REGENT’S PARK 
93 
with groves, lakes, and villas, . . . while through the 
place there is a winding road, which commands at 
every turn some fresh feature of an extensive country 
prospect.” This enthusiast winds up by saying, “ We 
do not envy the apathy of the Englishman who can 
walk through these splendid piles without feeling his 
heart swell with national pride.” We may smile at such 
high-sounding language, but, after all, it was an innocent 
form for national pride to take. 
The special feature which the plan of the Park em¬ 
braced, was the villas, standing in their own pleasure 
grounds. These were all built in the same Grecian style 
—most of them designed by Decimus Burton, who was 
also the architect of Cornwall Terrace, the only one not 
by Nash. St. Dunstan’s Villa, now belonging to Lord 
Aldenham, and containing his precious library, was his 
work. It was built by the Marquis of Hertford, and 
the name is taken from the two giant wooden figures of 
Gog and Magog, which formerly stood by St. Dunstan’s 
Church in Fleet Street. They had been placed there in 
1671, and struck the hours on a large clock (the work 
of Thomas Harrys), one of the curiosities of the City. 
It was with reference to them that Cowper’s lines on a 
feeble, uninspired poet were written :— 
a When Labour and when Dullness, club in hand, 
Like the two figures of St. Dunstan’s stand, 
Beating alternately, in measured time, 
The clock-work tintinabulum of rhyme, 
Exact and regular the sounds will be, 
But such mere quarter strokes are not for me.” 
Lord Hertford used to be taken to see them as a 
child, and had a child’s longing to possess the monsters. 
Unlike most childish dreams, he was able, when the 
