BRICK-DUST
IS carried about the metropolis in small sacks on the backs of asses, and is sold at one penny per quart. As Brick-dust is scarcely used in London for any other purpose than that of knife-cleaning, the criers are not numerous; but they are remarkable for their fondness and their training of bull-dogs. This predilection they have in common with the lamp-lighters of the metropolis.
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Portman Square, which forms the other subject of the Plate, is large and handsome. It stands in Marybone, to the north of Oxford-street. In the middle of the square is an oval enclosure, which is ornamented with clumps of trees, flowering shrubs, and ever greens. In the background of the Plate, the large centre house is the town residence of the Duke of Athol: it was formerly occupied by the French ambassadors. The ceilings and compartments of the wainscot are decorated, with great taste, with paintings by Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman. In the salle a manger, and the breakfast-room, the subjects are taken from Virgil's Georgics, and those in the drawing-room from the Æneid. The staircases are also ornamented with some fine designs by the former artist. On the left of the Plate, in the north-west corner, standing obliquely to the square, and surrounded by an extensive garden, stands Montague House, the residence of the late celebrated Mrs. Montague, the foundress of the well-known meeting of literary ladies, distinguished by the name of the Blue Stocking Club; an appellation which it received from the singular dress of a gentleman (in always wearing blue stockings), who was the only male person permitted to intrude into this female coterie, and who acted as moderator upon any question which occasioned difference of opinion. The corner house, seen in the Plate, adjoining to the Duke of Athol's, is the residence of Mr. Hamilton Nesbitt, where are deposited the curious antiquities sent by his brother-in-law, Lord Elgin, from Egypt; and in the stables are several very fine Arabian horses, sent over by the same nobleman.