Since Stuart and early Hanoverian days, times have changed for Chelsea and Kensington; they are now,--as more distant Hammersmith and Fulham are rapidly becoming, and as Putney and Dulwich soon threaten to be,--integral parts of the "monster London," that, like a great irresistible flood, in spreading absorbs all the peaceful little pools that lie in its path. The squalor and the gloom, as well as the splendour and the riches of the great city, are now their heritage. Never more will the waves lap peacefully at Chelsea along the river's shelving shores; never again will the streets and squares of old Kensington regain their former seclusion and calm. Instead, a modern, and, let us hope, a yearly more beautiful city will spread, gradually and certainly, over all the available area. Chelsea and Kensington in the past have had many glories; who can say what splendid fortune may yet be theirs? And we who lament the inevitable changes of time, must remember that they are still living cities, hallowed by their past, interesting by their present, but whose greater and more enduring magnificence is yet to come. CHAPTER XI BLOOMSBURY "Some love the Chelsea river gales, And the slow barges' ruddy sails, And these I'll woo when glamour fails In Bloomsbury. "Enough for me in yonder square To see the perky sparrows pair, Or long laburnum gild the air In Bloomsbury. "Enough for me in midnight skies To see the moons of London rise, And weave their silver fantasies In Bloomsbury. "Oh, mine in snows and summer heats, These good old Tory brick-built streets! My eye is pleased with all it meets In Bloomsbury." [Illustration: _The German Band._]