But the two most interesting houses were (for one has disappeared, and its site is covered by a mushroom block of red brick flats, and although the other still remains, it is empty and will probably soon go the way of all old buildings) Ashburnham House and Ely House. The former, with its gateway and lodge designed by Robert Adam in 1773, was the town house of the Earls of Ashburnham, but others beside that family occasionally inhabited it, and for a time it was the Russian Embassy; Prince Lieven being the first ambassador residing here, and Pozzo di Borgo the last. Ely House, designed by Sir Robert Taylor, has been, since 1772, the town residence of the Bishops of Ely, and was conveyed to that See in exchange for Ely Place, Holborn. Dover Street has always been rather famous for its hotels, and in this respect at least, its reputation is well sustained. Le Telier’s was one of the older ones, and is notable as being the house to which the Literary Club moved from Sackville Street, before going into St. James’s Street. [Sidenote: THE WHITE HORSE CELLAR.] Just before we reach Berkeley Street, we come to Hatchett’s Restaurant, the old “White Horse Cellar,” so named from the emblem in the crest of the House of Hanover. The old original “White Horse Cellar,” whence in the good old days the coaches left on their way to the west, stood nearly opposite, close to Arlington Street. As may be seen from old sporting prints, the outside of the original house was covered on particular occasions with oil lights of various colours--lights which many a jaded traveller must have seen with pleasure, and many a fresh one left with regret. One of these occasions was the King’s birthday, when the coachmen and guards donned new scarlet liveries, and even the coaches were touched up. Sir Vincent Cotton, Capt. Probyn, Lord Worcester and Sir Thomas Jones were among the amateur whips who frequently handled the ribbons and tooled their coaches down the intricacies of Piccadilly; and we can quite believe Hazlitt when he says that “the finest sight in the metropolis is the setting off of the mail coaches from Piccadilly.” [Illustration: THE WHITE HORSE CELLAR--HATCHETT’S RESTAURANT--PICCADILLY (_From a Drawing by George Cruikshank._)]