The block of small alms-houses at present existing in the Harrow-road, said to have been built in 1714, on a portion of what had been Paddington Green, is the oldest charitable building in Paddington; but the endowment, if there ever was one, has merged into other estates; for no endowment now exists. Sixteen poor old women belonging to the parish, are still supported there out of the poor rates; but the inmates think themselves not so far degraded as they would be, if obliged to become tenants of the great parish poor-house; although in the latter they might have a less confined crib, and perhaps, a more generous diet; but _there_ they would not be free. Now they can ramble about at pleasure; and when at home, for each little room is a home, they can dwell upon the remembrance of those pretty little flower gardens, which formerly existed in front of these almshouses, and which may have attracted them in their younger days, when perhaps, they little thought of becoming the recipients of alms. With the alteration of the Harrow-road, which added “thirty feet in depth” to the church-yard, and I presume the same quantity to that strip of the Green, which was so kindly offered to the parish for four thousand pounds, and a portion of which was purchased for £2,000, these little attractions vanished; and a considerable portion of the “thirteen feet ten inches” of flower garden, which existed on the north side of this charitable institution, now forms a part of the altered road; while on the garden to the south, the vestry-room, the police-station, the infant-school, and other buildings, have been erected. The great charitable Institution of modern Paddington, is St. Mary’s Hospital, situated in Cambridge-place. “Its establishment was commenced in 1843, and His Royal Highness Prince Albert was pleased to lay the first stone on the twenty-eighth of June, 1845.” Thomas Hopper, Esq. made the design gratuitously; and Mr. Winsland’s tender of £33,787 was accepted for the building; which, when complete, was intended to hold 380 beds. A portion of this building, “with all the requisite appurtenances, capable of containing 150 beds,” was opened for the reception of fifty patients on the thirteenth of June, 1851; 332 patients were admitted into the wards of the Hospital, during the first six months; the average duration of their stay being twenty two days.