1780 — 85 .]

THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

133

The best view of the river facade of SomersetHouse is from Waterloo Bridge, whence it appearstruly a magnificent pile, worthy of being the abode ofSovereigns. It is visited on Sundays by hundreds ofindividuals, principally of the lower orders, who are,however, attracted more by one spot in the building,than by its general architectural features. Duringthe first months of my residence in Somerset House,I was considerably surprised by invariably seeing thevisitors cross the quadrangle in a straight line, andplanting themselves within a convenient distance ofthe opposite wall, gaze eagerly upwards, pointingalways to one spot which presents no architecturaldecoration, and, in fact, only forms part of the plainwall. Utterly unable to solve this riddle, I appliedto an older resident for an explanation. He smiledat my query, and asked had I never heard of thewatch. On my answering in the negative, he toldme the following traditionary story. When the wall,to which I have alluded, was being built, a workmanhad the misfortune to fall from the scaffolding, andwas arrested in his descent by his watch-chain catch-ing some portion of it. Thus wonderfully preserved,his gratitude led him (he must have been a Mile-sian) to insert his watch into the face of the wall, asa memento of his escape. So runs the story; howtraditionary in its origin, may be judged by the fact,that the watch-face was placed in its present situa-tion, some years ago, by the Royal Society , as a meri-

of carving names, that it became necessary to keep the gates lockedon this, as well as on other days. I once caught a young vaga-bond cutting his name deep on the nose of one of the magnificentlions!