TRADITIONS OF HYDE PARK CORNER.-SIR THOMAS WYATT.-CHARLES THE SECOND AND THE DUKE OF YORK.-SIR SAMUEL MORLAND.-WINSTANLEY.POPE. LORD LANESBOROUGH.-APSLEY HOUSE.-THE PILLARS OF HERCULES. -ORIGIN OF THE NAME PICCADILLY.-EMINENT PERSONS WHO HAVE LIVED IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
YDE Park Corner, the chief western approach to London, is a not inappropriate place from which to commence our antiquarian rambles. The spot itself is singularly interesting. It was here that Sir Thomas Wyatt "planted his ordnance" in his famous attempt on London in 1554; and here also, on the site of Hamilton Place, on the threatened approach of Charles the First and his army in 1642, the citizens of London hastily threw up a large fort and four bastions, in which zealous work they were enthusiastically aided by their wives and daughters.
"From ladies down to oyster-wenches,
Laboured like pioneers in trenches;
Fell to their pickaxes and tools,
And helped the men to dig like moles."--Hudibras.
It was at Hyde Park Corner that Charles the Second deli