The Kensington District | Page 8

rising to a height of 280 feet; in this is a peal of bells, ten in number, called after members of the royal family, and presented by an Australian lady. The Institute was the national memorial for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, and was designed to embody the colonial or Imperial idea by the collection of the native products of the various colonies, but it has not been nearly so successful as its fine idea entitled it to be. It was also formed into a club for Fellows on a payment of a small subscription, but was never very warmly supported. It is now partly converted to other uses. The London University occupies the main entrance, great hall, central block, and east wings (except the basement). There are located here the Senate and Council rooms, Vice-Chancellor's rooms, Board-rooms, convocation halls and offices, besides the rooms of the Principal, Registrars, and other University officers. At the Institute are also the physiological theatre and laboratories for special advanced lectures and research. The rest of the building is now the property of the Board of Trade, under whom the real Imperial Institute occupies the west wing and certain other parts of the building.
The Horticultural Gardens, which the Imperial Institute superseded, were taken by the Society in 1861, in addition to its then existing gardens at Chiswick. They were laid out in a very artificial and formal style, and were mocked in a contemporary article in the Quarterly Review: "So the brave old trees which skirted the paddock of Gore House were felled, little ramps were raised, and little slopes sliced off with a fiddling nicety of touch which would have delighted the imperial grandeur of the summer palace, and the tiny declivities thus manufactured were tortured into curvilinear patterns, where sea-sand, chopped coal, and powdered bricks atoned for the absence of flower or shrub." Every vestige of this has, of course, now vanished, and a new road has been driven past the front of the Institute.
The Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, and, like the other buildings already mentioned, is closely associated with the earlier half of her reign. The idea was due to Prince Albert, who wished to have a large hall for musical and oratorical performances. It is in the form of a gigantic ellipse covered by a dome, and the external walls are decorated by a frieze. The effect is hardly commendable, and the whole has been compared to a huge bandbox. However, it answers the purpose for which it was designed, having good acoustic properties, and its concerts, especially the cheap ones on Sunday afternoons, are always well attended. The organ is worked by steam, and is one of the largest in the world, having close on 9,000 pipes. The hall stands on the site of Gore House, in its time a rendezvous for all the men and women of intellect and brilliancy in England. It was occupied by Wilberforce from 1808 to 1821. He came to it after his illness at Clapham, which had made him feel the necessity of moving nearer to London, that he might discharge his Parliamentary duties more easily. His Bill for the Abolition of Slavery had become law shortly before, and he was at the time a popular idol. His house was thronged with visitors, among whom were his associates, Clarkson, Zachary Macaulay, and Romilly. What charmed him most in his new residence was the garden "full of lilacs, laburnum, nightingales, and swallows." He writes:
"We are just one mile from the turnpike at Hyde Park Corner, having about 3 acres of pleasure-ground around our house, or rather behind it, and several old trees, walnut and mulberry, of thick foliage. I can sit and read under their shade with as much admiration of the beauties of nature as if I were 200 miles from the great city."
In 1836 the clever and popular Lady Blessington came to Gore House, and remained there just so long as Wilberforce had done--namely, thirteen years. The house is thus described in "The Gorgeous Lady Blessington" (Mr. Molloy):
"Lying back from the road, from which it was separated by high walls and great gates, it was approached by a courtyard that led to a spacious vestibule. The rooms were large and lofty, the hall wide and stately, but the chiefest attraction of all were the beautiful gardens stretching out at the back, with their wide terraces, flower-beds, extensive lawns, and fine old trees."
Kensington Gore was then considered to be in the country, and spoken of as a mile from London. Count D'Orsay, who had married Lady Blessington's stepdaughter, rather in compliance with her father's wishes than his own inclination, spent much of his time with his mother-in-law, and at her receptions all the literary talent of the age was gathered