Time was, when here, where palaces now stand, Where dwell at ease the magnates of the land, A barren waste existed, fetid, damp, Cheered by the ray of no enlivening lamp! A marshy spot, where not one patch of green, No stunted shrub, nor sickly flower was seen; But all things base, the refuse of the town, Loathsome and rank, in one foul mass were thrown; Breeding the vapours that in fever’s hour Lend to Disease its desolating power, And quench the life of thousands, like the blight, Noiseless, but sure, that in a single night Upon the blossoms’ opening bloom descends, And brooding rests, till all their promise ends. Belgravia was and still is within the manor of Ebury, and in ancient times within the parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. It now belongs to St. George’s, Hanover Square, but subdivided; about half pertaining each to St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, and St. Peter’s, Pimlico. The early history of this manor has been already noticed; now for its modern. King George III., on taking up his residence at Buckingham House, wished to purchase the fields lying immediately contiguous, in order to prevent buildings being erected so as to overlook his garden. The Lock Hospital stood then alone, but it was apparent that the ground would soon be occupied, if the King should fix his abode so near. He therefore entered into a negotiation for its purchase, but George Grenville, then Minister, refused to sanction the expenditure of the sum demanded, viz., £20,000, and Grosvenor Place was accordingly commenced building in 1767. The streets running from this line were terminated by high mud banks, which formed a boundary no traveller ventured over. The other side formed a part of the Five Fields, and it was not till 1825 that the determination was come to to cover it with houses. Mr. Thomas Cubitt and Mr. Seth Smith then took leases from the Marquis of Westminster, and Belgravia speedily arose.