[ 590 J 



THE SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



EXETER CHANGE has vanished : Pidcock and Polito have long ceased 

 to hold their court in that ancient edifice which in former days was wont to 

 strike the eye of the youthful Christmas visitor, as he approached with 

 jocund heart and light step. Chuny has departed this life j Nero the elder 

 sleeps with his ancestors j the ruddy beef-eater no longer reminds the 

 passer by that it is feeding time no longer presents his bill of fare at the 

 small gothic door, which led to the palace of the lions ; and on the spot 

 where all their departed greatness was once centred, there has sprung up 

 a line of five-storied houses, telling too plainly the dismal story of their 

 predecessors' ruin. The tigers, too, have seen their vicissitudes : driven 

 from their ancient dwelling, they found a temporary refuge in the Regal 

 stables, at Charing Cross; but again compelled to seek another asylum, 

 their fate depended on a breath. 



Their magnanimous possessor could not make up his mind to skeleton- 

 ize them, and the shins of beef, which they daily demanded, were not 

 atoned for by the pleasure of witnessing the avidity with which they 

 devoured them. The Zoological Society refused to purchase them : the 

 Opposition protested against their being let loose on society j to freight 

 them back to Bengal and Africa was perdition, and the destinies of " Nero 

 andhisroom" were again suspended on a thread. In thisdilemma thecounty 

 of Surrey put forth its claims to the possession of a place of delightful recre- 

 ation, combined with instruction in its most pleasing form. The enterprise 

 was undertaken : the lake was sounded, and its bays and inlets explored $ 

 the hermitage was swept of the bones of its former occupiers ; the grounds 

 surveyed, and the modern Browne, Phillips, the author of " Sylvia 

 Florifera," was called in to plan, and to execute his plans. Under his skilful 

 arrangement, the new gardens speedily assumed a tasteful aspect. The 

 " capabilities" were improved and rendered available, and the dislodged 

 menagerie at length took up a position of great advantage. The garden 

 is now in a condition to vie with its aristocratic (though by no means con- 

 temptible) rival at the western side of London. The visitor on his entrance 

 is greeted by an expanse of waters (covered with pelicans, swans, and 

 others of the aquatics) which is seen gently undulating beyond a lawn of 

 some extent. He promenades down a gravel walk bordered with rare 

 shrubs and flowers, until he arrives at a small glazed alcove, wherein is 

 placed various species of lories, maccaws, cockatoos, parroquets, minas, 

 averdavats, (as Joseph Surface calls them,) and other small birds. Some 

 of them are admirable, not only for their beauty of plumage, but likewise 

 for their powers of imitating the human voice. One, indeed, surpassed 

 any thing we had before heard, a mino, from China, using in the most 

 gruff and seamanlike voice, various nautical phrases, besides calling him- 

 self Pretty Mino, and various other adulatory epithets. 



On passing from the snakes and birds, the next object which strikes the 

 eye is a large circular glazed building, which at first one supposes to be an 

 immense green-house -, on entering, however, the roaring, howling, chat- 

 tering, laughing, squeaking, and growling, of the hungry animals speedily 

 dissipate the illusion. The hour at which we entered was a few minutes 

 before four o'clock, at which time they are fed ; the food, as soon as seen, 

 produces an excitement which in the animals is such as to render the 



