And he had before long, occasion to interview the King about a matter wider and even more urgent than the problem of the halberdiers and the omnibus.

This was the great question which then and for long afterwards brought a stir to the blood and a flush to the cheek of all the speculative builders and house agents from Shepherd's Bush to the Marble Arch, and from Westbourne Grove to High Street, Kensington.

I refer to the great affair of the improvements in Notting Hill.

The scheme was conducted chiefly by Mr.Buck, the abrupt North Kensington magnate, and by Mr.
Wilson, the Provost of Bayswater.

A great thoroughfare was to be driven through three boroughs, through West Kensington, North Kensington and Notting Hill, opening at one end into Hammersmith Broadway, and at the other into Westbourne Grove.