Link Boys

Previous page: Grosvenor Square Central Garden

As in other of the older London squares, specimens of the old link extinguishers can still be seen in Grosvenor Square. According the poet Gay, it is possible that some of the crimes committed in Grosvenor Square on unwary pedestrians and others may have been due to the instrumentality, or at least connivance, of the link-boys of a previous generation. In his Trivia he gave this obligatory warning

"Though thou art tempted by the linkman's call,

Yet trust him not along the lonely wall;

In the midway he'll quench the flaming brand,

And share the booty with the pilfering band."

Next page: Changing Environment of Grosvenor Square