1825.] 
lightful. The King spent a great. por- 
tion of his time in St. James’s Park ; 
Cibber tells us, that he was often to be 
seen amidst crowds of spectators, feed- 
ing his ducks, and playing with his dogs, 
and passing his idle moments in fami- 
liarity even with the meanest of his- 
subjects, which made him to be acored 
by the common people. The loyal 
but moral Evelyn, in his Diary, regrets 
some part of the monarch’s amuse- 
ments, and strongly reprobates his.cus- 
tom of lounging under the garden walls 
which skirted the Park, and laughing 
and jesting with actresses and other 
gay ladies as they leaned over the para- 
pets of their terraces. To this interest- 
ing writer we owe an account of the 
extensive collection of birds and beasts 
which Charles had selected with great 
care and cost. The Russian Ambassa- 
dor gave the King a pelican brought 
from Astracan, which he, Evelyn, styles 
amelancholy water-fowl; there were, 
besides, Solan geese, a milk-white 
raven, and numerous flocks of wild 
fowl, both ordinary and extraordinary ; 
also deer of several countries, white, 
spotted like leopards, antelopes, an 
elk, red deer, roe-bucks, stags, Guinea 
goats, Arabian sheep, &c., and in addi- 
tion to these animals, the trees in one 
walk were hung with bird-cages, whence 
the name to this day, though the trees 
_ are now only tenanted by dingy spar- 
rows. But these ornaments, beautiful 
and appropriate as they must have 
been, formed a very small part of the 
splendour of the spectacle in St. 
ames’s Park. Noblemen and gentle- 
men, knights and esquires, in the pic- 
turesque costume of the time, wearing 
laced ruffs, velvet cloaks,* satin vests, 
embroidered with gold and silver, and 
bedecked with gems, together with 
plumed and jewelled hats, escorted 
ladies radiant as Eastern Sultanesses. 
Then were to be seen running  foot- 
men, in fantastic liveries, scampering 
along the walks, the avant-couriers of 
sedan chairs, profusely decorated with 
gaudy fringe and dangling tassels, 
whilst, dragged by six horses gaily ca- 
parisoned, the royal carriages, all: paint 
and gilding, like the state coach of the 
Lord Mayor, moved proudly along. 
St. James’s Park is a wilderness of de- 
* Whence did our correspondent copy 
her picturesque costume of the days of 
Charles IJ.? Laced ruffs and velvet 
cloaks, we suspect, would have been a little 
out of keeping in the Frenchified Court, or 
at Arcadian levee, of that merry monarch. 
—Enpir. 
Walks in London.—No. II. 
37 
solation when compared with its former 
splendour. 
One of the earliest inhabitants of the 
houses on the north side of Pall-Mall, 
was the famous Nell Gwynne; the 
walls and the ceiling of her: principal 
apartment, it is said, were covered with: 
looking-glasses. Careless, good hu- 
moured, devoted to the King, and not 
troubling herself in the least about 
politics, she has ever been considered’ 
as the most amiable of the numerous 
mistresses of Charles II.; this cele- 
brated fayourite died in 1691, sincerely 
lamenting the frailties of her’ past life. 
Dr. Tennison preached her funeral ser- 
mon, which was afterwards urged by 
Lord Jersey, to impede the Doctor’s 
preferment. But Queen Mary, whose 
piety, it was expected, would have been 
shocked at the profanation, replied,‘ 
“ Well, and what then? This I have 
heard before ;, and it is a proof that the: 
unfortunate woman, who never let the: 
wretched ask in vain, died a true peni- 
tent.” 
In 1681, Pail-Mall was the scene of 
a horrid assassination. Thomas Thynne, 
Esq. of Longleat, was betrothed to the 
heiress of the Northumberland family,: 
the Lady Elizabeth Ogle, widow of 
Henry Cavendish, Earl Ogle, son of 
the Duke of Newcastle; the famous 
Count Koningsmark conceived a. hope: 
of gaining this rich: prize, and did not. 
hesitate to seek the gratification of his 
wishes by the murder of his rival, an 
act to which it was reported he was 
secretly instigated by alady whom Mr. 
Thynne ‘had seduced, and whose wrong 
he had refused to repair: by. marriage: 
The Count employed three foreigners: 
in his service to execute his dreadful 
project, whilst he remained concealed 
in the vicinity.. Oue of these shot Mr.: 
Thynne, as he passed in his carriage. 
The perpetrator and his assistants were: 
apprehended and executed, but the: 
more guilty principal escaped, for a 
time, the punishment, due to his crime, 
by the management of some of his pro- 
fligate court companions; but though 
public justice was thus baffled, Konings- 
mark’s career in this world was for- 
cibly checked ; he fell a sacrifice to. the 
jealousy of George I., who. caused him. 
to be strangled in the Electoral Palace 
of Hanover, as he was quitting the 
apartments of his wife, the Princess 
Sophia of Zell.. The innocence of this 
unfortunate lady has been averred by 
many writers; her: son, George II.; 
cherished: the firmest belief in her pu- 
rity, 
