The improvements which originated in the Regency of George the Fourth, and converted Swallow-street, with its filthy labyrinthine environs, into the moet picturesque avenue of the metropolis, may be considered as the first step in the march of architectural embellishment which is now visible from the western entrance to Babylon the Great, at Hyde-park-corner, to the “far east,” where sits the old lady of Threadneedle-street, rubbing her eyes and spectacles in astonishment at finding herself the heart and centre of a city of palaces.

Where has commerce such a mart,
So rich, so thronged, so drained, and so supplied,
As LONDON—opulent, enlarged, and still
Increasing London? Babylon of old
Not more the glory of the earth than she,
A more accomplished world’s chief glory now!