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NINE ELMS LANE it is said derived its name from nine Elm Trees which stood in a row facing a small mansion known as "Manor House"—on the site there has recently been erected, partly out of some of the old materials, the offices and premises belonging to Haward Bros. Forty years ago, Londoners wending their way to Battersea fields regarded themselves in the country away from the smoke of town where they could rusticate at pleasure as soon as they entered Nine Elms Lane on their pedestrian excursions. Here were hedgerows, and green lanes, and market gardens, and orchards, meadows, and fields of waving corn, where reapers might have been seen in harvest-time reaping and binding sheaves of golden grain. Dikes and ditches had to be crossed.[1] In the event of high tide, which was of no uncommon occurrence, the district would be partially inundated with water, in some places people might ply in small rowing boats as easily as on the River Thames. On the site where now stands the wharf of John Bryan and Co., the celebrated Contractors for Welsh, Steam, Gas, and household Coals in general, were situated the pleasure grounds and tea gardens belonging to Nine Elms Tavern—the old tavern is still remaining. By the side of the Coal Wharf is the Causeway where watermen used to ply for hire in order to ferry people across the river. Steel has given us a lively description of a boat trip from Richmond on an early summer morning when he fell in "with a fleet of gardeners. … Nothing remarkable happened in our voyage, but I landed with ten sail of Apricot boats at Strand bridge after having put up at Nine Elms to take in melons." Within the immediate vicinity is Thorne's Brewery with its clock turret at its summit which at night is illuminated with gas so that the passers-by looking at the clock might know the hour. On the spot where Southampton Streets are, stood in olden time a large mansion surrounded by extensive grounds, said to have been inhabited by the King's Champion. The Champion of the King, (campio regis) is an ancient officer, whose office is, at the coronation of our Kings, when the King is at dinner to ride armed cap a pie, into Westminster Hall, and by the proclamation of an herald make a challenge "that if any man shall deny the King's title to the crown, he is there ready to defend it in single combat, etc., which being done," the King drinks to him, and sends him a gilt cup with a cover full of wine, which the Champion drinks, and hath the cup for his fee.

[1] About ten years ago a brick sewer was constructed under the supervision of the Metropolitan Board of Works where the filthy black ditch which partly formed a boundary line between Battersea, Clapham, and Lambeth Parishes was filled up. T. Pearson constructed the sewer, and Mr. Benjamin Butcher was Clerk of the Works.

On the north side of Nine Elms Lane, nearly opposite the place where the "Southampton Arms" Tavern is situated was a windmill.

On the site now occupied by Thorne's Brewery there used to be a Tan Yard and Fellmonger's Establishment. When the ground was opened for the purpose of drainage some old tanks were discovered in which the hides were soaked containing remains of lime and hair. In the rear of the Brewery there was a Hop Garden where that bitter plant much used for brewing was cultivated. The only regular vehicle that passed through Nine Elms Lane was the carrier's cart—the few inhabitants of the place used to "turn out" to see it pass—a marked contrast to the present hurried and incessant traffic! Facing the Railway Terminus were two Steamboat Piers for landing and taking up passengers. At race times the excitement between the rival steamboat companies was intense—"touters," men hired expressly by each of these companies to induce passengers to go down their respective piers, became at times so exasperated with each other that they fell to blows, a sight which the baser sort of the crowds assembled on such occasions enjoyed to their hearts' content.

Many things have been said by way of disparagement of Battersea and not at all reflecting credit on certain localities within the parish. Battersea has been called "the Sink Hole of Surrey." Europa Place, Bridge Road, has been designated "Little Hell," and the spot where Trinity Hall has been erected at the end of Stewart's Lane, received the epithet of "Hell Corner." Persons in the habit of receiving stolen property were said to reside in the neighbourhood; moreover, there was a gang called "Battersea Forty Theives!" "Sharpers" are said to have abounded in every direction, so that strangers going to Battersea would be "cut for the simples." But we who know something of London life know that other Metropolitan parishes have their "dens of infamy" and localities of "Blue Skin," "Jack Sheppard," and "Jonathan Wild" notoriety, that beneath the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, our Houses of Parliament and Mansions of the Nobility and Aristocracy, squalor and crime, vice and grandeur walk side by side, and oftentimes hand in hand.

Adjoining Thorne's premises and Swonnell's Malt houses, is the London and South Western Railway Company's Goods Station, which, before the extension of that Company's line in 1848 to Waterloo Road, was originally the Metropolitan Terminus. Though this part of the line crosses the most grimy portion of Lambeth, a distance of two miles and fifty yards, yet it cost the Railway Company £800,000. The London and Southampton Railway (as it was first called) was opened on the 11th of May, 1840, which, in connexion with the opposite wharf and warehouses on the banks of the river, at that time occupied an extent of between seven and eight acres. The entrance front of the (then) Metropolitan Terminus at Nine Elms, erected from designs by William Tite, Esq., Architect to the Company, was not unhandsome though at present it has rather a dingy appearance for want of renovation, and has a central arcade which originally led to the booking office and waiting rooms now used for the manager's and clerks' offices for the goods traffic department. The railroad was commenced under the authority of an Act of Parliament which received the Royal assent on the 5th of July, 1834 (it was opened as far as Woking Common on the 21st of May, 1838). By this Act the Company were empowered to raise £1,000,000 in £50 shares, and a further sum of £330,000 by loan. Since that time several additional Acts have been passed authorizing the Company to extend their line and increase their capital. The Company's capital for the present year (1879) is £17,000,000. Mr. Wood was the Company's first Locomotive Superintendent. When the London and Southampton line was first opened all the workmen in the Company's service had a half holiday and one shilling each given to them. The Richmond Railway—this though an offshoot of the South Western, and worked by that Company, was executed by a private one. It was however sold to the South Western Company in October, 1846. It had been opened on the 27th of July previous. Number of miles open 648. The gross receipts for the year ending December 31, 1873, were £2,195,170. The railroad intersects Battersea parish to the extent of two miles and a half. The Goods Department comprises the hydraulic shed, down goods shed, carriers' shed, egg shed, the old warehouse and granary by the riverside; down office, Wandsworth Road Gate; cartage office, Nine Elms Lane. Officers of the Company.—General Manager, Archibald Scott, Esq.; Locomotive Superintendent, W. Adams, Esq.; Resident Engineer, William Jacomb, Esq.; Treasurer, Alfred Morgan, Esq.; Goods Manager, J. T. Haddow, Esq., Nine Elms; Assistant Goods Manager, Mr. W. B. Mills, Waterloo; Superintendent, R. H. Ming, Esq., Nine Elms; Chief Inspector, Mr. Robert Lingley, Nine Elms; Law Clerk, M. H. Hall, Esq.; Mr. H. B. Terrill, Cashier; Mr. J. E. Hawkins, Chief Clerk; Superintendents of the Line, E. W. Verrinder, Chief Superintendent, Waterloo Station; John Tyler, Western Division, Exeter Station; William Gardiner, Assistant Superintendent, Waterloo Station; W. H. Stratton, Storekeeper, Nine Elms Works.

Soon after the opening of the London and Southampton Railway a collision between two passenger trains occurred at the Nine Elms Terminus resulting in the death of a young woman, a domestic servant, who, with a fellow servant, had been spending the day at Hampton Court. The Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of accidental death a deodand of £300 was levied on the "Eclipse" locomotive engine, the moving cause of death. The Railway Company paid the £300 to Earl Spencer as Lord of the Manor, who most generously divided it amongst the deceased's relatives.

Omnia qua movent ad mortem sunt deodanda:

What moves to death, or kills him dead,

Is deodand, and forfeited.

On the South Western Railway Stone Wharf are the agents' offices of the several depôts for the sale of Portland stone, Bath freestone, etc. Huge blocks of stone direct from the quarries are here deposited and piled block upon block. A single block in some instances weighing ten tons elevated and removed by means of a steam traveller moving on a gantry.

When the workmen were engaged in "digging out" the ground for the foundation of the goods sheds a human skeleton was discovered, on which Mr. Carter (coroner) held an inquest. Dr. Statham, who made the post mortem examination, stated that the skeleton was that of a male person, that there were three severe cuts upon the head either of which was sufficient to cause death. As no further evidence was procurable a verdict was given in accordance.

About forty years ago, when Mr. Gooch was Locomotive Superintendent, a fire broke out at the London and South Western Railway Works, Nine Elms Lane, which caused great destruction of property, including a very handsome clock tower. Various metals were fused and mingled into shapes fantastic, portions of which were substituted for chimney-piece ornaments in the homes of the workman and kept as mementos of this conflagration! A man of the name of Dover who it is said accidentally set the stores on fire was so frightened that it turned the hair of his head grey in one night!

At Nine Elms Locomotive, Carriage and Stores Departments are fire precautions which the Railway Company insist upon being strictly observed. A fire engine with hose and all necessary appliances is kept in a building set apart for it adjoining Heman's Street Entrance gate. A properly qualified fireman is appointed to look after the whole of the buildings by night, as a precaution against fire. The fireman's name is Thomas Lewin, and his residence is 51, Thorne Street, Wandsworth Road. His hours of duty are from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. It is the fireman's duty to perambulate the whole of the works during the night, and to make a daily report of the circumstances in the book provided for that purpose. He is responsible that the fire engine, hose, hydrants, etc., are kept in working order and tried once a week. A statement of the trial is to be made in the fireman's report book with any suggestions or remarks. Positions of Hydrants at Nine Elms Works—There are 120 hydrants (always charged) distributed as follows:—15 in the offices, paint loft and shops beneath; 4 in the general stores; 4 in wheelwrights' and signal shops; 2 in bonnet shop; 5 in waggon shop; 4 in new waggon shop and saw mill; 5 in smiths' and carriage fitting shops; 9 in erecting shops; 2 in turning shop; 3 in tender shop; 4 in new erecting shop; 1 in permanent way shop; 4 in arches under the Viaduct; 52 in running shed; 4 at outlets of water tanks, and 2 on the coal stage. Positions of Tell-tale Clocks:—1 in the office; 1 in general stores; 1 in wheelwrights' shop; 1 in paint shop; 1 in saw mill. It is the fireman's duty to commence to "peg" each of these blocks four times every night at the following hours, viz., 8 p.m., 10.30 p.m., 1 a.m. and 3.30 a.m.

Facing the Goods Station are the Company's Wharves with an extensive river frontage. Here also formerly stood Francis' Cement Works, adjoining is Nine Elms Steamboat Pier. The South Western Railway Locomotive Works and Goods Department occupy a vast area. It is computed that about 2,000 persons are employed in the various departments. Here were formerly orchard-grounds—many a goodly tree bearing fruit and pleasant to the eye has been felled. "Woodman spare that tree!" though spoken by feminine lips would have no force of appeal in this fast age of iron railways and steam locomotives, when Railway Companies scruple not by virtue of Acts of Parliament to pull down by hundreds the dwellings of the poor, it is not to be supposed for an instant that a few fruit trees however delicious their produce or delightful their shadow should prove a peculiar obstacle in the way of this March of Civilization! On payment of sixpence, children at half-price, persons might enter these orchards with full liberty to eat as much fruit as they liked on condition that they brought none away. The old Spring Well near Nine Elms Lane, Wandsworth Road, is within the recollection of many, who by descending some six or eight steps reached with their hands the iron ladle out of which they often drank cooling draughts of nature's sparkling aquatic refreshment. Ah, everything has a history and its lesson if we did but know. We all exert unconscious influence either for good or evil—some secret action performed; some deed of kindness done; some public boon conferred with the benefactor's name concealed shall by-and-by be proclaimed upon the house-top. A cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth shall not lose its reward. Some persons wish to be remembered by posterity, even wicked parents would not like after death to be obliterated from the memories of their children. The best of all human monuments is a good character—Solomon says, "a good name is rather to be chosen than riches."

Our forefathers never dreamed of erecting such drinking fountains[1] as we have in these days with troughs for cattle and smaller ones for mongrel barking curs to slake their thirst; the pond by the way, the wooden horse trough outside the road-side Inn, the long-handled iron pump, in some instances resembling the head and tail of the British Lion having the body of a greyhound, pleased them and suited their purpose. The site now environed by the London Gas Works was formerly a large market ground, here too grew apple, pear, and cherry trees, gooseberry bushes and currants, roses were cultivated and rendered the air fragrant with their sweet perfume. In the ditches and trenches or small channels and streams occasioned by the tidal overflow from the river, juveniles of both sexes might have been seen catching with hand and cap sticklebacks and utilizing a medicine phial or gin bottle for an aquarium. Senior boys and hobbledehoys with jovial facial aspect who had not studied ichthyology or that part of zoology which treats of fishes, attempted to catch larger fry by adopting the Izaak Walton method of angling with rod and line, and thought themselves amply rewarded if after much patient endurance the motion of their floats indicated that their baits had taken, their eyes would glisten at the sight of a few roaches and perches. Youngsters would amuse themselves by watching the newts and tadpoles, the leaping and swimming of that amphibious reptile of the batrachian tribe, wondering perhaps, supposing their biblical knowledge to have extended thus far, whether those were the kind of creatures that crawled out of the river Nile and crept into the houses of the Egyptians.

[1] His Grace the Duke of Westminster is the President of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.

Many a dainty dish of stewed eels have the miller's men had at Mill-pond Bridge, who not unfrequently caught alive this precious kind of anguilla as it lay concealed between the stones and mud, without the aid of eel-pot or basket. Mill-Pond Bridge derives its name from the old tidal water flour mill, the only vestige of the mill remaining is the outward carcase, which is in a ruinous condition; beneath its cover are the lock gates, the entrance of the creek where thousands of tons of coal are conveyed in barges to the London Gas Works.

NEW ROAD, as it is designated, leading from Battersea fields to the Wandsworth Road was a lane with a mud bank on both sides. In a line with the centre of the South Western Railway "Running Shed" was formerly Mill-Pond which answered the purpose of a large reservoir of water raised for driving the mill wheel.

Water mills used for grinding corn are said to have been invented by Belisarius, the General of Justinian while besieged in Rome by the Goths, 555. The ancients parched their corn and ground it in mortars. Afterwards mills were invented which were turned by men and beasts with great labour, yet Pliny mentioned wheels turned by water. See Telo-dynamic Transmitter.

The simplest mill for bruising grain was nothing more than two stones between which it was broken. Such was often seen in the country of the Niger by Richard and John Lander on their expedition to Africa. The manna which God gave to the children of Israel in the desert "the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar," Numbers xi. 8.

From mills and mortars thus rudely constructed there must have been obtained at first only a kind of peeled grain which Dr. Eadie says may be compared to the German graupe, the English groats, and the American grits or hominy. Fine flour was laboriously obtained from household mills like our coffee mills. The oldest mention of flour is in Gen. xviii. 6; but bread which is made of flour or meal is named in Gen. iii. 19. In order to reduce the flour to a proper degree of fineness it was necessary sometimes to have it ground over again and cleared by a sieve.

Samson when a prisoner to the Philistines was condemned to the mill-stone to grind with his hand in the prison-house, Judges xvi. 21. In England prisoners are sent to the treadmill as a punishment.

The Talmudists have a story that the Chaldeans made the young men of the captivity carry mill-stones with them to Babylon where there seems to have been a scarcity at that time. They have also a proverbial expression of a man with a mill-stone about his neck which they use to express a man under the severest weight of affliction.

Windmills are of great antiquity and stated to be of Roman or Saracen invention, they are said to have been originally introduced into Europe by the Knights of St. John, who took the hint from what they had seen in the crusades (Baker). Windmills were first known in Spain, France and Germany in 1299 (Anderson). Wind saw-mills were invented by a Dutchman in 1633, when one was erected near the Strand in London.

Acorns was the coarse fare of the old inhabitants of Britain, when wild Britons painted their skin to make themselves appear more fierce, and native tribes in a still more barbarous condition, half naked or clad in the skins of beasts, not cultivators of the soil, subsisted on the flesh of their cattle or on the precarious produce of the chase. Packs of hungry, growling, cruel wolves[1] prowled in the woods and forests, and Druidical Priests exercised an entire control over the unlettered people they governed, and human captives seized on Britannia's shores were offered as victims in sacrifice, a holocaust to the divinities and false gods which ancient Britons worshipped!

[1] Wolves were very numerous in England, King Edgar unsuccessfully attempted to effect their total destruction by commuting the punishment of certain crimes into the acceptance of a certain number of wolves' tongues from each criminal; their heads were demanded by him as a tribute particularly 300 annually from Wales, A.D. 961.

In 1289 Edward I. issued his Royal Mandate to Peter Corbet for the extermination of wolves in the several counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and Stafford; and in the adjacent county of Derby.

Camden at page 900 informs us certain persons at Wormhill held their lands by the duty of hunting and taking the wolves that infested the country, whence they were styled Wolf Hunt.

In Saxon times and during Athelstan's reign wolves abounded so in Yorkshire that a retreat was built at Flixton in that county "to defend passengers from the wolves that they should not be devoured by them." On account of the desperate ravages these animals made during winter the Saxons distinguished January by the name of the Wolf month. An outlaw was called a wolf's head as being out of the protection of law and liable to be killed as that destructive beast.

The Accipenser, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes belonging to the Amphibia Nantes of Linnæus. The Accipenser has a single linear nostril; the cirri are below the snout, and before the mouth. There are three species of this genus. The ruthenus has four cirri, and fifteen squamous protuberances; it is a native of Russia. The huso has four cirri; the body is naked, has no prickles or protuberances. The ichthyocollo, or isinglass of the shops, famous as an agglutinant, and used also for the fining of wines, is made from its sound or scales. The Sturio, or Sturgeon with four cirri and eleven squamous protuberances on the back. This fish annually ascends our rivers (it has occasionally been seen in years gone by as high up the river Thames as Wandsworth) but in no great numbers, and is taken by accident in the salmon nets. It seems a spiritless fish making no manner of resistance when entangled, but is drawn out of the water like a lifeless lump. This cartilaginous fish is highly prized for food, not unlike in taste to veal. About thirty-six years ago a Royal Sturgeon was caught in the wheel of the mill at Mill-Pond Bridge then in the occupation of Mr. Hutton the Miller (who was noted as a breeder of game fowls), now the property of the London Gas-Light Company. It appears that a local tradesman named Henry Appleton was going to town and saw a great crowd, some with guns shooting at a great fish, but the Sturgeon's natural armour resisted the force of their small shot such as they were then using. Mr. Appleton upon seeing the state of affairs hastened to procure a bullet or two as a more effectual means of capturing the prize and the first shot or bullet fired was fatal to the poor sturgeon which was then landed and conveyed into the garden of Mr. Hutton's private house upon the exact spot of which at the present time stands the house (since erected) on the banks of the Creek in the occupation of Mr. Methven. It then became after the usual ceremony of asking the Lord Mayor, the property of Mr. Appleton, and was exhibited by him in York Street (now Savona Street), on premises now in the occupation of Mr. Dulley, Butcher. After being exhibited several weeks great crowds coming from all parts of London to see it, the Sturgeon was sold to a Fishmonger residing in Bond Street, who publicly exhibited it in his shop for some years with a description stating particulars, where it was captured and by whom and its length, being upwards of 9-ft. It is said to have been equal in weight to a sack of flour viz., 280 lbs.

The Sturgeon is more abundant in the Northern Coasts of Europe. It is also found in the more Southern parts. It was esteemed by the ancients as a very great luxury and it was held in high repute for the table by the Greeks and Romans and at their banquets it was introduced with particular ceremonies.

In England when caught in the Thames within the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London it is a Royal Fish reserved for the Sovereign. The flesh is white, delicate, firm and nutritious. It is used both fresh, generally stewed. The largest species of Sturgeon is the Bielaga, or Huso. Huso (A. Huso) of the Black and Caspian seas and their rivers. It attains the length of 20 or 25 feet and has been known to weigh nearly 3000 lbs.

Near the site where now stands the Park Tavern at the corner of the New Road, opposite Mr. Featherstonhaugh's Brewery and not far from "The Plough & Harrow," were the flower gardens and beautiful residence of John Patient, Esq., afterwards occupied by Mr. Carne the Barge Builder. The house where Mr. Bennett, Lath-render, resides, and the house adjoining were used as a Private Asylum for the insane and was called "Sleaford House."

The picturesque and retired Country Parsonage, the residence of the Rev. J. G. Weddell, stood a considerable distance from the main road—"The Prince Alfred" tavern situate in Haine Street occupies the site. In this locality was a tenter-ground the entrance to which from the road was through a white gate.

A gateway at the commencement of "Hugman's Lane" which had "no thoroughfare" led to the works belonging to Peter Pariss and Son, Oil of Vitriol Manufacturers and Manufacturing Chemists. Mr. Wallace, who subsequently held these premises had them considerably enlarged to facilitate his project in working up gas liquor for making Sulphate of Ammonia, which is extensively used for agricultural purposes. The sewers in the neighbourhood became impregnated with a deleterious gas and the stench from the drains was intolerable. After considerable litigation with the Board of Works Mr. Wallace became a bankrupt.

By order of the Mortgagees on Wednesday and Thursday, March 3rd and 4th, 1880, Mr. Douglas Young sold by auction the plant and machinery of the above extensive works, including 5 large Cornish steam boilers, tubular boiler, 3 egg boilers, a bottle boiler, a 4000 gallon wrought iron tank, 12 smaller ditto, 4 large circular tanks, 5 steam barrel of various sizes, flange pipes, 3 large iron coils, about 70 tons old metal, several copper and iron boilers of various sizes, furnace fittings, weighing bridge by Hodgson and Stead, self-feeding boiler and engine, about 150,000 sound bricks, a large quantity of sound timber including balk timber, yellow deals, planks, battens, die-square, floor and lining boards, and 50 tons of breeze, several stacks of firewood, pantiles, drain pipes and other plant materials.

SLEAFORD STREET appears to have obtained an amount of respectability that it had not of yore. Once upon a time one side was nicknamed "Ginbottle Row," and the opposite side was called "Soapsuds Bay!" Mill-Pond Bridge was very narrow, about half its present width, with a low parapet on both sides.

If the following statement could be relied on, it would perhaps allay the fears created by certain alarmists respecting the physical limits to deep coal mining and duration of the coal supply. "There are coal deposits in various parts of Great Britain at all depths down to 10,000 or 12,000 feet. Mining is possible to a depth of 4,000 feet, but beyond this the high temperature is likely to prove a barrier. The temperature of a coal mine at a depth of 4,000 feet will probably be found as high as 120º Fahr.; but there is reason to believe that by the agency of an efficient system of ventilation the temperature may be reduced, at least during the cooler months of the year, as to allow mining operations without unusual danger to health. Adopting a depth of 4,000 feet as the limit to deep mining there is still a quantity of coal in store in Great Britain sufficient to afford the annual supply of twenty-two millions of tons for a thousand years."—Hull.[1]

[1] More than a quarter of a century ago, Professor Buckland when examined before the House of Commons, limits the supply to 400 years. Mr. Bailey in his Survey of Durham limits the supply to 200 years only. But some proprietors when examined in 1830 extended the period of total exhaustion of the mines to 1,727 years; they assumed that there are 837 square miles of coal strata in this field and that only 105 miles had been worked out.

"There were 2936 collieries in Britain in 1860; from these were raised 83,923,273 tons of coal. The greatly increasing consumption of coal has originated fears as to the possibility of the exhaustion of our mineral fuel. It appears that, while in 1820, only 15,000,000 tons were raised, in 1840, the amount had reached 30,000,000, and in 1860, it was nearly 84,000,000. At the same rate of increase the known coal, within a workable distance from the surface, would last at least 100 years. But the consumption, during the last twenty years of the century, would at the present increasing ratio amount to 1464 million tons a year, a quantity vastly greater than can be used. We need not, therefore, now begin to fear lest our coal-fields should be speedily used up."—Chambers's Encyclopedia.

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," was a motto adopted by our forefathers when the inducements to promenade London streets by night were not so inviting as now.

"Ranelagh and Vauxhall were places of frivolous amusement resorted to even by the higher classes. From those and other haunts of folly, lumbering coaches or sedan chairs conveyed home the ladies through the dimly lighted or pitch dark streets, and the gentlemen picked their way over the ruggedly-paved thoroughfares, glad of the proffered aid of the link boys who crowded round the gates of such places of public entertainment or resort as were open at night, and who, arrived at the door to which they had escorted some fashionable foot-passenger, quenched the blazing torch in the trumpet-looking ornament which one now and then still sees lingering over the entrance to some house in an antiquated square or court, a characteristic relic of London in the olden time."

Street lighting was not known to the Greeks and Romans, it was therefore necessary for them whenever they went abroad after dark to carry flambeaux. Street lighting was first introduced at Paris about the beginning of the 16th century. An Edict was issued ordering the inhabitants to keep lights burning in their windows after nine at night. In 1558, lamps were exchanged for lanterns, and in 1671 these lanterns were ordered to be lighted from the 20th of October to the beginning of April. This however did not prove a satisfactory arrangement. At length a premium was offered by the Government for a dissertation on the best mode of lighting the streets. The successful competitors were a journeyman glazier, M. M. Bailly, Le Roy and Bourgeois Le Cheteaublanc. To the glazier was awarded a prize of 200 livres, and to the other three jointly 2,000 livres. The result of their suggestions was a general lighting of the streets by oil lamps set upon posts.

In London, lanterns were first used in 1688, and those inhabitants whose houses fronted the streets were ordered to hang out their lanterns and keep them burning from 6 to 11 o'clock at night; the number of lanterns thus used within the boundaries of the City of London was 5,000. Without the City, inclusive of the suburbs, the probability is that the number was 15,000.

In 1874, another act was passed for regulating the lighting of the City still further. Since the lighting of the streets, alleys, courts, etc., of our Metropolis with gas have come many other sanitary and social improvements, and it is not unlikely that under a wise Providence we owe to this invention as much security from the nightly depredations of burglars as much so as from the vigilance of the police.

The existence and inflammability of coal-gas has been known in England for two centuries. In the year 1659, Thomas Shirley correctly attributed the exhalations from the "burning well" at Wigan, in Lancashire, to the coal-beds which lie under that part of the country; and soon after, Dr. Clayton, influenced by Shirley, actually made coal-gas, and detailed the results of his labours in a letter to the Hon. Robert Boyle, who died in 1691. About a century later, 1753, Sir James Lowther communicated to the Royal Society a notice of a spontaneous evolution of gas at a colliery belonging to him at Whitehaven. Bishop Watson made many experiments on coal-gas, which he details in his Chemical Essays. Mr. R. Taylor, on the Coal-fields of China, says, "The Chinese artificially produce illuminating gas from bitumen coal we are certain. But it is a fact that spontaneous jets of gas derived from boring into coal-beds have for centuries been burning, and turned to that and other economical purposes. If the Chinese are not gas manufacturers, they are nevertheless gas consumers and employers on a large scale, and have evidently been so ages before the knowledge of its application was acquired by Europeans." In 1792, Mr. Murdoch, an engineer at Redruth in Cornwall, erected a little gasometer with apparatus which produced gas sufficient to supply his own house and offices, and in 1797, he erected a similar apparatus in Ayrshire. In the following year, he was engaged to put up a gas works at the Manufactory of Bolton and Watts, at Soho, Birmingham—this was the first application of gas in a large way. Except among a few scientific men, the manufacture of gas excited but little curiosity until the year 1802, when the front of the great Soho Manufactory was brilliantly illuminated with gas on the occasion of the public rejoicings at the Peace. In 1801, M. Le Bon, at Paris, succeeded in lighting up his own house and gardens with gas from wood and coal, and had it in contemplation to light up the City of Paris.

Only within the present century has gas superseded in London the dim oil lamps. About forty years ago, oil lamps and lighted candles were used in our churches and chapels; in some places of worship evening services were dispensed with altogether. A humorous anecdote is related of Dr. Johnson: it is said, one evening, from the window of his house in Bolt Court, he observed the parish lamplighter ascend a ladder to light one of the small oil lamps. He had scarcely descended the ladder half-way when the flame expired. Quickly returning he lifted the cover of the lamp partially and thrusting the end of his torch beneath it, the flame instantly communicated to the wick by the thick vapour which issued from it. "Ah!" exclaimed the Doctor, "one of these days the streets of London will be lighted by smoke."—Notes and Queries, No. 127. Certain scientific men were incredulous as to the practicability of lighting up the whole of London with gas, and Sir Humphrey Davey asked if it were intended to take the dome of St. Paul's for a gasometer! In 1820 gas meters were patented by John Malan, in 1830 by Samuel Clegg, in 1838 by Nathan Defries and others. Mr. Daniel Pollock, father of the late Chief Baron, was governor of the first "chartered" gas company in 1812. In 1822 St. James' Park was first lighted with gas. In 1825, its safety had not then been established on the part of the Government, a committee of the most eminent scientific men immediately inspected the Gas Works, and reported that the occasional superintendence of all the Works was necessary. However, since then so rapidly has the invention of gas-lighting progressed, that now in the present year of grace, there is neither City nor town in Great Britain of any note but what is illuminated with gas and has works for its manufacture in close proximity to the houses of its inhabitants. Gas supply of London, receipts for the year 1872, £2,133,600, for 1873, £2,544,000. What is coke? Coke is the residual carbon of pit coal after the volatile matters have been expelled by heat, it has a porous texture and a lustre sometimes approaching the metallic. It is a valuable fuel, producing an intense and steady heat and leaving but little residue after combustion. The residual coke in retorts has a quantity of ash, which, besides its earthy base of silicate, usually contains sulphur and other deleterious matter. The breeze can be used in furnaces and in burning bricks. There is a considerable quantity of pure hydrogen produced by the decomposition of water in cooling coke. Attempts have been made to manufacture gas from other substances besides coal—oil, resin, peat, and even water having in their turn commanded capital for a fair trial of their merits of all these; however, coal has alone stood the test of commercial success, those companies formed for other schemes having either been dissolved or become converts to its superior advantages. No doubt it will be considered Utopian—Mr. Robinson thinks that the electric light might be so modified as to be used in public dwellings! There are exhaustless stores of latent electricity, but the difficulty is to know how to develop and utilise it.

Street gas lit by electricity, by Mr. St. George Lane, Fox's method: trial partially successful, Pall Mall, etc., 13th April, 1878. British Museum Reading Room illuminated by electric light, October, 1879.

Common bituminous coal obtained from the mines of Northumberland, Durham, York, South Wales, and a few other coal districts is the kind from which most of the gas of this country is manufactured. The Cannel or Scotch Parrot coals produce a gas of a much richer quality, which, though expensive, has the advantage of superior illuminating power. Gas companies use to a very great extent coals from the following mines:—Pelaw, Leverson's Wallsend, Pelton, New Pelton, Dean's Primrose, Garesfield, South Peareth, (The London Gas-Light Company use principally Peareth) Urpeth, Washington, Yorkshire, Silkstone, Haswell, West Wear, Wearmouth, Brancepeth, South Brancepeth, and Ravenshaw Pelaw. The resulting products of carbonization of these coals when an exhauster is employed will be found to give about the following average per ton:—

Gas, 9,500 cubic feet; Coke, 13 cwt., or one chaldron; Tar, 10 gallons; Ammoniacal Liquor, 13 gallons. Ammonia, a compound of Nitrogen and Hydrogen, is converted into Sulphate of Ammonia, Sal Ammonia, Carbonate of Ammonia, etc., etc. Tar, which is a Hydro-carbon, after producing Naptha and light oils, becomes useful as Asphalt, or for exterior paint work. Benzole, the base of our newly-discovered dyes, is extracted from the Naptha; which, besides, is either used as a solvent for india-rubber and guttapercha, or yields a brilliant light when burned in a common lamp. Gas, as it issues from the retorts, is chiefly composed of light carburetted and bicarburetted hydrogen or olefiant gas, accompanied by condensable vapours and other gaseous impurities. The condensable vapours are principally hydro-carbon compounds which become deposited in the form of oil, and amongst a variety of deleterious substances may be mentioned as the chief: ammonia, carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, and sulphuretted hydrogen, but the value of coal-gas principally depends on the presence of bicarburetted hydrogen, and the greater proportion of this the higher will be its light-giving properties.

The connection of the London Gas-Light Company's Works with Vauxhall takes us out of the parish of Battersea for a moment into the parish of Lambeth. Vauxhall, the early Spring Garden, was named from its site in the Manor of La Sale Fawkes, Fawkeshall, from its possessor, an obscure Norman adventurer, in the reign of King John.[1] The estate was laid out as a garden about 1661, in squares enclosed with hedges of gooseberries, within which were roses, beans and asparagus. Sir Samuel Morland took a lease of the place in 1665, and added fountains and a sumptuously furnished room for the reception of Charles II. and his court, and a plan dated 1681, shows the gardens planted with trees and laid out in walks and a circle of trees or shrubs. They were frequented by Evelyn and Pepys; and Addison in the Spectator, 1712, takes Sir Roger de Coverley there. In 1728, the gardens were leased to Jonathan Tyers, who converted the house into a tavern. The beauty of its rural scenery rendered it so much frequented that the proprietor in the year 1730, introduced vocal music, the price of admission at that time was 1s., but from the competition of others who opened public places of amusement in the neighbourhood, the proprietor introduced a great variety of amusements and raised the price of admission to 2s. During the season of 1807, the price was constantly 2s., the gardens being open only three nights in the week, and each of these nights was what was termed a gala night. Vauxhall Gardens were extensive, they contained a variety of walks illuminated with beautiful transparent paintings. Opposite the west door was a magnificent Gothic orchestra, illuminated with a profusion of lamps of various colours; and on the left was an elegant rotunda, in which the band performed in the cold or rainy weather. At ten o'clock a bell announced the opening of a cascade, with the representation of a water-mill, a mail coach, etc. Fireworks of the most brilliant description were also introduced among the attractions of the place. In numerous recesses, or pavilions, parties were accommodated with suppers and other refreshments and were charged according to a bill of fare. The ham sandwiches were of such an excellent quality and so thinly sliced that they became proverbial. The respective boxes and apartments were adorned with a vast number of paintings, many of which were executed in the best style of their respective theatres. The labours of Hogarth and Hayman were the most conspicuous. On a pedestal, under the arch of a grand portico of the Doric order, was a fine marble statue of Handel, in the character of Orpheus playing on his lyre, done by the celebrated M. Roubiliac. The number of persons who were employed in the gardens during the season is said to have amounted to 400, 96 of whom were musicians and singers, the rest were waiters and servants of various kinds. The celebrated Lowe and Beard were amongst the first singers who were engaged at Vauxhall. Upwards of 15,000 lamps were said to illuminate the gardens at one time—the effect of the illumination was peculiarly beautiful in a moonlight night. The band of the Duke of York's regiment of Guards dressed in full uniform added to the attractions of these enchanting gardens; by military harmony, as a place of public entertainment, it became the most famous in Europe. The greatest season was in 1823, when 133,279 persons visited the gardens and the receipts were £29,590. The greatest number of persons in one night was on the 2nd of August, 1833, when 20,137 paid for admission. The carriages outside the gardens were so numerous that they extended in lines as far as Westminster Bridge in one direction and to Kennington Common in an opposite direction. The greatest number on the then supposed last night, 5th September, 1839, was 1089 persons. So fascinating did this place of amusement become that it acquired the name of the "fairy land of fancy," answering in conception to those enchanted palaces and gardens described in the "Arabian Nights Entertainment."[2] It was in these gardens gas was manufactured by the London Gas-light Company prior to gas being made at the Company's Works in the neighbourhood of Vauxhall Row.