under Lord North's Administration, and is now the bank, and the other
was bought by the second Viscount Falmouth, and is now occupied by the
seventh Viscount of that name.

No. 3 has passed through the hands of many titled and distinguished
owners, and is at present the property of the Duke of Leeds. It was
occupied by the Copyhold Inclosure and the Tithe Commission Office, now
the Board of Agriculture.

No. 4, in the corner, belongs to Lord Cowper, and No. 5 to the Earl of
Strafford.

The next two belong to Lord Avebury and Earl Egerton.

No. 8 has had many vicissitudes. It was for a time occupied as the
French Embassy, later by Sir Cyril Wyche, President of the Royal
Society, also by Monmouth's widow, Josiah Wedgwood, and by many
intervening tenants of distinction. After the occupancy of Wedgwood, the
second Earl of Romney was here for eight years, until 1839, and then the
house became successively the home of the Erectheum Club, of the
Charity Commissioners, the Junior Oxford and Cambridge Club, Vine Club,
York Club, Junior Travellers' Club, and at present it is the Sports
Club. Ormond or Chandos House, which took up three numbers at the west
corner of York Street, has a history. It was built by Lord St. Albans in
place of his first house in the south-eastern corner of the square, and
passed into the possession of the Duke of Ormond, the only man who was
four times Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Entertainments on a large scale
took place during this period. Perhaps the most interesting fact in the
history of the house is that a meeting of noblemen and gentlemen was
held here in 1688, at which an address of welcome to the Prince of
Orange was drawn up, in which he was besought to carry on the Government
until a Convention could meet. The Spanish Embassy was here in 1718. The
Duke of Chandos bought the mansion a year later, and in 1735 it was
pulled down, and the present three houses built on its site. These three
houses have been well tenanted, especially the centre one, No. 10, which
can boast the successive occupancy of Pitt, Lady Blessington, the great
Earl of Derby, and Mr. Gladstone. Here old link-extinguishers still
remain on the posts before the door.

No. 9 is now the home of the Portland Club.

No. 12 has also its string of names, but, for fear of degenerating into
a mere catalogue, we will only mention a few of the most important, Sir
Cyril Wyche was the first owner in 1676, and he was succeeded in 1678