New-York tribune., 1907-11-17
PICC1DILLT.
An Imuang Booh Of Gossip 1bout
It's Ghosts.
THE GHOSTS OF PICCADILLY. Ry G. s. Stree
Illustrated Svo, up. xiii. PSI. g + Putnam
Sons.

THE Ghosts or PIccARIrIY y, Ey G ST. s5gst
Sons.
This is the kind Of book which nine authors
out Of ten would find it excessively difficult u
write Mr Street is the tenth author. II he
has q little place Of his own amongst the liter
ary journalists Of London il is because he has
studied with persistent enthusiasm the social
history Of Georgian days and has made it the
theme of many Of his excursions into print
Without possessing a very notable gift as an
essayist he nevertheless writes in graceful fash
ion, is fairly apt in allusion, and succeeds above
all things in conveying an impression of dell
cate though not at all passionate, sympathy
In the present volume he has done his best work
Starting with an instructive love for Piccadlly
and all its memories, he has made himself IA
miar with the people and events conspicuous
in the history of that thoroughfare, but ne
makes us feel that he has done this not with
the cold system Of a man getting up a theme,
but in the easy manner of the happy deliver IN
old memoirs. The result is charming.
Where did Piccadilly get its name? MT
Street refers to more than one possible source
We like best the which is essentially mat
ter Of fashion In the middle of the seventeenth
century Englshmen wore "a kind OF stln coIlar
made in fashion Of a band" and they called
nents of the architectural monuments gossiped
about by Mr. Street no longer exists. This was
Clarendon House, which Lord Chancellor Hyde
luit with pride and came bitterly to regret
He is lightly sketched here, the author choosing
TO make more Of a later master Of Hydes man
sion. the Duke Of Ormonde, whose narrow escape
from a hanging at the hands of Colonel Biood
is dyyeIt upon with telling effect. DeVonshIre
House yields nc such dramatic souvenirs. The
dukes of that line have been anything but spec
tacuIar personages. But the fifth Of them has
a lustre about him time cannot dim, for he mar
ried Lady Georgiana Spencer" Mr.. Street Is
capital in all that he has to say about this lovely
duchess "One of her closest intimates was
Charles Fox himself, and that alliance must
have been pleasant, indeed, to watch-Charles
with his heavy frame and his big featured
syyarthy face lit up with that indescribably gay
twinkle of fun and good temper his best portrait
shows us and she, blonde and arch and eager
what would not one give to listen TO them!
The author does not precisely echo their talk,
bl,t he certainly suggests something OF MS
heroine's charm.
Indeed 1t is in the art of suggestion that
Mr. Street excels upon this occasion, hitting OF
a personality or an incident with touch. and
creating. through the deft adjustment of hun
dred such touches atmosphere in when the
whole movement of eighteenth century Plcca-
diIlv seems to live again. He knows What 10
1no,,e ont If he wishes to set forth in all its
piquancy the manner OF the 1ouholhg OF wat
to- Club he can do it in a page. At the same
time he omits nothing that is essential to his
,,,,rnose and some of his character studies, for
IN t,a,r hrevitv. are remarkably true and
luminous The portrait OF Beau Brummel. for