581 
LON 
cation from Charing Crofs, and the lower parts of Weft¬ 
minfter, to every part of that magnificent and extenfive 
neighbourhood ; and, if the utility of fuch a ftreet to 
that part of tire pari ill of Marybone would be fo great, the 
advantage of it to the crown-lands of Marybone Park 
would be incalculable ; no part of the unbuilt ground 
furrounding the town would have fo good or fo direft an 
approach ; and, in the future enlargement of the town, 
the north-weft part of Marybone mOft have a preference 
to every other fituation. By the ftraight dire< 5 tion of this 
ftreet, Marybone Park is brought nearer the houfes of 
parliament, courts of law, the treafury, admiralty, &c. 
than many other parts of the town in the higheft requeft 
offafhion: it is within 170 yards as near as the nearefl part 
of Grofvenor-place, and half a mile nearer than the lower 
end of that ftreet; it is within 80 yards as near as the weft 
fide of Grofvenor-fquare, and 70 yards nearer than the 
neareft end of Upper Brook-ftreet, and 300 yards nearer 
than the upper end of Upper Grofvenor-ftreet 5 it is within 
90 yards as near as Stanhope-ftreet; it is more than one- 
third of a mile nearer than Portman-fquare or Manclief- 
ter-fquare ; it is three quarters of a mile nearer than the 
upper end of Park-lane, Cumberland-place, &c. and, in¬ 
credible as it may appear, it will be only 50 yards further 
to Marybone Park, at the extreme end of Portland Place, 
than it is by the prefent circuitous route to the entrance 
of Cavendiffi.fquare, and 50 yards nearer than it is to the 
north fide of that fquare. Such are the advantages of a 
direft ftreet; and if, as the late fin veyor-general obferves, 
4 diltance is belt meafured by time,’ Marybone Park, be¬ 
ing without the impediments and interruptions of turn¬ 
ing corners and eroding ltreets, will be nearer to the houfes 
of parliament, courts of law, and public offices, than four 
parts out of five of the principal refidences in the weft and 
north-weft ends of the town. 
“Such are the advantages, and fuch will be the utility, 
of the ftreet propofed. The beauty of the town, it is pre- 
i'urned, would be advanced by a ftreet of fuch magnificent 
dimenfions; by the colonnades and balnltrades which 
•will adorn its fides ; by initiating the public building of 
the Opera; by the effeft of the monuments in the centre 
of the crofting fireets ; by the vifta between Carlton-houfe 
and Piccadilly, terminated by a public monument at one 
end, and by the palace of Carlton-houfe at the other; 
every length of ftreet would be terminated by a fagade of 
beautiful architecture; and, to add to the beauty of the 
approach from Weftminfter to Charing Crofs, a Iquare or 
crefcent, open to, and looking down, Parliament-ftreet, 
might he built round the equeftrian ftatue at Charing 
Crofs, which, at the fame time that it would open and en¬ 
large that fpace, from whence, as before obferved, the 
greateft part of the population of the metropolis meet and 
diverge, it would afford a magnificent and beautiful ter¬ 
mination of the ftreet from Weftminfter. The lofty fitu¬ 
ation of Charing Crofs, and gradual afeent to it, are pecu¬ 
liarly calculated to produce a grand and ftriking effeft. 
Such a building might be appropriated to additional of¬ 
fices for the government, which it is underltood are much 
wanted ; or the Royal Society, Royal Academy, and An¬ 
tiquarian Society, might be placed there ; and the apart¬ 
ments in Somerfet-houfe, now occupied'by thofe focieties, 
be appropriated to fuch public offices as the reft of the 
buildings of Somerfet-place.” 
Mr. Naffi, in his eftimate of the value of the improved 
property, conceives that the immediate ground-rent will 
produce 59,4291. per annum, and that the property, at 
the end of the building leafes, will be worth 187,7241. 
The making, planting, and watering, the parks, he elti- 
mates at 12,1151. And the purchale of the old houfes 
between Charing Crofs and Portland Place he values at 
399,8031. after deducting the value of the old materials; 
while their ground-rents would he worth 28,7341. per an¬ 
num, under the new plan, as part of the new lireet. The 
length of the new- ftreet, from Charing Crofs to Oxford- 
ftreet, will be 1700 yards, of which it appears that 1280 
Vol, XIII. No. 929. 
DON. 
yards will pafs through property already belonging to the 
crown. The colt of a common fewer to drain the houfes 
in Marybone Park, and in the new ftreet, he values at 
112,330!. and its revenue paid by the tenants at 19,105!. 
Mr. Naffi has fince prelented a fupplementary plan, by 
defire of government, containing fewer buildings, and a 
larger extent of Park. The revenue of the park, on this 
new plan, will be reduced from 59,4291. to 45,269!. ow¬ 
ing to there being fewer of the higher clafs of houfes - Y 
but the feenery will be equally beautiful, and, fo far as re¬ 
lates to the ornamental canal, with its terraces and am¬ 
ple areas of the two upper crefcents, ftill more magni¬ 
ficent. Thefe plans of Mr. Naffi having been approved 
of by the lords of the treafury, the Park has been en- 
clofed ; the roads through it, and the circular drive, form¬ 
ed ; the plantations too have been made; houfes have been 
built, with elegant porticos, in a line with the tides of 
Portland Place ; in ffiort, the whole defign is proceeding 
towards its completion with extraordinary activity. 
At a ffiort diftance from the l'outh end of Portland 
Place is Portland Chapel, a handfome brick building, or¬ 
namented with ftone, and having a ftone fteeple at the 
weft end 5 ereded about forty years ago, on the fite of 
Marybone-bafon, which was anciently a refervoir of wa¬ 
ter for the fupply of that part of the metropolis, but had 
been many years difufed. 
To the ealt of Portland Chapel is a plain but commo¬ 
dious brick building, called the Middlefex Hofpital. 
This hofpital was inftituted in the year 1745, for the re¬ 
lief of the indigent figk and lame, at which time, and for 
feveral years after, it was carried on in two convenient 
houfes adjoining to each other, in Windmill-ftreet, Tot- 
tenham-court-road. The benefaflions of the public hav¬ 
ing greatly increafed, the governors, in 1747, extended 
their plan to the relief of pregnant wives of the induf- 
trious poor; when the great increafe of patients foora 
obliged them to think of enlarging their edifice as well as 
their plan ; and, by the benevolence of the contributors, 
they were enabled, in 1755, to eretl the prefent building, 
which at that time was fituated in the open fields. That 
part of the inftitution which relates to the admiffion of 
pregnant women, was altered about fifteen years ago, in 
coni'equence of an offer made by an unknown perfon, 
through the medium of a refpeftable furgeon, to advance 
three thoufand pounds, and to fettle three hundred pounds 
per annum on the hofpital, provided the governors would 
appropriate a ward for the reception and cure of can¬ 
cerous difeafes. Such an offer was not to be rejected ; 
but the obftacle to its adoption was the unwillingnefs of 
the governors to narrow the extent of their charity, to 
the exclufion of fome part of thofe who were already 
within its fcope. It being however fuggefted, that deli¬ 
vering married women at home would, in molt cafes, be a 
more efredftual and beneficial relief to them than obliging 
them to pafs the period of their confinement in an hof¬ 
pital, fecluded from their families, it was determined to 
appropriate the lying-in ward to the defired purpof'e, and 
to provide thofe who might want it, with obftetrical af- 
fiftance, medicine, and nurfes, at their own habitations ; by 
which means the managers of this charity were enabled 
to accept the benevolent offer; and fince that period the 
upper part of the hofpital has been devoted folely to the 
cure of that difeafe. 
The improvements which are making in every part of 
the New Road, invite the perambulator to a l'urvey cf 
the elegant houfes which have been lately built at the top 
of Portland Road, and all along to Tottenham-court-road. 
Between thefe roads is Fitzroy-l'quare, a place which we 
have feen in an unfiniftied ftate for more than twenty 
years. Some unknown caufe has prevented this fpot be¬ 
coming falhionable ; and this fort of fatality, which has 
lain heavy upon fome other places, as Golden-fquare and 
Leicefter-fquare, is not likely to be foon removed. 
From Fitzroy-fquare we enter Tottenham-court-road, 
a wide ftreet leading fouthward to that part of the metro- 
7 I polis 
