He made the desert smile.

There are, perhaps, few places in the metropolis remaining at the present day that combine the characteristics of

Old and New London

The history of the square, in fact, begins with Leicester House, which was built between and , by Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, whose voluminous correspondence, preserved among the

Sidney Papers,

In Aggas' map there are no houses either north or west of the mews enclosure. is represented with hedgerows, and the site of is a drying-ground for clothes. A woman is laying out sundry garments on the grass, and in the next field are cattle, and a milkmaid carrying her pail. Stow, in his

Survey

And this is the farthest building west on the north side of that

High Street

.

in the fields,

Of Aggas' map of London, so far as it concerns this region, Mr. Tom Taylor remarks :

There is so much in the map which brings Shakespeare to mind, that

one

is surprised not to find the Globe, and the Red Bull, the Fortune, and the Curtain playhouses as conspicuous as the Bull and Bear Gardens.

In this map all the country to the north of and west of is still entirely devoted to country life and uses, and the Hospital for Lepers, dedicated to St. Giles, stood in the fields, with nothing between it and the spot where now stands . The line of was, however, occupied by buildings on both sides as far as . Soon after the Restoration increasing prosperity led to a rapid increase of dwellings. The parish of St. Martin had so enlarged its population that

numerous inhabitants were deprived of an opportunity of publicly celebrating the divine offices,

There are of persons that keep coaches seventythree,

is a workhouse for the reception

of the poor;

The fields in these parts being lately converted into buildings, I have not discovered anything of antiquityin this parish ;

easy matter for a stranger to fancy himself in France.

chapels in these parts for the use of the French nation, where our Liturgy turned into French is used, French ministers that are refugees episcopally ordained officiating; several whereof are hereabouts seen walking in the canonical habit of the English clergy. Abundance of French people, many whereof are voluntary exiles for their religion, live in these streets and lanes, following honest trades, and some gentry of the same nation.

From John Overton's map, published in , it is easy to see how the buildings surrounding lay at that time. The grass in the centre is marked as enclosed. and give access by the north-east corner, and

Dirty Lane,

Slug Street,

a very handsome square, railed about and gravelled within. The buildings are very good, and well inhabited, and frequented by the gentry. The north and west rows of buildings, which are in St. Anne's parish, are the best; and especially on the north, where is Leicester House, the, seat of the Earl of Leicester, being a large building with a fair court before it for the reception of coaches, and a fine garden behind it; the south and east sides being in the parish of

St. Martin's

.

Rocque's map of shows how rapidly buildings spread north and west. Leicester House was no longer in the country, as up to the ground was filled with houses. The , under the date of , contains the following statement :--

Leicester field is going to be fitted up in a very elegant manner: a new wall and rails to be erected all round, and a basin in the middle, after the manner of

Lincoln's Inn Fields

.

This is a handsome square, the inner part of which is enclosed by iron rails, and adorned with grass plats and gravel walks. In the centre is an equestrian statue of his present Majesty, gilt.

Between the Restoration and the Revolution, Leicester Field, as it was then called, had become surrounded by houses and streets, and had assumed nearly its present dimensions. Before the end of the century the centre, as shown above, had been railed round, and was as famous for duels as the ground behind in later times. Here it was that the famous duel occurred, in , between Captains French and Coote, in which Coote was slain on the spt at night, and French and Lord Warwick wounded. In it, too, was implicated Lord Mohun, of duelling notoriety, but who, by all accounts, on this occasion did his best to arrange the difference between the hot-headed Irishmen. Thackeray has described in

Esmond

Greyhound

It is an honour to me,

to be matched with a gentleman who has been at Mons and Namur.

Besides Leicester House, there were now other great houses in the square. To the west of it stood a mansion belonging to Lord Ailesbury, inhabited in the year by Lord Carmarthen, the eccentric son of the Duke of Leeds, an enthusiastic amateur sailor and shipbuilder, as well as drinker and rough customer, to whom William III. confided the care of the Czar Peter. In Lord Carmarthen the latter found a congenial spirit, and his great delight while in England was to sail all day with him in his yacht, the , and drink brandy spiced with pepper with him all night in , or Leicester Field. Before going to the theatre, it is recorded that the Czar, besides a pint of brandy and a bottle of sherry,

floored

eight

bottles of sack after dinner.

a little, ugly, yellow wizened man, with

one

shoulder higher than the other.

a race of rogues,

that play the devil about the town every night and slit people's nosesyoung Davenant telling us at Court how he was set upon by them, and how they ran his chair through with a sword. It is not safe being in the streets at night for them. The Bishop of Salisbury's (Burnet's) son is said to be of the gang. They are all Whigs.

As we have already mentioned, Leicester House was the element of the

square,

a large brick building with a wide courtyard before.

Leicester House was the abode of the Sidneysthat noble family of which, in the century, Sir Henry Sidney,

the wisest, greatest, and justest Lord-Deputy Ireland ever had,

At Leicester House the Sidneys dwelt all through the troublous times of the Commonwealth to the end of the century, their leading spirit being the unhappy Algernon Sidney, the pure patriot. and impracticable politician who was persecuted both by Cromwell and Charles II. until he died on the scaffold after the iniquitous trial for the Rye House Plot, in . It was not till near the close of the eighteenth century that the Sidney property of Leicester Fields passed to the Tulk family for , which went to pay off the incumbrances on Penshurst, and from the representatives of the Tulks their rights over the enclosure now called the square, were in the year acquired by Mr. Albert Grant for , and made over to the Metropolitan Board of Works.

Leicester House was for a short time the residence of the [extra_illustrations.3.164.1] , only daughter of James I., the titular Queen of Bohemia to whom Lord Craven devoted his life and labours, and who, in , here ended her unfortunate life. Besides the Queen of Bohemia--the

Queen of Hearts,

Diary,

on a secret mission to prevent peace from being arranged between Great

Britain

and France,

At Leicester House, in the year , was born William, Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden. There, between and , lived the Princes of Wales, when a Prince of Wales was always at deadly feud with the head of his house. George II., whilst Prince of Wales, there fed his grudge against his father, which Mr. Taylor, in his

History of

Leicester Square

,

the pouting place of princes

Fritz ist todt.

An amusing story relating to the childhood of George III. is told in connection with Leicester House. A foreigner, named Goupee, an artist of some note in his day, and a favourite with Frederick Prince of Wales, was a frequent visitor there. day the prince said to him,

Come, sit down, Goupee, and paint me a picture on such a subject.

Come out, George, then,

Goupee has released you.

How do you do, Goupee?

Little enough, indeed,

and as I once took your majesty out of prison, I hope you will not let me go to

one

.

Here, as we are reminded by Peter Cunningham, the Princess of Wales was waited upon by the wife of the unfortunate Earl of Cromartie, who was so deeply involved in the fatal Scottish rising of . She came leading in her hand her little children, the sight of whom ought to have roused a feeling of sympathy in a maternal heart.

The princess saw her,

but made her no other answer than by bringing in her own children and by placing them by her.

On the , George III. was proclaimed king before Saville House, in ; and on the it was crowded with the mob, assembled to see the courtiers thronging to Leicester House to kiss the hand of the new king. The Dowager Princess of Wales continued to live in Leicester House till , when she removed to Carlton House; and about the same time occurred the last incident connected with royalty in Leicester Fields--the death, at Saville House, of Prince Frederick William, the youngest brother of the king, aged . While tenanted by the Royal family, the evenings at Leicester House were often enlivened by private theatricals, in which it is recorded that the future king of England and his brothers acted their childish parts with ability and spirit.

Leicester House subsequently became occupied by private persons, and was at time used by Sir Ashton Lever as a Museum of Natural History. In Sir Ashton presented a petition to the , praying to be allowed to dispose of his museum by a lottery, as Alderman Boydell had done with his gallery. On this occasion it was stated by his manager that it had been brought to London in the year ; that it had occupied years in forming, and contained upwards of articles; that the money taken for admission amounted, from , to , to about , out of which had been paid for house-rent and taxes. Sir Ashton proposed that his whole museum should go together, and that there should be tickets at guinea each, but of this number only tickets were sold. However, the proprietor allowed the lottery to take place, and although he held tickets, he lost his museum, which was won by a Mr. Parkinson, who only held . The house was finally pulled down in , and the site is now bounded on the west by , a wide thoroughfare leading to . New was built in on the site of the gardens of Leicester House.

Adjoining Leicester House, on the west, stood, until very recently, a large mansion, called Saville House, formerly the residence of the patriotic Sir George Saville, who was many years Knight of the Shire for the County of York, ancestor of the Earls .and Marquises of Halifax, and who introduced the Catholic Relief Bill, which led to the Gordon riots in . Saville House, it is well known, occupied nearly the centre of the northern side of the square. It has been, however, as Mr. Timbs remarks in his

Romance of London,

Saville House was rebuilt early in the present century, and soon became a sort of

Noah's Ark,

Through some

sixty

years of the showman's art, flaring by night and by day, Saville House lasted unharmed until the catastrophe of

1865

, when the royal babyhouse and the cheap pleasure-haunt were burnt in the short space of

two

hours.

Part of the house, on being refitted after the Gordon riots, was occupied by a carpet manufacturer, and subsequently by Messrs. Stagg and Mantle, drapers and silk mercers; and also by Messrs. Bickers and Bush, extensive booksellers. The eastern wing of it was for many years the show-room of Miss Linwood's exhibition of needlework, as mentioned above, which enjoyed a popularity only to that of Madame Tussaud's exhibition of wax-work in . This exhibition gave a new name to Saville House, it being known for nearly half a century as the Linwood Gallery. It comprised about copies of the best and finest pictures of the English and foreign schools of art, all executed by the most delicate handicraft with the needle, the tapestry

possessing all the correct drawing, just colouring, and light and shade of the original pictures from which they are copied.

After enjoying half a century of popularity, the exhibition came to an end in , and the pictures were sold by auction, realising only a comparative trifle. No less than guineas had been refused for the chief work, viz.,

Salvator Mundi,

Underneath Saville House are some extensive apartments, to which we gain descent by a flight of a few steps from the street. The chief room, often called the

theatre,

Miller's Mechanical and Picturesque Representations,

the figures of which,

are impressed with movements peculiar to each, so as to imitate the operations of nature.

has been lately opened as

one

of those singular establishments called bazaars.

theatre

A large house, No. , on the western side of the square, was for many years the residence of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Here duchesses and marchionesses, ladies and fair daughters of the aristocracy sat to the monarch of the world of art, to be immortalised by his brush. Here Burke and Foote, Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson, Garrick and Boswell, and most of the celebrated men of the last century, were in the habit of assembling, and of dining almost every week at the hospitable board of the great portrait painter. His house here, we are told, was magnificently proportioned; it possessed of the finest staircases in London; it was fitted up with exquisite taste, and it was the rendezvous of the literary world. Here Sir Joshua worked with the greatest assiduity until the last, and only ended his laborious toil, which was, however, to him a labour of love, with his life.

Of Sir Joshua Reynolds (who died here in ) it would be presumptuous to say a word of praise, beyond quoting the words of Edmund Burke:--

Sir Joshua Reynolds was, on very many accounts,

one

of the most memorable men of his time. He was the

first

Englishman who added the praise of his elegant arts to the other glories of his country. In taste, in grace, in facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and harmony of colouring, he was equal to the great masters of the renowned ages. In portrait-painting he was beyond them, for he communicated to that description of the art in which English artists are the most engaged a variety, a fancy, and a dignity derived from the higher branches which even those who professed them in a superior manner did not always preserve, when they delineated individual nature. In painting portraits, he appeared not to be raised upon that platform, but to descend to it from a higher sphere. His paintings illustrate his lessons, and his lessons seem to be derived from his paintings. He possessed the theory as perfectly as the practice of his

art. To be such a painter, he was a profound and penetrating philosopher. In full affluence of foreign and domestic fame, admired by the expert in art, and by the learned in science, courted by the great, caressed by sovereign powers, and celebrated by distinguished poets, his native humility, modesty, and candour never forsook him, even on surprise or provocation; nor was the least degree of arrogance or assumption visible to the most scrutinising eye in any part of his conduct or discourse. His talents of every kind, powerful from nature; and not meanly cultivated by letters, his social virtues in all the relations and all the habitudes of life, rendered him the centre of a very great and unparalleled variety of agreeable societies, which will be dissipated by his death. He had too much merit not to excite some jealousy, too much innocence to provoke any enmity. The loss of no man of his time can be felt with more sincere, general, and unmixed sorrow.

Sir Joshua Reynolds' handsome house was next held by the Earl of Inchiquin; then by a society as the Western Literary and Scientific Institution; and it was subsequently taken by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, the eminent auctioneers, who removed hither from . The actual apartment used as their auction-room was Sir Joshua's studio.

Allan Cunningham, in his

Lives of Painters,

His study was octagonal, some

twenty

feet long by

sixteen

broad, and about

fifteen

feet high. The window was small and square, and the sill

nine

feet from the floor. His sitters' chair moved on castors, and stood above the floor about a foot and a half. He held his palettes by the handle, and the sticks of his brushes were eighteen inches long. He wrought standing, and with great celerity; he rose early, breakfasted at

nine

, entered his study at

ten

, examined designs or touched unfinished portraits till

eleven

brought a sitter, painted till

four

, then dressed, and gave the evening to company.

The London residence of Sir Thomas Lawrence, the pupil and successor of Sir Joshua Reynolds as the fashionable portrait painter of the day, was over a confectioner's shop, at No. in the square, a house which was subsequently incorporated in Saville House when the latter building was enlarged.

Bell (afterwards the far-famed Sir Charles Bell) lived in , in the house where Mr. Speaker Onslow had resided. He, in turn, was succeeded by Cruikshank, Sir Joshua Reynolds' medical attendant, the same who succeeded to Hunter's Medical School.

At the south-eastern corner of the square stood the [extra_illustrations.3.167.1]  and worked for many years. It was in that Hogarth settled here with his young wife, whom he had carried off from the house of her father, Sir James Thornhill, years before. The house bore the sign of the

Golden Head,

the pictures and prints of the late Mrs. Hogarth

Golden Head,

parcel of Academy figures and studies by Mr. Hogarth

With reference to the sign of the

Golden Head,

Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth,

Hogarth made

one

essay in sculpture. He wanted a sign to distinguish his house in Leicester Fields, and thinking none more proper than the

he, out of a mass of cork made up of several thicknesses compacted together, carved a bust of Vandyck, which he gilt and placed over his door. It is long since decayed, and was succeeded by a head in plaster, which has also perished; and is supplied by a head of Sir Isaac Newton

Hogarth also modelled another resemblance of Vandyck in clay, which is likewise destroyed.

Sablonniere Hotel,

At some public rooms in this square, kept by a foreigner, M. de Texier, as Lord William Lennox tells us, the

Pic-nic Club

in advance of the time,

Almost in the centre of the eastern side, nearly on the site of the Alhambra, stood the Anatomical Museum of John Hunter, the celebrated surgeon, where was formed the nucleus of the Hunterian Museum, now at the , . It was in the year that John Hunter became owner of No. , on the east side of the square, and at the back of it, on ground leading to , he built his famous Museum of Comparative Anatomy. In the erection was complete, and of the acquisitions of its owner was the skeleton of O'Brien, the Irish giant, which may still be seen, as we have

regaled them with tea and coffee,

treated them with medical occurrences.

without an equal in the world in his combined character of surgeon and naturalist.

The building now known as the Royal Alhambra Palace Theatre is a place of amusement where

Royal Panopticon of Science and Art

.

In a humble and modest lodging in , Leicester Fields, the artist, Opie, was living, when discovered by Wyatt.

In this square, towards the close of the last century, Charles Dibdin built and opened a theatre of his own under the name of Sans Souci. Mr. J. T. Smith tells us, in his

Book for a Rainy Day,

for many years the back parlour of the Feathers public-house--which stood on the side of Leicester Fields, and which was so called in compliment to its neighbour Frederick, Prince of Wales, who inhabited Leicester House--had been frequented by artists, and several well--known amateurs. Among the former were Stuart, the Athenian traveller; Scott, the marine painter; old Oram, of the Board of Works; Luke Sullivan, the miniature-painter, who engraved Hogarth's picture of The March to Finchley, now in the

Foundling Hospital

; Captain Grose, the author of Antiquities of England, History of Armour, &c.; Mr. Hearne, the draughtsman of many of England's antiquities, Nathaniel Smith, my father, &c. The amateurs were Henderson, the actor; Mr. Morris, a silversmith; Mr. John Ireland, then a watchmaker in

Maiden Lane

, and since editor of Boydell's edition of Dr. Trusler's work, Hogarth Moralised; and Mr. Baker, of

St. Paul's Churchyard

, whose collection of Bartolozzi's works was unequalled. When this house, the sign of the Feathers, was taken down, to make way for Dibdin's theatre, several of its frequenters adjourned to the Coach and Horses in

Castle Street

, Leicester Fields; but in consequence of their not proving customers sufficiently expensive for that establishment, the landlord

one

evening venturing to light them out with a farthing candle, they betook themselves to Gerard Street, and thence to the Blue Posts, in

Dean Street

, where the association dwindled to

three

members, and died a natural death.

The building known as the

Panorama

penny news-room,

Notre Dame de France,

With such a church on

one

side of

Leicester Place

, and the many establishments of the Sisters of Charity on the other, not only the street itself, but the entire foreign colony around it, enjoys advantages which any other portion of London might envy. We have said establishments, for though there are only

eight

Sisters of Charity at

Leicester Place

, they carry on a hospital, a dispensary, a girls' school, an infants' school, a

creche

, a patronage for young girls, a system of out-door relief, and, with the assistance of a master, a boys' school. Since the foundation of the hospital and the dispensary in

1867

, relief has been given to

1,400

in-patients, and

19,000

out-patients; while in relief to the poor souls,

20,000 pounds

weight of bread are distributed each year by those ministering angels in human form. In this

creche

they have an average of

twenty-five

babies of poor mothers who have to go out and work for their daily bread; in their infant school

eighty

lisping little ones; in their girls' school

seventy

pupils; and in their boys'school

thirty-six

. The patronage numbers from

fifty

to

sixty

young girls on its books. If we reflect for a moment on the heterogeneous elements of which the French population of Soho is composed, the work undertaken by the Marist Fathers and the Sisters of Charity will at once appear to be what it really is, simply appalling.

We have already referred to the central enclosure of [extra_illustrations.3.170.1]  in the early stages of its existence, and it now remains to add that shortly after the commencement of the century, its glory began to fade. The square gradually became deserted by the gentry who had previously resided within its limits, and its houses having become untenanted, the enclosed garden fell into equal neglect. In the area was occupied by a large, circular, domed building, in which was [extra_illustrations.3.171.1]  This representation of the world we live in was feet in diameter, and comprised a surface of some square feet. Galleries encircled the interior of the building at different heights from the ground, by which means visitors were enabled to walk round and inspect every portion of the globe, an attendant, staff in hand, pointing out its principal features; lectures were likewise delivered at intervals during the day. In addition to the

Great Globe,

On the removal of Wyld's

Great Globe,

golden horse and its rider,

pouting place of princes,

The disgraceful state of became such that it attracted the attention of Parliament, and innumerable were the discussions that took place upon it, with, however, little amelioration in its actual condition. In the year it was reported that the enterprising proprietors were about to sell the land for building purposes, but upon a communication being sent to the Board of Works, informing them of the fact, it was resolved that the Board would

do all in its power

that the vacant space in

Leicester Square

is not to be built over, but will be retained as open ground, for the purposes of ornament and recreation.

defence committee

The ceremony of transferring the ground to the Metropolitan Board of Works for the enjoyment of the public, took place on the . The sum expended by Mr. Albert Grant in purchasing the property and laying out the grounds, &c., amounted to about .

[extra_illustrations.3.172.1] , Master of the Mint and President of the Royal Society, then, perhaps, better known by those official titles than by his imperishable astronomical works. Though now dingy and dreary, in was good enough for envoys and high officials, and thither Newton drew all that was scientific to his entertainments. At the same time, most of the wits of the day flocked thither to see the philosopher's charming niece, Catherine Barton, who kept house for him for years, from to . In this famous house in after seem, were mainly wards lived Dr. Charles Burey, the author of the

History of Music

Evelina,

Life of Johnson

It was here that the. antiquary, Dr. Stukely, called day, by appointment. The servant who opened the door said that Sir Isaac was in his study. No was permitted to disturb him there; but, as it was near his dinner-time, the visitor sat down to wait for him. In a short time a boiled chicken under a cover was brought in for dinner. An hour passed, and Sir Isaac did not appear. The doctor then ate the fowl; and, covering up the empty dish, desired the servant to get another dressed for his master. Before that was ready, the

Give me but leave to take my short dinner, and I shall be at your service. I am fatigued and faint.

See,

what we studious people are! I forgot that I had dined.

In the last century, as now, the neighbourhood of Leicester Fields was the favourite resort of foreigners. , , , and , formed a district called, as was a purlieu in too, near the Sanctuary,

Petty France

.

, or, as it was formerly called, , which runs out of at the north-east angle, dates from about ; when it was simply a footway for passengers, and named after the family of Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, whose title was, and is, Viscount Cranbourne. The alley was formed into a street by the pulling down of the whole of side in -, thus forming a continuous roadway from , along the top of the Square, into . In this alley, Hogarth was apprenticed to a goldsmith named Gamble, in order to learn the art of silver-plate engraving. Mr. Peter Cunningham remarks that

a shop-bill engraved for Gamble by his eminent pupil is the envy of every collector of Hogarth's works.

Brummagem

, it would seem, was in a place where the street-songs, broadsides, &c., of the day were hawked and cried.

I never pass through

Cranbourn Alley

,

London Spy,

but I am astonished at the remissness and lenity of the magistrates in suffering the Pretender's interest to be carry'd on and promoted in so publick and shameful a manner as it there is. Here a fellow stands eternally bawling out his Pye-Corner Pastorals, in behalf of Dear Jemmy, lovely Jemmy, &c. I have been credibly inform'd that this man has actually in his pocket a commission under the Pretender's great seal, constituting him his Ballad Singer ;in Ordinary in Great

Britain

.

A famous shop in old was the: silversmith's, Hamlet's--a long, low shop, whose windows seemed to have no end, and not to have been dusted for centuries, with dim vistas of dishcovers, coffee-biggins, and centre-pieces. Hamlet's stock-in-trade is said to have been worth millions. watchmen kept guard over it every night, and halfthe.aristocracy were in his debt. Royalty itself had gone credit for plate and jewellery at Hamlet's. The proprietor of the establishment in the end took to building, and came to grief. His shop is now no more, and his name in the neighbourhood almost forgotten.

Very curious is it to mark,

how old trades and old types of inhabitants linger about localities. They were obliged to pull old Cranbourne Street and

Cranbourn Alley

quite down before they could get rid of the silversmiths, and even now they are seen sprouting forth again round about the familiar haunt-

one

of the latest examples being in the shop of a pawnbroker, the owner of which suddenly astonished New

Cranbourn Street

with plate-glass windows overflowing with plate, jewellery, and trinkets, buhl cabinets, gilt consoles, suits of armour, antique china, Pompadour clocks, bronze monsters and other articles of

vertu.

[extra_illustrations.3.160.2] Leicester Square

[extra_illustrations.3.161.1] Leicester Square in 1753

[extra_illustrations.3.164.1] Princess Elizabeth

[extra_illustrations.3.164.2] Prince Eugene

[extra_illustrations.3.167.1] house in which the inimitable George Hogarth lived

[extra_illustrations.3.167.2] Lady Cockburn and children- Sir J. Reynolds

[extra_illustrations.3.170.1] Leicester Square

[extra_illustrations.3.171.1] exhibited Wyld's Great Globe.

[extra_illustrations.3.171.2] Mr. Albert Grant

[extra_illustrations.3.171.3] new square

[extra_illustrations.3.172.1] Close by Leicester Fields in St. Martin's Street, on the east side, lived, in the year 1710, after his removal from Jermyn Street, Sir Isaac Newton

[extra_illustrations.3.172.2] Sir Isaac Newton