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diff --git a/21411.txt b/21411.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ad3c94 --- /dev/null +++ b/21411.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3399 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Holborn and Bloomsbury, by +Sir Walter Besant and Geraldine Edith Mitton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Holborn and Bloomsbury + The Fascination of London + +Author: Sir Walter Besant + Geraldine Edith Mitton + +Release Date: May 9, 2007 [EBook #21411] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + THE FASCINATION + OF LONDON + +HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY + + + +_IN THIS SERIES._ + +Cloth, price 1s. 6d. net; leather, price 2s. net, each. + + +THE STRAND DISTRICT. + +By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON. + + +WESTMINSTER. + +By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON. + + +HAMPSTEAD AND MARYLEBONE. + +By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT. + + +CHELSEA. + +By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT. + + +KENSINGTON. + +By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT. + + +HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY. + +By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON. + + + + +[Illustration: STAPLE INN, HOLBORN BARS] + + + + +The Fascination of London + +HOLBORN AND +BLOOMSBURY + +BY +SIR WALTER BESANT +AND +G. E. MITTON + +LONDON +ADAM & CHARLES BLACK +1903 + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should +preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her +mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that +Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the +past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he +died. + +As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything +else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted +before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I +find something fresh in it every day." + +Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey should +contain a regular and systematic perambulation of London by different +persons, so that the history of each parish should be complete in +itself. This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one in +which he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of this +section to warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in the +meantime it is proposed to select some of the most interesting of the +districts and publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to +the local inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the +interest and the history of London lie in these street associations. + +The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great, +for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying +charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history with +the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her +history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the +series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain. +The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who +loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him, +and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links +between past and present in themselves largely constitute The +Fascination of London. + +G. E. M. + + + + +HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY + + +The district to be treated in this volume includes a good many +parishes--namely, St. Giles-in-the-Fields; St. George, Bloomsbury; St. +George the Martyr; St Andrew, Holborn; Hatton Garden, Saffron Hill; +besides the two famous Inns of Court, Lincoln's and Gray's, and the +remaining buildings of several Inns of Chancery, now diverted from their +former uses. Nearly all the district is included in the new Metropolitan +Borough of Holborn, which itself differs but little from the +Parliamentary borough known as the Holborn Division of Finsbury. Part of +St. Andrew's parish lies outside both of these, and is within the +Liberties of the City. The transition from Holborn borough to the City +will be noted in crossing the boundary. As it is proposed to mention the +parishes in passing through them, but not to describe their exact +limitations in the body of the book, the boundaries of the parishes are +given concisely for reference on p. 100. + +Kingsway, the new street from the Strand to Holborn, cuts through the +selected district. It begins in a crescent, with one end near St. +Clement's Church, and the other near Wellington Street. From the site of +the Olympic Theatre it runs north, crossing High Holborn at Little Queen +Street, and continuing northward through Southampton Row. A skeleton +outline of its course is given on p. 28. This street runs roughly north +and south throughout the district selected, and dividing it east and +west is the great highway, which begins as New Oxford Street, becomes +High Holborn, and continues as Holborn and Holborn Viaduct. + +The tradition that Holborn is so named after a brook--the Old +Bourne--which rose on the hill, and flowed in an easterly direction into +the Fleet River, cannot be sustained by any evidence or any indications +of the bed of a former stream. Stow speaks positively as to the +existence of this stream, which, he says, had in his time long been +stopped up. Now, the old streams of London have left traces either in +the lanes which once formed their bed, as Marylebone Lane and Gardener's +Lane, Westminster, or their courses, having been accurately known, have +been handed on from one generation to another. We may therefore dismiss +the supposed stream of the "Old Bourne" as not proven. On the other +hand, there have been found many springs and wells in various parts of +Holborn, as under Furnival's Inn, which may have seemed to Stow proof +enough of the tradition. The name of Holborn is probably derived from +the bourne or brook in the "Hollow"--_i.e._, the Fleet River, across +which this great roadway ran. The way is marked in Aggas's map of the +sixteenth century as a country road between fields, though, strangely +enough, it is recorded that it was paved in 1417, a very ancient date. +Malcolm in 1803 calls it "an irregular long street, narrow and +inconvenient, at the north end of Fleet Market, but winding from Shoe +Lane up the hill westward." + +Holborn Bars stood a little to the west of Brooke Street, and close by +was Middle Row, an island of houses opposite the end of Gray's Inn Road, +which formed a great impediment to the traffic. The Bars were the +entrance to the City, and here a toll of a penny or twopence was exacted +from non-freemen who entered the City with carts or coaches. + +The George and Blue Boar stood on the south side of Holborn, opposite +Red Lion Street, and it is said that it was here that Charles I.'s +letter disclosing his intention to destroy Cromwell and Ireton was +intercepted by the latter; but this is very doubtful. + +On Holborn Hill was the Black Swan Inn, which has been described as one +of the most ancient and magnificent places for the reception of +travellers in London, and which Dr. Stukeley, with fervent imagination, +declared dated from the Conquest. Another ancient inn in Holborn was +called the Rose. It was from here that the poet Taylor started to join +Charles I. in the Isle of Wight, of which journey he says, + + "We took one coach, two coachmen, and four horses, + And merrily from London made our courses; + We wheeled the top of the heavy hill called Holborn, + Up which hath been full many a sinful soul borne," + +which is quoted merely to show that there is a possible rhyme to +Holborn. + +Pennant says also there was a hospital for the poor in Holborn, and a +cell of the House of Clugny in France, but does not indicate their +whereabouts. Before the building of the Viaduct in 1869 (see p. 54), +there was a steep and toilsome descent up and down the valley of the +Fleet. This was sometimes called "the Heavy Hill," as in the verse +already quoted, and in consequence of the melancholy processions which +frequently passed from Newgate bound Tyburn-wards, "riding in a cart up +the Heavy Hill" became a euphemism for being hanged. From Farringdon +Street to Fetter Lane was Holborn Hill, and Holborn proper extended from +Fetter Lane to Brooke Street. + +In James II.'s reign Oates and Dangerfield suffered the punishment of +being whipped at the cart's tail all the way along Holborn. + +There were Bridewell Bridge, Fleet Bridge, Fleet Lane Bridge, and +Holborn Bridge across the Fleet River. Holborn Bridge was the most +northerly of the four. It was a bridge of stone, serving for passengers +from the west to the City by way of Newgate. The whole thoroughfare of +Oxford Street and Holborn is the result of the diversion of the north +highway into the City from the route by Westminster Marshes. + +The antiquities of Holborn and its streets north and south are not +connected with the trade or with the municipal history of London. On the +other hand, the associations of this group of streets are full of +interest. If we take the south side of the street, we find ourselves +walking past Shoe Lane, St. Andrew's Church, Thavies' Inn, Fetter Lane, +Staple Inn, Barnard's Inn, Chancery Lane, Great and Little Turnstiles, +Little Queen Street, Drury Lane, and St. Giles's. On the north side we +pass Field Lane, Ely Place, Hatton Garden, Brooke Street, Furnival's +Inn, Gray's Inn, Red Lion Street, and Tottenham Court Road. All these +will be found described in detail further on. Of eminent residents in +Holborn itself, Cunningham mentions Gerarde, the author of the "Herbal"; +Sir Kenelm Digby; Milton, who lived for a time in one of the houses on +the south side, looking upon Lincoln's Inn Fields; and Dr. Johnson, who +lived at the sign of the Golden Anchor, Holborn Bars. There were also +the Bishops of Ely, Sir Christopher Hatton, Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas +More, Charles Dickens, Fulke Greville, Thomas Chatterton, Lord Russell, +Dr. Sacheverell, and many others. + +It is necessary now, however, to leave off generalization, and to begin +with a detailed account of the parishes which fall within the district; +of these, St. Giles-in-the-Fields is the most interesting. + + +ST. GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS. + +The name of the parish is derived from the hospital which stood on the +site of the present parish church, and was dedicated to the Greek saint +St. Giles. It was at first known as St. Giles of the Lepers, but when +the hospital was demolished became St. Giles-in-the-Fields. + +In a plan dated 1600 St. Giles's is shown to consist largely of open +fields. The buildings, which before the dissolution had belonged to the +hospital, form a group about the site of the church. A few more +buildings run along the north side of the present Broad Street. There +are one or two at the north end of Drury Lane, and Drury House is at +the south end. Southampton House, in the fields to the north, is marked, +but the parish is otherwise open ground. In spite of many edicts to +restrain the increase of houses, early in the reign of James I. the +meadows began to be built upon, and, though a little checked during the +Commonwealth, after the Restoration the building proceeded rapidly, +stimulated by the new square at Lincoln's Inn Fields then being carried +out by Inigo Jones. To St. Giles's may be attributed the distinction of +having originated the Great Plague, which broke out in an alley at the +north end of Drury Lane. Several times before this there had been +smaller outbreaks, which had resulted in the building of a pest-house. +Even after this check the parish continued to increase rapidly, and by +the early part of the last century was a byword for all that was squalid +and filthy. Its rookeries and slums are thus described in a newspaper +cutting of 1845: "All around are poverty and wretchedness; the streets +and alleys are rank with the filth of half a century; the windows are +half of them broken, or patched with rags and paper, and when whole are +begrimed with dirt and smoke; little brokers' shops abound, filled with +lumber, the odour of which taints even that tainted atmosphere; the +pavement and carriage-way swarm with pigs, poultry, and ragged +children.... But in the space called the Dials itself the scene is far +different. There at least rise splendid buildings with stuccoed fronts +and richly-ornamented balustrades.... These are the gin-palaces." +Naturally, among so much poverty gin-palaces and public-houses abounded. +It is curious to note how many of Hogarth's pictures of misery and vice +were drawn from St. Giles's. "Noon" has St. Giles's Church in the +background, while his "Gin Lane" shows the neighbouring church of St. +George, Bloomsbury; the scene of his "Harlot's Progress" is Drury Lane, +and the idle apprentice is caught when wanted for murder in a cellar in +St. Giles's. + +The gallows were in this parish from about 1413 until they were removed +to Tyburn, and then the terrible Tyburn procession passed through St. +Giles's, and halted at the great gate of the hospital, and later at the +public-house called The Bowl, described more fully hereafter. From very +early times St. Giles's was notorious for its taverns. The Croche Hose +(Crossed Stockings), another tavern, was situated at the corner of the +marshlands, and in Edward I.'s reign belonged to the cook of the +hospital; the crossed stockings, red and white, were adopted as the sign +of the hosiers. Besides these, there were numerous other taverns dating +from many years back, including the Swan on the Hop, Holborn; White +Hart, north-east of Drury Lane; the Rose, already mentioned. In the +parish also were various houses of entertainment, of which the most +notorious was the Hare and Hounds, formerly Beggar in the Bush, which +was kept by one Joe Banks in 1844, and was the resort of all classes. +This was in Buckridge Street, over which New Oxford Street now runs. In +the last sixty years the face of the parish has been greatly changed. +The first demolition of a rookery of vice and squalor took place in +1840, when New Oxford Street was driven through Slumland. Dyott (once +George) Street, Church Lane, Buckridge and Bainbridge, Charlotte and +Plumtree, were among the most notorious streets thus wholly or partially +removed. + +In 1844 many wretched houses were demolished, and in 1855 Shaftesbury +Avenue drove another wedge into the slums to let in light and air. There +are poor and wretched courts in St. Giles's yet, but civilization is +making its softening influence felt even here, and though cases of +Hooliganism in broad daylight still occur, they are less and less +frequent. + +So much for a brief history of the parish. Its soil was from very early +times damp and marshy. To the south of the hospital was a stretch of +ground called Marshlands, probably at one time a pond. Great ditches and +fosses cut up the ground. The most important of these was Blemund's +Ditch, which divided the parish from that of Bloomsbury. This is +supposed to have been an ancient line of fortification. Besides this, a +ditch traversed the marshlands above mentioned, another encompassed the +croft lying by the north gate of the hospital, and there were several +others of less importance. + +The Hospital of St. Giles was the earliest foundation of its kind in +London, if we except St. James's Hospital. Stow sums it up thus: "St. +Giles-in-the-Fields was an hospital for leprous people out of the City +of London and shire of Middlesex, founded by Matilde the Queen, wife to +Henry I., and suppressed by King Henry VIII." The date of foundation is +given by Leland and Malcolm as 1101, though Stow and others give 1117, +which was the year before the foundress died. Before this time this part +of London had apparently been included in the great estate of Rugmere, +which belonged to St. Paul's. + +Matilda gave the ground, and endowed the hospital with the magnificent +sum of L3 per annum! Her foundation provided for forty lepers, one +chaplain, one clerk, and one servant. Henry II. confirmed all privileges +and gifts which had accrued to the hospital, and added to them himself. +Parton says, "His liberality ranks him as a second founder." During +succeeding reigns the hospital grew in wealth and importance. In Henry +III.'s reign Pope Alexander issued a confirmatory Bull, but the charity +had become a refuge for decayed hangers-on at Court who were not +lepers. This abuse was prohibited by the King's decree. In Edward III.'s +reign the first downward step was taken, for he made the hospital a cell +to Burton St. Lazar. The brethren apparently rebelled, refusing to admit +the visitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and destroying many +valuable documents and records belonging to the hospital. Two centuries +later King Henry VIII. desired the lands and possessions of St. Giles's, +and with him to desire was to acquire. + +The hospital was thus shorn of the greater part of its wealth, retaining +only the church (not the manor) at Feltham (one of its earliest gifts), +the hospital estates at Edmonton, in the City of London, and in the +various parishes in the suburbs; and in St. Giles's parish the actual +ground it stood on, the Pittance Croft, and a few minor places. But even +this remnant came into the possession of the rapacious King two years +later, at the dissolution of the monasteries, when Burton St. Lazar +itself fell into the tyrant's hands. Henry held these for six years, +then granted both to John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, Lord High Admiral. +From the time of the dissolution the hospital became a manor. + +In the earliest charters the head of the hospital is styled Chaplain, +but not Master. The first Master mentioned is in 1212, and after this +the title was regularly used. The government was vested in the Master +or Warden and other officers, together with a certain number of sound +brethren and sisters--and in certain cases lepers themselves--who formed +a chapter. "They assembled in chapter, had a common seal, held courts as +lords of the manor."[1] There were also guardians or custodians, who did +not reside in the precincts of the hospital, and these seem to have been +chosen from the most eminent citizens; they formed no part of the +original scheme. + +[1] "Some Account of the Hospital and Parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields," +1822, by John Parton. + +[Illustration: SEAL OF ST. GILES'S HOSPITAL.] + +The sisters appear to have been nurses, for there is no mention made of +any leprous sister. The chapel of the hospital appears from King Henry +II.'s charter to have been built on the site of some older parochial +church. The Bull of Pope Alexander mentions that the hospital wall +enclosed eight acres. Within this triangular space, which is at present +roughly bounded by the High Street, Charing Cross Road, and Shaftesbury +Avenue, was one central building or mansion for the lepers, several +subordinate buildings, the chapel, and the gate-house. Whether the +number of lepers was reduced when the hospital possessions were +curtailed we are not told. After the hospital buildings fell into the +hands of Lord Dudley they underwent many changes. The principal building +he converted into a mansion for his own use; this was the manor-house. +It stood between the present Denmark Street and Lloyd's Court, and its +site is occupied by a manufactory. After two years Lord Dudley obtained +from the King license to transfer all his newly-gained estates to Sir +Wymonde Carew, but there seems reason to suppose that Lord Dudley +remained in possession of the manor-house until his attainder in the +reign of Queen Mary, because the manor then reverted to the Crown, and +was regranted. Clinch gets out of this difficulty by supposing Lord +Dudley to have parted with his estates and retained the manor, but in +the deed of license for exchange all his "mansion place and capital +house, late the house of the dissolved hospital of St. Giles in the +Fields," is especially mentioned. It is possible that Sir Wymonde leased +it again to the Dudley family. + +Among the many subsequent holders of the manor we find the name of Sir +Walter Cope, who bought the Manor of Kensington in 1612, and through +whose only child, Isabel, it passed by marriage to Sir Henry Rich, +created Earl of Holland. The Manor of St. Giles was in the possession of +the Crown again in Charles II.'s reign, when Alice Leigh, created by him +Duchess of Dudley, lived in the manor-house. This Duchess made many +gifts to the church, among which was a rectory-house. + +The Church of St. Giles at present standing is certainly the third, if +not the fourth, which has been upon the same site. As mentioned above, +there is reason to believe from Henry II.'s charter that a sacred +building of some sort stood here before the leper chapel. The chapel had +a chapter-house attached, and seems to have been a well-cared-for +building. There were several chantry chapels and a high altar dedicated +to St. Giles. St. Giles's in the earlier charters is spoken of as a +village, not a parish, but there is little doubt that after the +establishment of the hospital its chapel was used as a parish church by +the villagers. There was probably a wall screening off the lepers. The +first church of which any illustration is preserved has a curious +tower, capped by a round dome. The view of this church, dated 1560, is +taken after the dissolution of the hospital, when it had become entirely +parochial. In 1617 the quaint old tower was taken down, and replaced by +another, but only six years after the whole church was rebuilt. A view +of this in 1718 gives a very long battlemented body in two stories, with +a square tower surmounted by an open belfry and vane. It possessed +remarkably fine stained-glass windows and a handsome screen presented by +the Duchess of Dudley. + +This second church did not last very long, for in Queen Anne's reign the +parishioners petitioned that it should be rebuilt as one of the fifty +new churches, being then in a state of decay. The present church, which +is very solid, and has dignity of outline, was the work of Flitcroft, +and was opened April 14, 1734. The steeple is 160 feet high, with a +rustic pedestal, a Doric story, an octagonal tower, and spire. The +basement is of rusticated Portland stone, of which the church is built, +and quoins of the same material decorate the windows and angles within. +It follows the lines of the period, with hardly any chancel, wide +galleries on three sides standing on piers, from which columns rise to +the elliptical ceiling. The part of the roof over the galleries is +bayed at right angles to the curve of the central part. Monuments hang +on the walls and columns, and occupy every available space. By far the +most striking of these is the full-length figure of a woman in repose +which is set on a broad window-seat. This is the monument of Lady +Frances Kniveton, daughter of Alice Leigh, Duchess of Dudley. The +daughter's tomb remains a memorial of her mother's benefactions to the +parish. The monument of Andrew Marvell, a plain black marble slab, is on +the north wall. Marvell was buried in the church "under the pews in the +south side," but the present monument was not erected until 1764, +eighty-six years after his death, owing to the opposition of the +incumbent of the church. The inscription on it slightly varies from that +intended for the original monument. Besides a handsome brass cross on +the chancel floor to the Rector, Canon Nisbett, a tomb in form of a +Roman altar, designed by Inigo Jones, and commemorating George Chapman, +the translator of Homer, and a touching monument in the lobby to "John +Belayse," put up by his two daughters, there is nothing further worth +seeing. + +The graveyard which surrounds the church is supposed to have been the +ancient interment-ground of the hospital. The first mention of it in the +parish books is in 1628, when three cottages were pulled down to +increase its size. It was enlarged again in 1666. Part of the old +hospital wall enclosing it remained until 1630, when it fell down, and +after the lapse of some time a new wall was built. In St. Giles's +Churchyard were buried Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Shirley, Roger +L'Estrange, Andrew Marvell, and Richard Pendrell, who assisted in +Charles II.'s escape; his altar-tomb is easily seen near the east end of +the church. By 1718 the graveyard had risen 8 feet, so that the church +stood in a pit or well. The further burial-ground at St. Pancras was +taken in 1805, and after that burials at St. Giles's were not very +frequent. Pennant was one of the first to draw attention to the +disgraceful overcrowding of the old graveyard. There seem to have been +several gates into the churchyard with the right of private entry, one +of which was used by the Duchess of Dudley. The most remarkable gate, +however, was at the principal entrance to the churchyard, and was known +as the Resurrection Gate, from an alto-relievo of the Last Day. This was +erected about 1687, and was of red and brown brick. The composition of +the relievo is said to have been borrowed, with alterations, from +Michael Angelo's work on the same subject. In 1765 the north wall of the +churchyard was taken down, and replaced by the present railing and +coping. In 1800 the gate was removed, and replaced by the present +Tuscan gate, in which the sculpture has been refixed. This stood at +first on the site of the old one on the north of the churchyard, but was +removed to the west side, where it at present stands in an unnoticeable +and obscure position. It was probably placed there in the idea that the +new road, Charing Cross Road, would run past. + +Denmark Street "fronts St. Giles Church and falls into Hog Lane, a fair +broad street, with good houses well inhabited by gentry" (Strype). + +This description is no longer applicable. Denmark Place was once Dudley +Court, and the house here with a garden was given by the Duchess of +Dudley as a rectory for the parish. The Court or Row was built on the +site of the house previous to 1722. + +Broad Street is one of the most ancient streets in the parish, and there +were a few houses standing on the north side when the rest of the +district was open ground. It was the main route westward for many +centuries, until New Oxford Street was made. + +The procession from Newgate to Tyburn used to pass along Broad Street, +and halt at the great gate of the hospital, in order that the condemned +man might take his last draught of ale on earth. An enterprising +publican set up a tavern near here in 1623, and called it the Bowl. He +provided the ale free, and no doubt made much profit by the patronage +he received thereby. The exact site of the tavern was in Bowl Yard, +which ran into Broad Street near where Endell Street now is. Among +Cruikshank's well-known drawings is a series illustrating Jack +Sheppard's progress to the gallows. + +The parish almshouses were built in the wide part of Broad Street on +ground granted by Lord Southampton, but were removed as an impediment to +traffic in 1783 to the Coal Yard, near the north of Drury Lane. A row of +little alleys--Salutation, Lamb's, Crown, and Cock--formerly extended +southward over the present workhouse site. There are still one or two +small entries both north and south. The immense yard of a well-known +brewery fills up a large part of the south side, and a large iron and +hardware manufactory on the north gives a certain manufacturing aspect +to the street. The Holborn Municipal Baths are in a fine new building on +the south side. + +About High Street, which joins Broad Street at its west end, there is +surely less to say than of any other High Street in London. In 1413 the +gallows were set up at the corner where it meets Tottenham Court Road. +But even previously to this executions had taken place at Tyburn, and +soon Tyburn became the recognised place of execution. Sir John +Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, is the most notable name among the victims who +suffered at St. Giles. He was hung in chains and roasted to death over a +slow fire at this spot as a Lollard. + +After they had been removed from the end of Broad Street, to make way +for the almshouses, the parish pound and cage stood on the site of the +gallows until 1765. There was here also a large circular stone, where +the charity boys were whipped to make them remember the parish bounds. + +The space to the north of the High and Broad Streets was previously a +notorious rookery. Dyott Street, which still exists, though cut in half, +had a most unenviable reputation. The Maidenhead Inn, which stood at the +south-east corner of this, was a favourite resort for mealmen and +country waggoners. There was in this street also a tavern called the +Turk's Head, where Haggart Hoggarty planned the murder of Mr. Steele on +Hounslow Heath in 1802. Walford mentions also Rat's Castle, a rendezvous +for all the riff-raff of the neighbourhood. Dyott Street was named after +an influential parishioner of Charles II.'s time, who had a house here. +It was later called George Street, but has reverted to the original +name. + +South of Great Russell Street there were formerly Bannister's Alley and +Eagle and Child Yard running northwards. From the former of these +continued Church Lane, to which Maynard Lane ran parallel. Bainbridge, +Buckridge, and Church Streets ran east and westward. Of these Bainbridge +remains, a long, narrow alley bounded by the brewery wall. Mayhew says +that here "were found some of the most intricate and dangerous places in +this low locality." + +The part of the parish lying to the north, including Bedford Square, +must be for the present left (see p. 98), while we turn southwards. + +New Compton Street is within the former precincts of the hospital. When +first made it was called Stiddolph Street, after Sir Richard Stiddolph, +and the later name was taken from that of Sir Frances Compton. Strype +says, "All this part was very meanly built ... and greatly inhabited by +French, and of the poorer sort," a character it retains to this day. + +Shaftesbury Avenue, opened in 1885, has obliterated Monmouth Street, +named after the Duke of Monmouth, whose house was in Soho Square (see +_The Strand_, this series). Monmouth Street was notorious for its +old-clothes shops, and is the subject of one of the "Sketches by Boz." +Further back still it was called Le Lane, and is under that name +mentioned among the hospital possessions. + +The north end of Shaftesbury Avenue is in the adjoining parish of St. +George's, Bloomsbury, but must for sequence' sake be described here. A +French Protestant chapel, consecrated 1845, which is the lineal +descendant of the French Church of the Savoy, stands on the west side. +Near at hand is a French girls' school. Further north is a Baptist +chapel, with two noticeable pointed towers and a central wheel window. +Bedford Chapel formerly stood on the north side of this. In the lower +half of the Avenue there are several buildings of interest. The first of +these, on the east side, is for the medical and surgical relief of all +foreigners who speak French. Below this is a chapel belonging to the +Baptists, and further southward a working lads' home, established in +1843, for homeless lads at work in London. In connection with it are +various homes in the country, both for boys and girls, and two training +ships, the _Arethusa_ and _Chichester_. + +All the ground to the south of Shaftesbury Avenue was anciently, if not +actually a pond, at all events very marshy ground, and was called +Meershelands, or Marshlands. It was subsequently known as Cock and Pye +Fields, from the Cock and Pye public-house, which is supposed to have +been situated at the spot where Little St. Andrew Street, West Street, +and Castle Street now meet. The date at which this name first appeared +is uncertain; it is met with in the parish books after 1666. In the +reign of William III. a Mr. Neale took the ground, and transformed the +great ditch which crossed it into a sewer, preparatory to the building +of Seven Dials. The name of this notorious place has been connected with +degradation and misery, but at first it was considered rather an +architectural wonder. Evelyn, in his diary, October 5, 1694, says: "I +went to see the building beginning near St. Giles, where seven streets +make a star from a Doric pillar placed in the middle of a circular area, +said to be built by Mr. Neale." Gay also refers to the central column in +his "Trivia." The column had really only six dial faces, two streets +converging toward one. In the open space on which it stood was a +pillory, and the culprits who stood here were often most brutally +stoned. One John Waller, charged with perjury, was killed in this manner +in 1732. + +In 1773 the column was taken down in a search for imaginary treasure. It +was set up again in 1822 on Weybridge Green as a memorial to the Duchess +of York, who died 1820. The dial was not replaced, and was used as a +stepping-stone at the Ship Inn at Weybridge; it still lies on one side +of the Green. The streets of Seven Dials attained a very unenviable +reputation, and were the haunt of all that was vicious and bad. Terrible +accounts of the overcrowding and consequent immorality come down to us +from the newspaper echoes of the earlier part of the nineteenth +century. The opening up of the new thoroughfares of New Oxford Street, +Shaftesbury Avenue, and Charing Cross Road, have done much, but the +neighbourhood is still a slum. The seven streets remain in their +starlike shape, by name Great and Little White Lion Street, Great and +Little St. Andrew Street, Great and Little Earl Street, and Queen +Street. + +Short's Gardens was in 1623 really a garden, and a little later than +that date was acquired by a man named Dudley Short. + +Betterton Street was until comparatively recently called Brownlow, from +Sir John Brownlow of Belton, who had a house here in Charles II.'s time. +The street is now, to use a favourite expression of Stow's, "better +built than inhabited," for the row of brick houses of no very squalid +type are inhabited by the very poor. + +Endell Street was built in 1844, at the time of the erection of the +workhouse. In it are the National Schools, a Protestant Swiss chapel, +and an entrance to the public baths and wash-houses, to the south of +which rise the towers of the workhouse. Christ Church is hemmed in by +the workhouse, having an outlet only on the street. The church was +consecrated in 1845. In Short's Gardens is the Lying-in Hospital, the +oldest institution of the kind in England. On the west side, between +Castle Street and Short's Gardens, the remains of an ancient bath were +discovered at what was once No. 3, Belton Street, now 23 and 25, Endell +Street. Tradition wildly asserts that this was used by Queen Anne. +Fragments of it still remain in the room used for iron lumber, for the +premises are in the occupation of an iron merchant, but the water has +long since ceased to flow. + +Drury Lane has been in great part described in _The Strand_, which see, +p. 97. The Coal Yard at the north-east end, where Nell Gwynne was born, +is now Goldsmith Street. Pit Place, on the west of Great Wild Street, +derives its name from the cockpit or theatre, the original of the Drury +Lane Theatre, which stood here. The cockpit was built previous to 1617, +for in that year an incensed mob destroyed it, and tore all the dresses. +It was afterwards known as the Phoenix Theatre. At one time it seems +to have been used as a school, though this may very well have been at +the same time as it fulfilled its legitimate functions. Betterton and +Kynaston both made their first public appearance here. The actual date +of the theatre's demolition is not known. Parton judges it to have been +at the time of the building of Wild, then Weld, Street. Its performances +are described, 1642, as having degenerated into an inferior kind, and +having been attended by inferior audiences. + +At the north-east end of Drury Lane is the site of the ancient hostelry, +the White Hart. Here also was a stone cross, known as Aldewych Cross, +for the lane was anciently the Via de Aldewych, and is one of the oldest +roads in the parish; Saxon Ald = old, and Wych = a village, a name to be +preserved in the new Crescent. It is difficult to understand, looking +down Drury Lane to-day from Holborn, that this most mean and unlovely +street was once a place of aristocratic resort--of gardens, great +houses, and orchards. Here was Craven House, here was Clare House; here +lived the Earl of Stirling, the Marquis of Argyll, and the Earl of +Anglesey. Here lived for a time Nell Gwynne. Pepys says: + +"Saw pretty Nelly standing at her lodgings door in Drury Lane in her +smock-sleeves and bodice, looking upon one. She seemed a mighty pretty +creature." + +The Lane fell into disrepute early in the eighteenth century. The +"saints of Drury Lane," the "drabs of Drury Lane," the starving poets of +Drury Lane, are freely ridiculed by the poets of that time. + + "'Nine years!' cries he, who high in Drury Lane, + Lull'd by soft zephyrs through the broken pane, + Rhymes ere he wakes, and prints before term ends, + Obliged by hunger and request of friends." + +The boundary of St. Giles's parish runs down Drury Lane between Long +Acre and Great Queen Street. Of the last of these Strype says: "It is a +street graced with a goodly row of large uniform houses on the south +side, but on the north side is indifferent." The street was begun in the +early years of the seventeenth century, but the building spread over a +long time, so that we find the "goodly row of houses" on the south side +to have been built by Webb, a pupil of Inigo Jones, about 1646. A number +of celebrated people lived in Great Queen Street. The first Lord Herbert +of Cherbury had a house on the south side at the corner of Great Wild +Street; here he died in 1648. Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentary +General, lived here; also Sir Heneage Finch, created Earl of Nottingham; +Sir Godfrey Kneller, when he moved from Covent Garden; Thomas Worlidge, +the portrait-painter, and afterwards, in the same house, Hoole, the +translator of Dante and Ariosto; Sir Robert Strange, the engraver; John +Opie, the artist; Wolcott, better known as Peter Pindar, who was buried +at St. Paul's, Covent Garden. Sheridan is also said to have lived here, +and it would be conveniently near Drury Lane Theatre, which was under +his management from 1776. + +[Illustration: KINGSWAY.] + +On the south side of the street are the Freemasons' Hall, built +originally in 1775, and the Freemasons' Tavern, erected subsequently. +Both have been rebuilt, and the hall, having been recently repainted, +looks at the time of writing startlingly new. Near it are two of the +original old houses, all that are left with the pilasters and carved +capitals which are so sure a sign of Inigo Jones's influence. + +On the north side of the street is the Novelty Theatre. + +Great and Little Wild Streets are called respectively Old and New Weld +Streets by Strype. Weld House stood on the site of the present Wild +Court, and was during the reign of James II. occupied by the Spanish +Embassy. In Great Wild Street Benjamin Franklin worked as a journeyman +printer. + +Kemble and Sardinia were formerly Prince's and Duke's Streets. The +latter contains some very old houses, and a chapel used by the Roman +Catholics. This is said to be the oldest foundation now in the hands of +the Roman Catholics in London. It was built in 1648, and was the object +of virulent attack during the Gordon Riots; the exterior is singularly +plain. Sardinia Street communicates with Lincoln's Inn Fields by a heavy +and quaint archway. + +Even in Strype's time Little Queen Street was "a place pestered with +coaches," a reputation which, curiously enough, it still retains, the +heavy traffic of the King's Cross omnibuses passing through it. Trinity +Church is in a late decorative style, with ornamental pinnacles, flying +buttresses, and two deeply-recessed porches. Within it is a very plain, +roomlike structure. The church is on the site of a house in which lived +the Lambs, and where Mary Lamb in a fit of insanity murdered her mother. +The Holborn Restaurant forms part of the side of this street; this is a +very gorgeous building, and within is a very palace of modern luxury. It +stands on the site formerly occupied by the Holborn Casino or Dancing +Saloon. + +Little Queen Street will be wiped out by the broad new thoroughfare from +the Strand to Holborn to be called Kingsway (see plan). + +Gate Street was formerly Little Princes Street. The present name is +derived from the gate or carriage-entrance to Lincoln's Inn Fields. + +In Strype's map half of Whetstone Park is called by its present title, +and the western half is Phillips Rents. He mentions it as "once famous +for its infamous and vicious inhabitants." + +Great and Little Turnstile were so named from the turning stiles which +in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries stood at their north ends to +prevent the cattle straying from Lincoln's Inn Fields. The Holborn +Music-hall in Little Turnstile was originally a Nonconformist chapel. +After 1840 it served as a hall, lectures, etc., being given by +free-thinkers, and in 1857 was adapted to its present purpose. + +LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.--All the ground on which the present square is +built formed part of Fickett's Field, which was anciently the +jousting-place of the Knights Templars. A curious petition of the reign +of Edward III. shows us that then it was a favourite recreation-ground +or promenade for clerks, apprentices, students, as well as the citizens. +In this petition a complaint is made that one Roger Leget had laid +caltrappes or engines of iron in a trench, to the danger of those who +walked in the fields. Inigo Jones was entrusted by King James I. to form +a square of houses which should be worthy of so fine a situation. Before +this time it appears that there had been one or two irregular buildings. +Inigo Jones conceived the curious idea of giving his square the exact +size of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and it is accordingly the largest +square in London. But when he had completed the west side only, the +unsettled state of the country hindered further progress, and for many +years the land lay waste, and was unenclosed save by wooden posts and +rails; during this period it was the daily and nightly haunt of all the +beggars, rogues, pickpockets, wrestlers, and vile vagrants in London. +Gay thus speaks of it: + + "Where Lincoln's Inn, wide space, is rail'd around, + Cross not with venturous step; there oft is found + The lurking thief, who, while the daylight shone, + Made the walls echo with his begging tone: + That crutch, which late compassion moved, shall wound + Thy bleeding head, and fell thee to the ground. + 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. + Still keep the public streets where oily rays, + Shot from the crystal lamp, o'erspread the ways." + +At this time three fields are mentioned as being included in the +square--namely, Purse Field, Fickett's Field, and Cap Field. In 1657 the +inhabitants made an agreement with Lincoln's Inn, to whom some of the +rights of the Templars seem to have descended (Parton), as to the +completion of the square. But even after the two further sides had been +added, the centre seems to have been left in a disorderly and pestilent +state, and it was not until 1735 that the place was properly laid out. +In Strype's map of 1720 the sides are marked Newman's Row North, the +Arch Row West, Portugal Row South, and the wall of Lincoln's Inn +completes the fourth side. Strype speaks of the first two as being of +large houses, generally taken by the nobility and gentry. The historical +event of prominence connected with the centre of the square is the +execution of William, Lord Russell, which took place here in 1683, on +accusation of high treason and complicity in the Rye House Plot. He was +beheaded in Lincoln's Inn Fields, lest the mob should rise and rescue +him were he conveyed to the more public Tower Hill. In spite of his +defiance of lawful authority, Russell's name has always been regarded as +that of a patriot. He and Algernon Sydney are remembered as +single-minded and high-souled men. + +Many other executions were held in those fields, notably those of +Babington and his accomplices in 1586, fourteen in all. They were +"hanged, bowelled, and quartered, on a stage or scaffold of timber +strongly made for that purpose, even in the place where they used to +meet and conferre of their traitorous purposes." At present the centre +of the square forms a charming garden, open free to the public, with +fine plane-trees shading grass plots not too severely trimmed, and +flocks of opal-hued pigeons add a touch of bird-life. It is true the +grass is railed in, but the railings are not obtrusive, and do not +interfere with the pleasure of those who sit on the seats or walk under +the trees. Here is assuredly one of the places where we can most feel +the fascination of London as we contrast the present with the past. + +On the north side is the Inns of Court Hotel, a massive pile faced with +stone, and with a portico of polished granite columns. This is on the +site of an ancient hostelry in Holborn, the George and Blue Boar, a +famous coaching inn (see p. 3). + +The Soane Museum is further westward, and is differentiated from two +similarly built neighbours by a slightly projecting frontage. It was the +former residence of Sir John Soane, who left his collection to the +nation. There are many valuable pictures, as well as curious and +interesting objects. The museum is open free to the public on Tuesday, +Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. + +On the west side of the square, near Queen Street, stands a very solid +mansion, known first as Powis, then as Newcastle House. The footway in +Great Queen Street runs under an arcade on the north side of this house, +which was built by the first Marquis of Powis, created Duke of Powis by +James II., whom he followed into exile, and bought in 1705 by Holles, +Duke of Newcastle, whose nephew, who led the Pelham Administration under +George II., inherited it. Further south on the same side is Lindsey +House, a large building with pilasters; this was built by Robert Bertie, +Earl of Lindsey, and was later called Ancaster House. It was described +by Hatton as a handsome building, with six spacious brick piers before +it, surmounted by vases and with ironwork between. Only two of these +vases remain. The fleurs-de-lis on the house over the Sardinia Street +entry were put up in compliment to Queen Henrietta Maria, who was the +daughter of Henry IV. of France. The third great house on this side was +Portsmouth House, over Portsmouth Place. + +The remainder of the houses have the same general character of stuccoed +and pilastered uniformity, broken here and there by uncovered brick +surfaces or frontages of stone. They are almost uninterruptedly occupied +by solicitors. This is the oldest side of the square, being that built +by Inigo Jones. + +At the south corner of the square there is a quaint red-brick, +gable-ended house, with a bit of rusticated woodwork. This is all part +of the same block as the Old Curiosity Shop, supposed to be that +described by Dickens. + +On the south side rises the Royal College of Surgeons. The central part +is carried up a story and an entresol higher than the wings, and, like +the wings, is capped by a balustrade. The legend, "AEdes Collegii +Chirurgorum Anglici--Diplomate Regio Corporate A.D. MDCCC," runs across +the frontage. A massive colonnade of six Ionic columns gives solidity to +the basement. The museum of this college has absorbed the site of the +old Duke's Theatre. Its nucleus was John Hunter's collection, purchased +by the college, and first opened in 1813. + +This side of the square is outside our present district. (See _The +Strand_, in the same series.) + +The origin of the Company of Barber-Surgeons is very ancient, for the +two guilds, Barbers and Surgeons, were incorporated in 1540; but in 1745 +they separated, and the Surgeons continued as a body alone. However, +they came to grief in 1790, and the charter establishing the Royal +College of Surgeons of London was granted in 1800; in 1845 the title was +changed to that of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The present +building, however, dates only from 1835, and is the work of Sir C. +Barry. It has since been enlarged and altered. + +With this the ancient parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields ends, but our +district includes Lincoln's Inn, and beyond it the parish of St. Andrew, +Holborn, into which we pass. + + +LINCOLN'S INN. + +BY W. J. LOFTIE. + +The old brick gateway in Chancery Lane is familiar to most Londoners. It +ranks with the stone gateway of the Hospitallers in Clerkenwell, with +the tower of St. James's Palace, and with the gate of Lambeth Palace, as +one of the three or four relics of the Gothic style left in London. Even +Gothic churches are scarce, while specimens of the domestic style are +still scarcer. It need hardly be said that this tower has been +constantly threatened, by "restorers" on the one hand, as well as by +open destroyers on the other. It was built while Cardinal Wolsey was +Chancellor, and was still new when Sir Thomas More sat in the hall as +his successor. The windows have been altered, and the groining of the +archway has been changed for a flat roof. It is said that the bricks of +which the gate is built were made in the Coney Garth, which much later +remained an open field, but is now New Square. A pillar, said to have +been designed by Inigo Jones, stood in New Square, or, as it was called +from a lessee at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Searle's +Court. This ground and the site of the Law Courts formed part of +Fickett's Field, the tilting-place of the Templars. Over the arch of the +gate are carved three shields of arms. In the centre are the +fleurs-de-lis and lions of Henry VIII., crowned within the garter. On +the north side are the arms of Sir Thomas Lovell, who was a bencher of +the Inn, and who rebuilt the gate in 1518. At the other side is the +shield of Lacy. It was Henry Lacy, third Earl of Lincoln, who died in +1311, by whom the lawyers are said to have been first established here. +It is certain that soon after his death the house and gardens, which +before his time had belonged in part to the Blackfriars, and which he +had obtained on their removal to the corner of the City since called +after them, were in the occupation of a society of students of the law. +An adjoining house and grounds belonged to the Bishops of Chichester: +Bishop's Court and Chichester's Rents are still local names. Richard +Sampson, Bishop in 1537, made over the estate to Suliard, a bencher of +the Inn, and his son in 1580 granted it to the lawyers. The gate is at +76, Chancery Lane, formerly New Street, and later Chancellor's Lane. In +Old Square, the first court we enter, are situated the ancient hall and +the chapel, the south side being occupied by chambers, some of them +ancient. The turret in the corner, and one at the south-western corner, +behind the hall, are very like those at St. James's Palace, and probably +date very soon after the gate. Here at No. 13 Thurloe, Oliver Cromwell's +Secretary of State, concealed a large collection of letters, which were +discovered long after and have been published. The hall is low, and +cannot be praised for any external architectural features of interest. +The brickwork, which is older by twelve years than that of the gate, is +concealed under a coat of stucco. There are three Gothic windows on each +side, and the dimensions are about 70 feet by 32 feet high. The interior +is not much more imposing, but the screen, in richly-carved oak, set up +in 1565, is handsome, and there is a picture by Hogarth of St. Paul +before Felix. + +Mr. Spilsbury, the librarian, seems to have proved conclusively that the +chapel, which stands at right angles to the old hall, was a new building +when it was consecrated in 1623. There is no direct evidence that it was +designed by Inigo Jones; on the other hand, there is a record in +existence which testifies that the Society intended to employ him. John +Clarke was the builder. There was an older chapel in a ruinous +condition, which there is reason to believe had been that of the +Bishops, as it was dedicated to St. Richard of Chichester. Mr. Spilsbury +quotes one of the Harleian manuscripts, written in or about 1700, in +which Inigo is named as the architect, and Vertue's engraving of 1751 +also mentions him. The chapel is elevated on an open crypt, which was +intended for a cloister. Butler's "Hudibras" speaks of the lawyers as +waiting for customers between "the pillar-rows of Lincoln's Inn." There +were three bays, divided by buttresses, each of which was surmounted by +a stone vase, a picturesque but incongruous arrangement, which was +altered in the early days of the Gothic revival, being the first of a +series of "restorations" to which the chapel has been subjected. A more +serious offence against taste was the erection of a fourth bay at the +west end, by which the old proportions are lost. It looks worst on the +outside, however, and the fine old windows of glass stained in England, +apparently after a Flemish design, are calculated to disarm criticism. +Mr. Spilsbury attributes them to Bernard and Abraham van Linge, but the +glass was made by Hall, of Fetter Lane. The monuments commemorate, among +others, Spencer Perceval, murdered in 1812, and a daughter of Lord +Brougham, who died in 1839, and was buried in the crypt. The office of +chaplain was in existence as early as the reign of Henry VI. The +preachership was instituted in 1581, and among those who held the office +were John Donne, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's, who preached the first +sermon when the chapel was new. Herring, another preacher, was made +Archbishop of York in 1743, and of Canterbury in 1747. Another +Archbishop of York, William Thomson, was preacher here, and was promoted +in 1862. The greatest of the list was, perhaps, Reginald Heber, though +he was only here for a year before he was appointed Bishop of Calcutta. + +The garden extends along the east side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, the New +Square occupying the south portion, the new hall and library the middle +part, and the west part of Stone Buildings facing the northern part. A +terrace divides them, and there is a gate into the Fields, the roadway +leading north to Great Turnstile and Holborn. North of the Old Buildings +and the chapel is Stone Buildings, in a handsome classical style, with a +wing which looks into Chancery Lane near its Holborn end, and is half +concealed by low shop-fronts. The history of the Stone Buildings is +connected with that of the new hall and the library. Hardwick, one of +the last of the school which might be connected with Chambers, the +Adams, Payne, and other architects of the English Renaissance, was +employed to complete Stone Buildings, begun by Sir Robert Taylor, before +the end of the eighteenth century. Hardwick was at work in 1843, and his +initials and a date, "P. H., 1843," are on the south gable of the hall. +The new Houses of Parliament had just set the fashion for an attempt to +revive the Tudor style, and Hardwick added to it the strong feeling for +proportion which he had imbibed with his classical training. This gable +is exceedingly satisfactory, the architect having given it a dignity +wanting in most modern Gothic. It is of brick, with diagonal fretwork in +darker bricks, as in the gate tower. The library had been removed to the +Stone Buildings in 1787 from a small room south of the old hall, and, +more accommodation being required, Hardwick designed a library to adjoin +the new hall. The two looked very well, the hall being of six bays, with +a great bow-window at the north end. The interior is embellished with +heraldry in stained glass, carved oak, metal work, and fresco painting. +At the north end, over the dais, is Mr. G. F. Watts' great picture, "The +School of Legislation." The hall is 120 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 62 +feet high. The roof of oak is an excellent imitation of an open timber +roof of the fifteenth century, and is carved and gilt. The windows were +filled with heraldry by Willement, and show us the arms of the legal +luminaries who have adorned Lincoln's Inn, many of whom are also +represented by busts and painted portraits. The hall is connected with +an ample kitchen, and a series of butteries, pantries, and sculleries of +suitable size. + +Adjoining the hall, the library and a reading-room, which as first built +were calculated to enhance the dignity of the hall, were soon found to +be too small. Sir Gilbert Scott was called in to add to them. The +delicate proportions of Hardwick suffered in the process, the younger +architect having evidently thought more of the details, as was the +fashion of his school. The additions were carried out in 1873, and the +library is now 130 feet long, but shuts out a large part of the view +northward through the gardens. It is believed that Ben Jonson worked +here as a bricklayer, and we are told by Fuller that he had a trowel in +his hand and a book in his pocket. Aubrey says his mother had married a +bricklayer, and that he was sent to Cambridge by a bencher who heard him +repeating Homer as he worked. Of actual members of eminence, Lincoln's +Inn numbers almost as many as the Inner Temple. Sir Thomas More among +these comes first, but his father, who was a Judge, should be named with +him. The handsome Lord Keeper Egerton, ancestor of so many eminent +holders of the Bridgwater title, belonged to Lincoln's Inn during the +reign of Elizabeth. The second Lord Protector, Richard Cromwell, was a +student here in 1647, and Lenthall, his contemporary, was Reader. A +little later Sir Matthew Hale, whose father had also been a member, was +of this inn, and became Chief Justice in 1671. The first Earl of +Mansfield was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, and four or five Lords +Chancellor in a row, including Bathurst, Campbell, St. Leonards, and +Brougham. + +From the antiquarian or the picturesque point of view Lincoln's Inn is +not so fascinating as the two Temples. It looks rather frowning from +Chancery Lane, where it rises against the western sky. The old hall and +the chapel are rather curious than beautiful, and cannot compare with +Middle Temple Hall or the Church of the Knights. The fine buildings +which overlook the gardens and trees of Lincoln's Inn Fields owe much to +their open situation. The Stone Buildings where they look on the green +turf of the garden are really magnificent, but they stand back from the +public gaze, and are but seldom seen by the casual visitor. + + +CHANCERY LANE. + +Strype says the Lane "received the name of Chancellor's Lane in the time +of Edward I. The way was so foul and miry that John le Breton, Custos of +London, and the Bishop of Chichester, kept bars with staples across it +to prevent carts from passing. The roadway was repaired in the reign of +Edward III., and acquired its present name under his successor, Richard +II." + +About half of the Lane falls within the district, being in the parish of +St. Andrew, Holborn. In it at the present time there is nothing worthy +of remark, except the gateway of Lincoln's Inn, mentioned elsewhere. +Offices, flats, and chambers in the solid modern style rise above shops. +Near the north end is the Chancery Lane Safe Deposit. On the opposite +side the old buildings of Lincoln's Inn frown defiance. Chancery Lane +has for long been the chief connection between the Strand and Holborn, +but will soon be superseded by Kingsway further west. + +Near the north end are Southampton Buildings, rigidly modern, containing +the Birkbeck Bank and Chambers. They are built on the site once covered +by Southampton House, which came to William, Lord Russell, by his +marriage with the daughter and heiress of the last Lord Southampton. It +is difficult to realize now the scene thus described by J. Wykeham +Archer: "It was in passing this house, the scene of his domestic +happiness, on his way to the scaffold in Lincoln's Inn Fields, that the +fortitude of the martyr for a moment forsook him; but, overmastering his +emotion, he said, 'The bitterness of death is now past.'" + +Cursitor Street was in the eighteenth century noted for its +sponging-houses, and many a reference is made to it in contemporary +literature. We are now in the Liberties of the Rolls, a parish in +itself. + +The Cursitors' Office was built by Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, +and adjoined the site of a palace of the Bishop of Chichester; and this +adjoined the Domus Conversorum, or House of Converts, wherein the rolls +of Chancery were kept, now replaced by the magnificent building of the +new Record Office. Southward is Serjeants' Inn--the building still +stands; also Clifford's Inn, once pertaining to the Inner Temple. The +hall of Clifford's Inn was converted into a court for the adjustment of +boundaries after the Fire of London. + +On the west side of Chancery Lane, a few doors above Fleet Street, Izaak +Walton kept a draper's shop. These details about the southern part of +Chancery Lane are mentioned for the sake of continuity, for they do not +come within the Holborn District. + +Chancery Lane was the birthplace of Lord Strafford, the residence of +Chief Justice Hyde, of the Lord Keeper Guildford, and of Jacob Tonson. + +Passing on into Holborn and turning eastward, we soon perceive a row of +quaint Elizabethan gabled houses (see Frontispiece), with overhanging +upper stories and timber framework. The contrast with the modern +terra-cotta buildings on the north side of the street is striking. The +old houses are part of Staple Inn, now belonging to the Prudential +Assurance Company, whose red terra-cotta it is that forms such a +contrast across the way. It was bought by the company in 1884, and +restored a few years later by the removal of the plaster which had +concealed the picturesque beams. Still within St. Andrew's parish, we +here arrive at the City boundaries. The numbering of Holborn proper, +included in the City, begins a door or two above the old timbered +entrance, which leads to the first courtyard of Staple Inn. The +courtyard is a real backwater out of the rushing traffic. The uneven +cobble-stones, the whispering plane-trees, the worn red brick, and the +flat sashed windows, of a bygone date all combine to make a picture of +old London seldom to be found nowadays. Dr. Johnson wrote parts of +"Rasselas" while a resident here. + +The way is a thoroughfare to Southampton Buildings, and continuing +onward we pass another part of the old building with a quaint clock and +small garden. Near at hand are the new buildings of the Patent Office +and the Birkbeck Bank and Chambers, already mentioned, an enormous mass +of masonry. The Inn contains a fine hall, thus mentioned in 1631: + +"Staple Inn was the Inne or Hostell of the Merchants of the Staple (as +the tradition is), wherewith until I can learne better matter, +concerning the antiquity and foundation thereof, I must rest satisfied. +But for latter matters I cannot chuse but make report, and much to the +prayse and commendation of the Gentlemen of this House, that they have +bestowed great costs in new-building a fayre Hall of brick, and two +parts of the outward Courtyards, besides other lodging in the garden and +elsewhere, and have thereby made it the fayrest Inne of Chauncery in +this Universitie." + +The whole of this district abounds in these one-time Inns of Chancery, +formerly attached to the Inns of Court; but those that remain are all +now diverted to other uses, and some have vanished, leaving only a name. + +Further on there is Furnival Street, lately Castle Street, and so marked +in Strype's map. The Castle Public-house still recalls the older name. +Tradesmen of every kind occupy the buildings, besides which there is a +Baptist mission-house. The buildings on the east side are of the +old-fashioned style, dark brick with flat sashed windows. + +Furnival Street lies within the City. The street takes its name from +Furnival's Inn, rebuilt in the early part of the nineteenth century. +This stood on the north side of Holborn, and was without the City. There +is, perhaps, less to say about it than about any of the other old Inns. +It was originally the town-house of the Lords Furnival. It was an Inn of +Chancery in Henry IV.'s reign, and was sold to Lincoln's Inn in the +reign of Elizabeth. Its most interesting associations are that Sir +Thomas More was Reader for three years, and that Charles Dickens had +chambers here previous to 1837, while "Pickwick" was running in parts. +It was rebuilt in great part in Charles I.'s reign, and entirely rebuilt +about 1818. With the exception of the hall, it was used as an hotel. +The Prudential Assurance Company's palatial building now completely +covers the site. + +In Holborn, opposite to the end of Gray's Inn Road, formerly stood +Middle Row, an island of houses which formed a great obstruction to +traffic. This was removed in 1867. + +The next opening on the south side is Dyers' Buildings, with name +reminiscent of some former almshouses of the Dyers' Company. Then a +small entry, with "Mercer's School" above, leads into Barnard's Inn, now +the School of the Mercers' Company. The first court is smaller than that +of Staple Inn, and lacks the whispering planes, yet it is redolent of +old London. On the south side is the little hall, the smallest of all +those of the London Inns; it is now used as a dining-hall. In the +windows is some ancient stained glass, contemporary with the +building--that is to say, about 470 years old. + +The exterior of this hall, with its steeply-pitched roof, is a favourite +subject for artists. Beyond it are concrete courts, walls of glazed +white brick, and cleanly substantial buildings, which speak of the +modern appreciation of sanitation. A tablet on the wall records in +admirably concise fashion the history of the Mercers' School and its +various peregrinations until it found a home here in 1894. Before being +bought by the Mercers' Company, the Inn had been let as residential +chambers. It was also an Inn of Chancery, and belonged to Gray's Inn. It +was formerly called Mackworth's Inn, being the property of Dr. John +Mackworth, Dean of Lincoln. It was next occupied by a man named Barnard, +when it was converted into an Inn of Chancery. + +The further court is bounded on the east side by one of the few very old +buildings left in London. This was formerly the White Horse Inn, but is +now also part of the Mercers' School buildings. + +Timbs quotes from Lord Eldon's "Anecdote Book," 1776, in which Lord +Eldon says he came to the White Horse Inn when he left school, and here +met his brother, Lord Stowell, who took him to see the play at Drury +Lane, where "Lowe played Jobson in the farce, and Miss Pope played Nell. +When we came out of the house it rained hard. There were then few +hackney coaches, and we both got into one sedan-chair. Turning out of +Fleet Street into Fetter Lane there was a sort of contest between our +chairmen and some persons who were coming up Fleet Street.... In the +struggle the sedan-chair was overset, with us in it." + +The white boundary wall of the Mercers' School replaces the old wall of +the noted Swan Distillery (now rebuilt). This distillery was an object +of attack in the Gordon Riots, partly, perhaps, because of its stores, +and partly because its owner was a Roman Catholic. It was looted, and +the liquor ran down in the streets, where men and women drank themselves +mad. Dickens has thus described the riot scene in "Barnaby Rudge": + + "The gutters of the street and every crack and fissure in the + stones ran with scorching spirit, which being dammed up by busy + hands overflowed the road and pavement, and formed a great pool + into which the people dropped down dead by dozens. They lay in + heaps all round this fearful pond, husbands and wives, fathers and + sons, mothers and daughters, women with children in their arms and + babies at their breasts, and drank until they died. While some + stooped their lips to the brink and never raised their heads again, + others sprang up from their fiery draught, and danced half in a mad + triumph, and half in the agony of suffocation, until they fell and + steeped their corpses in the liquor that had killed them." + +Both the Holborn and Fleet Street ends of Fetter Lane were for more than +two centuries places of execution. Some have derived the name from the +fetters of criminals, and others from "fewtors," disorderly and idle +persons, a corruption of "defaytors," or defaulters; while the most +probable derivation is that from the "fetters" or rests on the +breastplates of the knights who jousted in Fickett's Field adjoining. + +An interesting Moravian Chapel has an entry on the east side of Fetter +Lane. This has memories of Baxter, Wesley, and Whitefield. It was bought +by the Moravians in 1738, and was then associated with the name of +Count Zinzendorf. It was attacked and dismantled in the riots. Dryden is +supposed to have lived in Fetter Lane, but Hutton, in "Literary +Landmarks," says the only evidence of such occupation was a curious +stone, existing as late as 1885, in the wall of No. 16, over +Fleur-de-Lys Court, stating: + + "Here lived + John Dryden, + Ye Poet. + Born 1631--Died 1700. + Glorious John!" + +But he adds there is no record when or by whom the stone was placed. +Otway is said to have lived opposite, and quarrelled with his +illustrious neighbour in verse. In any case, Fleur-de-Lys Court lies +outside the boundaries of the parish we are now considering. It may, +however, be mentioned that the woman Elizabeth Brownrigg, who so foully +tortured her apprentices, committed her atrocities in this court. Praise +God Barebones was at one time a resident in the Lane, and in the same +house his brother, Damned Barebones. The house was afterwards bought by +the Royal Society, of which Sir Isaac Newton was then President, and the +Royal Society meetings were held here until 1782. + +Returning to Holborn, from whence we have deviated, we come across +Bartlett's Buildings, described by Strype as a very handsome, spacious +place very well inhabited. + +Thavie's Inn bears the name of the vanished Inn of Chancery. Here was +originally the house of an armourer called John Thavie, who, by will +dated 1348, devised it with three shops for the repair and maintenance +of St. Andrew's Church. It was bought for an Inn of Chancery by +Lincoln's Inn in the reign of Edward III. It is curious how persistently +the old names have adhered to these places. It was sold by Lincoln's Inn +in 1771, and afterwards burnt down. The houses here are chiefly +inhabited by jewellers, opticians, and earthenware merchants. There are +a couple of private hotels. + +In St. Andrew's Street are the Rectory and Court-house, rebuilt from the +designs of S. S. Teulon in yellow brick. The buildings form a +quadrangle, with a wall and one side of the church enclosing a small +garden. In the Court-house is a handsome oak overmantle, black with age, +which was brought here from the old Court-house in St. Andrew's Court, +pulled down in the construction of St. Andrew's Street and Holborn +Viaduct in 1869. + +Holborn Circus was formed in connection with the approaches to the +Viaduct. In the centre there is an equestrian statue of the Prince +Consort in bronze, by C. Bacon. This was presented by an anonymous +donor, and the Corporation voted L2,000 for erecting a suitable pedestal +for it. The whole was put up in 1874, two years after the completion of +the Circus. On the north and south sides are bas-reliefs, and on the +east and west statues of draped female figures seated. + +Holborn Viaduct was finished in 1869. It is 1,400 feet in length, and is +carried by a series of arches over the streets in the valleys below. The +main arch is over Farringdon Road, the bed of the Fleet or Holbourne +Stream, and is supported by polished granite columns of immense +solidity. At the four corners of this there are four buildings enclosing +staircases communicating with the lower level, and in niches are +respectively statues of Sir William Walworth, Sir Hugh Myddleton, Sir +Thomas Gresham, and Sir Henry Fitz-Alwyn, with dates of birth and death. +On the parapets of the Viaduct are four erect draped female figures, +representative of Fine Art, Science, Agriculture, and Commerce. Holborn +Viaduct is a favourite locality for bicycle shops. + +The City Temple (Congregational) and St. Andrew's Church are near +neighbours, and conspicuous objects on the Viaduct just above Shoe Lane. +The City Temple is a very solid mass of masonry with a cupola and a +frontage of two stories in two orders of columns. + +The parish of St. Andrew was formerly of much greater extent than at +present, embracing not only Hatton Garden, Saffron Hill, but also St. +George the Martyr, these are now separate parishes. + +The original Church of St. Andrew was of great antiquity. Malcolm, who +gives a very full account of it in "Londinium Redivivum," says that it +was given "very many centuries past" to the Dean and Chapter of St. +Paul's, and the Abbot and Convent of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, by +Gladerinus, a priest, on condition that the Abbot and Convent paid the +Dean and the Chapter 12s. per annum. We also hear that there was a +grammar-school attached to it, one of Henry VI.'s foundations, and that +there had been previously an alien priory, a cell to the House of Cluny, +suppressed by Henry V. The church continued in a flourishing condition. +Various chantries were bestowed upon it from time to time, and in the +will of the Rector, date 1447, it is stated that there were four altars +within the church. In Henry VIII.'s time the principals of the four inns +or houses in the parish paid a mark apiece to the church, apparently for +the maintenance of a chantry priest. In Elizabeth's reign the tombs were +despoiled: the churchwardens sold the brasses that had so far escaped +destruction, and proceeded to demolish the monuments, until an order +from the Queen put a stop to this vandalism. + +In 1665 Stillingfleet (Bishop of Worcester) was made Rector. The church +was rebuilt by Wren in 1686 "in a neat, plain manner." The ancient tower +remained, and was recased in 1704. The building is large, light, and +airy, and is in the florid, handsome style we are accustomed to +associate with Wren. At the west end is a fine late-pointed arch, +communicating with the tower, in which there is a similar window. This +arch was blocked up and hidden by Wren, but was re-opened by the late +Rector, the Rev. Henry Blunt, who also thoroughly restored and renovated +the building some thirty years ago. + +The most interesting of the interior fittings is a porphyry altar, +placed by Sacheverell, who was Rector from 1713 to 1724, and who is +buried beneath it. A marble font, at which Disraeli was baptized at the +age of twelve, is also interesting, and the pulpit of richly-carved +wood, attributed to Grinling Gibbons, is very handsome. On the west wall +is a marble slab, in memory of William Marsden, M.D., founder of the +Royal Free and Cancer Hospitals. It was put up by the Cordwainers' +Company in 1901. + +In the tower are many monuments of antiquity, but none to recall the +memory of anyone notable. The church stood in a very commanding +situation until the building of the Viaduct, which passes on a higher +level, giving the paved yard in front the appearance of having been +sunk. + +On this side of the church there is a large bas-relief of the Last +Judgment, without date. This was a favourite subject in the seventeenth +century, and similar specimens, though not so fine, and differing in +treatment, still exist elsewhere (see p. 17). + +Malcolm mentions a house next the White Hart, with land behind it, worth +5s. per annum, called "Church Acre," and in the reign of Henry VII. the +priest was fined 4d. for driving across the churchyard to the Rectory. +In the twenty-fifth year of Elizabeth's reign there was a great heap of +skulls and bones that lay "unseemly and offensive" at the east end of +the church. The register records the burial here, on August 28, 1770, of +"William Chatterton," presumably Thomas Chatterton, as the date accords. +A later hand has added the words "the poet." + +Wriothesley, Henry VIII.'s Chancellor, was buried in St. Andrew's +churchyard. Timbs says that this church has been called the "Poets' +Church," for, besides the above, John Webster, dramatic poet, is said to +have been parish clerk here, though the register does not confirm it. +Robert Savage was christened here January 18, 1696. + +There is also a monument to Emery, the comedian, and Neale, another +poet, was buried in the churchyard. But these records combined make but +poor claim to such a proud title. The ground on which Chatterton was +buried has now utterly vanished, having been covered first by the +Farringdon Market, and later by great warehouses. + +When the Holborn Viaduct was built, a large piece of the churchyard was +cut off, and the human remains thus disinterred were reburied in the +City cemetery at Ilford, Essex. + +The earliest mention of Shoe Lane is in a writ of Edward II., when it is +denominated "Scolane in the ward without Ludgate." In the seventeenth +century we read of a noted cockpit which was established here. + +Gunpowder Alley, which ran out of this Lane, was the residence of +Lovelace, the poet, and of Lilly, the astrologer. The former died here +of absolute want in 1658. His well-known lines, + + "I could not love thee, dear, so much, + Loved I not honour more," + +have made his fame more enduring than that of many men of greater +poetical merit. In Shoe Lane lived also Florio, the compiler of our +first Italian Dictionary. Coger's Hall in Shoe Lane attained some +celebrity in the latter half of the eighteenth century. It was +established for the purpose of debate, and, among others, O'Connell, +Wilkes, and Curran, met here to discuss the political questions of the +day. On the west side of Shoe Lane was Bangor Court, reminiscent of the +Palace or Inn of the Bishops of Bangor. This was a very picturesque old +house, if the prints still existing are to be trusted, and parts of it +survived even so late as 1828. It was mentioned in the Patent Rolls so +early as Edward III.'s reign. Another old gabled house, called Oldbourne +Hall, was on the east side of the street, but this, even in Stow's time, +had fallen from its high estate and descended to the degradation of +division into tenements. + +Opposite St. Andrew's Church was formerly Scrope's Inn. According to +Stow, + + "This house was sometime letten out to sergeants-at-the-law, as + appeareth, and was found by inquisition taken in the Guildhall of + London, before William Purchase, mayor, and escheator for the king, + Henry VII., in the 14th of his reign, after the death of John Lord + Scrope, that he died deceased in his demesne of fee, by the + feoffment of Guy Fairfax, knight, one of the king's justices, made + in the 9th of the same king, unto the said John Scrope, knight, + Lord Scrope of Bolton, and Robert Wingfield, esquire, of one house + or tenement late called Sergeants' Inn, situate against the Church + of St. Andrew in Oldbourne, in the city of London, with two gardens + and two messuages to the same tenement belonging to the said city, + to hold in burgage, valued by the year in all reprises ten + shillings" (Thomas's edit. Stow, p. 144). + +This, as may be judged from the above, was not a regular Inn of +Chancery, but appertained to Serjeants' Inn. + +Crossing Holborn Circus to the north side, we come into the Liberty of +Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents. This Liberty, is coterminous +with the parish of St. Peter, Saffron Hill. Hatton Garden derives its +name from the family of Hatton, who for many years held possession of +house and grounds in the vicinity of Ely Place, having settled upon the +Bishops of Ely like parasites, and grown rich by extortion from their +unwilling hosts. The district was separated from St. Andrew's in 1832, +and became an independent ecclesiastical parish seven years later. As +the Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents, it has a very +ancient history. It was cut in two by a recent Boundary Commission, and +put half in Holborn and half in Finsbury Borough Councils. + +Ely Place was built in 1773 on the site of the Palace of the Bishops of +Ely. The earliest notice of the See in connection with this spot is in +the thirteenth century, when Kirkby, who died in office in 1290, +bequeathed to his official successors a messuage and nine cottages in +Holborn. A succeeding Bishop, probably William de Luda, built a chapel +dedicated to St. Ethelreda, and Hotham, who died in 1336, added a +garden, orchard, and vineyard. Thomas Arundel restored the chapel, and +built a large gate-house facing Holborn. The episcopal dwelling steadily +rose in magnificence and size. It boasted noble residents besides the +Bishops, for John of Gaunt died here in 1399, having probably been +hospitably taken in after the burning of his own palace at the Savoy. +The strawberries of Ely Garden were famous, and Shakespeare makes +reference to them, thus following closely Holinshed. But in the reign of +Queen Elizabeth a blight fell on the Bishops. It began with the envious +desires of Sir Christopher Hatton, who, by reason of his dancing and +courtly tricks, had won the susceptible Queen's fancy and been made Lord +Chancellor. He settled down on Ely Place, taking the gate-house as his +residence, excepting the two rooms reserved as cells and the lodge. He +held also part of the garden on a lease of twenty-one years, and the +nominal rent he had to pay was a red rose, ten loads of hay, and L10 per +annum. The Bishop had the right of passing through the gate-house, of +walking in his own garden, and of gathering twenty bushels of roses +yearly. Hatton spent much money (borrowed from the Queen) in improving +and beautifying the estate, which pleased him so well that he farther +petitioned the Queen to grant him the whole property. The poor, ill-used +Bishop protested, but was sternly repressed, and the only concession he +could obtain was the right to buy back the estate if he could at any +time repay Hatton the sums which had been spent on it. But Hatton did +not remain unpunished. The Queen, a hard creditor, demanded the immense +sums which she had lent to him, and it is said he died of a broken +heart, crushed at being unable to repay them. His nephew Newport, who +took the name of Hatton, was, however, allowed to succeed him. The widow +of this second Hatton married Sir Edward Coke, the ceremony being +performed in St. Andrew's Church. The Bishops' and the Hattons' rights +of property seem to have been somewhat involved, for after the death of +this widow the Bishops returned, and in the beginning of the eighteenth +century the Hatton property was saddled with an annual rent-charge of +L100 payable to the See; and, in 1772, when, on the death of the last +Hatton heir, the property fell to the Crown, the See was paid L200 per +annum, and given a house in Dover Street, Piccadilly, in lieu of Ely +Place. Malcolm says: "When a more convenient Excise Office was lately +wanted, the ground on which Ely House stood was thought of for it, but +its situation was objected to. When an intention was formed of removing +the Fleet Prison, Ely House was judged proper on account of the quantity +of ground about it, but the neighbouring inhabitants in Hatton Garden +petitioned against the prison being built there. A scheme is now (1773) +said to be in agitation for converting it into a Stamp Office, that +business being at present carried on in chambers in Lincoln's Inn." So +much for the history and ownership of a place which played a +considerable part in London history. The fabric itself must have been +very magnificent. There was a venerable hall 74 feet long, with six +Gothic windows. At Ely House were held magnificent feasts by the +Serjeants-at-Law, one of which continued for five days, and was honoured +on the first day by the presence of Henry VIII. and Katherine of Aragon. +Stow's account of this festival is perhaps worth quoting: + + "It were tedious to set down the preparation of fish, flesh, and + other victuals spent in this feast, and would seem almost + incredible, and, as to me it seemeth, wanted little of a feast at a + coronation; nevertheless, a little I will touch, for declaration of + the charge of prices. There were brought to the slaughter-house + twenty-four great beefs at twenty-six shillings and eightpence the + piece from the shambles, one carcass of an ox at twenty-four + shillings, one hundred fat muttons two shillings and tenpence the + piece, fifty-two great veals at four shillings and eightpence the + piece, thirty-four porks three shillings and eightpence the piece, + ninety-one pigs sixpence the piece, capons of geese, of one + poulterer (for they had three), ten dozens at twenty-pence the + piece, capons of Kent nine dozens and six at twelvepence the piece, + capons coarse nineteen dozen at sixpence the piece, cocks of grose + seven dozen and nine at eightpence the piece, cocks coarse fourteen + dozen and eight at threepence the piece, pullets, the best, + twopence halfpenny, other pullets twopence, pigeons thirty-seven + dozen at tenpence the dozen, swans fourteen dozen, larks three + hundred and forty dozen at fivepence the dozen, &c. Edward Nevill + was seneschal or steward, Thomas Ratcliffe, comptroller, Thomas + Wildon, clerk of the Kitchen" (Thomas's edit. Stow, pp. 144, 145). + +During the Civil War the house was used both as a hospital and a prison. +Great part of it was demolished during the imprisonment of Bishop Wren +by the Commonwealth, and some of the surrounding streets were built on +the site of the garden. Vine Street, Hatton Garden, Saffron Hill, of +which the lower end was once Field Lane, carry their origin in their +names. Evelyn, writing June 7, 1659, says that he came to see the +"foundations now laying for a long streete and buildings on Hatton +Garden, designed for a little towne, lately an ample garden." The +chapel, dedicated to St. Ethelreda, now alone remains. It was for a time +held by a Welsh Episcopalian congregation, but in 1874 was obtained by +Roman Catholics, the Welsh congregation passing on to St. Benet's, on +St. Benet's Hill in Thames Street. The chapel stands back from the +street, and is faced by a stone wall and arched porch surmounted by a +cross. This stonework is all modern. An entrance immediately facing the +porch leads into the crypt, which is picturesque with old stone walls +and heavily-timbered roof. This is by far the older part of the +building, the chapel above being a rebuilding on the same foundation. +The crypt probably dates back from the first foundation of De Luda, and +the chapel from the restoration of Arundel. When the Roman Catholics +came into possession, the late Sir Gilbert Scott was employed in a +thorough restoration, during which a heavy stone bowl, about the size of +a small font, was dug up. It is of granite, and is supposed to be of +considerably more ancient date than the fabric itself, being pre-Saxon. +From the size, it is improbable it was used as a font, being more likely +a holy-water stoup, for which purpose it is now employed. Having been +placed on a fitting shaft, it stands outside the entrance to the church, +on the south side, in the cloister, which is probably on the site of the +ancient cloister. There is a simple Early English porch, beautifully +proportioned with mouldings of the period. Within the church corresponds +in shape with the crypt; two magnificent windows east and west are +worthy of a much larger building. Those on each side are of recent date, +having been reconstructed from a filled-in window on the south side of +the chancel. The reliquary contains a great treasure--a portion of the +hand of St. Ethelreda, which member, having been taken from the chapel, +after many wanderings, fell into the possession of a convent of nuns, +who refused to give it up. Finally judgment was given to the effect that +the nuns should retain a portion, while the part of a finger was granted +to the church, which was accordingly done. It was this saint who gave +rise to our word "tawdry." She was popularly known as St. Awdrey, and +strings of beads sold in her name at fairs, etc., came to be made of any +worthless glass or rubbish, and were called tawdry. The crypt is used as +a regular church, and is filled with seats; service is held here as well +as above. + +The timber beams in the roof are now (1903) undergoing thorough +restoration, and the outer walls of the chapel are being repointed. + +From this quaint relic of past times, rich with the indefinable +attraction which nothing but a history of centuries can give, we pass +out into Ely Place. This is a quiet cul-de-sac composed almost wholly of +the offices of business men, solicitors, etc. At the north end, beyond +the chapel, the old houses are down, and new ones will be erected in +their place. At the end a small watchman's lodge stands on the spot +where stood the Bishops' Gateway, in which the parasite, Sir Christopher +Hatton, first fastened on his host. + +Hatton Garden is a wide thoroughfare with some modern offices and many +older houses, with bracketed doorways and carved woodwork. It has long +been associated with the diamond merchant's trade, and now diamond +merchants occupy quite half of the offices. It is also the centre of the +gold and silver trade. The City Orthopaedic Hospital is on the east +side. + +In Charles Street is the Bleeding Heart public-house, which derives its +name from an old religious sign, the Pierced Heart of the Virgin. This +is close to Bleeding Heart Yard, referred to in "Little Dorrit," and +easily recalled by any reader of Dickens. + +In Cross Street there is an old charity school, with stuccoed figures of +a charity boy and girl on the frontage. The Caledonian School was +formerly in this street; it was removed to its present situation in +1828. Whiston, friend of Sir Isaac Newton, lived here, and here Edward +Irving first displayed his powers of preaching. + +Kirkby Street recalls what has already been said about the first Bishop +of Ely, who purchased land whereon his successors should build a palace. +It is a broad street, and in times past was a place of residence for +well-to-do people. + +The lower part of Saffron Hill was known at first as Field Lane, and is +described by Strype as "narrow and mean, full of Butchers and Tripe +Dressers, because the Ditch runs at the back of their Slaughter houses, +and carries away the filth." He also says that Saffron Hill is a place +of small account, "both as to buildings and inhabitants, and pestered +with small and ordinary alleys and courts taken up by the meaner sort of +people, especially to the east side into the Town. The Ditch separates +the parish from St. John, Clerkenwell, and over this Ditch most of the +alleys have a small boarded bridge." + +We can easily picture it, the courts swarming with thieves and rogues +who slipped from justice by this back-way, which made the place a kind +of warren with endless ramifications and outlets. All this district is +strongly associated with the stories of Dickens, who mentions Saffron +Hill in "Oliver Twist," not much to its credit. In later times Italian +organ-grinders and ice-cream vendors had a special predilection for the +place, and did not add to its reputation. Curiously enough, the resident +population of the neighbourhood are now almost wholly British, with very +few Italians, as the majority of the foreigners have gone to join the +colony just outside the Liberty, in Eyre Street Hill, Skinner's Street, +etc. Within quite recent times the clergyman of the parish dare only go +to visit these parishioners accompanied by two policemen in plain +clothes. Now the lower half is a hive of industry, and is lined by great +business houses. Further north, on the east side, the dwellings are +still poor and squalid, but on one side a great part of the street has +been demolished to make way for a Board school, built in a way +immeasurably superior to the usual Board school style. Opposite is the +Church of St. Peter, which is an early work of Sir Charles Barry. This +is in light stone, in the Perpendicular style, and has two western +towers. It was built at the time of the separation of the district, +about 1832. + +In Hatton Wall an old yard bore the name of Hat in Tun, which was +interesting as showing the derivation of the word. Strype mentions in +this street a very old inn, called the Bull Inn. The part of Hatton Wall +to the west of Hatton Garden was known as Vine Street, and here there +was "a steep descent into the Ditch, where there is a bridge that +leadeth to Clerkenwell Green" (Strype). In Hatton Yard Mr. Fogg, +Dickens' magistrate, presided over a police-court. + +Leather Lane is called by Strype "Lither" Lane. Even in his day he +reviles it as of no reputation, and this character it retains. It is one +of the open street markets of London, lined with barrows and coster +stalls, and abounding in low public-houses. The White Hart, the King's +Head, and the Nag's Head, are mentioned by Strype, and these names +survive amid innumerable others. At the south end a house with +overhanging stories remains; this curtails the already narrow space +across the Lane. + +On the west of Leather Lane, Baldwin's Buildings and Portpool Lane open +out. The former consists largely of workmen's model dwellings, +comfortable and convenient within, but with the peculiarly depressing +exteriors of the utilitarian style. Further north these give way to +warehouses, breweries, and manufactories. East of its southern end in +Holborn were two old inns, the Old Bell and Black Bull. The former was a +coaching inn of great celebrity in its day, and picturesque wooden +balconies surrounded its inner courtyard. It has now been transformed +into a modern public-house. It was the last of the old galleried inns of +London. The Black Bull was also of considerable age. Its courtyard has +been converted into dwellings. + +Brooke Street takes its name from Brooke Market, established here by +Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, but demolished a hundred years ago. It was +in Brooke Street, in a house on the west side, that poor Chatterton +committed suicide. St. Alban's Church is an unpretentious building at +the north end. An inscription over the north door tells us that it was +erected to be free for ever to the poor by one of the humble stewards of +God's mercies, with date 1860. Within we learn that this benefactor was +the first Baron Addington. The church is well known for its ritualistic +services. + +Portpool Lane, marked in Strype's plan Perpoole, is the reminiscence of +an ancient manor of that name. The part of Clerkenwell Road bounding +this district to the north was formerly called by the appropriate name +of Liquorpond Street. In it there is a Roman Catholic Church of St. +Peter, built in 1863. The interior is very ornate. Just here, where Back +Hill and Ray Street meet, was Hockley Hole, a famous place of +entertainment for bull and bear baiting, and other cruel sports that +delighted the brutal taste of the eighteenth century. One of the +proprietors, named Christopher Preston, fell into his own bear-pit, and +was devoured, a form of sport that doubtless did not appeal to him. +Hockley Hole was noted for a particular breed of bull-dogs. The actual +site of the sports is in the adjoining parish, but the name occurring +here justifies some comment. Hockley in the Hole is referred to by Ben +Jonson, Steele, Fielding, and others. It was abolished soon after 1728. + +It was in a sponging-house in Eyre Street that Morland, the painter, +died. In the part of Gray's Inn Road to the north of Clerkenwell Road +formerly stood Stafford's Almshouses, founded in 1652. + +At present Rosebery Avenue, driven through slumland, justifies its +pleasant-sounding name, being a wide, sweeping, tree-lined road. +Workmen's model dwellings rise on either side. + +The northern part of Gray's Inn Road falls within the parish of St. +Pancras. The part which lies to the north of Theobald's Road was +formerly called Gray's Inn Lane. In 1879-80 the east side was pulled +down, and the line of houses set back in the rebuilding. These consists +of uninteresting buildings, with small shops on the ground-floor. On the +west there are the worn bricks of Gray's Inn. At the corner of +Clerkenwell Road is the Holborn Town-Hall, an imposing, well-built +edifice of brick and stone, with square clock-tower, surmounted by a +smaller octagonal tower and dome. The date is 1878. + +Gray's Inn Road is familiar to all readers of Dickens and Fielding, from +frequent references in their novels. John Hampden took lodgings here in +1640, in order to be near Pym, at a time when the struggle between the +King and Parliament in regard to the question of ship money was at its +sharpest. James Shirley, the dramatic poet of the seventeenth century, +is also said to have lived here, but was probably in Gray's Inn itself. + + +GRAY'S INN. + +BY W. J. LOFTIE. + +An archway on the north side of Holborn, nearly opposite Chancery Lane, +admits us to Gray's Inn. It is not the original entrance, which was +round the corner in Portpool Lane, now called Gray's Inn Road. The Lords +Grey of Wilton obtained the Manor of Portpool at some remote period +from the Canon of St. Paul's, who held it; we have no direct evidence as +to whether the Canon had a house on the spot, but there are some traces +of a chapel and a chaplain. In 1315 Lord Grey gave some land in trust to +the Canons of St. Bartholomew to endow the chaplain in his mansion of +Portpool. From its situation near London, the ready access both to the +City and the country, with the fine views northward towards Hampstead +and Highgate, this must have been a more desirable place of residence +than even the neighbouring manor of the Bishop of Ely. It consisted in +the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of a gate-house which faced +eastward, the chapel close to it on the left, and various other +buildings, some of them apparently forming separate houses, with +spacious gardens and a windmill. Here the Lords Grey lived for a couple +of centuries in great state, apparently letting or lending the smaller +houses to tenants or retainers--it would seem not unlikely to lawyers or +students of the law, possibly their own men of business. This is no mere +theory or guesswork. There has been too much conjecture about the early +history of Gray's Inn, and the sober-minded topographer is warned off at +the outset by a number of inconsistent assertions as to the early +existence here of a school of law. Dugdale tells us that the manor was +granted to the Priory of Shene in the reign of Henry VII., and after the +dissolution it was rented by a society of students of the law. A +fictitious list of Readers goes back to the reign of Edward III., but +will not bear critical examination. The lawyers paid a rent of L6 13s. +4d. to Henry VIII., and this charge passed into private hands by grant +of Charles II. The lawyers bought it from the heir of the first grantee, +and since 1733 have enjoyed the Inn rent-free. The opening into Holborn +was made on the purchase by the society, in 1594, of the Hart on the +Hoop, which then belonged to Fulwood, whose name is commemorated by +Fulwood's Rents, now nearly wiped out by a station of the Central London +Railway. + +The chief entrance is by the archway in Holborn. In 1867 the old brick +arch was beplastered, obliterating a reminiscence of Dickens, who makes +David Copperfield and Dora lodge over it. A narrow road leads into South +Square, the north side of which is formed by the hall and library. The +houses round the east and south sides are of uniform design, with +handsome doorways. The hall has been much "restored," but was originally +built in the reign of Queen Mary. It has a modern Gothic porch, carved +with the griffin, which forms the coat armour of the Inn. + +The interior of the hall has been renovated, having been much injured +in 1828, when the exterior was covered with stucco. The brick front is +again visible, and the panelling and roof within are of carved oak. +There are coats of arms in the windows, and on the walls hang portraits +of Charles I., Charles II., James II., and the two Bacons--father and +son--Sir Nicholas and Viscount St. Albans, who are the chief legal +luminaries of the "ancient and honourable society." The library, modern, +adjoins on the east, and contains a collection of important records and +printed books on law. + +Passing through an arch at the western end of the hall, we enter Gray's +Inn Square, formerly Chapel Court. The chapel is close to the library on +the north side, and opens into Gray's Inn Square. This court was +probably open on the north side to the fields before the reign of +Charles II. Some of the buildings surrounding it are in a good Queen +Anne style, and some have the cross-mullioned windows of a still earlier +period. The exterior of the chapel is covered with stucco. The interior, +which is very small--there being only seating for a congregation of +about one hundred--was carefully examined three years ago, when a +proposal was made to build a new chapel. The Gothic windows, walled up +by the library to the south, came to light, and there seems some +probability that the building is mainly that of Lord Grey's chantry of +1315. Some improvements and repairs to the interior have saved the +little chapel for the present. There are no monuments visible, but four +Archbishops of Canterbury who were connected with the Inn are +commemorated in the east window. They were Whitgift (1583-1604), Juxon +(1660-1663), Wake (1715-1737), Laud (1633-1645), and in the centre +Becket, whose only claim to be in such a goodly company appears to be +that a window "gloriously painted," with the figure of St. Thomas of +London, was destroyed by Edward Hall, the Reader, in 1539, according to +the King's injunctions. A subsequent window, showing our Lord on the +Mount, had long disappeared, and some heraldry was all the east end of +the chapel could boast. + +The gardens open by a handsome gate of wrought iron into Field Court, +which is westward of Gray's Inn Square. Here Bacon planted the trees, +and enjoyed the view northward, then all open, from a summer-house which +was only removed about 1754. Bacon lived in Coney Court, destroyed by +fire in 1678, which looked on the garden. + +Among the names of eminent men which occur to the memory in Gray's Inn, +we must mention a tradition which makes Chief Justice Gascoigne a +student here. More real is Thomas Cromwell, the terrible Vicar-General +of Henry VIII. Sir Thomas Gresham was a member of the Inn, as was his +contemporary Camden, the antiquary. Lord Burghley and his second son, +Robert, Earl of Salisbury, were both members, it is said, but certainly +Burghley. The list of casual inhabitants is almost inexhaustible, being +swelled by the heroes of many novels, actually or entirely fictitious. +Shakespeare was said to have played in the hall. Bradshaw, who presided +at the trial of Charles I., was a bencher; and so was Holt, the Chief +Justice of William III. More eminent than either, perhaps, was Sir +Samuel Romilly, whose sad death in 1818 caused universal regret. Pepys +mentions the walks, and observed the fashionable beauties after church +one Sunday in May, 1662. Sir Roger de Coverley is placed on the terrace +by Addison, and both Dryden, Shadwell, and other old dramatists speak of +the gardens. It was at Gray's Inn Gate--the old gate into Portpool +Lane--that Jacob Tonson, the great bookseller and publisher of the +eighteenth century, had his shop. + +The district northward of Gray's Inn needs very little comment. Great +St. James Street is picturesque, with eighteenth-century doorways and +carved brackets; the tenants of the houses are nearly all solicitors. +Little St. James Street is insignificant and diversified by mews. In +Strype's plan the rectangle formed by these two streets is marked +"Bowling Green"; in one corner is "the Cockpitt." + +Bedford Row is a very quiet, broad thoroughfare lined by +eighteenth-century houses of considerable height and size, which for the +most part still retain their noble staircases and well-proportioned +rooms. Nearly every house is cut up into chambers. Abernethy, the great +surgeon, formerly lived in this street, and Addington, Viscount +Sidmouth, was born here; Bishop Warburton, the learned theologian and +writer of the eighteenth century, and Elizabeth, daughter of Oliver +Cromwell, are also said to have been among the residents. Ralph, the +author of "Publick Buildings," admired it prodigiously, naming it one of +the finest streets in London. + +Red Lion Square took its name from a very well-known tavern in Holborn, +one of the largest and most notable of the old inns. There is a modern +successor, a Red Lion public-house, at the corner of Red Lion Street. To +the ancient inn the bodies of the regicides were brought the night +before they were dragged on hurdles to be exposed at Tyburn. This gave +rise to a tradition, which still haunts the spot, that some of these +men, including Cromwell, were buried in the Square, and that dummy +bodies were substituted to undergo the ignominy at Tyburn. + +There was for many years in the centre of the Square an obelisk with the +inscription, "Obtusum Obtusioris Ingenii Monumentum Quid me respicis +viator? Vade." And an attempt has been made to read the mysterious +inscription as a Cromwellian epitaph. Pennant says that in his time the +obelisk had recently vanished, which gives the date of destruction about +1780. + +The Square was built about 1698, and is curiously laid out, with streets +running diagonally from the corners as well as rectangularly from the +sides. It had formerly a watch-house at each corner, as well as the +obelisk in the centre. It is at present lined by brick houses of uniform +aspect and unequal heights, with here and there a conspicuously modern +building. The centre is laid out as a public garden, and forms a green +and pleasant oasis in a very poor district. + +St. John the Evangelist's Church, of red brick, designed by Pearson, +stands at the south-west corner. It was built 1876-1878, and is very +conspicuous, with two pointed towers and a handsome, deeply-recessed +east window. Next door is the clergy house. There are in the Square +various associations and societies, including the Mendicity Society, +Indigent Blind Visiting Society, St. Paul's Hospital, and others. Milton +had a house which overlooked Red Lion Fields, the site of the Square, +and Jonas Hanway, traveller and philanthropist, also a voluminous +writer, but who will be best remembered as the first man in England to +carry an umbrella, died here in 1786. Sharon Turner, historian, came +here after his marriage in 1795, and Lord Chief Justice Raymond, who +held his high office in the reign of the first and second Georges, lived +in the Square. But a later association will, perhaps, be more +interesting to most people: for about three years previously to 1859 Sir +E. Burne-Jones and William Morris lived in rooms at No. 17, before +either was married. + +Of the surrounding streets, those at the south-east and north-east +angles are the most quaint. An old house with red tiles stands at each +corner, and the remaining houses, though not so picturesque, are of +ancient date. The streets are mere flagged passages lined by open stalls +and little shops. + +Kingsgate Street is so named because it had a gate at the end through +which the King used to pass to Newmarket. It is mentioned by Pepys, who +under date March 8, 1669, records that the King's coach was upset here, +throwing out Charles himself, the Dukes of York and Monmouth, and Prince +Rupert, who were "all dirt, but no hurt." Near the end of this street in +Holborn was the Vine Inn, important as having kept alive the only +reference in Domesday Book to this district, "a vineyard in Holborn" +belonging to the Crown. + +Part of Theobald's Road was once King's Way; it was the direct route to +King James I.'s hunting-lodge, Theobald's, in Hertfordshire. It was in +this part, at what is now 22, Theobald's Road, that Benjamin Disraeli is +supposed to have been born; but many other places in the neighbourhood +also claim to be his birthplace, though not with so much authority. +There was a cockpit in this Road in the eighteenth century. + +We are now in the diminutive parish of St. George the Martyr, carved out +of that of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and originally including Red Lion +Square and the streets adjacent. + +Gloucester Street was named after Queen Anne's sickly little son, the +only one of her seventeen children who survived infancy. Robert Nelson, +author of "Fasts and Festivals," was at one time a resident. The street +is narrow and dirty, lined by old brick houses; here and there is a +carved doorway with brackets, showing that, like most streets in the +vicinity, it was better built than now inhabited, and it is probable +that where sickly children now sprawl on doorsteps stately ladies in +hoops and silken skirts once stepped forth. St. George's National +Schools are here, and a public-house with the odd name of Hole in the +Wall, a name adopted by Mr. Morrison in his recent novel about Wapping. + +Queen Square was built in Queen Anne's reign, and named in her honour, +but it is a statue of Queen Charlotte that stands beneath the +plane-trees in the centre. + +When it was first built, much eulogy was bestowed upon it, because of +the beautiful view to the Hampstead and Highgate Hills, for which reason +the north side was left open; it is still open, but the prospect it +commands is only the further side of Guilford Street. The Square is a +favourite place for charitable institutions. On the east side was, until +1902, a College for Working Men and Women, designed to aid by evening +classes the studies of those who are busy all day. + +The Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy is on the same side. This was +instituted in 1859, but the present building was in 1885 opened by the +Prince of Wales, and is a memorial to the Duke of Albany, and a very +splendid memorial it is. The building, which occupies a very large space +along the side of the Square, is ornately built of red brick and +terra-cotta, with handsome balconies and a porch of the latter material. +There are four wards for men and five for women, with two small surgical +wards; also two contributing wards for patients who can afford to pay +something toward their expenses. + +Almost exactly opposite, across the Square, is a new red-brick building. +This is the Alexandra Hospital, for children with hip disease, and +sometimes a wan little face peeps out of the windows. + +On the south side is the Italian Hospital, lately rebuilt on a fine +scale. There are other institutions and societies in the Square, such as +the Royal Female School of Art, but none that call for any special +comment. + +Among the eminent inhabitants of the Square were Dr. Stukeley, the +antiquary, appointed Rector of the church, 1747--he lived here from the +following year until his death in 1765; Dr. Askew; and John Campbell, +author, and friend of Johnson, who used to give Sunday evening +"conversation parties," where the great Doctor met "shoals of +Scotchmen." + +The Church of St. George the Martyr stands on the west side of the +Square, facing the open space at the south end. It was founded in 1706 +by private subscription as a chapel of ease to St. Andrew, and was named +in honour of one of the founders, who had been Governor of Fort George, +on the coast of Coromandel. "The Martyr" was added to distinguish it +from the other St. George in the vicinity. It was accepted as one of the +fifty new churches by the Commissioners in Queen Anne's reign, was +consecrated in 1723, and had a district assigned to it. It was entirely +rearranged and restored in 1868, and has lately been repainted. It is a +most peculiar-looking church, with a spire cased in zinc. Small figures +of angels embellish some points of vantage, and the symbols of the four +Evangelists appear in niches. The windows are round-headed, with tracery +of a peculiarly ugly type; but the interior is better than the exterior, +and has lately been repaired and redecorated throughout. + +Powis House originally stood where Powis Place, Great Ormond Street, now +is. This was built by the second Marquis or Duke of Powis, even before +he had sold his Lincoln's Inn Fields house to the Duke of Newcastle, for +he was living here in 1708. The second Duke was, like his father, a +Jacobite, and had suffered much for his loyalty to the cause, having +endured imprisonment in the Tower, but he was eventually restored to his +position and estates. The house was burnt down in 1714, when the Duc +d'Aumont, French Ambassador, was tenant, and it was believed that the +fire was the work of an incendiary. The French King, Louis XIV., caused +it to be rebuilt at his own cost, though insurance could have been +claimed. In 1777 this later building was taken down. + +Lord Chancellor Thurlow lived in this street at No. 46, and it was from +this house, now the Working Men's College, that the Great Seal was +stolen and never recovered. + +Dr. Mead, a well-known physician, had a house here, afterwards occupied +by the Hospital for Sick Children. + +The Working Men's College began at the instigation of a barrister in +1848, and was fathered by the Rev. F. D. Maurice, who was Principal +until his death. It grew rapidly, and in 1856 became affiliated to +London University. The adjacent house was bought, in 1870 additional +buildings were erected, and four years later the institution received a +charter of incorporation. Maurice was succeeded in the principalship by +Thomas Hughes, and Hughes by Lord Avebury, then Sir John Lubbock. + +The Hospital for Sick Children is a red-brick building designed by Sir +C. Barry. Within, the wards are lined by glazed tiles, and the floors +are of parquet. Each ward is named after some member of the Royal +Family--Helena, Alice, etc. The children are received at any age, and +the beds are well filled. Everything, it is needless to say, is in the +beautifully bright and cleanly style which is associated with the modern +hospital. The chapel is particularly beautiful; it is the gift of Mr. W. +H. Barry, a brother of the architect, and the walls are adorned with +frescoes above inlaid blocks of veined alabaster. + +The Homoeopathic Hospital, which is on the same side of the street +nearer to the Square, is another large and noticeable building. This is +the only hospital of the kind in London. The present building occupies +the site of three old houses, one of which was the residence of Zachary +Macaulay, father of the historian. There are in all seven wards, two for +men, three for women, one for girls, and one for children. The +children's ward is as pretty as any private nursery could be. The +hospital is absolutely free, and the out-patient department +exceptionally large. + +In Great Ormond Street there are also one or two Benefit Societies, +Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows for the North London +District, and many sets of chambers. This district seems particularly +favourable to the growth of charitable institutions. + +Lamb's Conduit Street is called after one Lamb, who built a conduit here +in 1577. This was a notable work in the days when the water-supply was a +very serious problem. Thus, a very curious name is accounted for in a +matter-of-fact way. In Queen Anne's time the fields around here formed a +favourite promenade for the citizens when the day's work was done. + +The parish of St. George, Bloomsbury, which lies westward of St. George +the Martyr, is considerably larger than its neighbour. The derivation of +this name is generally supposed to be a corruption of Blemund's Fee, +from one William de Blemund, who was Lord of the Manor in Henry VI.'s +reign. Stow and others have written the word "Loomsbury," or +"Lomesbury," but this seems to be due to careless orthography, and not +to indicate any ancient rendering. + +The earliest holder of the manor of whom we have any record is the De +Blemund mentioned above. There are intermediate links missing at a later +date, but with the possession of the Southampton family in the very +beginning of the seventeenth century the history becomes clear again. In +1668 the manor passed into the hands of the Bedfords by marriage with +the heiress of the Southamptons. This family also held St. Giles's, +which, it will be remembered, was originally also part of the Prebendary +of St. Paul's. + +The Royal Mews was established at Bloomsbury (Lomesbury) from very early +times to 1537, when it was burnt down and the mews removed to the site +of the present National Gallery (see _The Strand_, same series). + +The parish is largely composed of squares, containing three large and +two small ones, from which nearly all the streets radiate. The British +Museum forms an imposing block in the centre. This is on the site of +Montague House, built for the first Baron Montague, and burnt to the +ground in 1686. It was rebuilt again in great magnificence, with painted +ceilings, according to the taste of the time, and Lord Montague, then +Duke of Montague, died in it in 1709. The house and gardens occupied +seven acres. The son and heir of the first Duke built for himself a +mansion at Whitehall (see _Westminster_, same series, p. 83), and +Montague House was taken down in 1845, when the present buildings of the +Museum were raised in its stead. + +The Museum has rather a curious history. Like many of our national +institutions, it was the result of chance, and not of a detailed scheme. +In 1753 Sir Hans Sloane, whose name is associated so strongly with +Chelsea, died, and left a splendid collection comprising "books, +drawings, manuscripts, prints, medals, seals, cameos, precious stones, +rare vessels, mathematical instruments, and pictures," which had cost +him something like L50,000. By his will Parliament was to have the first +refusal of this collection for L20,000. Though it was in the reign of +the needy George II., the sum was voted, and by the same Act was bought +the Harleian collection of MSS. to add to it; to this was added the +Cottonian Library of MSS., and the nation had a ready-made collection. +The money to pay for the Sloane and Harleian collections was raised by +an easy method of which modern morals do not approve--that is to say, by +lottery. Many suggestions were made as to the housing of this national +collection. Buckingham House, now Buckingham Palace, was spoken of, +also the old Palace Yard; of course, the modern Houses of Parliament +were not then built. Eventually Montague House was bought, and the +Museum was opened to the public in 1757. However, it had not ceased +growing. George III. presented some antiquities, which necessitated the +opening of a new department; to these were added the Hamilton and +Townley antiquities by purchase, and in 1816 the Elgin Marbles were +taken in temporarily. On the death of George III., George IV. presented +his splendid library, known as the King's Library, to the Museum, not +from any motive of generosity, but because he did not in the least +appreciate it. Greville, in his Journal (1823), says: "The King had even +a design of selling the library collected by the late King, but this he +was obliged to abandon, for the Ministers and the Royal Family must have +interposed to oppose so scandalous a transaction. It was therefore +presented to the British Museum." + +It then became necessary to pull down Montague House and build a Museum +worthy of the treasures to be enshrined. Sir Robert Smirke was the +architect, and the present massive edifice is from his designs. The +buildings cost more than L800,000. + +As this is no guide-book, no attempt is made to classify the departments +of the Museum or to indicate its riches. These may be found by +experiment, or read in the official guides to be bought on the spot. + +On the east is Montague Street, running into Russell Square. + +Southampton House, the ancient manor-house, celebrated for the famous +lime-trees surrounding it, stood on the ground now occupied by Bedford +Place. Noorthouck describes it as "elegant though low, having but one +storey." It is commonly supposed to have been the work of Inigo Jones. +When the property came into the Bedford family, it was occasionally +called Russell House, after their family name. Maitland says that, when +he wrote, one of the Parliamentary forts, two batteries, and a +breastwork, remained in the garden. The house was demolished in 1800, +and Russell Square was begun soon after. A double row of the lime-trees +belonging to Bedford House had extended over the site of this Square. +All this ground had previously been known as Southampton Fields, or Long +Fields, and was the resort of low classes of the people, who here fought +their pitched battles, generally on Sundays. It was known during the +period of Monmouth's Rebellion as the Field of the Forty Footsteps, +owing to the tradition that two brothers killed each other here in a +duel, while the lady who was the cause of the conflict looked on. +Subsequently no grass grew on the spots where the brothers had planted +their feet. + +Southey, in his "Commonplace Book," thus narrates his own visit to the +spot: + + "We sought for near half an hour in vain. We could find no steps at + all within a quarter of a mile, no, nor half a mile, of Montague + House. We were almost out of hope, when an honest man, who was at + work, directed us to the next ground, adjoining to a pond. There we + found what we sought, about three-quarters of a mile north of + Montague House, and 500 yards east of Tottenham Court Road. The + steps are of the size of a large human foot, about three inches + deep, and lie nearly from north-east to south-west. We counted only + seventy-six; but we were not exact in counting. The place where one + or both the brothers are supposed to have fallen is still bare of + grass. The labourer also showed us where (the tradition is) the + wretched woman sat to see the combat." Southey adds his full + confidence in the tradition of the indestructibility of the steps, + even after ploughing up, and of the conclusions to be drawn from + the circumstance (_Notes and Queries_, No. 12). + +A long-forgotten novel, called "Coming Out; or, The Field of the Forty +Footsteps," was founded on this legend, as was also a melodrama. + +Russell Square is very little inferior to Lincoln's Inn Fields in size, +and at the time of its building had a magnificent situation, with an +uninterrupted prospect right up to the hills of Hampstead and Highgate, +and the only house then standing was on the east side; it belonged to +the profligate Lord Baltimore, and was later occupied by the Duke of +Bolton. The new Russell Hotel, at the corner of Guilford Street, and +Pitman's School of Shorthand, in the south-eastern corner, are the only +two buildings to note. A bronze statue of Francis, Duke of Bedford, +executed by Westmacott, stands on the south side of the Square; this +faces a similar statue of Fox in Bloomsbury Square. + +The Square seems to have been peculiarly attractive to men high up in +the profession of the law. Sir Samuel Romilly, the great law reformer, +lived here until his sad death in 1818; he committed suicide in grief at +the loss of his wife. In the same year his neighbour Charles Abbot, +afterwards first Baron Tenterden, was made Lord Chief Justice. He was +buried at the Foundling Hospital by his own request. In 1793 Alexander +Wedderburn (first Baron Loughborough and first Earl of Rosslyn), also a +resident in the Square, was appointed Lord Chancellor. After this he +probably moved to the official residence in Bedford Square. + +Frederick D. Maurice was at No. 5 from 1856 to 1862. Sir Thomas Lawrence +lived for twenty years at No. 65, and while he was executing the +portrait of Platoff, the Russian General, the Cossacks, mounted on small +white horses, stood on guard in the Square before his door. + +Bloomsbury Square was at first called Southampton Square, and the sides +were known by different names--Seymour Row, Vernon Street, and Allington +Row. The north side was occupied by Bedford House. It is considerably +older than its large neighbour on the north, and is mentioned by Evelyn +in his Diary, on February 9, 1665. In Queen Anne's reign it was a most +fashionable locality. The houses suffered greatly during the Gordon +Riots, especially Lord Mansfield's house, in the north-east corner, +which was completely ruined internally, and in which a most valuable +library was destroyed, while Lord and Lady Mansfield made their escape +from the mob by a back-door. Pope refers to the Square as a fashionable +place of resort. Among the names of famous residents we have Sir Richard +Steele, Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist divine, Dr. Akenside, and Sir +Hans Sloane. The elder D'Israeli, who compiled "Curiosities of +Literature," lived in No. 6; he came here in 1818, when his famous son +was a boy of fourteen. + +The College of Preceptors stands on the south side. The Pharmaceutical +Society, established in 1841, first took a house in the Square in that +year. It was incorporated by royal charter two years later, and in 1857 +the two adjacent houses in Great Russell Street were added to the +premises, which include a library and museum. There is also at No. 30 +the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. + +In Southampton Street Colley Cibber, the dramatist and actor, was born. + +Silver Street, which is connected with Southampton Street by a covered +entry, is described by Strype as "indifferent well built and +inhabited"--a character it apparently keeps up to this day. + +Bloomsbury Market Strype describes as "a long place with two +market-houses, the one for flesh and the other for fish, but of small +account by reason the market is of so little use and so ill served with +provisions, insomuch that the inhabitants deal elsewhere." In Parton's +time it was still extant, "exhibiting little of that bustle and business +which distinguishes similar establishments." Though it was cleared away +in 1847, its site is marked by Market Street, which with Silver and +Bloomsbury Streets forms a cross. + +Southampton Row is a very long street, extending from Russell Square to +High Holborn. It includes what was formerly King Street and Upper King +Street, which together reached from High Holborn to Bloomsbury Place. +Gray, the poet, lodged in this Row in 1759. + +The Church of St. George is in Hart Street. St. George's parish was +formed from St. Giles's on account of the great increase of buildings in +this district. In 1710 the proposal for a new church was first mooted, +and in 1724 the parishes were officially separated. The church stands on +a piece of ground formerly known as Plough Yard. It is the work of +Hawkesmoor, Wren's pupil, and was consecrated in 1730. It cannot be +better described than in the words of Noorthouck: "This is an irregular +and oddly constructed church; the portico stands on the south side, of +the Corinthian order, and makes a good figure in the street, but has no +affinity to the church, which is very heavy, and would be better suited +with a Tuscan portico. The steeple at the west is a very extraordinary +structure; on a round pedestal at the top of a pyramid is placed a +colossal statue of the late King [George I.], and at the corners near +the base are alternately placed the lion and unicorn, the British +supporters, with festoons between. These animals, being very large, are +injudiciously placed over columns very small, which make them appear +monsters." The lions and unicorns have now been removed. This steeple +has been described by Horace Walpole as a masterpiece of absurdity. +Within, the walls rise right up to the roof with no break, and give an +impression of great spaciousness. There is a small chapel on either +side, that on the east, of an apselike shape, being used as a +baptistery. The western one contains a ponderous monument erected in +memory of one of their officials by the East India Company. There are +other monuments in the church, but none of any general interest. The +Communion-table is enclosed by a wooden canopy with fluted columns, +said to be of Italian origin, and to have been brought from old Montague +House. + +In Little Russell Street are the parochial schools. These were +established in 1705 in Museum Street, and were removed in 1880 to the +present building. They were founded by Dr. Carter for the maintenance, +clothing, and education of twenty-five girls, and the clothing and +education of eighty boys. The intentions of the founder are still +carried out, as recorded on a stone slab on the front of the building, +which is a neat brick edifice, with a group of a woman and child in +stone in a niche high up, and an appropriate verse from Proverbs below. + +Allusion has already been made to New Oxford Street. It extends from +Tottenham Court Road to Bury Street, and is lined by fine shops and +large buildings, chiefly in the ornamental stuccoed style. The Royal +Arcade--"a glass-roofed arcade of shops extending along the rear of four +or five of the houses, and having an entrance from the street at each +end"--was opened about 1852, but did not answer the expectations formed +of it, and was pulled down (Walford). + +At the corner of Museum Street, once Peter Street, is Mudie's famous +library. The founder, who died in 1890, began a lending library in King +Street in 1840, and in 1852 removed to the present quarters. In 1864 the +concern was turned into a limited liability company. The distribution +of books now reaches almost incredible figures. + +Great Russell Street Strype describes as being very handsome and very +well inhabited. Thanet House, the town residence of the Thanets in the +seventeenth century, stood on the north side. Sir Christopher Wren built +a house for himself in this street. Among the inhabitants and lodgers +have been Shelley and Hazlitt, J. P. Kemble, Speaker Onslow, Pugin the +elder, Charles Mathews the elder, and, in later years, Sir E. +Burne-Jones. + +At the west end Great Russell Street runs into Tottenham Court Road, a +portion of which lies in the parish of St. Giles. Toten Hall itself, +from which the name is taken, stood at the south end of the Hampstead +Road, and an account of it belongs to the parish of St. Pancras. There +is little to remark upon in that part of the Road we can now claim. At +the south end is Meux's well-known brewery, bought by the family of that +name in 1809. In 1814 an immense vat burst here, which flooded the +immediate neighbourhood in a deluge of liquor. The Horseshoe Hotel can +claim fairly ancient descent; it has been in existence as a tavern from +1623. It was called the Horseshoe from the shape of its first +dining-room. A Consumption Hospital stands midway between North and +South Crescent. + +Bedford Square also falls within St. Giles's parish, but it belongs by +character and date to Bloomsbury. The Square was erected about the very +end of the eighteenth century. Dobie says that "Bedford Square arose +from a cow-yard to its present magnificent form ... with its avenues and +neighbouring streets ... chiefly erected since 1778," while it appears +in a map of 1799 as "St. Giles's Runs." The official residence of the +Lord Chancellor was on the east side. Lord Loughborough lived there, and +subsequently Lord Eldon, who had to escape with his wife into the +British Museum gardens when the mob made an attack on his house during +the Corn Law riots. + +The streets running north and south are all of the same prosperous, +substantial character. About Chenies Street large modern red-brick +mansions have arisen. + +Woburn Square is a quiet place, with fine trees growing in its pleasant +garden. In it is Christ Church, the work of Vulliamy, date 1833. It is +of Gothic architecture, and is prettily finished with buttresses and +pinnacles, in spite of the ugly material used--namely, white brick. It +was at first designed to call the Square Rothesay Square, but it was +eventually named Woburn, after the seat of the Duke of Bedford. + +Great Coram Street was, of course, named after the genial founder of the +Foundling Hospital. In it is the Russell Institution, built at the +beginning of the century as an assembly-room, and later used as +institute and club. It was frequently visited by Dickens, Leech, and +Thackeray, the last named of whom came here in 1837, and remained until +1843, when the house had to be given up owing to the incurable nature of +his wife's mental malady. He wrote here many papers and articles, +including the famous "Yellow-plush Papers," which appeared in _Fraser's +Magazine_; but his novels belong to a later period. + +We have now wandered over a district rich in association, containing +some of the oldest domestic architecture existing in London, but which, +taken as a whole, is chiefly of a date belonging to the late seventeenth +and early eighteenth centuries--a date when ladies wore powder and +patches, when sedan-chairs were more common than hackney cabs, and when +the voice of the link-boy was heard in the streets. + + + + +BOUNDARIES OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISHES. + + +ST. GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS. + +This parish is bounded on the south by Castle Street; east by part of +Drury Lane, Broad Street, and Dyott Street, thence by a line cutting +diagonally across the south-east corner of Bedford Square, across Keppel +Street and Torrington Mews, and touching Byng Place at the north-west +corner of Torrington Square; on the north by a line cutting across from +this point westward, and striking Tottenham Court Road just above Alfred +Mews; on the westward by Tottenham Court Road and Charing Cross Road to +Cambridge Circus, thence by West Street to the corner of Castle Street, +and so the circuit is complete. + + +ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR. + +Bounded on the south by Theobald's Road, on the east by Lamb's Conduit +Street (both included in the parish), on the north by Guilford Street, +and on the west by Southampton Row (which are not so included). + + +ST. ANDREW, HOLBORN. + +Bounded on the east by Farringdon Street from Charterhouse Street to No. +66, which is just beyond Farringdon Avenue; on the north by Holborn and +High Holborn from the Viaduct Bridge to Brownlow Street; on the west by +a line drawn from the upper end of Brownlow Street across High Holborn, +cutting through No. 292, and through part of Lincoln's Inn (taking in +Stone Buildings, and as far as a few yards south of Henry VIII.'s +gateway); on the south by a line from Lincoln's Inn across Chancery +Lane, along Cursitor Street, cutting across Fetter Lane, down Dean +Street to Robin Hood Court, across Shoe Lane to Farringdon Street. + + +ST. GEORGE, BLOOMSBURY. + +Bounded on the south by Broad Street and High Holborn to Kingsgate +Street; on the east by Kingsgate Street, and a line behind the east side +of Southampton Row (including it), coming out at No. 54, Guilford +Street; on the north by a line across the north side of Russell Square +and along Keppel Street; on the west from thence by a diagonal line, +which cuts off the south-east corner of Bedford Square to Dyott Street, +and so to Broad Street. + + +HATTON GARDEN, SAFFRON HILL. + +Bounded on the west by Leather Lane; on the south by Holborn and +Charterhouse Street to Farringdon Road; on the east by Farringdon Road; +and on the north by Back Hill. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abernethy, 78 + +Akenside, Dr., 93 + +Aldewych, 26 + +Alexandra Hospital, 83 + +Ancaster House, 34 + +Arundel, Bishop, 60 + + +Babington, 33 + +Bacon, Francis, 6 + +Bacon, Roger, 75, 76 + +Bainbridge Street, 21 + +Bangor Court, 59 + +Barnard's Inn, 49 + +Baxter, Richard, 51, 93 + +Bedford Row, 78 + +Bedford Square, 97 + +Belayse, John, 16 + +Betterton, 25 + +Betterton Street, 24 + +Birkbeck Bank, 45 + +Black Bull, 70 + +Black Swan, 3 + +Bleeding Heart Yard, 67 + +Bloomsbury Market, 94 + +Bowl, The, 18 + +Bradshaw, 77 + +British Museum, 88 + +Broad Street, 18 + +Brooke Street, 70 + +Brownlow, Sir John, 24 + +Buckridge Street, 21 + +Burghley, Lord, 77 + +Burne-Jones, Sir E., 80, 97 + +Burton St. Lazar, 11 + + +Caledonian School, 67 + +Camden, 77 + +Carew, Sir Wymonde, 13 + +Chancery Lane, 44 + +Chapman, George, 16 + +Charles Street, 67 + +Chatterton, Thomas, 57, 70 + +Church Street, 21 + +Churches: + Christ Church, 24 + City Temple, 54 + St. Andrew's, 54 + St. Ethelreda's Chapel, 64 + St. George the Martyr, 83 + St. George's, Bloomsbury, 94 + St. Giles's, 8, 14 + St. John the Evangelist's, 79 + St. Peter's, 68 + Moravian Chapel, 51 + Trinity Church, 30 + +Cibber, Colley, 93 + +Clare House, 26 + +Clifford's Inn, 45 + +Coal Yard, 19, 25 + +Cope, Sir Walter, 14 + +Cobham, Lord, 19 + +Cock and Pye, The, 22 + +Cockpit, 25 + +Coke, Sir Edward, 62 + +College of Preceptors, 93 + +Craven House, 26 + +Croche Hose, 8 + +Cromwell, Oliver, 78 + +Cromwell, Richard, 43 + +Cromwell, Thomas, 76 + +Cross Street, 67 + +Cursitor Street, 45 + + +De Luda, Bishop, 60 + +Denmark Street, 18 + +Dickens, Charles, 48 + +Digby, Sir Kenelm, 6 + +Disraeli, Benjamin, 81 + +D'Israeli, Isaac, 93 + +Donne, John, 40 + +Drury Lane, 25 + +Dudley, Duchess of, 14 + +Dyers' Buildings, 49 + +Dyott Street, 20 + + +Earl Street, 24 + +Edward III., 11 + +Egerton, Lord Keeper, 43 + +Emery, 58 + +Endell Street, 24 + +Ely Place, 60 + +Eyre Street, 71 + + +Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 27 + +Fetter Lane, 51 + +Fickett's Field, 31 + +Field Lane, 67 + +Fleur-de-Lys Court, 52 + +Florio, 58 + +Franklin, Benjamin, 29 + +Freemasons' Hall, 27 + +Furnival's Inn, 48 + +Furnival Street, 48 + + +Gate Street, 30 + +George and Blue Boar, 3 + +Gerarde, 5 + +Gloucester Street, 81 + +Goldsmith Street, 25 + +Gordon Riots, 51, 93 + +Gray's Inn, 72 + +Gray, Thomas, 94 + +Great and Little Turnstile, 30 + +Great Coram Street, 98 + +Great Ormond Street, 84 + +Great Queen Street, 27 + +Great Russell Street, 97 + +Gresham, Sir T., 77 + +Greville, Fulke, 6 + +Guildford, Lord Keeper, 46 + +Gunpowder Alley, 58 + +Gwynne, Nell, 25, 26 + + +Hale, Sir Matthew, 43 + +Hanway, Jonas, 79 + +Hare and Hounds, 9 + +Hatton Garden, 60, 66 + +Hatton, Sir Christopher, 61 + +Hatton Wall, 69 + +Hazlitt, 97 + +Henry II., 10 + +Henry VIII., 11 + +Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, 17, 27 + +Herring, Bishop, 40 + +High Street, 19 + +Hockley Hole, 71 + +Hogarth, 8 + +Hoggarty, Haggart, 20 + +Holborn, 3 + +Holborn Baths, 19 + +Holborn, Borough of, 1 + +Holborn Bridge, 5 + +Holborn Circus, 53 + +Holborn Hill, 4 + +Holborn Music Hall, 30 + +Holborn Restaurant, 30 + +Holborn Town Hall, 72 + +Holborn Viaduct, 54 + +Homoeopathic Hospital, 85 + +Hoole, 27 + +Hospital for Paralysis, 82 + +Hospital for Sick Children, 85 + +Hyde, Chief Justice, 46 + + +Inns of Court Hotel, 33 + +Irving, Edward, 67 + +Italian Hospital, 83 + + +Johnson, Dr., 6 + +Jonson, Ben, 42 + + +Kemble, 97 + +Kemble Street, 29 + +Kingsgate Street, 80 + +Kingsway, 2, 29 + +Kirkby, Bishop, 60 + +Kirkby Street, 67 + +Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 27 + +Kniveton, Lady Frances, 16 + +Kynaston, 25 + + +Lamb, Mary, 30 + +Lamb's Conduit Street, 86 + +Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 92 + +Leather Lane, 69 + +Le Lane, 21 + +Lenthall, 43 + +L'Estrange, Roger, 17 + +Lilly, 58 + +Lincoln, Earl of, 37 + +Lincoln's Inn, 36 + +Lincoln's Inn Fields, 31 + +Lindsey House, 34 + +Lisle, Viscount, 11 + +Little Queen Street, 29 + +Little Russell Street, 96 + +Long Fields, 90 + +Lord Chancellor's House, 98 + +Lovelace, 58 + +Lovell, Sir Thomas, 37 + +Lying-in Hospital, 24 + + +Macaulay, Zachary, 86 + +Mackworth, Dr. John, 50 + +Manor House, 13, 18 + +Marsden, William, 56 + +Marshlands, 9, 22 + +Marvell, Andrew, 16, 17 + +Mathews, Charles, 97 + +Matilda, Queen, 10 + +Maurice, Rev. F. D., 85, 92 + +Mead, Dr., 84 + +Mercers' School, 49 + +Meux's Brewery, 97 + +Middle Row, 3, 49 + +Milton, 6, 79 + +Monmouth Street, 21 + +Montague House, 87 + +More, Sir Thomas, 6, 37, 43, 48 + +Morland, 71 + +Morris, William, 80 + +Mudie's Library, 96 + + +Nelson, Robert, 81 + +Newcastle House, 34 + +New Compton Street, 21 + +New Oxford Street, 9, 96 + +Nisbett, Canon, 16 + +Nottingham, Earl of, 27 + +Novelty Theatre, 29 + + +O'Connell, 58 + +Old Bell, 70 + +"Old Bourne" 2 + +Old Curiosity Shop, 35 + +Onslow, Speaker, 97 + +Opie, John, 27 + + +Pendrell, Richard, 17 + +Pepys, 26 + +Pindar, Peter, 27 + +Portpool Lane, 70 + +Portsmouth House, 35 + +Powis, Duke of, 34 + +Powis House, 84 + +Pugin, 97 + + +Queen Square, 81 + +Queen Street, 24 + + +Raymond, Lord, 80 + +Red Lion Square, 78 + +Romilly, Sir S., 77, 92 + +Rose, The, 4 + +Rosebery Avenue, 71 + +Royal College of Surgeons, 35 + +Royal Mews, 87 + +Royal Society, 52 + +Russell Institution, 99 + +Russell, Lord, 32, 45 + +Russell Square, 91 + + +Sacheverell, 6, 56 + +St. Andrew's Street, 24, 53 + +St. Giles's Burial-ground, 17 + +St Giles's Hospital, 10 + +St. Giles-in-the-Fields, Parish of, 6 + +St. James's Street, 77 + +Sardinia Street, 29 + +Savage, Robert, 57 + +Scrope's Inn, 59 + +Serjeants' Inn, 45 + +Seven Dials, 7, 23 + +Shaftesbury Avenue, 9, 21 + +Shakespeare, 77 + +Shelley, Percy, 97 + +Sheridan, 27 + +Shirley, 17 + +Shoe Lane, 58 + +Short's Gardens, 24 + +Sidmouth, Viscount, 78 + +Silver Street, 94 + +Sloane, Sir Hans, 93 + +Soane Museum, 34 + +Southampton Buildings, 46 + +Southampton House, 90 + +Southampton Row, 94 + +Southampton Street, 93 + +Staple Inn, 46, 47 + +Steele, Sir Richard, 93 + +Stiddolph Street, 21 + +Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, 56 + +Stratford, Lord, 46 + +Strange, Sir Robert, 27 + +Stukeley, Dr., 83 + +Swan Distillery, 50 + +Swan on the Hop, 8 + + +Thackeray, 99 + +Thanet House, 97 + +Thavie's Inn, 53 + +Theobald's Road, 81 + +Thomson, Bishop, 40 + +Thurlow, Lord, 85 + +Tonson, Jacob, 46, 77 + +Toten Hall, 97 + +Tottenham Court Road, 97 + +Turk's Head, The, 20 + +Turner, Sharon, 80 + +Tyburn procession, 8, 18 + + +Vine Inn, 80 + + +Walton, Izaak, 46 + +Warburton, Bishop, 78 + +Webster, John, 57 + +Wedderburn, Alexander, 92 + +Wesley, 51 + +Whetstone Park, 30 + +Whiston, 67 + +Whitefield, 51 + +White Hart, The, 8, 26 + +White Horse Inn, 50 + +White Lion Street, 24 + +Wild House, 29 + +Wild Street, Great, 29 + +Wilkes, 59 + +Woburn Square, 98 + +Wolsey, Cardinal, 37 + +Working Men's College, 85 + +Worlidge, Thomas, 27 + +Wren, Sir Christopher, 97 + +Wriothesley, 57 + + +Zinzendorf, Count, 52 + + +THE END + + + * * * * * + + +BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD + + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: HOLBORN DISTRICT + +Published by A. & C. Black, London.] + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes + +The following errors in the original text have been corrected: + +Page 89: In then became changed to It then became + +Page 103: Bambridge Street, 21 changed to Bainbridge Street, 21 + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Holborn and Bloomsbury, by +Sir Walter Besant and Geraldine Edith Mitton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY *** + +***** This file should be named 21411.txt or 21411.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/4/1/21411/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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