The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1912-04-25
q GLIMPSE OF
LONDON
Continued From Last Veek.)
Nil Desperandum


In st. James street. there are
amongst others, such famous old
clubs as Brookes's, the Cocoa Tree
Club and the Boobies Club Cor the
now-how-to-live Club, all found
ed between 1760 and 1854, and the
resorts of men who ate, drank, gam
bled and betted to their hearts con-
tent.
AT the top of the street on the
right, leading into Piccadilly, in the
early days of Queen Victoria, stood
the most notorious gambling house
in England, where Crockford, the
arch gambler, held sway. Crock
ford started life as fishmonger in the
East End; but died, thanks to the
fashionable gamblers of London, a
millionaire. Prince Louis Napo-
leon was cheated of $40, 600 in this
house. Opposite Crockford's is
Whites Club. In 1914 the year be-
fore Waterloo. the European sover-
eigns then in London were banquet
ed at cost of $50, 900.
Piccadilly is one of the most at
tractive thorug ghfares in London,
but it also has notorious past his
tory. A passing reference might
first be made, however, to Old Bond
street opposite the top of St. James
street, in which Laurence Sterne,
the Irish author, died, at his lodg-
| ings in 1867. A little higher up
the street is the house where Lord
Nelson lived in 1897 and few
yards further on in Piccadilly is the
block of buildings known as Albany
Chambers, where Byron. Claiming.
Balwer Lylton and Lord Macauly
lived. Proceeding down Piccadilly
we pass on the right the Ritz Hotel,
one of the most magnificent and up
to-date hotels in London; and op-
posite, nearly concealed by a high.
wall, is Devonshir House, at the
back of which, by the way, is Lans-
downe House, where Priestly dis
covered oxygen. Devonshire House
covers five acres of land, and con-
tains 50, 500, 900 worth of pictures.
Curzon street is now the heart of
Mayfair, but there was time when
it was renowned for marriages at
minutes notice-the West End par
son being as unscrupulous as his
bretheren of the fleet. 1t is said
that no fewer than 6, 900 of these
hasty marriages were celebrated in
one year. The beautiful Miss Gun
ming came here hundred years ago
with the Duke of Hamilton, half an
hour after midnight, and was mar
ried with bed curtain ring.
Piccadilly, like ST. James street,
is also street of clubs. AT number
ninty-four the Naval and Military
Club has its headquarters. Almost
next door at numbers 96 and 81 is
the Junior Naval and Military Club,
while at numbers 101 and 104 is the
Junior Constitutional Club. Hope
House number 116, at one corner of
Down ST.. Piccadilly, is the hive of
the Junior Athenaeum Club, while
at number 12S professional ladies
foregather to enjoy the comforts
and conveniences of the Lyceum
Club. A few doors away at 148 is
the house occupied by the members
of the richest family in the world,
the Rothschilds, and at 166 is the
Aero Club Of the United Kingdom,
a club which governs all matters
connected with aviation.
A street replete with magnificent
dwellings and gilded residents is
Park Lane, which connects Picca-
.dilly and Oxford street, running for
the entire distance alongside Hide
Park. Park Lane is known in his
tory as Tyburn Lane and leads to
the place where the bodies of Crom-
we'll and Ireton hung on the Tyburn
gallows after being torn from their
graves in Westminster Abbey.
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