Wanderings in London, Piccadilly, Mayfair, and Pall Mall (ePub)

Dr. Johnson in one of his rhetorical flights said that Charing Cross was practically the centre of the universe. "I think," he observed to Boswell, on a celebrated occasion, "the full tide of human existence is at Charing Cross." Theodore Hook, on the other hand, considered that that small area in St. James's, bounded by Piccadilly and Pall Mall, St. James's Street and Waterloo Place, was the acme of fashion, and contained within itself all that was best worth cultivating in the Metropolis.
Like all generalizations, neither of these dicta will bear the test of logical analysis. Hook's favourite quarter has undergone many a change, and its present-day equivalent is more likely to be found in that larger area known to all the world as Mayfair. Similarly, although much of the tide of human existence still flows past the spot where Queen Eleanor's body rested for the last time, on its way to the Abbey, that tide flows as fully and with as much noisy vehemence past half a hundred other crowded spots in London. It is probable, however, that at no one point does it surge and rage (to carry on the metaphor), with greater force than at the spot where Piccadilly and Bond Street join. At this spot stands "Stewart's"-famed all the world over. I say "Stewart's," as I should say in Venice, "Florian's," or in New York, "Delmonico's"; for there are certain famous establishments in all great cities which require no more specific designation.