ROYAL PAVILION THEATRE,

85, Whitechapel Road. A commodious edifice devoted to melo-dramatic performances of very inferior character. Admission: boxes, sixpence; pit, fourpence; gallery, twopence.

GRECIAN SALOON,

Eagle Tavern, City Road. The most popular, best conducted, and most prosperous of the numerous tavern theatres, with which London abounds; it is elegantly decorated, comfortably fitted up, and well adapted both for seeing and hearing. Proprietor, Mr. Conquest. The principal entertainments consist of opera, farce, and ballet; each well supported by a numerous and talented company, including Mr. Oxberry, Mr. Frazer, Miss Julia Harland, and other favourite performers. Open all the year round. Admission: boxes, one shilling; pit, one shilling, including a refreshment ticket to the annount of sixpence.

BRITANNIA SALOON,

188, High Street, Hoxton. The entertainments here, are a very inferior kind of melo-dramatic performance. Lessee, Mr. S. Lane. Doors open at six o'clock; performances commence at half-past six. Admission stage boxes, one shilling and sixpence; boxes, one shilling; pit, sixpence; lower gallery, fourpence; upper gallery, threepence.

MISCELLANEOUS CONCERTS.

No metropolis boasts of more amusements than London, when the veil which ordinarily hides them from the casual observer is drawn aside. During the season, scarcely a day passes without two or three morning or evening concerts, the particulars of which are duly announced in the daily papers. The most important of these are usually held at one or the other of the under-mentioned rooms.

ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC,

4, Tenterden Street, Hanover Square. Founded in 1822, by the present Earl of Westmoreland. Instituted by charter of George IV.; its object being to train the youth of both sexes for the musical profession, which is taught by the first professors, at a moderate charge. Occasional concerts are given by the pupils of this institution, at which they evince uncommon proofs of proficiency. Four fellowships have been founded by the Academy; of which. one male and one female, are annually contended for at Christmas.

Wilson Street, leading from Endell Street, to Drury Lane. Erected in 1848, from designs by Mr. W. Westmacott, for the use of Mr. Hullah's singing classes. It is in the Elizabethan style of architecture, and in the roof reminds one of the town halls, in Belgium. It has three entrances, from three different sides of the building; from Long Acre; in the east part in Charles Street; and in the north part in Wilson Street. The great concert hall will accommodate three thousand persons; in addition to which, there is a smaller concert hall, used for the purpose of rehearsals, in which quartette concerts, under the management o Mr. Willy, are given with great success. There are also several committee rooms attached to this Hall.

HANOVER SQUARE ROOMS,

Corner of Hanover Street: a suite of rooms in which, during the season, numerous excellent benefit concerts are given upon a large scale; in these rooms also, the concerts of the Philharmonic Society take place, which, from their excellence, have obtained a world-wide reputation, and at which professors of first-rate eminence condescend to become mere members of the orchestra, executing the sublime compositions of Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelsohn, with a precision and unity of feeling, unattained elsewhere. During the winter, a ball for the Caledonian Asylum, takes place here, the company appearing in full Highland costume, producing, by the great variety of their coloured tartans, a very gay and pleasing spectacle.

WILLIS'S ROOMS,

King Street, St. James's, more familiarly known as Almack's, from the distinguished balls which are given here under the direction of a committee of Lady Patronesses; the highly coveted admission to which, can only be obtained by vouchers, or personal introduction. These rooms, which were completed in 1765, under the direction of Mr. Robert Mylne, the architect, had been built with such rapidity, that in order to allay the fears of the public, as to their damp condition, the proprietor in his opening advertisement, stated that they had been built with hot bricks and boiling water. Here take place the concerts of the Musical Union, under the direction of Mr. Ella, which are becoming very popular, and highly remunerative; balls for charitable purposes are also given here; and public meetings of a high character, are occasionally held in these rooms.

Bishopsgate Street; one of the most beautiful of the few remain.ng specimens of domestic architecture of the fifteenth century; was built by Sir John Crosby, in 1466: at his death in 1475, it became the residence of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., and is frequently named by Shakspeare in his play of that name, and afterwards that of Sir Thomas More, the wise, learned, and amiable chancellor of Henry VIII., and the witty author of "Utopia." In 1523, Sir Thomas More sold it to his intimate friend, Antonio Bonvisi, and in 1547, it came into the possession of William Roper, son-in-law, and William Rastell, nephew of Sir Thomas More, from whom it was alienated, on religious grounds, by Edward VI., in 1551, and

conferred on Baron D'Arcy, of Chiche. The next inhabitant of Crosby Place was Alderman William Bond, who, dying in 1576, it passed into the possession of Sir John Spencer, lord mayor, in 1594, com monly known as the Rich Spencer, and at his death, in 1609, it descended to William Compton, first Earl of Northampton, who had married Elizabeth, his only daughter and heiress. The next resident here was Mary, Countess of Pembroke, "Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;" and we then find the celebrated Duc de Sully, ambassador from France, lodged here, in the reign of James I.; the succeeding, and last man of note who resided here, was the gallant cavalier, Spencer, second Earl of Northampton, who accompanied Charles I. on his romantic journey to Madrid, to woo the Infanta of Spain, and who afterwards fell nobly in the moment of victory, at the battle of Hopton Heath. At the Restoration, it was occupied by Sir Stephen Langham, and in his life time, the greater part of Crosby Place was destroyed by fire; and in 1677, Crosby Square was built on its ruins. The noble hall, which fortunately escaped destruction, was used for nearly a century, as a Presbyterian Meeting House, it was then turned into a packer's warehouse, and was so used until 1831, when the lease having expired, funds were raised by subscription, to restore it to something like its original magnificence. The restoration was commenced in 1836, and completed in 1842, since which time it has been used as a Literary Institution. The remaining buildings known as Crosby Hall, consist of the council chamber, the throne room and the great hall The council chamber, sometimes called the dining room, is lighted by two large windows; the one in the corner of the left wall is a restoration, and has a flat, massive-ribbed ceiling, corresponding with the character of the room, and a low-pointed, but very broad-arched chimney-piece, set in a square-deep moulding. The throne room has a rounded ceiling, divided into small compartments, by slender oak ribs; it is lighted similarly to the council chamber beneath, one of the windows being ornamented by a richly painted border, and the corner window is remarkably beautiful, extending from the floor to the ceiling; the great hall, is fifty-four feet long, twenty-seven feet broad, and forty feet in height; the roof, the original one restored, is of great beauty. The oriel window, presented by T. Willement, Esq., is ten feet ten inches in breadth, extending the whole depth of the Hall, and is richly decorated with & series of armorial bearings of the various occupiers of Crosby Hall; remaining windows are also decorated with armorial bearings.

THE APOLLONICON,

Music Hall, Adelaide Street, Strand. This magnificent musical instrument, constructed by Messrs. Flight and Robson, possesses powers of a high and varied order. Open daily, between the hours of one and five.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES OF ART.

The fine arts are great improvers of mankind; they are the living sources of refinement-softening and humanising the characters of men-assuaging the fierceness of the wilder passions-substituting calm and harmless enjoyment for more perilous excitement-maintaining the innocent intercourse of nations, and affording one more pledge of peace, their great patroness and protectress, as she is of all that is most precious and excellent among men.Lord Brougham.

THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

To observe every the least difference that is in things, argues a quick and clear sight; and this keeps the understanding steady and right in its way to knowledge.-Locke.

Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. This splendid national institution owes its first establishment to the will of Sir Hans Sloane, an eminent physician and naturalist of his day, who directed that on his death, his books, manuscripts, and collections, both of art and natural history, should be offered to Parliament for £20,000. The offer was accepted at his death, in 1753; and the Act (26 Geo. II.) which directed the purchase, also directed the purchase of the Harleian Library of Manuscripts; and enacted that the Cottonian Library, which had been presented to the nation in the reign of William III., and deposited in Dean's Yard, Westminster, should, with those, form one general collection; to which, at the same time, George II. added a large library that had been collected by the preceding sovereigns since Henry VIII. To accommodate the national property thus accumulated, the Government raised, by lottery, the sum of £100,000, of which £20,000 was devoted to purchase the above collections: and in 1754, Montague House was bought of the Earl of Halifax, as a repository for the then infant establishment,-the cost of the purchase and necessary repairs and fittings being about £23,000. The British Museum was opened in the beginning of 1759.

It would be tedious to furnish a complete list of the very numerous purchases and donations, by the aid of which the institution has risen to its present grandeur. In 1772, Parliament purchased Sir William Hamilton's collection of Roman vases and curiosities. The Townley Marbles were added in 1805; two years after which was opened the