The Argosy, Vol. 74

About this issue

This April 1902 Argosy issue opens with "The Coming of Spring," a poem by F. J. Clayton celebrating the season's return through flowering flora and awakening earth. The main feature is a lengthy historical article on "Buckingham Palace and Its Site," tracing the location's history from Roman times. It details how Watling Street, one of Rome's four great roads in Britain, likely fronted the site; the area's transformation from Bulunga Fen marshland to the Mulberry Garden established by James I in 1609 for silkworm cultivation. The article extensively documents the garden's later use as a fashionable public amusement venue, citing references from Samuel Pepys's diaries, contemporary dramatists including Sedley and Wycherley, and accounts of visits by figures like John Dryden. It traces the site's occupation by Goring House, then Arlington House following the Restoration, including Arlington's 1674 fire loss and his acquisition of the first pound of tea imported to England. OCR deteriorates significantly toward the article's end, cutting off discussion of later ownership.