In 1812 the Regent's Canal was commenced, and the first stone of Plymouth Breakwater was laid. Vauxhall Bridge was also begun. Millbank Prison was also started this year, and in 1813 Whitecross Street Prison was commenced. Both these have ended their existence. To show how far in advance of their times they were, there was a proposition in 1814 to remove Smithfield Market to Islington, which has come to pass. In 1815, when Napoleon was supposed to be chained at Elba, home affairs again attracted attention, and we find Burlington Arcade in contemplation, Bethlehem Hospital, as we now know it, opened, and the first stones of Southwark Bridge and the London Institution were laid. So, also, the Post Office in Aldersgate Street was inaugurated. In 1816 Regent Street was being built, and "_Mr. Nash's Positive Order_" was duly discussed, and, I am afraid, a wee bit ridiculed. "Nash draws designs; but, honest Master Nash, Tho' you may draw--who answers with the cash?" Perhaps it might have been that he was architect to the Prince of Wales, and was thought very much of by the Regent. "Master Nash, Master Nash, You merit the lash, For debauching the taste of our Heir to the Throne, Then cross not the Seas, To rob the Chinese, But learn to grow wise from Vitruvius and Soane." We, who are accustomed to our modern London, will read, almost with astonishment, that in October, 1816, "It is said that Oxford Road is to be continued as far as Bayswater Brook, which, when completed, will make the longest street in Europe. When the New Post Office is finished, the Western Mails are to go out direct, along Holborn, instead of through the narrow streets, Charing Cross, Piccadilly, &c.; and it is said that a short cut is to be made into the other western road, angular from Shepherd's Bush to Hammersmith, which, certainly, would save a mile of ground." This "Bayswater brook" was that which now feeds the Serpentine, running from Hampstead, by Kilburn, and entering Hyde Park at its Northern part. On the 18th of June, 1817, the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, the new Bridge over the Thames, previously called the Strand Bridge, was opened as Waterloo Bridge, which name it now bears. In this year there is a little bit of gossip anent Marlborough House which may be interesting to some readers, especially as its use was foreshadowed: "The tenure of the magnificent house near St. James's Palace, which was granted to the first Duke of Marlborough, about a hundred years ago, expired, it is said, with the death of the last Duke; and now reverts to the Crown. This was the house in which Queen Anne resided before she ascended the throne, and it has been observed, that it would scarcely be possible to find a town mansion more suitable to the Heiress of the British Throne."