.V.MARCH 24, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
223
the church of St. John, Smith Square. This
in the altered condition of the parish has
long been needed, but only small progress
can be reported to the close of the year.
However, it is now rapidly going forward.
Before leaving what may not inaptly be
styled the Millbank area, it must be noted
that a hitch had occurred in the negotiations
concerning the possession of the premises of
the Westminster Electric Supply Corpora-
tion. As the premises at this spot had the
advantage of a river frontage, while the new
site offered for the erection of another
generating station in Horseferry Road has
not, it is not unlikely that the aid of the
law may be invoked to determine if the site
suggested can be considered as equivalent
to the one of which the company is being
dispossessed.
Proceeding along Millbank Street, we come to Grosvenor Road, formerly Millbank, and it still remains a mystery why that historic name should have been "displaced for one of which there are already too many in London. Perhaps the old name may be restored when better counsels prevail. In Bulinga Street the new buildings of the Army Hospital are complete, and, I believe, in use. At the far end of this street the buildings of the Alex- andra Military Nursing Home (so named by express desire of Her Majesty) were, as the year closed, making substantial progress ; and in Atterbury Street, on the south side of the Tate Gallery, a good show had been made with another important pile of build- ings, which will be devoted to the require- ments of the Army Military College. With reference to Vauxhall Bridge, it can only be said that the work was still going on, and completion early this year is looked for.
W. E. HARLAND OXLEY.
Westminster.
(To be continued.)
G. J. HOLYOAKE AS A LECTURER.
(See ante, pp. 80, 126, 156, 191, 212.)
I HAVE been very glad to read the interesting notes which have already appeared in ' N. & Q.' concerning this remarkable man. I once had the pleasure of hearing him speak, and as the occasion was unique I think perhaps a few extracts from the notes then made in my diary may not be unacceptable.
Twenty years ago (27 Feb., 1886) I was passing by South Place Institute, Finsbury, and saw that Mr. Holyoake was to give the address there the next (Sunday) morning. I made up my mind to attend, and accordingly
found myself seated among the audience
that assembled on that occasion. The sub-
ject of his address was ' Some New Aspects
of Toleration.' He had previously read by
way of lesson a chapter from the Book of
Esdras, and also outlined a kind of prayer
which he said would be like what he should
wish to say were he sure there was a God
" who was a gentleman." He also stated
that he read the same form in the Memorial
Hall, Boston, U.S.A., a place conducted on
similar lines to South Place Institute. When
he commenced his discourse he said it was-
about forty-six years ago, in the year 1841,
that he sat in one of the seats in the gallery
(pointing to a seat on his right), and wished
he could some day speak something which
he then thought of from that platform. Now
the time had come, and he should give the
subject-matter of those early thoughts, pro-
bably put into better language than he
could have used forty-six years earlier. He
also mentioned the fact that Mr. W. J. Fox^
who was then at South Place, read out to
his hearers a few Sundays afterwards
a letter which he had sent to him from a
distant jail, where he was then undergoing
six months' imprisonment for his opinions.
During his discourse he quoted the following
words, which he said Richard Baxter had
taken from an obscure German treatise :
"In necessary things, unity; in doubtful
things, liberty ; in all things, charity.' 7
Though not believing in the Bible himself,
he was tolerant of those who did. For in-
stance, when his old mother's eyes grew dim
he did not hesitate to read to her from that
book, because he knew its words comforted
her. He also pleaded guilty to buying an
old lady a pair of spectacles in order that
she might see the pages of her Bible better,
and to subscribing towards procuring a
curate to preach in the church of the parish
in which he lived. The whole of the dis-
course was memorable in many respects, and
when Mr. Holyoake finished some of his
hearers broke into cheers, a thing apparently
unusual. After we had sung a hymn Mr.
Holyoake said that in his opinion there was
no passage in the whole Bible finer than that
which ended with the words, "But the
greatest of these is charity." My diary gives
the following notes on his appearance and
methods :
"He looks to be a man something past sixty years of age. His face is not unlike that of Robert Browning. He wears the same pointed beard, but his hair is straight and is worn low on the neck behind. Its colour is iron-grey. He appears to suffer from weak eyesight. Apparently he knows almost by heart his MS. from which he professes to
