"The stone on which the 'dials' were engraved or fixed, was sold with
it. The poet Gay, however, was wrong when he spoke of its seven faces.
It is hexagonal in its shape; this is accounted for by the fact that
two of the streets opened into one angle. It was not wanted to assist
in forming the monument, but was turned into a stepping-stone, near
the adjoining inn, to assist the infirm in mounting their horses, and
there it now lies, having sunk by degrees into the earth; but its
original form can still be easily surmised. It may be about three feet
in diameter.
"The column itself is about thirty feet high, and two feet in diameter,
displaying no great architectural taste. It is surmounted by a coronet,
and the base is enclosed by a light iron railing. An appropriate
inscription on one side of the base, indicates its erection in the year
1822; on the others, are some lines to the memory of the Duchess.
"Relics undergo strange transpositions. The Obelisk from the mystic
solitudes of the Nile to the centre of the Place de la Concorde in
bustling Paris--the monuments of Nineveh to the regions of Great
Russell Street--the frescoes from the long, dark, and silent Pompeii
to the bright and noisy Naples--all these are odd changes. But in
proportion to their importance, not much behind them is that of the
old column from the crowded, dismal regions of St. Giles to the sunny
tranquil Green of Weybridge."
[Illustration: Curtis the Biographer of Corder. An Old Bailey
Celebrity.]
An Old Bailey Character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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