Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 2
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Chapter XXVIII: Aldersgate Street (continued).
Chapter XXVIII: Aldersgate Street (continued).
Close to Shaftesbury House-which, after being a tavern and a lying--in hospital, became in a general dispensary, and latterly was divided into shops-stood Bacon House, the residence of Sir Nicholas Bacon (Queen Elizabeth's Lord Keeper), an enemy to Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Jesuits, a resolute, honest, unambitious man, and, the father of the great philosopher and Lord Chancellor, Francis Bacon. The Lord Chancellor, however, was born at York House in , of which marks the site. A popular writer has thus graphically described Bacon's father:--
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Swift's warlike friend, Mordaunt, the Earl of Peterborough, also lived in . Many of this energetic general's letters to Swift, are still extant, as well as Swift's pleasantly sarcastic verses to him. In the War of Succession the Earl took Barcelona, and drove the French out of Spain. Swift says of him:--
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In Peterborough is thus described:--
observes Swift,
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Of the famous Duke of Montagu, who also lived in , the author of , says,
is Swift's addition,
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says Aleph,
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In , in Shakespearian times, dwelt Mr. Serjeant Fleet, the Recorder of London, and in the same house afterwards resided Robert Tichborne, Lord Mayor in . Tichborne signed the death-warrant of Charles I.; and at the Restoration was tried, with Hugh Peters, Harrison, and others, and executed. The old inn stood near the old city gate. Nearly opposite Lauderdale House, which was north of Shaftesbury House, stood in the a place of resort for the wits of Charles II.'s time, Wycherley and Congreve being among the The fireplaces were ornamented with curious grotesque carvings in wood. | |
Higher up than Lauderdale House, doors only from , once stood the inn, From this inn John Taylor, the poetical waterman of the time of James I., set out on his penniless pilgrimage to Scotland. At the west side, a little beyond St. Botolph's, is , so called centuries ago from a brotherhood of the Holy Trinity, founded in , as a fraternity of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, licensed by Henry VI., and suppressed by Edward VI. The hall was still standing as late as . | |
The , an indirect tributary of Aldersgate (by ), is a continuation of the , and runs from the at to . It was opened on , when Mr. Dingly, the projector, modestly refused to give it own name. In , John Wesley laid the stone of the chapel opposite Bunhill Fields, and remarked, as he laid it,
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The theatrical traditions of this neighbourhood demand a few words. The Tavern, now the Grecian Theatre, , when under the management of its originator , Mr. Thomas Rouse, was highly famed for its comic vocalists, Harry Howell, and Robert Glindon. The firstnamed was, perhaps, the best buffo singer of his day; and it was for these gardens that Glindon wrote and other songs of world-wide repute, singing them himself in the evening, his daytime being fully occupied in painting, with the late Mr. Danson, that marvel of panoramas so many years the main attraction at the Coloseum, . After his voice failed him, he was enlisted in the standing company at the , assisting in the scene-painting and property department, and doing small parts in the pantomime openings. It was at the Grecian Saloon that Fredrick Robson also made his marl with the London playgoers, in the characters of in , and in The . William Farren, that excellent actor, had seen and admired Robson's wonderful abilities, and wished to secure his services for the Olympic; but fearing the announcement might act detrimentally with public opinion, he got Robson an engagement in Ireland, and then, announcing him launched him on his brilliant career at the little theatre in . | |
The ; opposite Road, was, in the early part of the present century, much patronised by Cockney tourists, on account of its pretty tea-gardens, and like White Conduit House and , it attracted immense crowds of Sunday ramblers. Concerts were | |
p.228 | occasionally given here, particularly at holiday times, but its modern reputation was chiefly owing to its Judge and Jury Society, and the forensic ability of its proprietor, Mr. Benjamin Foster, who was afterwards so well-known and respected by literary men as mine host of the or Gate House, Clerkenwell. |
Very near Aldersgate stood , where the fiery Hotspur, who owes all the emblazonment on his escutcheon to Shakespeare, once dwelt. Henry IV. gave the house to Queen Jane, his wife, and it was then called her Wardrobe. In Stow's time it was the house of a printer-not, however, John Day, the celebrated printer of Elizabeth's time, as has been suggested, for he lived, | |
| as we have shown, over the Gate itself, as the illustrious Cave did at Gate, Clerkenwell. It afterwards, in Strype's time, was a tavern, the usual end of all celebrated London buildings. | |
Adjoining what is at present the Money Order Office in is the French Protestant Church, opened in , when Chapel, in , was taken down. On , the tercentenary of the Royal Charter to Foreign Protestants granted by Edward VI. was commemorated by special services both at the Dutch Church, , and at , and in the evening the members of the consistories of both churches dined together, and drank to the memory of the pious Edward VI. | |
