Mansions of the Nobility.—London is not well supplied with noble mansions of an attractive character; they possess every comfort interiorly, but only a few of them have architectural pretensions. _Northumberland House_, lately alluded to, at the Charing Cross extremity of the south side of the Strand, looks more like a nobleman’s mansion than most others in London. It was built, in about 1600, by the Earl of Northampton, and came into the hands of the Percies in 1642. _Stafford House_ is perhaps the most finely situated mansion in the metropolis, occupying the corner of St. James’s and the Green Parks, and presenting four complete fronts, each having its own architectural character. The interior, too, is said to be the first of its kind in London. The mansion was built by the Duke of York, with money lent by the Marquis of Stafford, afterwards Duke of Sutherland; but the Stafford family became owners of it, and have spent at least a quarter of a million sterling on the house and its decorations. _Apsley House_, at the corner of Piccadilly and Hyde Park, is the residence of the Dukes of Wellington, and is closely associated with the memory of _the_ Duke. The shell of the house, of brick, is old; but stone frontages, enlargements, and decorations, were afterwards made. The principal room facing Hyde Park, with seven windows, is that in which the Great Duke held the celebrated Waterloo Banquet, on the 18th of June in every year, from 1816 to 1852. The windows were blocked up with bullet-proof iron blinds from 1831 to the day of his death in 1852; a rabble had shattered them during the Reform excitement, and he never afterwards would trust King Mob. [Picture: Apsley House, Hyde Park Corner, Wellington Statue. (Knightsbridge and Sloane Street in the distance.)] _Devonshire House_, in Piccadilly, faces the Green Park, and has a screen in front. It has no particular architectural character; but the wealthy Dukes of Devonshire have collected within it valuable pictures, books, gems, and treasures of various kinds. _Grosvenor House_, the residence of the Marquis of Westminster, is situated in Upper Grosvenor Street, and is celebrated for the magnificent collection of pictures known as the _Grosvenor Gallery_; a set of four of these pictures, by Rubens, cost £10,000. _Bridgewater House_, facing the Green Park, is a costly modern structure, built by Sir Charles Barry for the Earl of Ellesmere, and finished in 1851. It is in the Italian Palazzo style. Its chief attraction is the magnificent _Bridgewater Gallery_ of pictures, a most rare and choice assemblage. This gallery contains no fewer than 320 pictures, valued at £150,000 many years ago—though they would now, doubtless, sell for a much higher sum. {40} _Holland House_, Kensington, is certainly the most picturesque mansion in the metropolis; it has an old English look about it, both in the house and its grounds. The mansion was built in 1607, and was celebrated as being the residence,