23 AUGUST 1913, Page 27

SOME BOOKS OF THE - WEEK.

[Under this heading tea notice such Books of the week as hare oot been resorted for review in other forms.) Survey of London. Vol. IV.: "Chelsea," Part II. Edited by Sir Laurence Gomme and Philip Norman. (Published by the London County Council. 21s. net.)—This volume completes the records of the parish of Chelsea, with the exception only of the old church and Royal Hospital, which are to be treated in a separate volume. The ground actually covered is com- prised between Church Street on the east and the Turner House, Cheyne Walk, and Stanley House, King's Road, on the west, and includes the site of Beaufort House, once the resi- dence of Sir Thomas More; Lindsey House, now inhabited by Sir Hugh Lane, probably the most interesting of the old houses now surviving in the parish; the transplanted Crosby Hall; the little-known Catharine Lodge, with its fine garden, in Trafalgar Square ; as well as Cheyne Row, the fast- disappearing relics of the old villas about "the Vale," and the residences of Carlyle, Turner, Leigh Hunt, Whistler (a number of these), and Dr. Arne—rather inadequately described as "a well-known musical composer and writer of light operas, and worthy of commemoration if only as the composer of 'Rule Britannia.'" The book makes one realize sadly how fast the old monuments are going. Such slums as Paradise and Franklin's Row one need not regret, but the loss of the Vale (in spite of the real excellence of much of the new build- ing that is taking its place) remains irremediable. Argyll House was only just saved from the jerry builder; Cheyne House (Upper Chun° Row) is falling to pieces; Box Farm, in Markham Square, has gone. It is valuable, therefore, to have so careful a record as that which is contained in the County Council's volumes. The work is most thoroughly done both with regard to illustrations and historical notes, and every lover of Chelsea should try to secure a copy.