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have immensely gratified the residents of that quarter, w h o always had a weakness for " p y e " of any therewith, which w e must soon see c o m m e n c e d and completed." Further on he unwittingly affords a marvellously true glimpse into futurity, for in the language of the scribe, "Collins Street, extending from the Market Place to Swanston Street will be the grand promenade of Melbourne, It will be the situation for our retail merchants to exhibit their wares to the beauty, the fashion, and the multitude which will constantly frequent it." T h e presence and surroundings of "the Block," in 1888, attest with wonderful accuracy the fulfilment of this hap-hazard prognostication in 1840. M r . Williams in puffing an allotment at South Yarra thus glowingly eclipses his previous achievements. " T h e harmony existing a m o n g all denominations of religious sects, leaves no doubt that this will be the 'chosen land' for the working out of the Millenium, and that in those happy days the price of land cannot be computed." In selling land (February, 1840) in the neighbourhood of the Yarra, Power declares "that the pure water of the river cannot be equalled anywhere; and of the salubrity of the air and the beauty of situation, it would be plagiarism to speak. The advancement of Melbourne surpasses wonder, and leaves all past calculations of the stranger but idle when he beholds reality itself—a petty little settlement of two years' growth already matured into a large and important city."* Williams is soon grinding away again over some land easterly of the Argus office, and extending to Russell Street, then known as the Eastern Hill. A s an inducement for the purchase of the property it is stated that on the allotments " is a quarry of the most superior stone, and there is not a shade of doubt this land will turn out the most profitable speculation ever entered into. T h e purchasers upon this occasion must realize a s u m in twelve months more than a Rothschild could ever have contemplated." Power again tackles South Yarra, within one hundred yards of the river. In his opinion " it is ever charming and ever verdant, except where the chaste native flower throws in variety of colours to dazzle and arouse our admiring senses. H o w can it be otherwise when Winter's chill is never felt, and the ardent rays of the s u m m e r sun are gently cooled by the placid zephyrs rising from the beauteous banks of the lovely Yarra, and gracefully moving the heads of the slumbering shrubs when they collect the essence of flowers which in sportive playfulness they scatter around, hallowing the air with a choice frankincense that would m a k e you think for the m o m e n t all was ideal, and that you had suddenly passed into a Celestial garden from Melbourne, and all done in the short space of five minutes, and in less than a mile ?" Power and Williams were Irishmen, but as a painter or dauber of words, the former " licked the other into fits." A corner of William and Little Collins Streets was given over to the h a m m e r of Salmon, who thus sketches this perspective of its surroundings :—" In other directions see the beautiful rise of hill and dale, with its thick clothing of beautiful verdure ; also the m a n y craft trading and discharging at the Queen's Wharf; as the view extends, the calm, clear, and beautiful water of the Yarra Yarra may be seen wending its sinuous course almost to the heart of this happy and well-nigh enchanted place." Williams soon collared his competitors in the "pumping-up" process as witness the following specimens taken at random from his land-selling promulgations. Getting out to Heidelberg he mounts his hobby and thus blows : " T h e Rosanna Estate m a y well apply to it the expression of the most renowned of the ancient poets,— Hie est aid nusquam, quod quaerimus— here or nowhere may w e hope to find what w e desire. It overhangs and runs into the village of Heidleberg, the loveliest villlage of the plain, the situation of which is naturally beautiful. At the foot of it runs the meandering, limpid waters of the Yarra, upon the banks of which even at the present are scattered in a most picturesque manner a number of rural cottages." Offering land in West Collins Street, facing a Church reserve, he exclaims, " T h e building of St. James' Church proceeds rapidly. When this magnificent edifice shall be completed, and the Church reserve tastefully laid out, and surrounded by a handsome cast-iron railing, this, the only square in Melbourne, at the West end of the town, and decidedly the healthiest, cannot fail to become the select spot for fashionable residences and gay promenades." Popping up at Geelong some time after he indulges in a grandiloquence which must t Melbourne was not so created until 1848.—ED.