The Merry Past 



dictated by the Committee of Taste — not of taste 

 itself. 



It had been debated by this committee whether 

 the statue on the top (which is of red granite, and 

 represents the Duke in the costume of the Knights of 

 the Garter) should face the Park or the metropolis. 

 The former was eventually decided, because, it was 

 wickedly said, the overwhelming majority of His Royal 

 Highness's creditors being resident in the metropolis, 

 no one could expect that he should face them. 



The whole thing was denounced as a job in which 

 contempt had been shown for the public at large. 

 * Nevertheless, the statue in question is not at all 

 unsuited to the neighbourhood of Pall Mall. 



The street in question was never used for the game 

 from which it derives its name. This was played in 

 the Mall, which is now the Processional Road, which 

 originally sloped downwards towards the centre 

 a foot or two deeper than either of its sides. Here, 

 in its whole length, was laid a stone gutter, hollowed 

 into a form approaching to a semicircle, and made 

 perfectly even, being united smoothly with the gravel 

 walk on each of its sides. Through this gutter, in its 

 whole length, and at equal distances, were made holes, 

 in such a manner that in hot weather they allowed 

 the water to pass from the surface into the drain below, 

 which carried it into the canal. These holes, like- 

 wise, held the hoops that were set up in them when 

 the game was played. The reasons for the decay of 

 the game of Pall Mall have never been made very clear ; 

 its rules, according to tradition, were as follows : In the 



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