kindred though slightly different stamp. In most of these instances, grattez le groom et vous trouverez le flyman of some Brompton liverystable, unless, indeed (shame to say!), the servitor in question be, as he very often is, the father of the young woman after whom he rides. The demeanour of these miserable women exhibits the recklessness impelled by shame the intention of facing it out;' and as they ride tardily along they stare with closed lips and insolent glance at all, male and female, whom they meet. These are the Anonymas whom certain writers like to patronize in print, and the 'pretty horsebreakers,' whom some distinguished painters select for the subjects of their brushes. A rencontre with them causes a great deal of curiosity on the part of lady amazons, and a great deal of confusion on the part of gentlemen cavaliers-caused rather: the past tense, not the present. Thanks to the genial criticisms of a free and enlightened press, the subject is now fully understood in the most retired and innocent classes of society. One would like, however, to see some letters of Mrs. Chapone on this topic; or to read what Little Burney' would have written about it in her Diary;' or what Dr. Johnson would have remarked thereanent to Topham Beauclerk or Bennet Langton.

Besides the youth of both sexes, all degrees of age are represented among the equestrians. Here may be seen pursy gentlemen of fiveand-forty, who laughed and grew fat before the light of Banting dawned upon the world, and who are endeavouring by regular horse exercise to keep down corpulence without depriving themselves of any of the table's luxuries. They bestride strong, thickset, handsome little cobs-that class of horse advertised by dealers as 'up to twenty stone-a drayhorse in miniature;' and go pounding away with the full intention of getting as much jolting as possible into a given quantity of time. And there, too, may be seen really old men, fine old boys who in their time have been great across country, and who still retain a look

of sporting, in their tight blue body-coats and high muslin cravats, but who are no longer capable of much equitation, and are seated on steady old hunters incapable of making a stumble or a mistake, and cantering along at the easiest of ambles. Here, too, may occasionally be seen the Church equitant in the person of a rosy-coloured bishop, with his episcopal legs covered with black gaiters, mounted on a safe, clever cob, and closely followed by a well-fed groom in very sober livery.

Until the last few years there were very few pedestrians in the Row, and these principally friends of the riders or connoisseurs in horseflesh, who would hang negligently over the rails and discourse to each other in those mysterious whispers which sporting men so much affect of the merits or demerits of the passing cattle. But the introduction from the Champs Elysées and the Bois de Boulogne of the light and elegant wire chairs, expressly adapted for out-of-door use, has entirely changed the fashion, and 'the thing' is now to hire a chair and sit and watch the passers-by, both horse and foot. Nothing can be pleasanter than this. You sit amongst the best-dressed people in town, the prettiest women and the greatest swells, and see the whole panorama of London out-door life unrolling itself before you. Year by year these chairs have increased in number, until they are now a recognized institution of the Park, and afford a very fair summer livelihood to their proprietors.

One

row, sometimes a double row stretches from Hyde Park Corner far up Rotten Row, and in the bright sunlight the colours of the bonnets, parasols, and dresses, harmoniously mingled, give the effect of a brilliant and extensive bed of tulips. In front of these sitters wanders a perpetually varying crowd, men and women of all ages, but all belonging to the richer classes, and all bent on relaxation and amusement. Nothing can be pleasanter than this stroll, provided you have a companion, but the man who would attempt it alone must be bold indeed. To walk

quietly under the fire of a thousand pair of eyes, the handsomest and wickedest in London, requires an amount of moral courage which few possess: the unfortunate cynosure, once started, dare not retreat; but no sooner does he see or fancy he sees some one bend forward to whisper her neighbour, than he immediately considers himself the subject of the remark, is haunted by the horrible idea of a lump on his nose, a crack in his boot, a crease in his coat Quelque chose ridicule ou bouffonne' (to use Théophile Gautier's favourite phrase), in his appearance, and, colouring to brightest crimson, he pursues his way amid the ill-suppressed titters of the crowd.

Once past the Serpentine Bridge, which was designed by Rennie, and erected in 1826, and we are in quite a different scene. We are, as Tickell says,

'Where Kensington, high o'er the neighbouring lands,

Midst greens and sweets a regal fabric stands,
And sees each spring luxuriant in her bowers,
A snow of blossoms and a world of flowers;
The dames of Britain oft in crowds repair
To gravel walks and unpolluted air.
Here, while the town in damps and darkness
lies,

They breathe in sunshine and see azure skies;
Each walk, with robes of various dyes bespread,
Seems from afar a moving tulip bed;
There, rich brocades and glossy damasks glow,
And chintz, the rival of the showery bow.'

But save twice a week, and when the band of the Guards plays on Sundays, you would not find the brave show of company which old Tickell so pleasantly describes. On the contrary, the grand old gardens are still and solemn. Lying in the

verdant boskage, stretched supine under the shadow of some of the giant elms and oaks, one could fancy oneself a hundred miles from London: the eye lights on nothing but greenery from afar the hum of wheels and voices breaks upon the ear with a pleasant and soothing monotone; and were it not for the occasional flitting by of a lengthy Life-Guardsman exchanging sweet nothings with a dumpy housemaid, one might imagine oneself in a wood-such a wood as these gardens must have been in 1798, when a man was accidentally shot while the keepers were shooting foxes here! and his widow received a pension of 187. a year from the Board of Green Cloth.

Here may be met, wandering idly among the trees, painters mooning over the subjects of their pictures, and authors thinking of the elaboration of their plots; and here, too, may be found close-shaved gentlemen with little rolls of paper in their hands, to which they now and then refer, and who, from their writhings and gesticulations, you would take to be lunatics, if you did not know them to be actors who had walked over from Brompton or Kensington, their favourite resort, and were studying their parts in the quiet shades. Here

are children playing on the greensward, and idlers-doers of nothing doing it well-extended on their backs, calmly gazing up to the sky. Happy the metropolis that has such a large and healthy lung! Good for all-for the rich to flaunt and flirt in, for the poor to take quiet rest and ease-is Hyde Park.