Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/510

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502


NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s.i. JUNE 25,


Forgive what seem'd my sin in me ; What seem'd my worth since I began.

('I. M.,'introd.) His crimes forgive ; forgive his virtues too.

(Night ix.)

It is a small point, but Young stresses "contemplate" on the second syllable; so also does Tennyson in ' I. M.,' Ixxxiv., cxviii.

Finally, it is characteristic of Tennyson, though not, so far as 1 am aware, in 'In Memoriam,' that with him man never dies ; he " passes," as in * The Passing of Arthur ' and in the * Idylls.' So Young declares that the heavenly bodies, the seasons, and other revolving things are

Emblems of man, who passes, not expires.

(Night vi.)

And in Night iii. he writes of man's " sudden pass."

In 'N. & Q.,' 5 th S. ii. 15, passages from Goldsmith and Campbell are traced to Young ; and I believe other poets have shown their familiarity with the ' Night Thoughts.'

W. C. B.

WESTMINSTER CHANGES. AT 8 th S. viii. 61 a note of mine appeared with the title of 'Westminster Demolish- ments.' I purpose now to take cognizance of some further alterations in this locality, which it seems worth while to chronicle in the pages of ' N. & Q.' Victoria Street, the forma- tion of which was started in the year 1845 by the Westminster Improvement Commis- sioners, is only just now being completed. Three corner plots of ground which remained unappropriated during the intervening years are now puilt upon. One plot, at the corner of Francis Street, has a large block of resi- dential flats, with shops under, designated Army and Navy Mansions in consequence of their adjoining the Stores. At the corner of Great Cnapel Street a block of buildings is now in course of erection to complete Mem- bers' Mansions, the lower portion being for the offices of a branch of the Capital and Counties Bank. Nearly opposite, at the corner of Orchard Street, stands the huge pile known as Abbey Mansions, where, un- fortunately, a few weeks ago a collapse of a portion of the roof took place, resulting in the death of seven workmen. The part facing Victoria Street was to have become the home of the Civil Service Commission. The premises of Messrs. Hooper, carriage builders, adjoining the Army and Navy Stores in Vic- toria Street and Howick Place, came into the possession of the directors of the Stores in the autumn of 1896, and have been pulled down ; the increased accommodation thus


gained will most likely beemployed for business purposes towards the end of the year. Upon the site of Emmanuel Hospital, James Street, a block of buildings is being reared, not with the name of Dacre Gardens, as originally intended, which would have signified some- thing, but with the meaningless one of St. James's Court. On the other side of James Street, at the corner of York Street, another block, to be called Buckingham Gardens, is fast approaching completion, a number of small shops being displaced to make room for it; while adjoining are Wellington Mansions, completed some few years ago and now in occupation, as are also the James Street Mansions close by. The building formerly in the occupation of the Sputh-Western District Post Office in Buckingham Gate has been demolished, and upon the site, and also upon the site of one side of Stafford Place, Messrs. Trollope & Co. are building Park Mansions, and at the other corner of Stafford Place and Palace Street stand Buckingham Gate Mansions, erected a year or two since. In Artillery How, upon the site of Ray's Mineral Water Manufactory, another colossal pile is approaching comple- tion ; the roofing - in has been started. It is to be called Westminster Palace Gardens, another inappropriate name for a building at this spot. The ground at Storey's Gate and Birdcage Walk, alluded to in my former communication, is now covered by two very fine buildings, one being the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, which takes in Prince's Court, upon the corner of which, I am glad to say, now appears the old street tablet, duly reinstated. The other building is H.M. Office of Works, which boasts of two fronts, one in Birdcage Walk, the other in Old Queen Street. In Great George Street is being erected a building for the Institute of Surveyors, which necessitated the removal of some interesting houses in Little George Street, and the quaint old arch- way through which that street was entered, and also the house where Lord Hatherley (then Sir W. Page Wood) passed many years of his life. The site of the Millbank Prison has been cleared, and last year the Tate Gal- lery of British Art, erected upon a portion of the land, was opened by the Prince of Wales ; and upon a further portion the London County Council are putting up some blocks of buildings which it is hoped will go far towards solving the question of the housing of the working classes and the poor. The Parliament Street and King Street clearance scheme is in progress, and it is likely that before the close of this year the latter tho-