Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 3
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Chapter XXV: Soho Square and its Neighbourhood.
Chapter XXV: Soho Square and its Neighbourhood.
| |
, as shown in the previous chapter, was originally called the King's Square, and dates from the reign of Charles II. Evelyn, as he tells us in his visited at a house in this celebrated vicinity, and spent the winter of It must not be forgotten, of course, that Sir Roger de Coverley is described, in the beginning of the , as living, when he is in town, at . , too, in of his comedies, written in , uses terms which imply that it was a fashionable quarter of the town, for he represents an alderman's wife as having her husband out of And no doubt it was the centre of fashion when Grosvenor and Cavendish Squares were not yet in existence. | |
The building of the Square was only begun in , and at that time it contained no more than inhabitants, among whom were the Duke of Monmouth, Colonel Ramsey, Mr. Pilcher, Mr. Broughton, Sir Henry Ingleby, and the Earl of Stamford, as the rate-books of attest. | |
Pennant says, though erroneously, that its original name was Monmouth Square, but that it came to be called after the king. Mr. Peter Cunningham, with his usual diligence, has sifted the question out by consulting the parish rate-books, ground leases, and other original documents, and so far as it is possible to prove a negative, he shows that it never was called Monmouth Square. It is possible, however that, from the Duke of Monmouth living in it, it may have been called i.e., the square in which Monmouth lived-and that this may have misled Pennant. The Duke of Monmouth lived in a large house with wings on its southern side. It stood back, with a court before it. | |
p.185 | |
The Duke of Monmouth was a natural son of Charles II., by Lucy Walters. His defeat at Sedgemoor, in , and his subsequent execution, are matters of history. | |
Pennant mentions, as we have noticed before, a tradition to the effect that on the death of the Duke of Monmouth the name of the square was changed by his friends and admirers to Soho, that being the watchword of the day at the battle of Sedgemoor; but Mr. Cunningham has settled this question too in the negative, for he shows, by reference to contemporary documents, that whereas the battle of Sedgemoor wasnot fought till , this district was called or nearly years previously. For instance, the rate-books of., in , speak of people living at and in the Commonwealth Survey describes or as In the face of such evidence, it would seem impossible not to set aside the derivation propounded by Pennant as wholly untenable. It is far more probable that the duke borrowed his at Sedgemoor from the neighbourhood in which his home was situated, just as Nelson might have chosen or as his watchword at the Nile or Trafalgar. Mr. Peter Cunningham writes- This, it appears to us, settles the question. | |
is described by Allen, in his even so lately as , as presenting a very pleasing and somewhat rural appearance, having in the centre a large area within a handsome iron railing, enclosing several trees and shrubs.
adds Allen, he continues,
| |
London was brightened in Queen Anne's reign by numbers of public conduits and fountains. Most of them have been removed or destroyed, but are now in some measure replaced by drinkingfountains, which are certainly of great benefit to thirsty wayfarers. We add a description of the ancient fountain in King's Square, Soho. In the centre was a fountain with streams. In the middle of the basin was the statue of Charles II., in armour, on a pedestal, enriched with fruit and flowers; on the sides of the base were figures representing the chief rivers of the kingdom --Thames, Severn, Tyne, and Humber; on the south side were figures of an old man and a young virgin, with a stream ascending; on the west lay the figure of a naked virgin (only nets wrapped about her) reposing on a fish, out of whose mouth flowed a stream of water; on the north, an old man recumbent on a coal-bed, and an urn in his hand whence issues a stream of water; on the east rested a very aged man, with water running from a vase, and his right hand laid upon a shell. The statue is now so mutilated and disfigured, and the inscription quite effaced, that it is a difficult matter to distinguish whose it really was; some antiquaries, in fact, are of opinion that it is the effigy of the Duke of Monmouth. Its existence, however, is well nigh forgotten, as scarcely any persons now enter the enclosute. It stood originally in the middle of the basin of a fountain, which has long been filled up and converted into a somewhat unattractive flower-bed. | |
For several years past the inhabitants of have been vainly endeavouring to obtain power to throw open this square to the general public, but it was found to be impracticable. The fee-simple of'the property was supposed to be vested in the Duke of Portland, and all attempts to gain either an interview on the subject or the surrender of his lordship's rights having proved futile, a meeting of the inhabitants was convened in , and a committee formed. Mr. Albert Grant, to whom the public are indebted for the transformation of , as described in a preceding chapter, generously offered to lay out and develop the grounds at an estimated cost of , and to endow it with an annual income of pound; in the names of a committee to be appointed by the inhabitants. | |
Alderman Beckford, whom we have already mentioned as a resident of the square, made here a collection of works of art which subsequently were sold by public auction. This did not, however, deter him from beginning , in order to decorate his new Wiltshire toy, Fonthill, which was destined in the end to share the same fate. Here also the shipwrecked remains of Sir Cloudesley Shovel lay in state in . Bishop Burnet, the historian, lived in before his removal to Clerkenwell, and here he had his curiosities, including the supposed
| |
p.186 | with part of the great seal remaining attached to it. |
[extra_illustrations.3.186.1] , as shown in an illustration on page , was a lofty brick building of storeys, comprising a centre with slightly projecting wings. Each wing was adorned with pilasters, with enriched capitals, rising to the level of the storey, and each floor was lighted with large semicircular-headed windows. The doorway in the centre was approached by a broad flight of steps, and protected by an ample porch supported by double columns on each side. | |
The house was built by Wren for the Duke of | |
| Monmouth, and after his death it was purchased by Lord Bateman, whose family occupied it for a time; but, as the stream of fashion was setting westwards, they travelled along with it, and, pulling down the mansion, let out the site on building leases. This would seem to be the irrevocable fate of all the great houses in London either sooner or later. The house, in , was converted into auction-rooms, but was demolished in . The name of Lord Bateman is still kept up here by a row of narrow houses called Bateman's Buildings, connecting the south side of the Square with . But the unfortunate duke has not been so | |
p.187 | lucky: for a time his name lived on in Street, ; but since it had obtained a bad name as the resort of Jew dealers in rags and old clothes, the thoroughfare was re-christened ; the old clothes, however, have not passed away along with the unsavoury name. Of this Lord Bateman, Horace Walpole tells the story that George I. created him an Irish peer to avoid making him a Knight of the Bath; said his majesty, with the wit of Charles II., Before Lord Bateman's house was pulled down, it was let by him to various persons in the higher ranks of society. Among others, the French ambassador was residing in it in -. |
In we have perpetuated the name | |
| of the Howards, Earls of Carlisle (a branch of the ducal house of Norfolk), the head of whom was living, in the middle of the last century, in a house on the east side of the square. The mansion, which was built in the reign of James II., originally stood in the midst of a garden, the extent of which it would be difficult to define at the present time. The lower walls of the house were of red brick and on the lead-work of the cisterns was the date . The mansion in its original condition must have had a magnificent appearance, with its marblefloored hall, its superbly decorated staircases, and its large and lofty rooms with enriched ceilings. | |
Towards the close of the last century it was tenanted by the celebrated Mrs. Cornelys, who turned it into a place of resort for masked balls | |
p.188 | and other fashionable amusements. Her assemblies were at time the rage of the town, but she was in the end ruined by her extravagance. Hither repaired in large numbers, although the morality of the place was rather questionable. Among the lady's chief patrons were the eccentric Duke of Queensberry ( ) and the notorious Duchess of Kingston, who appeared here in other characters, and especially on occasion in that of Iphigenia, as Horace Walpole slily remarks, There is a scarce print of the duchess in this character, which shows rather a deficiency of dress. It was at of Mrs. Cornelys' masquerades that the beautiful daughter of a peer wore the costume of an Indian princess, black girls bearing her train, a canopy held over her head by negro boys, and her dress covered with jewels worth . It was at another that Adam, in fleshcoloured tights and an apron of fig-leaves, was to be seen in company with the Duchess of Bolton as Diana. Death, in a white shroud, bearing his own coffin and epitaph; Lady Augusta Stuart as a Vestal; the Duke of Gloucester, in an old English habit; with a star on his cloak; arid the Duke of Devonshire, --all these, and others, passed through her rooms yet before many years had gone by Mrs. Cornelys was selling asses' milk at , and in she died in the ; forming schemes to the very last for retrieving her broken fortunes. Attempts were unsuccessfully made to keep up the festivities of Carlisle House; but drew away the great, and the square gradually declined in the world--from fashion to philosophy, from artists to tradesmen, from shops to hospitals-until at length its lowest depth seems to have been reached. |
Into the promenades at Mrs. Cornelys' house gentlemen were requested not to enter and in satire the manager of a rival amusement is said to have given this notice :-- Of the morality of Mrs. Cornelys and of Carlisle House, Northouck had no high opinion; but he throws the blame on its aristocratic patrons. He says,
| |
It is clear, from the advertisements scattered up and down the files of the London newspapers, that, beginning with the winter of -, Mrs. Cornelys contrived to secure for some or years the almost undivided patronage of the world of fashion, keeping the West End, and especially the neighbourhood of alive with a succession of balls, concerts, masquerades, &c., and securing her interest with the families of by giving balls to their upper servants. Her advertisements are by themselves a study in the art of puffery, and occasionally throw light on the condition of life in London: as, for instance, when she On occasion, when it was rumoured that the enterprising lady was about to open a sister institution in , half the City was up in arms to oppose her on the ground of morality, and the lady was defeated. On several occasions as many as persons of were present at her masquerades, the Duke of Gloucester, and even the King of Denmark, being of the number. At time she was threatened with proceedings under the by a rival in the same line of business; but by a judicious use of she circumvented her opponents whilst appearing to give way to them, and thus she prolonged her lease of popularity. At length, however, by instituting a harmonic meeting, Mrs. Cornelys placed herself in an attitude of direct hostility to the Italian Opera House, whose managers applied to the magistrates to stop her entertainment. They were so far successful that Sir John Fielding ordered Guardini, the chief singer at Carlisle House, to be arrested. This was the instalment of ill success which befell her; the next was the establishment of a rival house of entertainment at the Pantheon, in ; and in spite of a desperate effort to prop up her falling fortunes by a new amusement, called a --the details of which have not come down to us--in , there came a and in the November following the whole contents of Carlisle House, with its sumptuous decorations, were brought to the hammer. A graphic account of this sale will be found in the for , under the title of
| |
But the irrepressible Mrs. Cornelys was not destined to be crushed by a single failure. The and of Soho gathered her aristocratic friends and patrons around her; and her name again appears, in , as manager and conductress of a new series of concerts. These, however, would appear to have turned out profitless, for in , Carlisle House was advertised for sale by Messrs. Christie She still, however, seems to have fought on against fate, for as late as we find Mrs. Cornelys still organising masques at Carlisle House, though The exact date of her last effort to amuse the fashionable world on this spot is unknown. In , the establishment appears to have been under the management of a Mr. Hoffmann, who tried a variety of experiments in the way of and but with a like result. With the year we find a great change in the amusements of Carlisle House, for it was devoted to the meetings of a debating society, called the its meetings being presided over by a clergyman as on other evenings the rooms being devoted to at the Opera House. On Sunday evenings also there was a the admission to which was by a ticket, which included refreshments of These various attractions were held out, but with inferior success, for several years, a Mr. William Wade officiating as master of the ceremonies. In vain. did he open a supplied with the newspapers and periodicals of the day in vain did he organise courses of and advertise concerts by the Polish dwarf, Count Borawlaski, with tickets at half-a-guinea, In the property was in Chancery, and the house sold under a decree of the court, and Mrs. Cornelys retired into private life at , where we shall find her again. | |
What was once the music-room of Lord Carlisle's mansion, and afterwards the grand saloon of Mrs. Cornelys' establishment, was subsequently altered and turned into a . It is now known as and is largely frequented by the poor Irish of the neighbourhood. The entrance to the chapel is in . | |
The property was purchased in . by the exertions and influence of the celebrated Catholic teacher and controversialist, Dr. O'Leary, who died in , and to whose memory there is a mural tablet with his likeness on the south side of the building. | |
Over the high altar is a painting of the Crucifixion by Vandyke, said to be the finest specimen of a sacred painting by his hand in England, and equal to any in Belgium. It is, however, placed in an alcove or recess, in which the light is most unfavourable to the display of its beauty. | |
This chapel was formerly much frequented not only by the poor Irish who lived round Soho and , but also by Catholics of the wealthier class residing about Russell and Bedford Squares. It long divided with the Sardinian. Chapel in the administration of the chief Roman Catholic charities;, and the leading Roman Catholic bishops, Dr. Milner, Cardinal Wiseman, and Archbishop Manning have frequently advocated from its pulpit the cause of charity. The priest's residence at the corner of the square, formed also a part of Mrs. Cornelys' premises. Prior to the foundation of St. Patrick's Mission in , mass was said at No. in the Square, in the house of the Neapolitan ambassador, and also, though by stealth and secretly, at a small house in , where some French priests had taken up their abode on the commencement of troubles in France. | |
The Irish live in various parts of London, apart and amongst themselves, carrying with them the many virtues and vices of their native land, and never becoming absorbed, in the nation to which, for years, they may be attached. Swindlers, thieves, and tramps may surround them but do not in general affect them. Tom Malone still renews upon English ground his feuds with the O'Learys, commencing not within ,the memory of man; and some Bridget O'Rafferty pays Ellen O'Connor for evidence given by her grandfather against the rebels of '. says Mr. Diprose, in his
| |
p.190 | |
The house which stood at the northern angle of was celebrated in the last century, and the beginning of the present, as and was a place of fashionable dissipation to which only the titled and wealthy classes had the privilege of admission. Its character may be inferred from the fact that it was of the haunts of the then Prince of Wales, the old Duke of Queensberry, and the Marquis of Hertford; and the ruin of many a female heart may be dated from a visit within its walls. It is said by tradition that its apartments were known as the
Rooms, &c., each being called from the prevailing character of its fittings, and that the walls of nearly every room were inlaid with mirrored panels. Many of the rooms in this house, too, had a sensational name, as the the the the and the --the latter so styled on account of a closet out of which a skeleton was made to step forth by the aid of machinery. The as a scene of profligacy, lived on into the present century, and having been empty for some years; was largely altered, and to some extent rebuilt, by the founders of the present occupiers-Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell, the well-known pickle manufacturers. | |
We shall not attempt to describe in detail the White House, which enjoyed such an unenviable reputation from the scenes which it witnessed in the days when George III. was King, and George Prince of Wales was living. The retained much of its bad character till it was pulled down in -, to make room for the warehouse which now covers its site. | |
No. in this square, which adjoined the and was afterwards Messrs. D'Almaine's musical repository, is now absorbed into the pickle warehouse of Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell. Though considerably modernised, it still retains magnificently-carved mantelpiece and ornamental ceiling; and the grandly proportioned rooms are the same as when the mansion was the town-house of the Lords Fauconberg. | |
In the north-west corner of the square is the celebrated Soho Bazaar, of the haunts most frequented by sight-seers, especially at Christmas, New Year's Day, and other gift-seasons. It was established in , and for many years was a formidable rival to the Pantheon. It is a fashionable lounge for ladies and children, and especially attractive to It has now an entrance in also, of the houses on the south side of that roadway having been added to it. It is scarcely necessary to explain here that the word comes to us from the East, denoting a group of shops in which dealers in some commodity or class of commodities congregate in place, much to the gain of both purchasers and sellers. Yet, as Mr. Chambers remarks,
| |
Soho Bazaar, the of its kind in England, was established, according to Allen, by John Trotter, Esq., to whose family it still belongs. It was originally designed by Mr. Trotter as a for the sale of articles in aid of the widows and orphans of those who had fallen in the long war against Napoleon; but the Government of the day did not entertain the proposal, and accordingly Mr. Trotter started the bazaar as a private speculation of his own. The institution was opened by Queen Charlotte, in , and was extensively patronised by the royal family. The building, which does not present any architectural features, covers a space of feet by , and extends from the square to on the hand, and to on the other. It consists of several rooms, conveniently fitted up with mahogany counters. The bazaar occupies floors, and has counter accommodation for upwards of tenants. The rent of the counters, which are mostly for the sale of fancy goods, is very moderate; and to obtain a tenancy, it is requisite that a certificate, signed by respectable persons, be presented to the managers of the bazaar. The bazaar has been frequently patronised by royalty; the Princess of Prussia honoured it with a visit in . | |
Entering from , the visitor will find a rare assortment of ivory goods, not only finished articles, but others being designed and made on the spot. Further on are china articles, and stalls for sewing-machines. Up a small staircase to the left is an extensive picture-gallery, with some stereographs, water-colour and oil paintings. Other rooms close by are filled with a variety of fancy goods, or devoted to the purposes of photography. The principal rooms in the building are about feet long, and in them the visitor may find almost every trade represented. large room is set apart for the sale of books, another for fur- | |
p.191 [extra_illustrations.3.191.1] | niture, and another for birds, cages, &c.; and at end of the latter room is a large recess, occupied with a rustic aviary, through which runs a stream of water, Connected with the bazaar are spacious and well-appointed refreshment-rooms, and also offices for the registration of governesses and the hire of servants, &c.; and the scene that here presents itself during business hours is well worthy of a visit. |
During the latter part of the eighteenth and the earlier years of the present century, attained some celebrity as the residence of the learned and accomplished philosopher, Sir Joseph Banks, so bitterly and caustically satirised by He lived in the house, No. , now the Hospital for Diseases of the Heart, and here he used to hold his receptions, at which nearly every man eminent in science was a frequent attendant. [extra_illustrations.3.191.2] , who was descended from an ancient Yorkshire family, was born in , in the parish of St. James's, , in , and was educated at Harrow and Eton, whence he removed as a gentleman commoner to , Oxford. His love of botany increased at the university, and there his mind warmly embraced all the other branches of natural history. In he was chosen into the Royal Society, and in that year went to Newfoundland, for the purpose of collecting plants. The Royal Society having made a proposition to the Government to effect a general voyage of discovery in those parts of the ocean which were still wholly unknown, or only partially discovered, and especially to observe the transit of Venus at Otaheite in , Banks was appointed, in conjunction with Dr. Solander, naturalist to the expedition, which sailed from Plymouth Sound, under the command of Captain Cook, in . After an absence of years the expedition returned to England, the specimens which Banks had brought, at so much risk and expense, exciting much interest. In , on the retirement of Sir John Pringle from the Royal Society, Mr. Banks was elected to the vacant chair. In he was invested with the Order of the Bath, and he was afterwards sworn a member of the Privy Council, and chosen a member of the National Institute of France. His life was devoted to the prosecution of scientific researches, and the general diffusion of useful knowledge. In fact, he largely anticipated the Humboldts and Owens of our own day. Sir Joseph Banks died in . | |
His house in has also had other distinguished inhabitants; Sir J. E. Smith and Mr. Robert Brown, for example, both eminent naturalists. The Linnaean Society was founded in , and held its meetings in , until its establishment in . Here it continued to flourish till its removal to , , in . | |
The Linnaean Society, it would appear, like many another great institution, had its origin in an accident. The late Sir John E. Smith, then a medical student, was breakfasting day with Sir Joseph Banks, when the latter told him that he just had an offer of the memoranda and botanical collections of the great Linnaeus for a , but that he had declined to buy them. Young Smith, whose zeal for botany was great, begged his father to advance to him the money, and at length persuaded him to do so, though not without difficulty. It may appear strange that Sweden should consent to part with the treasures of her far-famed naturalist; and indeed the king, Gustavus III., who had been absent in France, was much displeased, on his return, at hearing that a vessel had just sailed for England with these collections. He immediately dispatched a vessel to the Sound, to intercept it, but was too late. The herbarium, books, MSS., &c., arrived safely in London in , packed in cases, and cost the purchaser In the following year Smith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and devoted himself more to botanical studies than to his profession as a physician. In he had the honour of being engaged to teach botany to Queen Charlotte and the princesses, and he was knighted by the Prince Regent in . At his death in the celebrated collection, with Sir J. E. Smith's additions, was purchased by the Linnaean Society and still remains in their possession. | |
The house of Sir Joseph Banks was kept for many years by his sister, a learned lady, who had as great a passion for collecting coins as her brother had for botanical researches. Her appearance is thus described by the author of a -- (writes Mr. J. T. Smith)
| |
In the south-east corner of the square lived, for many years, the late Mr. Barnes, the responsible editor of the ; and it was here that, when waited upon by some of the leading politicians of the time, he laid down the terms on which that paper would support the ministry of the Duke of Wellington, in . | |
Among the other noted residents of we may mention George II., when Prince of Wales; and also Field-Marshal Conway, Walpole's correspondent and friend. | |
In , on the south side of the square, in the year , was born of England's celebrated advocates and philanthropists, [extra_illustrations.3.192.1] | |
| He was descended from a Protestant family, who left France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. His father was a jeweller, carrying on business in this street; and he was sent to the French Protestant School close by, where he received but an indifferent education; but as soon as he had left it he applied himself to self-culture, and his diligence in the acquisition of learning was largely rewarded in after life. | |
Placed as a lad with a solicitor, whom he left for a merchant's office, which he also resigned, eventually he was articled to of the sworn clerks of Chancery. At the expiration of his articles he qualified himself for the bar, but had to wait long and patiently ere he was rewarded with any practice. When briefs did at last fall to | |
p.193 | his lot, it very soon became manifest that they. were held by a master, and the result was that a tide of prosperity set in, and His income rose to about a year, and in his diary he congratulated himself that he did not press his father to buy him a seat in the Clerks' Office. Romilly now rapidly rose to distinction in the Court of Chancery, where he was distinguished for his profound learning and forcible eloquence; and to him Lord Brougham has paid the following tribute:--
|
Romilly entered the in | |
| -the electors of having returned him to Parliament without the expenditure of a shilling on his part; a great thing in those days of bribery and corruption-and during the short administration of Mr. Grenville he was appointed Solicitor-General, and knighted. Nor was he distinguished professionally only; but during his political career he was listened to with rapt attention, and a passage in of his speeches in favour of the abolition of the slave-trade received the singular honour of distinct rounds of applause from the House. | |
But Romilly's grand claim to remembrance rests upon his humane efforts to mitigate the Draconic code of English law, in which nearly crimes, varying from murder to keeping company | |
p.194 | with a gipsy, were punishable with death. The bill which he succeeded in getting passed was to repeal a statute of Elizabeth, which made it a capital offence to steal privately from the person of another. He next tried a bolder stroke, and introduced a bill to repeal several statutes which punished with death the crimes of stealing privately in a shop goods to the amount of ; and of stealing to the amount of in a dwelling-house; or in vessels in navigable rivers. But this bill was lost. Romilly, however, did not despair, but kept on agitating session after session, and cleared the way for the success which came when he was no more. |
In his year Sir Samuel Romilly married Miss Garbett (a of the Marquis of Lansdowne), a lady of rare talents and moral excellence. But after years of happy married life, her health began to decline, and on the , she died. This was a dreadful shock to Romilly, and produced such mental anguish, that delirium followed, and in an unwatched moment he sprang from his bed, cut his throat, and expired almost instantly-and this at a time when worldly honours were being heaped upon him! It is related that the following morning, when Lord Eldon took his seat on the bench and Romilly's place was vacant--iron man though he was-he exclaimed, and rising in great agitation, broke up the court. The bodies of husband and wife were buried in grave, at Knill, in Herefordshire. In , too, William Hazlitt, the essayist, died of cholera in ; he was buried, as we have stated, in St. Anne's Churchyard. | |
was built in the reign of King Charles II., by Sir Francis Compton; and was called Stiddolph Street, after Sir Richard Stiddolph, the owner of the land on which it was built. Both New Compton and Dean Streets were named after Bishop Compton, Dean of the Chapel Royal, who formerly held the living of St. Anne's, Soho. In this street, on the west side, at No. (now the warehouse of Messrs. Wilson, wholesale tin-plate workers, of ), lived Sir James Thornhill, the painter, whose daughter married Hogarth. The house, which is still unaltered in its main features, has several handsome rooms, and a magnificent staircase; and the panels of the walls are adorned with a series of paintings by the hand of its former master. | |
At No. in this street lived Harlowe, the painter of He died here in , at an early age. | |
The small theatre in this street, now called the Royalty, was built in , by Miss F. Kelly (an actress who had made herself a reputation in light comedy and domestic melodrama on the boards of and the ) as a school for acting, but she reaped little profit from the enterprise. It was for many years used chiefly for amateur theatricals, but has of late years become popular by its spirited performance of operetta and burlesque entertainments. Miss Kelly, who was the daughter of a retired military officer, was destined for the stage from her birth, and was familiar with the boards of Old Drury at years of age as a chorus-singer. Her as an actress was at Glasgow, in , she being then in her year. She rose to great eminence in her profession, and was equally successful as a vocalist and an actress, succeeding to many of the parts which had been filled by the celebrated Madame Storace. For several years she was an extraordinary attraction at , and while performing evening at that theatre, received a striking proof of the power of her charms. A pistol was fired at her from the pit, the ball passing directly over her head; and as the terrified lady fell insensible on the stage, it was at thought she had been killed, and a scene of wild confusion ensued. The assailant was secured, and proved to be a lunatic who had for some time persecuted Miss Kelly with incoherent letters, expressive of his attachment. A similar attempt was made upon her life in Dublin, but happily with no greater success. | |
In the fiftieth year of her age, by which time she had acquired a handsome competence, it occurred to Miss Kelly to establish a school for acting, for which purpose she purchased an extensive freehold property in , Soho, in the hope of improving the condition of dramatic art. The school was a success. A number of pupils hastened to enrol themselves under the banner of so accomplished a teacher, for few ever equalled Miss Kelly in the art of-- Unfortunately her ambition did not stop here, but inspired her with the wild idea of building a new theatre on her own extensive premises. Encouraged by the lavish promises of support and subscriptions from her numerous patrons among the aristocracy, foremost of whom was the Duke of Devonshire, who especially interested himself in her hazardous undertaking, Miss Kelly converted the large yard and stabling attached to her house into the Theatre Royal, , Soho, by which title, however, it | |
p.195 | was seldom known, generally passing under the name of The entrance to all parts of this toy playhouse was through Miss Kelly's private residence, a peculiarity of construction which had, at all events, the advantage of novelty. |
Heralded by many a flourish of trumpets on the part of the newspapers, Miss, Kelly opened her tiny theatre on the , with a new piece by Mr. Morris Barnett, entitled , in which the author and Miss Kelly sustained the principal parts, supported, as the announcement went, The result was as disastrous as it was speedy. The distinguished patronage, from which so much had been expected, proving more select than numerous, the theatre, after being open nights, on of which the actors outnumbered the audience, was closed abruptly. In November of the same year Miss Kelly announced herself , at the Theatre Royal, . The performance was monological, and similar to some entertainments which she had given a few years previously at the Strand, with but moderate success. The result was again a complete failure, and Miss Kelly retired into private life, a loser of more than by her unlucky speculation. | |
In the little theatre, which had so long languished in obscurity, made a desperate rally, and presented itself to the public as the opening with, as the playbills announced, This opera had been originally represented with great success at the Grand Ducal Theatre, Brunswick, but, possibly from the inefficiency of the company, proved a total failure at the Soho theatre, and the was speedily closed. | |
In it was entirely re-constructed, with great improvements, and re-opened on the under the name of the since which time it has enjoyed its fair share of success. Miss Neilson made her successful as in . In Miss M. Oliver assumed the management, and during the reign of herself and her successor the Royalty has maintained its | |
, which runs from north to south, parallel to on the east, dates from the year . Pennant considers that its name is a corruption of Street, but it was more probably derived from a colony of merchants from the Levant, for whose use a Greek church was built hard by it in . | |
The last house on the east side of , now devoted to a Jewish school and synagogue, was the residence of Sir Thomas Lawrence for the years of the present century; and during the last century Josiah Wedgwood made it the head-quarters of his London business. It had previously been a dissecting-room, for and the adjoining streets were frequented by the faculty; but Wedgwood, on making it his showroom, named it Here he exhibited the magnificent service which he made for the Empress of Russia, and Queen Charlotte was among those who came hither to inspect it. A great artistic interest belongs to the premises, for, as Miss Meteyard remarks in her
Time, fire, and alterations, however, have so changed Portland House, that little of what was Wedgwood's Gallery is now standing except the outer walls; though Miss Meteyard tells us that the name of the great potter was till recently to be seen here cut with a diamond on a windowpane. | |
Among the many charitable institutions to be found in Soho, none perhaps are more worthy of public support than at the corner of the Square and of , called It occupies the house which formerly belonged to Alderman Beckford, who lived here in princely splendour. The institution, which is under the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was founded in ; but the present building and fitting--up of the premises dates only from , when they were taken at a cost of upwards of . says the Council of the Institution in their report,
| |
, which runs from north to south, parallel to on its western side, was named after the Lords Arundell of Wardour, of whom married the daughter and heiress of of those rare personages, successful gamesters- Colonel Thomas Panton, of St. Martin's-in-the- Fields, a gentleman whose name is still perpetuated in , . | |
, as a stone at the corner of Edward Street informs us, was built in . Flaxman was living here in at No. . In this street also lived the once celebrated Tom Hudson, the comic song-writer and singer. He carried on business as a grocer, and every week he wrote a comic song, which he had printed upon his and presented to his customers on the Saturday. | |
During the last half-century the name of this street has passed into a by-word and a proverb, as the head-quarters of curiosity-shops, antique and modern, genuine and fictitious. Leigh Hunt tells us in his that it was a favourite haunt of Charles Lamb, and that he had often heard the author of the expatiate on the pleasure of strolling up on a summer afternoon. | |
The shops occupied by brokers and dealers in old furniture, pictures, prints, china, &c., are above a score in number, forming thus almost a bazaar or mart, and constituting a class apart from the rest of the locality. Here the late Lord Macaulay might be seen trudging home with a -hand book, or packet of ballads, or broadsides; and here Mr. Gladstone himself, even when Prime Minister, would often take a stroll; picking up a specimen of old-fashioned china for his superb collection in . | |
We read in old documents of To this street, no doubt, Pope really alluded when he wrote, in imitation of Horace:--
| |
On the south side of , No. , a few doors to the east of , is an inn called In its windows is still kept and shown a curious sign which used to hang over the entrance, representing a man with a on his back; the said load consisting of a shrewish-looking wife, a monkey or ape; and hard by are most suspicious-looking pawn-shops and gin-shops. The design, of which we give a copy on page , is worthy of Hogarth's pencil. | |
The narrow, winding lane running southwards from the corner of and , now known as , but in former times as Hog Lane, forms the boundary between the parishes of St. Giles and St. Anne, Soho. Its narrowness and its windings alike serve to show its antiquity; and, no doubt, it derived its name from the pigs that fed along its sides when it had green hedges and deep ditches on either side. In it came to be dignified by its more recent appellation from the tavern. runs out of , on the west connecting it with . In it was a Greek church, built for the use of dating from the time of Charles II. This edifice helped to give its name to adjoining. It does not appear, however, to have remained long in the hands of these oriental Christians, but to have been given up to the use of the French Protestants who settled in this neighbourhood in large force. As such it is immortalised by Hogarth. The Greek inscription still remaining over the door, however, points plainly to its original destination. | |
The poor little chapel which belonged in succession to the Greeks and to the French refugees, stood on the western side of , adjoining some almshouses, which are said to have been founded by Nell Gwynne. Part of the chapel and side of the old almshouses have lately been removed, in order to give place to a lofty and handsome Independent chapel with schools attached. | |
In Hog Lane Hogarth has laid the scene of of the best of his smaller pictures, Mr. Peter Cunningham notes a curious fact with respect to this picture, namely, that it is The background of the picture gives us a view of the then newly-built church of St. Giles'sin-the-Fields. | |
Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.3.186.1] Monmouth House [extra_illustrations.3.191.1] Statue- Sir J. Banks [extra_illustrations.3.191.2] Sir Joseph Banks [extra_illustrations.3.192.1] Sir Samuel Romilly. |
