[2] Stow’s “Survey,” p. 829, edit. 1618.

    [3] Ibid. p. 130.

    [4] Ibid.

    [5] The church of St. Mary le Strand was first termed St. Mary le
        Strand Cross; but, as the Protector Somerset, in the reign of
        Edward VI. deprived the inhabitants of it, in order to afford
        a site for his intended palace (Somerset House), our
        historians have barely mentioned it, some of whom suppose it
        to have been alluded to in the decretal sentence of Stephen,
        Archbishop of Canterbury, 1222, already mentioned under the
        name of the Innocents.  The parishioners, thus deprived of
        their place of worship, were compelled to find admittance at
        the neighbouring churches, till the commissioners for
        erecting fifty new ones determined this parish should contain
        one of the number.—­Malcolm.

    [6] Stow’s “Survey,” p. 130, edit. 1618.

    [7] The old May-pole often mentioned as in a state of decay in
        various publications, which stood almost on the site of the
        present church, was removed in 1713, and a new one erected
        July 4, opposite Somerset House, which had two gilt balls and
        a vane on the summit, decorated on rejoicing days with flags
        and garlands.—­When the second May-pole was taken down, in
        May, 1718, Sir Isaac Newton procured it from the inhabitants,
        and afterwards sent it to the Rev. Mr. Pound, rector of
        Wanstead, Essex, who obtained permission from Lord Castlemain
        to erect it in Wanstead Park, for the support of the then
        largest telescope in Europe, made by Monsieur Hugon, and
        presented by him to the Royal Society, of which he was a
        member.  This enormous instrument, 125 feet in length, had not
        long remained in the park, when the following limping verses
        were affixed to the May-pole: 

“Once I adorn’d the Strand,
But now have found
My way to pound,
In Baron Newton’s land;
Where my aspiring head aloft is rear’d,
T’ observe the motions of the ethereal herd.

“Here sometimes rais’d a machine by my side,
Through which is seen the sparkling milky tide: 
Here oft I’m scented with a balmy dew,
A pleasing blessing which the Strand ne’er knew.

“There stood I only to receive abuse,
But here converted to a nobler use;
So that with me all passengers will say,
I’m better far than when the Pole of May.”

* * * * *

THE LAST WISH.

(For the Mirror.)

Edward Rose, who died at Barnes, bequeathed an annual amount of 20_l_. to the parish, on condition that rose-trees should be planted round his tomb.