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Sadler’s Wells Theatre, St. John’s-street, Clerkenwell.— In the recesses of Clerkenwell, once famous for the performances of Grimaldi, and later for its Shaksperean revivals under the management of the late Mr. Phelps. NEAREST Railway Stations, King’s- cross and Farringdonstreet; Omnibus Route, John-street, Pentonville-road, City-road.

St. George’s Chess Club, in, King-street, St. James’s. —(See CHESS.)

St. George’s Club, Savile-row, is limited to 375 Catholic members. Election by ballot; ten members at least to vote. “If only ten vote, one black ball shall exclude; if more than ten and not more than twenty vote, then two black balls shall exclude; if more than twenty vote, then one black ball in every complete ten and in every fraction of ten shall exclude.” Entrance fee, £10 10s.; subscription, £10 10s.

St. James’s Club, 106, Piccadilly, W.—Ordinary members of this club are elected by ballot, but members of the corps diplomatique, of the English diplomatic service, and of the diplomatic establishment of the Foreign Office, may be admitted without ballot, under certain restrictions. The entrance fee is £26 5s.; the subscription £11 11s.; and carefully considered reductions are made in the case of members of the English diplomatic service who are employed abroad. The election is by ballet in committee; “six shall be a quorum, one black ball in nine, if repeated, and two above nine, shall exclude.” The club occupies the premises once tenanted by the defunct Coventry Club.

St. James’s Palace is the oldest of the royal establishments in London, but has long since ceased to be used by royalty for any but ceremonial purposes. Of late years its cramped and inconvenient rooms have been found highly impracticable for the more important of those functions, and Her Majesty’s drawing-rooms have been removed to Buckingham Palace, where the fight for priority of admission to the royal presence is not embittered by quite such close packing, and Her Majesty’s lieges are enabled to preserve their toilettes in comparatively sound condition even to the exit. Levees, however, still continue to be held at St. James’s, and this is the only use to which the palace as such is now put, though custom still recognises it as the head-quarters of English royalty, and the English court is always diplomatically referred to as the court of St. James’s. A considerable portion of the palace is now appropriated to the use of various persons to whom Her Majesty has been pleased to assign accommodation. NEAREST Railway Station, St. James’s-park; Omnibus Routes, Piccadilly, Regent-street, and Strand; Cab Rank, St. James’s-street.

St. James’s Park joins the southeast corner of the Green-park, and is little more than an enclosed garden, nearly half of which is occupied by a shallow piece of ornamental water, proably the safest for skating in London. The Mall, a broad walk planted with elms, limes, and planes, runs along the north side, and gets its name from the game formerly played there. On the
east side is the parade-ground of the Horse Guards, where the guard is trooped daily at 11 a.m. One of the oddest sights in London is afforded by the colony of gingerbread and sweetstuff stalls in the north-east corner of the park, at the back of Carlton House-terrace. There is a large consumption of curds and whey, and of milk fresh from the cow, at these primitive restaurants, and the cows which are tethered to the stalls give an air of reality to the promises of their proprietors. NEAREST Railway Station, St. James’s-pk; Omnibus Route Regent-street, Parliament-street, and Victoria-street.

St. James’s Street.—Although of late years the splendour of the clubs of Pall Mall has eclipsed those of St. James’s-street, yet the latter can boast an historical interest all their own. The political history of the last century centres in the club-houses of St. James’s. White’s was founded in 1730, the Cocoa Tree in 1746 Brooks’s in 1764, Arthur’s a year later, while of the Pall Mall clubs the oldest, the Guards, did not come into existence until fifty years afterwards, namel in 1813. The club life of the last century was a faster, wilder life than club life is now. Men played higher, and drank more deeply and even the leading men of the day drank as deeply and played as high as the rest. The bow-window of White’s is historical. From it generations of statesmen have calmly surveyed the passing world; and though coat-collars are not worn high, filled shirts have been abandoned, and the general style of dress is easier and more comfortable nowadays, yet in other respects the quiet elderly gentlemen who still gaze from the windows of the St. ,James’s club-house can differ but little from those who looked out a hundred years ago. The house at the corner of Piccadilly, now the Devonshire, was once Crockford’s, where the men of the Regency gambled away fortunes, and whose name occurs over and over again in the histories of that time. There is still a marked difference between the old clubs of St. James’s, and what their habitues consider the mushroom clubs of Pall Mall. Men drive up in hansoms, and run up the steps of the Pall Mall clubs; they stroll leisurely at St. James’s, stop to chat to a friend on the doorstep, and then go in as if haste or hurry had never been an element in their existence. There are comparatively new clubs in St. James’s, but these belong to the new régime, and have nothing in common with the quiet and the fogydom of the old clubs.

St. James’s Theatre, King-street, St. James’s.—A medium-sized house at the back of Pall Mall; built by Braham the singer. For many years occupied during the season by a French company. At present undergoing alterations, and with no particular specialty. NEAREST Railway Station, St. James’s-park; Omnibus Routes, Piccadilly, Regent-street, and Strand; Cab Rank, St. James’s. street.

St. John of Jerusalem In England (Order of) —This order was founded about the year 1092; for the maintenance of an hospital at Jerusalem; and, subsequently, for the defence of Christian pilgrims on their journeys to and from the Holy Land.  It afterwards became a knightly  institution, but ever preserved its hospitals and cherished the duty of alleviating sickness and suffering. The order was first planted in England in the year 1100, and raised the noble structure which once formed the Priory of Clerkenwell, of which the gateway now alone remains to attest the importance of the chief house of the order in England. The order held high place in this country until the year 1540, when it was despoiled, suppressed, and its property confiscated by Act of Parliament. In 1557 it was restored by Royal Charter, and much of its possessions re-granted; but only to be again confiscated within the subsequent two years by a second statute, which did not, however, enact the re-suppression of the fraternity. Still, with the loss of possessions, and the withdrawal of most of its members to Malta— then the sovereign seat of the order—it became practically dormant in England. Many fluctuations have marked the fortunes of an institution which played a prominent part in most of the great events of Europe, until its supreme disaster in the loss of Malta, in 1798, after which the surviving divisions of the order had each to perpetuate an independent existence, and to mark out the course of its own future. It is now nearly half a century ago that a majority of five of the seven then existing remnants of the institution decreed the revival of the time-honoured branch of the order in England, since which event it has, so far as means permitted, pursued, in spirit, the original purposes of its foundation—the alleviation of the sickness and suffering of the human race. The following are some of the objects which have engaged the attention of the order: Providing convalescent patients of hospitals (without distinction of creed) with such nourishing diets as are medically ordered, so as to aid their return at the earliest possible time, to the business of life and the support of their families. The (original)) institution in England of what is now known as the “National Society for Aid to Sick and Wounded in War.” The foundation and maintenance of cottage hospitals and convalescent homes. Providing the means and opportunity for local training of nurses for the sick poor, and the foundation of what is now known as the Metropolitan and National Society for training and supplying such nurses. The promotion of a more intimate acquaintance with the wants of the poor in time of sickness. The establishment of ambulance litters, for the conveyance of sick and injured persons in the colliery and mining districts, and in all large railway and other public departments and towns, as a means of preventing much aggravation of human suffering. Tb award of silver and bronze medal and certificates of honour, for special services on land in the cause of humanity. The initiation and organisation during the recent Turco-Servian War of the “Eastern War Sick and Wounded Relief Fund.” The institution of the “St. John Ambulance Association” for instruction in the preliminary treatment of the injured in peace and the wounded war. Although started little more than a year since, this movement has already attained very great success, and local centres and classes have been formed London and in many provincial towns. The Order of St. John has no connection whatever with any of the numerous associations or fraternities now existing for benevolent or other purpose whether similar or not in name; nor is it allied with any sect or party of any one religious denomination, but it is thoroughly universal, embracing among its members and associates those who are willing to devote a portion of their time or their means to the help of the suffering and the sick. A large number of the Metropolitan Police are now trained under the supervision of this useful institution. Communications may be addressed to the Secretary of
the Order of St. John, St. John’s gate, Clerkenwell.

St. John’s Wood lies on the north-west side of Regents-park between Edgware-road and Primrose-hill. Soil, London clay. A special feature of this district consists in its numerous villas of various sizes, and of a more or less secluded character. It is much affected by the artist world. Rents are, on the whole, moderate. NEAREST Railway Stations, S John’s Wood-road, Marlborough road, and Swiss Cottage; Omnibus Routes, Wellington-road and Edgware-road.

St. Paul’s Cathedral, the most conspicuous building in the metropolis, is also the largest Protestant church in the world. Tradition has it that the original building was erected in the second-century, that it was destroyed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, rebuilt subsequently and desecrated by the Saxons, who held impious revelry within its walls. William the Conqueror gave a charter which conferred the property in perpetuity upon the cathedral, and solemnly cursed all persons who should attempt to diminish the property. In 1083, and again 1137, St. Paul’s suffered from fire and in the Great Fire the cathedral was totally destroyed. In 1673 Sir Christopher Wren was employed to build a new edifice, and years later the present St. Paul was completed. Looked at from the outside the cathedral is truly imposing. The upper portion of a composite order of architecture; the lower one Corinthian. Built in the form of a cross, an immense dome rises on eight arches over the centre. Over the dome is a gallery, and above the gallery is the ball and the gilded cross, the top of which is 404 feet from the pavement beneath. The most attractive view of the cathedral is obtained from the west front, in Ludgate-hill, whence admission is to be gained after ascending a flight of stone steps. The west front opens at once into the nave. Immediately on right is a recess, not unlike the private chapels in Westminster-Abbey, containing a monument to the great Duke of Wellington. A figure representing Arthur Wellesley lies under a canopy of bronze, and the names of his many victories are sculptured below. On the other side of the nave, to the left, is a military memorial; the colours of the 58th Regiment hang over it, and a marble bas relief in commemoration of the members of the Cavalry Brigade who fell in the Crimea. A little farther on are two brass tablets, one on each side of the black doors, which are sacred to the memory of the two Viscounts Melbourne. These tablets bear the details of the loss of H.M.S. Captain, September 7, 1870. An illustration of the ship is engraved on the brass, and the names of the officers and men who perished with her. Although there is no dearth of “storied urn and animated bust” in St. Paul’s, it must be confessed that the general impression produced by the inside of the cathedral is a gloomy one. The interior is almost conspicuous in its dearth of stained glass, and the few frescoes which decorate the supporting arches of the dome only serve to illustrate the poverty of the cathedral in artistic effort. It is impossible, too, to forget that St. Paul’s is a show, despite the notices displayed everywhere which beseech the visitor to remember the sacred character of the edifice. Nothing of any passing interest is to be seen in the nave, but the active visitor may, after paying a fee of 6d., ascend a winding staircase to the whispering gallery, which runs round the base of the dome. As this is perfectly circular, a whisper may be heard round the wall from one side to the other, and an intelligent attendant will explain certain experiences of his own anent this curiosity in architecture. On a level with the whispering gallery will be found the clock and the canon’s library. The latter is not particularly interesting, but the clock is worth a visit, though we do not advise persons with delicate ears to approach it about the time of its striking the hour. Above is a stone gallery, whence, if the day be clear, a fair view of London and the Thames may be obtained; but if the visitor be still more ambitious, he may ascend more winding stairs, and reach the golden gallery far away above the dome. Thence upwards he may climb more steps until he reach the ball, an expedition which maybe undertaken once in youth, but hardly ever again. The ball is hollow, is large enough to hold several people, and a visit to it entails the payment of another fee. As fine a view, however, as is necessary for ordinary people may be obtained from the golden gallery, which is, by-the-way, no inconsiderable journey from the nave. Another fee of sixpence will admit the visitor to the crypt, which lies underneath the nave and chapel. Behind an iron railing, which, however, may be entered, stands a porphyry sarcophagus, in which are the mortal remains of the Duke of Wellington. Farther on is the sarcophagus containing the body of Nelson, and this lies exactly under the dome. To the left of Nelson is CoIlingwood, and to the right is Cornwallis. At the end of the crypt is the funeral car on which Wellington’s coffin was carried to its last resting-place. The car is made of the cannon taken by the Duke from the French, and cost some £13,000 to construct. Just outside the railing is a granite tomb, under which is buried Picton, who fell at Waterloo, and on the south side of the altar is the painters’ corner. Here are buried Dance, West, Wren, Sir T. Lawrence, Turner, James Barry, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Opie, J. Dawe, Fuseli, Rennie, Cockerell, and, Sir Edwin Landseer. Services are held daily in the cathedral, to which the public are ad. muted; but during these hours no one is allowed to visit the sights. NEAREST Railway Stations, Mansion House or Blackfriars (Dist.), and Ludgate-hill (L. C. & D.); Omnibus Routes, Newgate-street, Ludgate-hill, and Aldersgate-st; Cab Rank, St. Paul’s Churchyard

St. Paul’s Churchyard.— In olden times St. Paul’s-churchyard was one of the great business centres of London. About the church men met to discuss the doings of the day, the last piece of news from Flanders, France, or Spain,or the rumours from the country. Here the citizens gathered angrily when there was any talk of an invasion of their cherished liberties, grumbled over the benevolence demanded by his majesty for the pay of the troops engaged in the French war, or jeered at some poor wretch nailed by his ears in the pillory. Here the heralds would proclaim the news of our victories by sea and land; here the public newsmen would read out their budgets; vendors of infallible nostrums would wax eloquent as to the virtues of their wares; and the wives and daughters of the citizens would gather to gossip and flirt. It was at once the exchange, the club, and the meeting-place of London. Paul’s Cross was the heart of the City; here men threw up their bonnets when they heard of Crecy and of Agincourt; here they listened to the preachings of the first followers of Wycliffe; here they erected their choicest pageants when a new sovereign visited the City for the first time, or brought his new-made spouse to show her to his lieges; and gathered with frowning brows beneath iron caps when London threw in its lot with the Parliament, and the train-bands marched off to fight the king’s forces. The business mart of the City lies now in front of the Mansion House, but a great deal of business is still done under the shadow of the Cathedral. On the south side are several very large and important warehouses while on the north are some of the largest drapers and silk-mercers in the metropolis. St. Paul’s-church-yard is the only spot inside the City in which establishments of this kind are gathered, and it is almost singular, turning out of Cheapside and other thoroughfares in which very few women are to be met with, to find so large a number before the shops in the narrow footway north of St. Paul’s.

St. Paul’s School (Founded 1512 by John Colet, DD., Dean of St. Paul’s), St. Paul’s-churchyard—There are 153 scholars on the foundation, who are entitled to entire exemption from school fees. Vacancies are filled up at the commencement of each term according to the results of a competitive examination. Candidates must be between 12 and 14 years of age. Capitation scholars pay £20 a year. The governors of this school are appointed by the Mercers’ Company and the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London. The school exhibitions are determined as to number and value by the governors from time to time, and the school prizes are of considerable importance. The following are the university exhibitions. To the University of Cambridge there arec the following exhibitions: Five exhibitions at Trinity, founded by Mr. Perry in 1696, of the value of £10 a year; two exhibitions at St. John’s, founded by Dr. Gower in 1711, of the value of £10 a year, for the sons of clergymen. An exhibition, founded by Mr. Stock in 1780 at Corpus Christi, of the yearly value of £30, given to a scholar recommended by the high master. Four exhibitions, in the same college, value £10 a year each, founded by Mr. George Sykes in 1766, consolidated now in one exhibition, value £36 a year.

St. Peter’s College, Westminster.—(See WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.)

St, Stephen’s, Walbrook, near the Mansion House, City, is quite hidden exteriorly by the surrounding houses, but the interior is a celebrated work of Wren’s, the chief feature being a dome on Corinthian columns. The pulpit is handsome, and there is a painting of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, by West. Pendleton the celebrated “Vicar of Bray,” was rector here, and Dr. Croly, author of several poems and romances, the last rector. Sir John Vanbrugh, the dramatic author and architect of Blenheim, is buried here in the family vault.

St. Stephen’s Club, Victoria Embankment, S.W. —The only persons eligible for membership are those who profess and maintain Constitutional and Conservative principles. The committee have power to select for ballot twenty candidates annually from those duly proposed and seconded, who shall be called selected members. The election of members is by ballot in committee. Entrance fee, £31 10s. ; subscription, £10 10s.

Salters’ Company (The) do not possess a strictly beautiful building, however commodious and comfortable it may be. It was built in 1827, and is notable for its acoustic properties. A portrait of Sir Sills Gibbons, ex-lord mayor, painted by Wells, R.A., hangs in the anteroom, and a portrait of the Duke of Wellington on horseback is on the staircase. A fine old carved chair, once the master’s, now the hall porter’s, stands in the vestibule; and the details of a bill of fare for fifty salters in the year 1560 are interesting, as illustrating the rise in price of provisions during the last three centuries. The trade of a salter nowadays includes cochineal, logwood, and chemical preparations.

Salvador, Republic of— CONSULATE, Wool Exchange,Coleman-street. NEAREST Railway Stations, Moorgate-street and Mansion House; Omnibus Routes Moorgate-street and Cheapside;
Cab Rank, Lothbury.

San Domingo. — CONSULATE, 18, Coleman-street, City. NEAREST Railway Stats., Moorgate-street and Mansion House; Omnibus Routes, Moorgate-street and Cheapside; Cab Rank, Lothbury.

Sanger’s Amphitheatre (late Astley’s), Westminster-bridge-road, near Westminster-bridge.
A theatre and hippodrome on the Surrey side, about a couple of hundred yards from Westminster-bridge; formerly known as Astley’s, now in the hands of Messrs.
Sanger, who have introduced a large menagerie element into the performances. NEAREST Railway Station, Westminster-bridge Omnibus Route, Westminster-bridge-road.

Savage Club, Caledonian Hotel, Adelphi. — Qualification: To be a working member in the
fields of literature, science or art. Candidates are invited to use the club as much as possible previous to their names going up for election, in order that they may become known to the club.
The committee elect; one black ball in five excludes. Entrance fee, £5 5s.; subscription, £3 3s. Country members: entrance fee, £5 5s.; subscription, £2 2s.

Savile Club, Savile-row.— The object of the club is good fellowship, as is set forth in its motto, sodalitas convivium. Owing to the fact that a considerable number of persons of literary or scientific reputation belong to the club, a mistaken idea has got abroad in some quarters that the object of the club is literary or scientific. This is not the case. The qualification for membership
is the same as in most clubs which have not a social object—that is, that a candidate shall seem to the electing body, which at the Savile Club is the committee, to be personally acceptable. Entrance fee, £10 10s.; subscription, £4 4s.

Scandinavian Club, 80 & 81, Strand.—The object of this club is social intercourse among Scandinavians. There is no entrance fee, and the yearly subscription is £3 3s.

School Board for London, Victoria Embankment, W.C. —Hours 10 till 5; Saturdays, 10 till 2. NEAREST Railway Stations, Temple (Dist.) and Charing-cross (SE. and Dist.); Omnibus Route, Strand; Cab Rank, St. Clement Danes, Strand.

Scientific Club, 7, Savile-row, W., was founded for the association of gentlemen of scientific taste and pursuits. Candidates are eligible if they be (1) fellows or members of any society, academy, association, or institute, having for its object the promotion of abstract or applied science, and publishing periodical transactions or (2) who have by their known researches, explorations, or publications, given evidence of scientific attainments. The election is by ballot in committee one black ball in three excludes. “Admission” fee, £5 5s.; subscription, town-members, £4 4s; country members, £2 2s.

Scientific Societies.—The following are the principal Scientific Societies, with their objects and terms of subscription, according to official returns provided, at the Editor’s request, by their respective secretaries. The societies omitted are those from which his request for information has failed to elicit any reply:
ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GT. BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 4, St. Martin’s-place, Trafalgar-sq-— Subscription: £2 2s. per annum, due 1st January. Object: The study of man and mankind in all their varieties, in their relation to each other, and to the rest of the animal kingdom.
BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, 32, Sackville-st. — Subscription: Life, £10 10s.; annual, £1 1s.; entrance fee, £1 1s. Object: To investigate, preserve, and illustrate all ancient monuments of history, manners, customs, and arts of our forefathers, &c.
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, 22, Albemarle-st, Piccadilly. — Subscription: Life subscription, £10. Annual members pay £2 the first year, and £1 per annum afterwards. Associates for the year, £1. Object: To give a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to scientific inquiry; to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate science in different parts of the British Empire with one another, and with foreign philosophers to obtain more general attention for the objects of science, and the removal of any disadvantages of a public kind which impede its progress.
BRITISH HOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Northampton. square.-— Subscription: £1 1s. per year, country members, 12s. Object: The advancement of chronometer, watch, and clock making.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, Burlington House, Piccadilly — Subscription: Entrance fee, £6 6s.; annual subscription, £2 2s. Object: The advancement of the science of geology in all its departments, stratigraphical, petrological, mineralogical, paleontological, &c.
GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION, University College, Gower-street. — Subscription: Entrance fee, 10s; annual, 10s. Object: To facilitate the study of geology and its allied services by the holding of meetings for the reading of papers, and the delivery of lectures; by excursions, the formation of a library, and the publishing of proceedings.
HARVEIAN SOCIETY OF LONDON— Subscription: No information. Object: The advancement of medical science.
INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, Somerset House-terrace, Strand. Subscription: Fellows, £2 2s. per annum; associates, £1 1s. per annum. Object: To ensure that consulting and analytical chemists are duly qualified for the proper discharge of the duties they undertake, by a thorough study of chemistry and allied branches of science, in their application to the arts, public health, agriculture, and technical industry.
LONDON DIALECTICALSOCIETY, Langham Hall, 43, Gt. Portland-street. — Subscription: 10s 6d per annum. Object: The society meets for the discussion of social, political, and philosophical subjects, upon the first and third Wednesdays in each month, from October to July; chair taken at 8 o’clock.
LONDON MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 22, Albemarle-st. — Objects: The promotion and extension of mathematical knowledge.
METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, 30, Great George-street, Westminster.
— Subscription: Entrance fee, £1; annual subscription, £1 Object:  The advancement of meteorological science. Meetings for the reading and discussion of papers are held on the third Wednesday in the month, November to June. A quarterly journal of the proceedings of the society is published, and sent free to all Fellows. Standard observations are made by well-qualified an approved observers at inspected and authorised stations of the society distributed throughout the United Kingdom, and abstracts of the observations are printed in the journal The library and office of the society, at 30, Great George-street, Westminster, open between the hours of 10 and 5. The meetings are held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George-street, Westminster
NUMISMATIC SOCIETY OF LONDON, 4, St. Martin’s-place, Trafalgar-square. — Subscription: £1 1s. per annum; entrance fee £1 1s. Object: The study of the history of money in classical, medieval, and modern times.
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN, 17, Bloomsbury-square.- Subscription: Members £1 1s. per annum; associates. 10s 6d. Object: For the purpose of advancing chemistry and pharmacy, and promoting a uniform system of education of those who practise the same; and to provide a fund for he relief of distressed members, their widows, and orphans.
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 16, New Burlington-st. — Subscription: Entrance fee, £2 2s.; annual subscription, £1 1s; life composition, £12 12s. Object: The encouragement and prosecution of researches into the arts and monuments of the early and middle ages. A journal is issued quarterly, called the “Archaeological Journal.”
ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Burlington House, Piccadilly.— Subscription: Entrance fee in all cases, £2 2s. annual subscription, £2  2s. ; life composition, £21. Object: The Royal Astronomical Society was instituted for the encouragement and promotion of astronomy.
ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY OF LONDON, Inner Circle, Regent’s-park.— Subscription: Candidates for admission to the society must be proposed by 3 Fellows of the society, and elected by ballot. Persons elected Fellows pay an admission fee of £5 5s., and an annual contribution of £2 2s., or one sum of £26 5s., which payment includes the admission fee, and exempts them from all further contributions. The widows or the widowers of deceased Fellows, upon being themselves elected Fellows, are exempted from the admission fee. Annual subscriptions are due on the 1st day of January, in advance. Fellows are entitled to vote at general meetings, to personal admission to the gardens, &c., whenever they are open, and to the personal admission of 2 friends to the gardens, &c., on ordinary occasions. Persons elected member shall pay a sum of £10 10s. Members have personal admission the gardens, &c., whenever they are open, for life, but not the privilege of admitting friends to the gardens. Object: This society was incorporated in 1839 by royal charter granted to several noblemen and gentlemen for the “Promotion of Botany in all its branches, and its application to Medicine, Arts, and Manufacture and also for the formation of extensive Botanical and Ornamental Gardens within the immediate vicinity of the metropolis.” It is composed of Fellows and members elected by ballot, and its affairs are managed by a president an council. The gardens of the society comprise the whole of the inner circle of the Regent’s-park, held under a Crown lease, terminating in the year 1901. The principle features are an ornamental park-like promenade of nearly 20 acres, an ornamental piece of water, winter garden, covering about 20,000 ft. of ground, hothouses and a tank for tropical plants; collections of medico-botanical, economic, and other plants and trees arranged in the order of their natural affinities in the open ground; a library of botanical works, and a museum, which is also used as a lecture-room; so that copious illustrations are provided for professors, students, and artists in aid of their respective pursuits—to whom orders for free admissions are granted under certain regulations. Lectures on botanical subjects are delivered in the museum. Exhibitions of plants and fruits for prizes take place at stated periods during the spring and summer; provision is also made for extensive displays of special plants during the season. On promenade, exhibition, and fete days, bands of music are engaged.
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 1, Savile-row, Burlington-gardens.— Subscription: Entrance fee, £3; annual subscription, £2; life composition (including entrance fee), £28. Object: To collect, digest, and print, in a cheap and convenient form, useful and interesting facts and discoveries. To collect a library of geographical works, voyages and travels ; instruments, maps and charts, as well as such documents and materials as might convey the readiest information to persons intending to visit foreign countries, and who might again in their turn there deposit the results of their observations for the benefit of the public. To prepare brief instructions for such as are setting out on their travels, pointing out the parts most desirable to be visited; the best and most practical means of proceeding thither; the researches most essential to make phenomena to be observed; the subjects of natural history most desirable to be procured; and to obtain all such information as might tend to the extension of our geographical knowledge. To correspond with similar societies in different parts of the world, and with individuals engaged in geographical pursuits. To reward with a medal, or otherwise, such individuals as, in the opinion of the council, had of late contributed most towards the advancement of geographical science and discovery. Periodical publication: Annual “Journal,” illustrated with numerous maps. Monthly periodical: “Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, and Monthly Record of Geography,” illustrated with one or more maps.
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 9, Conduit-street, Hanover-square, and 33, Bloomsbury-street. — Subscription:  (no information). Object: The investigation of the archaeology, history, arts, and chronology of ancient and modern Assyria, Palestine, Egypt, and other Biblical lands.

Servants vary even more than most commodities. The best way to get one is to select from the advertisements in the daily papers. The next best, to advertise your wants (see ADVERTISING), though this will expose you to the attacks of a consider able class who will call simply for the purpose of extorting their “expenses.” In either case insist upon a personal character. Written characters are not worth reading. It is not a safe plan to go to a Registry unless you know all about it first, though there are some which are really trustworthy. But a servant who once finds his or her way to a Registry Office is almost always unsettled, and no sooner in a place than looking out for another. The average London wages may be set down as: Butlers, £40 to £100; Footmen, £20 to £40; Pages, £8 to £15; Cooks, £18 to £50; House. maids, £10 to £25; Parlour-maids. £12 to £30; “General Servants,”  Anglice Maids of all Work, £6 to £15. A month’s notice required before leaving or dismissing; but in the latter case a month’s wages (and board wages if demanded) will suffice. For serious misconduct a servant can be discharged without notice. When left in town, additional board wages will be required at the rate of about 10s. per week. If economy is necessary, bear in mind that the payment of commissions from tradesmen to servants is an almost universal London custom, and a fruitful source of deliberate waste. “Kitchen stuff” is another expensive institution, specially designed to facilitate the consumption of articles, on the replacing of which cook may make her little profit. Dripping, perquisite for which all cooks will make at least a fight, not only means a good deal more than its name would imply, but leads to the spoiling of your meat by surreptitious stabbings that the juice may run away more freely. This ingenious arrangement is also much favoured of late years by the butcher, who nowadays in “jointing” always cuts well into the meat. Give good wages, and let it be clearly understood before hiring that no perquisites are allowed. A serious mistake, and one too often made, is to lay down the hard-and-fast rule “no followers allowed.” Servants always have had and always will have followers, whether their masters and mistresses like it or no. It is much wiser to recognise this fact, and to authorise the Visits of the “follower” at proper times and seasons, first taking pains to ascertain that his antecedents and character are good. Police-courts will convict for the annexation of “perquisites” which have not been sanctioned. The giving a false character to a servant is an offence against the law, and can be prosecuted as such.

Seven Dials,—This locality is celebrated as the heart of one of the poorest districts in London.
Of late years various improvements have been made in the neighbourhood, and the Dials are now traversed by omnibuses, and have made considerable progress towards civilisation. The locality is still a singular one, and as it lies in close proximity to the West-end, it can be easily visited by those curious to see the inner life of London. The readiest approach to it is from St. Martin’s-lane, crossing between Cranborne-street and Long-acre. Turning up northwards here, the stranger finds himself in a street altogether unique in its way. It is the abode of bird-fanciers. Every variety of pigeon, fowl, and rabbit can be found here, together with rare birds, such as hawks and owls, parrots, love-birds, and other species native and foreign. Then is a shop for specimens for aquaria, with its tanks of water-beetles, newts, water-spiders, and other aquatic creatures. Others are devoted to British song-birds, larks, thrushes bull-finches, starlings, blackbirds, &c.
Here and there are shops filled with cages of all kinds and sorts, and one or two dog-fanciers have also settled here. Passing through this lane we are in the Dials, a point where seven streets meet. If it is desired to see poor London it is better not to go straight on, to turn up any of the side streets. Here poverty is to be seen in its most painful features. The shops sell nothing but second or third hand articles—old dresses, old clothes, old hats, and at the top of the stairs of little underground cellars, old shoes, so patched and mended that it is questionable whether one particle of the original material remains in them. These streets swarm with children of all ages, engaged in any kind of game which childhood is capable of enjoying without the addition of expensive apparatus. Tip-cat, battledore and shuttlecock, are great favourites about the Dials, and the passer-by must guard his face or take the consequences. Children sit on door-steps and on the pavement, they play in the gutter, they chase each other in the road ,and dodge in and out of houses. It is evident that the School Board has not much power in the neighbourhood of the Dials. Public-houses abound, and it is evident that whatever there may be a lack of in the Dials there is no lack of money to pay for drink. At night the public-houses are ablaze with light, and on Saturday evenings there is a great sound of shouting and singing through the windows, while the women stand outside and wait hoping against hope that their husband, will come out before the week’s money is all spent. Nowhere within reach of the West-end of London can such a glimpse of the life of the poorer classes be obtained as on a Saturday evening at the Dials.

Shoeblacks—The red uniform of the Shoeblack Brigade is now so familiar to Londoners that they are apt to forget how recently it has appeared in the streets, and to whom is due the initiation of the system which has worked so well. The first society to start the system of shoeblack brigades was that of the Ragged Schools Saffron-hill. The wants of London pedestrians are now supplied by nine such societies whose object it is, not only to find employment for poor and honest boys as shoeblacks, but also to educate them, and to give them a start in the world. The average earnings of the 400 boys on the list at these societies are nearly £12,000 a year a fourth of which amount is earned by the red-uniformed boys of the Saffron-hill brigade, which is about seventy or eighty strong. Of this number more than forty boys sleep on the premises. All the lads belonging to the societies are licensed by the chief commissioners of the Cit and Metropolitan Police, under the provisions of 30 & 31 Vict. c.134. Licenses are granted to boys not belonging to any society, and a guerilla horde of unlicensed shoeblacks, who are subject to no discipline or supervision, infest the streets and annoy the passenger.

Siam —CONSULATE, 5, Great Winchester-street. NEAREST Railway Stations, Moorgate-street and Mansion Hos; Omnibus Routes, Old Broad-street and Moorgate-street; Cab Rank, New
Broad-street.

Sight-Seeing,—Sight-seeing in the opinion of many experienced travellers, is best avoided altogether. It may well be, however, that this will be held to be a matter of opinion, and that sight-seeing will continue to flourish until the arrival of that traveller of Lord Macaulay’s, who has found his way into so many books and newspapers, hut whose nationality shall not be hinted at here. One piece of advice to the intending sight-seer is at all events sound. Never go to see anything by yourself. If the show be a good one, you will enjoy yourself all the more in company; and the solitary contemplation of anything that is dull and tedious is one of the most depressing experiences of human life. Furthermore, an excellent principle—said to be of American origin—is never to enquire how far you may go, but to go straight on until you are told to stop. The enterprising sight-seer who proceeds on this plan, and who understands the virtues of “palm oil,” is sure to see everything he cares to see.

Skating Club, Archers’ Hall, Regent’s-park, and 1, Devonport-street, Hyde-park. Subscription: £2 2s. per annum; entrance fee £3 3s. Object: For the practice of “figure” skating.

Skating Rinks – COMPTON SKATING RINK, Canonbury-road, St. Pauls-road, Highbury. – Open from 10 a.m. till  5 p.m., and from 6 p.m. till 10 pm. Plimpton’s skates. Admission 1s., skates 6d. Lawn-tennis courts are open during the day at 2s. per court per hour. A tennis club and skating club meet on Wednesdays. Schools admitted at half price on Wednesday afternoons; and season tickets for various terms are issued
LACEY’S, Exmouth-street, Commercial-road, E.— Open daily until 10 p.m. Various skates. Admission 1s., including use of skates.
MARBLE RINK, 143, Clapham-road.—Open from 10 am. till 10 p.m. Plimpton’s skates. Admission by shilling, season, and family tickets on the pro rata system.
SOUTH KENSINGTON SKATING-RINK, Thistle-grove, South Kensington.—Open from 11 a.m. till 1 p.m., 3 till 6 p.m., 7.30 till 10.30p.m. Plimpton’s skates. Admission 1s., skates 6d. Season ticket, £3 3S. Special terms for family tickets.