Charles with his dogs, his ducks, his wit, his engaging manners, his doubtful morals, is the central figure of many a picture in St. James’s Park, but it does not often form a background to his Queen. One scene described by Pepys has much charm. The party, returning from Hyde Park on horseback with a great crowd of gallants, pass down the Mall; the Queen, riding hand in hand with the King, looking “mighty pretty” in her white laced coat and crimson petticoat. Again, on another occasion, the Queen forms an attractive vision, as she walks with her ladies from Whitehall to St. James’s dressed from head to foot in silver lace, each holding an immense green fan to shade themselves from the fierce rays of the June sun, while a delighted crowd throng round them. The popularity of the Mall as the rendezvous of all classes lasted for over a century. Through the reigns of Queen Anne and George I. and II. all the fashionable world of London congregated there twice daily. In the morning the promenade took them there from twelve to two, and after dinner in full dress they thronged thither again, not to play the game of paille-maille, which was then out of fashion, but simply to walk about under the trees and be amused with races, wrestlings, or an impromptu dance. Every well-known person--courtiers, wits, beaux, writers, poets, artists, soldiers--and all the beautiful and fascinating women, great ladies as well as more humble charmers, and bold adventuresses, were to be seen there daily. The crowds seem to have been very free in their admiration of some of the distinguished ladies. When the three lovely Misses Gunning captivated everybody with their wit and beauty, they had only to appear in the Mall to be surrounded by admirers. On one occasion they were so pressed by the curious mob that one of these matchless young charmers fainted and had to be “carried home in a sedan.”