Beginning our promenade at Hammersmith, we pause before a fine old Williamite or Queen Anne mansion, on the right, of a cheerful red--“The Mall House,” it is called--with a suitable old gate of twisted iron, and a little lawn in front. In looking at an imposing specimen of this kind one is ever struck by the admirable proportions, and the mode in which the windows and doorways are disposed to each other. There is a grace--and proportion, too--in the two or three steps which, as it were, unfold themselves with a slight rail on each side, which expand fan-like, without the unnecessary _spikes_. This old mansion had originally overhanging eaves, and no doubt a high roof; but some modern occupant has raised the whole a story, using common yellow brick instead, with shocking and barbarous effect, and the whole stands an extraordinary monument of wanton disfigurement; for it would have been as easy and as cheap to have made the alteration somewhat in harmony. I never pass this somewhat roughly used mansion without a feeling of sympathy, if not sorrow. Further on we arrive at Linden House, a very solid structure of yellow brick, after a style that was in fashion during the last century, with wings, bows, and a little belfry--always a pleasing finish--and of an honest buff. This style is to be found on Clapham and other commons. Pursuing our walk to Chiswick we find something to interest and please at every step--the Eyot, the barges again, the genial, tranquil air, and the old houses with the older gardens, such as Cedar House, with its spreading trees on the pretty lawn; Walpole House, with its simple gate; Lingard, or Bedford, House, an imposing solid structure. Here is the unpretending-looking yard and factories where small steam launches and such fry are being manufactured by Messrs. Thorneycroft. We turn up Chiswick Lane, and note, on the left, a row of genteel ancient houses--infirm, no doubt, and not a little “ratty”--with a row of trim and pedantic old trees standing sentry in the path in front. CHAPTER XXX. CHISWICK, KEW, RICHMOND, AND THEIR SUBURBS.