SQUARES 225 



round basin of water, which was intended to have a 

 fountain in it, and never did, was dug in the centre. 

 Round it ran an octagon railing with stone obelisks, sur- 

 mounted with lamps at each angle. A road of flat paving- 

 stones with posts went round the Square in front of the 

 houses ; the rest was paved with cobble stones. As early 

 as 1697 it was proposed to place a statue of William III., 

 and figures emblematical of his victories, in the Square, 

 but nothing was done. In 1721 the Chevalier de David 

 tried to get up a subscription for a sum of ;^ 2 5 00 for a 

 statute of George I. to be done by himself and set up, 

 but, as he only collected ;^ioo towards it, that scheme 

 also fell through. Once more an eifort was made 

 which bore tardy fruit, for in 1724 Samuel Travers 

 bequeathed a sum of money by will " to purchase and 

 erect an equestrian statue in brass to the glorious 

 memory of my master, King William III." Somehow 

 this was not carried out at the time, but in 1806 the 

 money appeared in a list of unclaimed dividends, and 

 John Bacon the younger was given the commission to 

 model the statue, which was cast in bronze at the 

 artist's own studio in Newman Street, and put up in 

 the centre of the pond. Thus it remained until towards 

 the middle of last century the stagnant pool was drained. 

 In the 1780 riots the mob carried off the keys of New- 

 gate and flung them into this basin, where years after- 

 wards they were found. It was 150 feet in diameter, 

 and 6 or 7 feet deep. When the pond was drained, the 

 garden was planted in the form it now is, and the statue 

 left standing in the centre. St. James's is still one of 

 the finest residential squares in London, and the old 

 rhyme, picturing the attractions in store for the lady of 

 quality who became a duchess and lived in- the Square. 



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