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Old Bailey—the street which gives the name of common parlance to the great criminal court of the country, properly and officially styled-the Central Criminal Court, which stands on its north side under the same roof with Newgate Prison. It derives its name from the ballium or open space in front of the old City wall, along which it ran from Ludgate to Newgate. In the old days of public executions, Monday morning was often high festival in the Old Bailey, and Tom Noddy and McFuze, and Lieutenant Tregooze, and their friend Sir Carnaby Jenks of the Blues, would pay fabulous sums for a window in one of the public-houses opposite, from which to witness the edifying spectacle. There is nothing now to be seen on “hanging mornings” but a black flag, and the occupation of the tumbledown old taverns is to that extent gone. They are far from desolate, however, finding ample scope for their energies in providing for the smaller carrying trade of London, of which the Old Bailey may be roughly reckoned as the head-quarters. Almost every house in the street is a booking-office and place of call for at least a score or two of steady-going Barkises, who make their daily journeys to districts ignored by railways, and the student of eccentricities might waste his time to less purpose in many a more pretentious street.
 
Olympic Theatre, Wych-st, Drury-lane. A pretty little theatre, memorable for the triumphs of Vestris and Robson. In the palmy days of extravaganza it disputed the lead in that class of entertainment with the Lyceum. But it never took kindly to the modern vulgarities of burlesque, and of late years has eschewed that line altogether, and addicted itself chiefly to strong drama of a more or less romantic type. NEAREST Railway Station, Temple; Omnibus Route, Strand.
 
Omnibus —The omnibus service of London is chiefly in the hands of the London General Omnibus Company (Limited), whose carriages traverse the leading thoroughfares in every direction at regular intervals from early morn to midnight. Besides the company there are also on the principal routes one or two large private proprietors, and a considerable number of smaller owners, who run their vehicles more or less at discretion. The following are the principal lines:

[click on routes to view table ... all files c. 150KB. in size]

ABNEY-PARK (Weaver’s Arms) to VICTORIA STATION.
ACTON (Red Lion) to LONDON-BRIDGE.
ACTON to OXFORD-CIRCUS (Sundays).
ANGEL (Islington) to LONDON-BRIDGE.
BANK to BOROUGH.
BANK to HGHBURY.
BANK to PIMLICO.
BANK to SHEPHERD’S BUSH.
BANK to SOUTH HACKNEY.
BANK to WESTMINSTER
BANK to WIMBLEDON
BARNES to BISHOPSGATE STATION
BARNSBURY (Offord Arms) to KENNINGTON
BERMONDSEY (John Bull) to GRACECHURCH-ST.
BETHNAL GREEN (Old Ford) to CHELSEA
BISHOPSGATE STATION to BARNES
BISHOPSGATE STREET (St. Helen’s-place) to DEPTFORD
BLACKWALL to PICCADILLY CIRCUS
BOROUGH (Elephant and Castle) to BANK
BOW (King’s Arms) to OXFORD CIRCUS
BOW-ROAD (Burdett-road) to OXFORD CIRCUS
BRENTFORD-END to ST. PAULS
BRIXTON CHURCH to CHARING-CROSS
BRIXTON CHURCH to GRACECHURCH-ST.
BRIXTON CH. to NORWOOD
--
BRIXTON CH. to OXFORD-CIR.
BROAD-ST STATION to BROMPTON
BROAD-ST STATION to CANNON-ST STATION
BROAD-ST STATION to HAMMERSMITH
BROAD-ST STATION to KENSINGTON
BROAD-ST STATION to KEW
BROAD-ST STATION to RICHMOND
BROAD-ST STATION to SUNBURY
BROAD-ST STATION to TURNHAM-GR.
BROAD-ST STATION to WALHAM-GR.
BROMPTON (The Swan) to BROAD-ST STATION
BROMPTON (Queen’s Elm) to HOLLOWAY
BROMPTON (Queen’s Elm) to ISLINGTON
CAMBERWELL-GATE (Red Lion) to CAMDEN TOWN
CAMBERWELL (The Green) to GRACECHURCH-ST.
CAMBERWELL-GATE (Red Lion) to HACKNEY-ROAD
CAMBERWELL-GATE (Old Kent-rd) to ST. JOHN’S WOOD
CAMDEN TN (The Caste, Kentish-tn-rd) to KENNINGTON PARK
CAMDEN TN (Britannia) to NOTTING-HILL-FATE
CAMDEN TN (Britannia) to OLD KENT-ROAD
CAMDEN TN (Britannia) to VICTORIA STATION
CANNON-ST STATION to BROAD-ST STATION 
CHARING-CR (Trafalgar-sq.) to BRIXTON
--
CHARING-CR (Trafalgar-sq.) to KENNINGTON-PARK
CHARING-CROSS STATION to KILBURN
CHARING-CR STATION to NOTTING-HILL
CHELSEA (World’s End, King’s-road) to BETHNAL GREEN
CHELSEA (The Globe, King’s-road) to HOXTON
CLAPHAM-COMMON (The Plough) to GRACECHURCH-ST
CLAPTON (The Swan or Crooked Billet) to OXFORD CIRCUS via BANK
CLAPTON (The Swan) to OXFORD CIRCUS via ISLINGTON
CROYDON (New Inn) to REGENT-CIRCUS
DEPTFORD (Com. Docks) to BISHOPSGATE-ST
EALING (New Church) to LONDON-BRIDGE
EALING (New Church) to OXFORD-CIRCUS (Sundays)
ESSEX-ROAD (Three Brewers) to OLD KENT-ROAD
ELEPHANT AND CASTLE (Borough) to FARRINGDON-RD
ELEPHANT & CASTLE TO KINGSLAND-GATE
FARRINGDON-ROAD (Met. Station) to ELEPHANT AND CASTLE
FENCHURCH-ST STATION to KILBURN
FULHAM (Putney-br) to LONDON-BRIDGE
GENERAL POST-OFFICE to HOLLOWAY
GRACECHURCH-ST to BERMONDSEY
GRACECHURCH-ST (George and Gate) to BRIXTON
GRACECHURCH-ST to CAMBERWELL
GRACECHURCH-ST to CLAPHM.-COM.
GRACECHURCH-ST to MITCHAM
GRACECHURCH-ST (George & Gate) to PECKHAM
--
GRACECHURCH-ST (Talbot-court) to ROTHERHITHE
GRACECHURCH-ST to STREATHAM
GRACECHURCH-ST to TOOTING
GRACECHURCH-ST to TULSE-HILL
GRACECHURCH-ST to WANDSWORTH-RD.
HACKNEY to OXFORD-ST.
HACKNEY-RD. (Shoreditch Church) to CAMBERWELL-GATE
HACKNEY, SOUTH, (The Albion) to BANK
HAMMERSMITH (The Roebuck) to BROAD-ST. STATION
HAMPSTEAD (High-st.) to OXFORD-ST.
HAMPTON-COURT to ST.PAUL’S
HARROW-RD (Pr. of Wales, St. Peter’s-pk) to LONDON-BRIDGE
HAVERSTOCK-HILL (High-st.) to VICTORIA-STATION
HIGHBURY to BANK
HIGHGATE (Duke of St. Alban’s) to OXFORD-ST.
HOLLOWAY (Nag’s Head) to BROMPTON
HOLLOWAY (Nag’s Head) to GENERAL POST-OFFICE
HOLLOWAY (Nag’s Head) to LONDON-BRIDGE
HOLLOWAY (Nag’s Head) to VICTORIA STATION
HOLBORN (Old Bell Inn) to WENDOVER
HORNSEY (Seven Sisters’-rd) to LONDON-BRIDGE
HORNSEY-RISE (Shaftesbury Arms) to VICTORIA STATION
HOUNSLOW to ST. PAUL’S
HOXTON (Sturt’s Arms) to CHELSEA
--
ISLEWORTH (George Inn) to ST. PAUL’S
ISLINGTON (Duke of York) to BROMPTON
ISLINGTON (Offord Arms, Barnsbury) to KENNINGTON-PARK
ISLINGTON (Three Brewers, Essex-rd) to OLD KENT-ROAD
KENNINGTON to BARNSBURY
KENNINGTON (The Park) to CHARING-CROSS
KENNINGTON (by Elephant and Castle) to KENTISH TOWN
KENNINGTON-PARK to CAMDEN TN.
KENNINGTON-PARK to ISLINGTON
KENSAL-GN (William IV.) to LONDON-BRIDGE
KENSINGTON (The Church, High-st.) to BROAD-ST STATION
KENTISH TN. (Castle Tav.) to KENNINGTON
KENTISH TN. (Bull & Gate) to TRAFALGAR-SQ.
KEW-BRIDGE to BROAD-ST. STATION
KILBURN (The Lord Palmerston) to CHARING-CROSS
KILBURN (The Lord Palmerston) to FENCHURCH-ST.
KILBURN (The Cock, Kilburn-rd) to VICTORIA STATION
KINGSLAND-GATE (The Crown and Castle) to ELEPHANT AND CASTLE
LOMBARD-ST (The Bank) to STARCH GREEN
LONDON-BR. to ACTON
LONDON-BR. to ANGEL
LONDON-BR. to EALING
LONDON-BR. to FULHAM
LONDON-BR. to HARROW-ROAD
LONDON-BR. to HOLLOWAY
--
LONDON-BR. to HORNSEY
LONDON-BR. to KENSAL GREEN
LONDON-BR. to NOTTING HILL
LONDON-BR. to PUTNEY-BRIDGE
LONDON-BR. to ROYAL OAK
LONDON-BR. (via Oxford-st) to ROYAL OAK
LONDON-BR. to ST. JOHN’S WOOD
LONDON-BR. to UXBRIDGE
LONDON-BR. to WALHAM-GREEN
MILE END-RD (Burdett-rd.) to NOTTING HILL-GATE
MITCHAM (White Hart) to GRACECHURCH-ST.
MITCHAM (White Hart) to OXFORD-CIRCUS
NORWOOD (Cemetery) to BRIXTON CHURCH
NOTTING HILL (Earl of Lonsdale, Archer-st) to CHARING-CR.
NOTTING HILL (Clarendon-rd) to LONDON-BRIDGE
NOTTING HILL (Clarendon-rd) to WHITECHAPEL
NOTTING HILL-GATE to CAMDEN TOWN.
NOTTING HILL-GATE to MILE END-RD
OLD FORD to ROYAL EXCHANGE
OLD KENT-RD (The Swan) to CAMDEN TOWN
OLD KENT-RD (Lord Nelson) to ESSEX-RD
OLD KENT-RD (Lord Nelson) to ISLINGTON
OXFORD-CIRCUS to ACTON (Sundays)
--
OXFORD-CIRCUS to BOW
OXFORD-CIRCUS to BOW-ROAD (Burdett-rd)
OXFORD-CIRCUS to BRIXTON
OXFORD-CIR. to CLAPHAM-COMMON
OXFORD-CIRC. to CLAPTON (Crooked Billet)
OXFORD-CIRC. (Green Man and Still) to CLAPTON
OXFORD-CIR. to CROYDON
OXFORD-CIRCUS to EALING (Sundays)
OXFORD-CIRCUS (The Argyll) to MITCHAM
OXFORD-CIRCUS to PECKHAM (Rye-lane)
OXFORD-CIR. to PIMLICO
OXFORD-CIR. to STRATFORD
OXFORD-ST (Regent-circ.) to HACKNEY
OXFORD-ST (Tottenham-court-rd) to HAMPSTEAD
OXFORD-ST (Tottenham-court-rd) to HIGHGATE
OXFORD-ST to UXBRIDGE
PECKHAM (King’s Arms, Peckham-rye) to GRACECHURCH-ST.
PECKHAM (Rye-lane) to OXFORD-CIRCUS
PICCADILLY CIRCUS (Regent-st) to BLACKWALL
PIMLICO (Monster, Warwick-st) BANK
PIMLICO (Victoria Station) to OXFORD-CIRCUS
PORTLAND-RD STATION to REGENT-CIRCUS (Piccadilly)
PUTNEY BR. to LONDON-BRIDGE
REGENT-CIR. (Piccadilly) to PORTLAND-RD STATION
ROYAL EXCHANGE to OLD FORD
ROYAL EXCHANGE to SOUTH HACKNEY
RICHMOND to BROAD-ST STATION
--
ROTHERHITE (Red Lion) to GRACECHURCH-ST
ROYAL OAK (Bayswater) to LONDON-BRIDGE
ROYAL OAK (Bayswater) to LONDON-BRIDGE
ST. JOHN’S WOOD (Princess of Wales or Swiss Cot.) to CAMBERWELL-GT.
ST. JOHN’S WOOD (Princess of Wales) to LONDON-BRIDGE
ST. JOHN’S WOOD (Princess of Wales and Swiss Cot.) to WALWORTH-ROAD
ST. PAUL’S to BRENTFORD-END
ST. PAUL’S to HAMPTON COURT
ST. PAUL’S to HOUNSLOW
ST. PAUL’S to ISLEWORTH
SANDS END, FULHAM (Hand and Flower) to VICTORIA STATION
SHEPHERD’S BUSH to BANK
SOUTH HACKNEY (The Albion) to ROYAL EXCHANGE
STARCH-GN. (Queen of England) to LOMBARD ST.
STOKE NEWINGTON (Weavers’ Arms) to VICTORIA STATION
STRATFORD (Swan) to REGENT-CIRCUS
STREATHAM (White Lion) to GRACECHURCH-ST.
SUNBURY to BROAD-ST STATION
TOLLINGTON-PARK to VICTORIA STATION
TOOTING to GRACECHURCH-ST
TRAFALGAR-SQ. to KENTISH TOWN
TULSE-HILL (New Church) to GRACECHURCH-ST
--
TURNHAM-GREEN (Roebuck) to BROAD-ST. STATION
UXBRIDGE to LONDON-BRIDGE
UXBRIDGE to OXFORD-ST (Sundays)
VICTORIA STATION to ABNEY-PARK
VICTORIA STATION to CAMDEN TOWN
VICTORIA STATION to HAVERSTOCK-HILL
VICTORIA STATION to HOLLOWAY
VICTORIA STATION to HOLLOWAY
VICTORIA STATION to HORNSEY-RISE
VICTORIA STATION to KILBURN
VICTORIA STATION to SANDS END, FULHAM (Hand and Flower)
VICTORIA STATION to STOKE NEWINGTON
VICTORIA STATION to TOLLINGTON-PARK
VICTORIA STATION to WESTBOURNE-PARK
WALHAM-GREEN to BROAD-ST STATION
WALHAM-GREEN (Putney-br.) to LONDON-BRIDGE
WALWORTH-ROAD (Elephant and Castle) to ST. JOHN’S WOOD
WANDSWORTH-ROAD (William IV.) to GRACECHURCH-ST
WENDOVER to HOLBORN
WESTBOURNE-PARK to VICTORIA
WESTMINSTER (Warwick-st) to BANK
WHITECHAPEL to NOTTING HILL
WIMBLEDON to BANK
--
click here for OMNIBUS TRACK CHART NO.1
 
click here for OMNIBUS TRACK CHART NO.2

Opera Comique, 299, Strand—A roomy and handsome theatre, built end to end with the Globe, their stages being separated by a party-wall only. It is of a construction not usual in England, the stalls and dress-circle being about on a level, so that while the former are rather contracted, the latter enjoys unusual advantages in the way of seeing and hearing. After various vicissitudes, the theatre appears to have settled down into the specialty for which, from its name, it would appear to have been originally intended; the performances, however, being not French, but English. NEAREST Railway Station, Temple; Omnibus Route, Strand. 

Opium Smoking Dens.— The best known of these justly-named “dens” is that of one Johnstone, who lives in a garret off Ratcliff-highway, and for a consideration allows visitors to smoke a pipe which has been used by many crowned heads in common with poor Chinese sailors who seek their native pleasure in Johnstone’s garret. This is the place referred to in the “Mystery of Edwin Drood” (see also RATCLIFF-HIGHWAY). A similar establishment of a slightly superior—or it might be more correct to say a shade less nauseating—class is that of Johnny Chang, at the London and St. Katharine Coffee-house, in the Highway itself.

Orange Free State.— CONSULATE, 17, Gracechurch-st. NEAREST Railway Stations, Mansioii House (Dist.) and Cannon-street (SE.)  Omnibus Routes: Gracechurch-street, Cornhill, and King William-street; Cab Rank, Gracechurch-street.

Oriental Club is “composed of noblemen, M.P.’s, and gentlemen of the first distinction and character.” The Committee elect by ballot, twelve are a quorum, and three black balls exclude. Entrance fee, £31; subscription, £8 8s.

Orleans Club, King-street, is established not only to provide a town house for members of the Orleans Club, Twickenham, but also for the convenience of gentlemen and their friends who are not members of the above club. Proprietary. Members of the Orleans Club, Twickenham, pay an annual subscription of £8 8s., without entrance fee. Non-members of the Orleans Club pay an entrance fee of £5 5s., and an annual subscription of £8 8s. Election by committee. Each member, in addition to all the privileges of the club, is entitled to admit two ladies to the ladies’ coffee-room and private dining-rooms. The general rules are similar to those of the Orleans Club, Twickenham.

Orleans Club, Orleans House, Twickenham—The Orleans Club is intended as an agreeable country resort, not only to members, but to their families and friends, and as a rendezvous for members of the Four-in-hand and Coaching Clubs. Entrance fee, £15 15s.; annual subscription, £10 10s. The members of the Orleans Club Town House pay an entrance fee of £10 10s., and an annual subscription of £10 10s. Each member, in addition to all the privileges of the club, is entitled to admit two ladies without payment on any day; and, by payment of £1 1s. extra per annum, to give one additional order for a lady for free admission daily. Each member is provided with as many vouchers as he may require, to write orders for the admission of his friends by payment. The charge for admission to the holders of payment vouchers is 5s. on every day excepting those fixed by the committee as special days, when the admission is 10s., or such sum as the committee shall name, not exceeding £1. The number of friends (ladies or gentlemen) introduced by a member as dinner guests on a Saturday or Sunday must not exceed four. No person is eligible for admission who is not received in general society. The committee only elect by ballot, one black ball in every three excluding. Arty member can retain a bedroom for himself, provided there shall be one vacant, or can engage bedrooms for his friends on application (with forty-eight hours’ notice) to the manager, who shall submit their names to the committee for approval. 

Oxford and Cambridge Club, 76, Pall Mall, S.W. — For the association of gentlemen educated at these universities. Qualification for membership: A degree;  passage of examinations required for a degree ; or two years’ residence. Entrance fee £31 10s.;  subscription, £7 7s. 

Oxford Street (De Quincey’s stony-hearted step-mother) ought to be, if it is not, the finest as well as the longest and straightest of the main arteries of London. With one end reaching, through its extensions—Holborn, Newgate-street, and Cheapside—to the City -with the other continued by the Bayswater-road by the side of Hyde Park through Notting-hill, and out with scarce a curve to the far west, it ought to be the finest thoroughfare in the world. Although it is, like all the other thoroughfares, improving rapidly, it still contains many houses which even in a third-rate street would  be considered mean and unworthy of the place. Rickety, tumble-down, one-storey houses stand next to modern mansions, and in no other street in London is there such incongruity and diversity of architecture and appearance. A considerable portion of the southern side of the west-end of the street is the property of the Duke of Westminster, and, as the leases fall in, the houses in old red brick with stone adornments are taking the place of the wretched shops which are disappearing. At present, however, the improvement only extends a third of the distance between the Marble Arch and the Circus, and the side upon which they stand is still comparatively little frequented by those who go to look at the shops and perhaps to purchase. 

Oysters—The best places for oysters are Rule’s, in Maiden-lane, at the back of the Adelphi and Vaudeville; Lynn’s, about the middle of the south side of Fleet-street ; Smith’s, in the Strand, near the Lyceum ; Wilton’s, Ryder-street St James’s ; Pimm’s, in the Poultry Sweeting’s, Cheapside;  and, on a more modest and primitive scale, the “Whistling Oyster”, in Vinegar-yard, Drury-lane. There is a good-looking oyster now being largely sold about London as a “Blue Point”. Unwary Americans—if such there be – may as well understand beforehand that this is strictly a nom de fantaisie.