Holborn and Bloomsbury

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, "Ædes 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 daïs, 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":

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 £2,000 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,

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, 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 £10 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 £100 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 £200 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:

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 Orthopædic 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 £6 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.