The House-Sparrow is to be seen in nearly every locality. In 1850, there was a numerous colony of sparrows upon the west side of the ecart-yard of No. 94 Piccadilly, the residence of the Duke of Cambridge. Another nesting-place for sparrows was the capitals of the Corinthian columns of the portico of Carlton House. There was, too, a noted rookery in the lofty trees of the grounds of Carlton House: on these being cut down, the birds removed, in 1827, to some trees in the rear of New-street, Spring-gardens. Perchance, few remember the satirical lament of Tom Hudson's song: "Now the old rooks have lost their places." Rooks build in the south churchyard of St. Dunstan-in-the-East, Tower-street. The rookery, before the last church was removed, consisted of upwards of twenty nests; and they were annually supplied with osier-twigs, and other materials for building. The colony migrated to the Tower of London, when Esturbed for the pulling down of the church in 1817; they built in the White Tower, but returned as soon as the noise of axes and hammers had ceased. In 1849, their building-materials were hospitably provided for them by Mr. Crutchley, the assistant-overseer: the trees are plane. There was also, formerly, a rookery on some large elm-trees in the College Garden, behind the Ecclesiastical Court, in Doctors' Commons. There is, too, a rookery in the fine trees near Kensington Palace. "We have rooks in the very heart of London, on a noble plane-tree which grows at the corner of Wood-street, Cheapside. There are now, May, 1850,) signs of four nests in that tree; but I am unable to state whether they have reared their young in that locality. Rooks, however, build in the crowns surmounting the highest pinnacles of the turrets of the Tower of London; and there is another rookery in Gray's-Inn Gardens. Pigeons have lately taken to build on the tops of the pillars of the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange: so that London can now boast of three kinds of birds which rear their young, viz. sparrows, pigeons, and rooks. We have every year a robin or two at Finsbury Circus, but it does not build; and we are frequently favoured with a visit from starlings." (Instinct and Reason, by A. Smee, F.R.S., 1850.) The Swallow, Swift, and Martin seem to have almost deserted London, although they are occasionally seen in the suburbs. The scarcity of the Swallow is referred to most of the chimneys having conical or other contracted tops to them, which is no inducement for this bird to build in them. In 1826, Mr. Jennings observed Martins' nests in Goswell-street Road, and on Islington Green. The Redbreast has been occasionally seen in the neighbourhood of Fleet Market and Ludgate Hill: in November 1825, Mr. Jennings saw it in the City Road; where, in November 1826, he saw the Wren. The Thrush is often heard in the Regent's Park. Some of the migratory birds approach much nearer London than is generally imagined. The Cuckoo and Wood-pigeon are heard occasionally in Kensington Gardens. The Nightingale is often heard at Hornsey-wood House, Hackney, and Mile-end. (See Jennings's Ornithologia, 1829.) The London gardens are much more injured by insects than those in the country, on account of the smaller number of insectivorous birds, the great number of bird-catchers, and, in some respects, the cats, in and about the metropolis; and their scarcity is not, as is frequently alleged, owing to the smoke, the number of houses, the want of trees and food, because every kind of bird will live and thrive in cages in the heart of London. In James-street, on the north side of Covent Garden, a Bird Market was formerly held on Sunday mornings. The Canary is much reared in the metropolis; there are Societies for this purpose, the principal being the Friendly, the Royals, the Amateurs, and the Hand-in-Hand. Several varieties are distinguished; and there is a "London criterion of a perfect Canary." The Fancy hold their principal Shows in November and December, at the Gray's Inn Coffee-house, Holborn, and the British Coffee-house, Cockspur-street. BLACKFRIARS, The district between Ludgate Hill and the river Thames; and anciently a monastery of Black or Dominican Friars, who removed here from Holborn in 1276, to a piece of ground given them by Gregory Rocksley, Mayor. The monastery, church, and a mansion were built with the stone from the tower of Montfichet, and from part of the City wall. Edward I. and his Queen Eleanor were great benefactors to the new convent. Here the King kept his charters and records; and great numbers of the nobility dwelt in the precinct. In the church, divers parliaments and other great meetings were held. In 1522, the Emperor Charles V. of Spain was lodged here by Henry VIII.; and here, in 1524, was begun the sitting of a parliament, adjourned to the Black monks at Westminster, and therefore called the Black Parliament. Henry's divorce from Katherine of Arragon was decided here; and the parliament which cor.demned Wolsey, assembled at Blackfriars. The precinct was very extensive, was walled in, had four gates, and contained many shops, the occupiers of which were allowed to carry on their trades, although not free of the city, privileges maintained even after the dissolution of the monasteries. In the View of London (1543), in the Sutherland Collection, the church of Blackfriars is shewn with a lofty tower and spire, and the end towards the Fleet river flanked with two large turrets. Part of this church was altered and fitted up for parochial use; it was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666, and the church of St. Andrew by the Wardrobe erected in its place. Taking advantage of the sanctuary privilege, Richard Burbage and his fellows, when ejected from the City, built a playhouse in the Blackfriars precinct, and here maintained their ground against the powerful opposition of the City and the Puritans. Shakspeare had a share in this theatre, and part of its site is now Playhouse Yard. The poet possessed other property here; for in the City of London Library, at Guildhall, is preserved a deed of conveyance to Shakspeare of a house bought by him March 10, 1612-13, and bequeathed by him to his daughter, Susannah Hall. This document was sold by auction, May 24, 1841, for 1657. 15s. Three eminent painters resided in Blackfriars: Isaac Oliver, the celebrated miniature-painter, who died in 1617, and is buried in St. Anne's; Cornelius Jansen, the portrait-painter, employed by King James I.; and Van Dyck, during his nine years' abode in England. At Hunsdon House, in the Friary, on Sunday, Oct. 26, 1623, there perished 59 persons by the falling of a floor, during the preaching of a sermon by Father Drury; the catastrophe is recorded as "the Fatal Vespers." In 1735, the right of the City to the jurisdiction of the precinct was decided in their favour in an action against a shalloon and drugget seller, tried in the Court of King's Bench; since which Blackfriars has been one of the precincts of Farringdon Ward. BLACKWALL, On the north bank of the Thames, and at the eastern extremity of the West India Docks, is said to have been originally called Bleakwall, from its exposed situation on the artificial bank or wall of the river, through the winding of which it is nearly eight miles from the City, though less than half that distance by land. Here, on the Brunswick Wharf or Pier, is the handsome Italianised terminus (by Tite) of the Blackwall Railway from Fenchurch-street, 44 miles in length. To the large taverns at Blackwall and Greenwich gourmets flock to eat Whitebait, a delicious little fish caught in the Reach, and directly netted out of the river into the frying-pan. They appear about the end of March or early in April, and are taken every flood-tide until September. Pennant describes Whitebait as esteemed by the lower order of epicures. If this account be correct, there must have been a strange change in the grade of the epicares frequenting Greenwich and Blackwall since Pennant's days; for at present the fashion of eating Whitebait is sanctioned by the highest authorities, from the court of St. James's in the West to the Lord Mayor and his court in the East; besides the philosophers of the Royal Society; and her Majesty's Cabinet Ministers, who wind up the Parliamentary session with their " annual fish dinner." whither they go in an Ordnance barge, or a Government steamer. Whitebait are taken by a net in a wooden frame, the hose having a very small mesh. The boat is moored in the tideway, and the net fixed to its side, when the tail of the hose, swimming loose, is from time to time handed in to the boat, the end untied, and its contents shaken out. Whitebait were thought to be the young of the shad, and were named from their being used as bait in fishing for whitings. By aid of comparative anatomy, Mr. Yarrell, however, proved Whitebait to be a distinct species, Clupea alba. Perhaps the famed delicacy of Whitebait rests as much upon its skilful cookery as upon the freshness of the fish. Dr. Pereira has published the mode of cooking in one of Lovegrove's "bait-kitchens" at Blackwall. The fish should be dressed within an hour after being caught, or they are apt to cling together. They are kept in water, from which they are taken by a skimmer as required; they are then thrown upon a layer of flour, contained in a large napkin, in which they are shaken until completely enveloped in flour; they are then put into a colander, and all the superfluous flour is removed by sifting; the fish are next thrown into hot lard contained in a copper cauldron or stew-pan placed over a charcoal fire; in about two minutes they are removed by a tin skimmer, thrown into a colander to drain, and served up instantly, by placing them on a fish-drainer in a dish. The rapidity of the cooking process is of the utmost importance; and if it be not attended to, the fish will lose their crispness, and be worthless. At table, lemonjuice is squeezed over them, and they are seasoned with Cayenne pepper; brown bread and butter is substituted for plain bread; and they are eaten with iced champagne, or punch. An important thing to be noticed is the vast extent of iron shipbuilding carried on here, an art of construction but of twenty years' growth. A great portion of Blackwall and the Isle of Dogs is occupied in this building trade, with its clanking boiler-works, and its Cyclopean foundries and engineering shops, in which steam is the primum mobile. Then, what a range of size have these steamers-from the huge troopship, or war-vessel (for foreign as well as British service), to the halfpenny "bread-and-butter boats," which flit about above bridge from the City to Chelsea. In the East India Docks, at Blackwall, arrived, April 1848, a large Chinese Junk, the first ever seen in England; and here it was exhibited until May 1850. BLIND-SCHOOL (THE), Or the School for the Indigent Blind, was established in 1799, at the Dog and Duck premises, St. George's Fields; and for some time received only fifteen blind persons. The site being required by the City of London for the building of Bethlem Hospital, about two acres of ground were allotted opposite the Obelisk, and there a plain school-house for the blind was built. In 1826, the School was incorporated; and in the two following years three legacies of 5001. each, and one of 10,000%, were bequeathed to the establishment. In 1834, additional ground was purchased, and the school-house remodelled, so as to form a portion of a more extensive edifice in the Tudor or domestic Gothic style, de E 50 signed by John Newman, F.S.A. The tower and gateway in the north front are very picturesque; the School will now accommodate 220 inmates. The pupils are clothed, lodged, and boarded, and receive a religious and industrial education; so that many of them have been returned to their families able to earn from 6s. to 8s. per week. Applicants are not received under twelve, nor above thirty, years of age; nor if they have a greater degree of sight than will enable them to distinguish light from darkness. The admission is by votes of the subscribers; and persons between the age of twelve and eighteen have been found to receive the greatest benefit from the instruction. The pupils may be seen at work between ten and twelve A.M., and two and five P.M., daily, except Saturdays and Sundays. The women and girls are employed in knitting stockings and needlework; in spinning, and making household and body linen, netting silk, and in fine basket-making; besides working baby-hoods, bags, purses, watchpockets, &c. of tasteful design, both in colour and form. The women are remarkably quick in superintending the pupils. The men and boys make wicker baskets, cradles, and hampers; rope door-mats and worsted rugs; and they make all the shoes for the inmates of the School. Reading is mostly taught by Alston's raised or embossed letters, in which have been printed the Old and New Testament, and the Liturgy. Both males and females are remarkably cheerful in their employment: they have great taste and aptness for music, and they are instructed in it, not as a mere amusement, but with a view to engagements as organists and teachers of psalmody; and once a year they perform a concert of sacred music in the chapel or music-room: the public are admitted by tickets, the proceeds from the sale being added to the funds of the institution. An organ and piano-forte are provided for teaching; and above each of the inmates of the males' working-room usually hangs a fiddle. They receive, as pocket-money, part of their earnings; and on leaving the school, a sum of money and a set of tools, for their respective trades, are given to them. Among the other Charities for the Blind is the munificent bequest street. BOTANIC GARDENS. The earliest Botanic Garden in the suburbs was that of John Trades- THE BOTANIC GARDEN, OR "PHYSIC GARDEN;" OF THE APOTHE and of the growth of the Garden, till the number should amount to 20. This condition was complied with, and a list of the new plants published yearly in the Philosophical Transactions, for about fifty years, when, 2500 plants having been presented, the custom was discontinued. The Garden is about three acres in extent: it contains a marble statue of Sir Hans Sloane, by Rysbrack, set up in 1733; and two noble cedars, planted in 1683, then about three feet high: in 1766, they measured more than twelve feet in circumference at two feet from the ground, and their branches extended forty feet in diameter. One of these cedars is said to have been brought from Lebanon for Sir Hans Sloane. The Apothecaries' Company give annually a gold and silver medal to the best informed students in botany who have attended this Garden; and they still observe an old custom of summer herbarising, or simpling excursions to the country, when the members are accompanied by apprentices or pupils. The Garden is open daily, from eight to eleven; admission from May to July, by order from the Apothecaries' Company. THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S GARDENS at Chiswick are thirtythree acres in extent, and were commenced in 1821: they comprise Orchard and Kitchen, Hot-house and Tender and Hardy departments, the latter containing the arboretum and flower-garden; besides a conservatory, 184 feet long, 25 feet high, and about 30 feet wide. Here the Society hold exhibitions on a Saturday of May, June, and July, when medals and smaller prizes are awarded for the finest flowers and fruit. Visitors are admitted by tickets, obtainable at the Society's Office, 21 Regent Street, by personal or written order of a Fellow of Society, at 5s. each, prior to the Exhibition-day; or 7s. 6d. each on that day, at the Gardens. In 1849, there were issued 18,517 tickets; in 1844, 24,480. Formerly, costly public breakfasts were given at these Exhibitions: the weather is often unfavourable; of nine meetings in 1847, 8, and 9, five were more or less stormy; the tents erected for the occasion now provide as much as possible for such contretems. The Gardens are also open daily from nine to six, except Sunday, to Fellows; and by their personal introduction or order, to visitors. The arboretum contains the richest collection of trees and shrubs in Europe; the orchard is the most perfect ever formed; and the forcing-houses and hot-houses are complete. The Society distributes plants, seeds, and cuttings, to Members, foreign correspondents, and the British colonies. THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS at Kew are considered the richest in England. They are open to the public from one till six every day, except Sundays: the entrance being from Kew Green. The new PalmHouse is 362 ft. 6 in. long; the ribs and columns are of wrought iron, and the roofs are glazed with sheet glass, slightly tinged green; the floor is of perforated cast-iron, under which are laid the pipes, &c. for warming by hot water; and the smoke is conveyed from the furnaces by a flue, 479 feet, to an ornamental shaft or tower, 60 feet in height. The cost of this magnificent Palm-House has been upwards of 30,000l. The Gardens, under the judicious curatorship of Sir W. J. Hooker, have been greatly extended and improved. Among the rarities here is a weeping-willow, raised from that which overshadowed Napoleon's remains at St. Helena; the Egyptian papyrus; the bread-fruit-tree from the South-Sea Islands; the cocoa-nut, coffee, and cow trees; the banana • Willows from slips brought from Napoleon's trees at St. Helena were, in the year 1836, flourishing in the garden of Captain Stevens, Beaumont-square, Mile End; in the grounds of the late Sir Thomas Farquhar at Roehampton; in the garden of the Roebuck Tavern, Richmond Hill; at No. 1 Canonbury-place, Islington; in Mr. Bentley's garden, Highbury Grange; at No. 10 King-street, St. James's: in the Surrey Zoological Gardens; at Kew; and at No. 11 Bromp ton-row.-J. H. Fennell, in Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum. |