to the working poor of that busy and populous neighbourhood. The promoters of these benevolent and at the same time, it is to be hoped, remunerative schemes, will apply to parliament for power to borrow money on certain terms from the Public Works Loan Commis- sioners, and for such other concessions as they may deem necessary ; and should the undertaking prove successful they will endeavour to carry out their operations on a still more useful and extensive scale. Cheap dining- rooms for the operative classes havo been established in the New Cut, Lambeth, and in Fleet-street and thcro are several public baths and washhouses in London, where hot, cold, and plunge baths can bo obtained at a much cheaper rate than at the establishments of private bath proprietors, and where great accommodation for washing and drying is afforded at a very moderate price. Of these the principal aro the Whitechapel baths and washhouses in Goulston-street, Whitechapel ; the Bermondsey in Spa- road, Berinondsey ; the Bloomsbury and St. Giles's in Endell-street, Long Acre ; tho Lambeth in tho West- minster Bridge-road ; tho Metropolitan in Ashley- crescent, City-road ; the Poplar in the East India-road, Poplar ; tho St. Margaret and St. John's, West- minster, in Great Smith-street ; the St. George's in Davies-street, Berkeley-square ; the St. James's in Mar- shall-street, and Dufour's -place, Broad-street, Golden- square ; the St. Martin's in Orange-street, Leicester- square ; the St. Marylebono in the Marylebone-road, tho City of London in Golden-lane, Barbican ; and tho Tunbridgo in Cross-street, Islington. There arc also several " Turkish " baths, tho principal of which is in Victoria-street, Westminster, in a building fitted up in a luxurious Oriental style, and havjng attached to it a bath for horses and cattle. Drinking-foun- tains havo during the last few years been extensively set up in the public thoroughfares, and have proved a great boon to passengers. Many of them have been erected by private individuals, and an association has been formed for a similar object. An immense number