xxv RIVERSIDE LETTERS 191 



bourhood, in which I was born, and where 

 you and I passed so many happy years 

 with the " Boys of the Old St. John's 

 Wood Brigade," now, alas! sadly diminished 

 in number. Many changes have taken 

 place, none perhaps more striking than the 

 entire demolition of No. 18, St. John's 

 Wood Road, Sir Edwin Landseer's house. 

 The boundary walls of the garden were 

 still up, but doomed ; they were covered, 

 it being the election time, with posters of 

 the rival candidates for Marylebone. A 

 few trees still stood in the garden, but of 

 the house itself not one stone was left. In 

 its place, already huge blocks of artisans' 

 dwellings were rising, every available space 

 being piled up with bricks and building 

 materials. 



I knew Sir Edwin all my life, and when I 

 came to live in Grove End Road used to see 

 him continually. In those days he suffered 

 much from depression of mind, and when 

 pressed in his work would send round for me 



