neglect." In 1672 the house and gardens were
sold to four persons of Westminster, who laid out the site in streets,
viz., Villiers Street, Duke Street, Buckingham Street, and Of Alley,
forming in conjunction the words Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. York
House was pulled down soon after, and York Buildings erected on the
site. Peter the Great had lodgings in York Buildings during his visit to
England, and Pepys occupied a house on the west side, near the river,
for some time. The gardens of the Victoria Embankment now fill up the
space over which the river formerly flowed, and the watergate is merely
a meaningless ornament 100 yards or more from the water.

At the corner of Agar and King William Streets, on the north, is the
Charing Cross Hospital, founded 1818, and built on the present site in
1831, the architect being Decimus Burton. It is a dreary stuccoed
building, with a rounded end, and contains nothing that specially marks
it out from other general hospitals.

In Chandos Street the highwayman Claude Duval was arrested, after which
he was executed at Tyburn, 1669. There was an ancient hostelry called
the Black Prince in Chandos Street, which is mentioned by Dickens. This
was demolished to make way for the Medical College. Opposite was the
blacking shop where Dickens spent a miserable part of his childhood.

The next group of streets on the south side, namely, John, Robert,
James, and William Streets, was built by four brothers of the name of
Adam, who gave their Christian names to their handiwork, and from whom
this particular district was called the "Adelphi," from the Greek word
signifying brothers. The site was occupied by Durham House, a palace
built by Anthony de Beck, Bishop of Durham in Edward I.'s reign. Bishop
Tunstall in 1535 exchanged it with Henry VIII. for Cold Harbour and
other houses in the City, and for a time it was frequented by royalty.
The King gave a great tournament here on his marriage with Anne of
Cleves. Proclamations of the jousts were made in France, Spain,
Scotland, and Flanders. The young King, Edward VI., granted the house to
his sister Elizabeth for life. The unfortunate Lady Jane Grey was
married within the walls of Durham House to the son of Northumberland.
When Queen Mary ascended the throne, she gave the palace back to Bishop
Tunstall, but Elizabeth regarded it as one of the royal palaces, and
after her accession bestowed it on Sir Walter Raleigh. In Aubrey's
"Letters" Raleigh's