[Illustration: THE MARBLE ARCH, HYDE PARK.]
[Illustration: THE ALBERT MEMORIAL.]
[Illustration: THE PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE, NEW MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,
SOUTH KENSINGTON.]
When the Marble Arch was taken from Buckingham Palace, it was removed to
Hyde Park, of which it forms one of the chief entrances at Cumberland
Gate. This magnificent gate, which cost $400,000, leads into probably
the best known of the London parks, the ancient manor of Hyde. It was an
early resort of fashion, for the Puritans in their time complained of it
as the resort of "most shameful powdered-hair men and painted women." It
covers about three hundred and ninety acres, and has a pretty sheet of
water called the Serpentine. The fashionable drive is on the southern
side, and here also is the famous road for equestrians known as Rotten
Row, which stretches nearly a mile and a half. On a fine afternoon in
the season the display on these roads is grand. In Hyde Park are held
the great military reviews and the mass-meetings of the populace, who
occasionally display their discontent by battering down the railings. At
Hyde Park Corner is a fine entrance-gate, with the Green Park Gate
opposite, surmounted by the Wellington bronze equestrian statue. The
most magnificent decoration of Hyde Park is the Albert Memorial,
situated near the Prince's Gate on the southern side. The upper portion
is a cross, supported by three successive tiers of emblematic gilt
figures, and at the four angles are noble groups representing the four
quarters of the globe. This was the masterpiece of Sir Gilbert Scott,
and is considered the most splendid monument of modern times. It marks
the site of the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, in which Prince
Albert took great interest: there are upon it one hundred and sixty-nine
life-size portrait figures of illustrious artists, composers, and poets,
while under the grand canopy in the centre is the seated figure of the
prince. Opposite is the Royal Albert Hall, and behind this the
magnificent buildings of the South Kensington Museum, which grew out of
the Exhibition of 1851, and the site for which was bought with the
surplus fund of that great display. This is a national museum for art
and manufactures allied to art. Its collections are becoming enormous
and of priceless value, and include many fine paintings, among them
Raphael's cartoons, with galleries of sculpture and antiquities and
museums of patent models. There are art-schools and libraries, and the
buildings, which have been constructing for several years, are of rare
architectural merit. The Royal Albert Hall is a vast amphitheatre of
great magnificence devoted to exhibitions of industry, art, and music.
It is of oval form, and its external frieze and cornice are modelled
after the Elgin Marbles. Opposite it are the gardens of the
Horticultural Society.