228 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



names connected with the Square is too long to recite, 

 but four of the greatest are commemorated by the four 

 busts in the modern garden — Sir Joshua Reynolds, 

 Hogarth, John Hunter, the eminent surgeon, and Sir 

 Isaac Newton. But before these monuments were 

 erected Leicester Square Garden had gone through a 

 period of decay. It was left unkept up and uncared 

 for ; the gilt statue was tumbling to pieces, and was 

 only propped up with wooden posts. The garden 

 from 1 85 1 for ten years, was used to exhibit the Great 

 Globe of Wylde, the geographer, who leased the space 

 from the Tulk family, then the owners of the land. 

 Leicester House, after it ceased to be a royal residence, 

 was in the hands of Sir Ashton Lever, who turned 

 it into a museum, which was open from 1771 to 1784, 

 but failed to obtain much popularity. The collection 

 was dispersed, and soon after the house was pulled 

 down and the site built over, and the Square was 

 allowed to get more and more untidy. Several efforts 

 were made to purchase it for the public, but the price 

 asked was prohibitive, as the owners wished to build 

 on it. When, however, after much litigation, the 

 Court of Appeal decided it could not be built on, 

 but must be maintained as an open space, they were 

 more ready to come to terms. A generous purchaser 

 came forward, Mr. Albert (afterwards Baron) Grant, 

 who bought the land, laid it out as a garden, and 

 presented it to the public, to be kept up by the 

 Metropolitan Board of Works. The plans for the 

 newly-restored garden, were made for Mr. Grant by 

 Mr. James Knowles, and the planting done by Mr. 

 John Gibson, who was then occupied with the sub- 

 tropical garden in Battersea Park. The statue of 



