Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 4
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Oxford Street: Northern Tributaries.-Tottenham Court Road.
Oxford Street: Northern Tributaries.-Tottenham Court Road.
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We have now fairly turned our backs on the fashionable quarter of London, for a time, at least, and in the last and present chapters find ourselves in quite a different world to that over which we have been travelling ever since we left the neighbourhood of and the purlieus of . We no longer move about under the windows of dukes and duchesses, lords and ladies, gay courtiers, or well-dressed wits; we come back into the midst of a prosaic and work-a-day worlda world which lives in furnished and often in unfurnished lodgings, in garrets and attics, and even in cellars; a world which knows more of the interior of the pawnbroker's shop and the gin palace than of a club or a church; and where poverty is almost hopeless. And yet the view is not all black or dark: intermixed with those low and squalid thoroughfares are some fine streets and handsome squares; there are a few public buildings or private mansions; but the carriages that roll by, or stand at the doors of some of the residents, are perceptibly fewer; and, generally speaking, there is about the neighbourhood an air of repose and retirement which contrasts agreeably, in the height | |
p.468 | of the season, with the bustle which pervades , and with what the poet calls-
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In this locality have lived and toiled many men who, in after life, have won for themselves names that will remain imperishable in the annals of art and literature; and some of the streets through which we are about to proceed have been rendered sacred by the early struggles of many an artist who has subsequently reached the highest honours of the Royal Academy. | |
Few who have read Goldsmith will forget his description of an author's bedchamber in this immediate neighbourhood :--
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The above lines, evidently drawn from life, might be applied with equal truth in former times to many a poor struggling artist as to those who wield the pen; but let us hope that now-a-days, as a rule, genius, whether literary or artistic, is better housed. | |
, the turning to the eastward of , perpetuates the name of its builder, a Captain Rathbone, and an inscription on of the houses, fixes the date of its erection. As the does not appear to have been generally known as till some or years later, though occasionally so named in legal documents, the inscription is the more worthy of being placed on record here. In Ralph Aggas's plan of London, the commencement of this street is designated further on, in the same plan, the highway is called In this map cows are represented grazing in a field on the site now occupied by . | |
p.469 | |
In , according to Mr. J. T. Smith, in his this street consisted entirely of private houses, and its inhabitants were all of high respectability. he adds, [extra_illustrations.4.469.1] | |
Mrs. Mathew was the wife of the Rev. Henry Mathew, for whom Percy Chapel, close by, was built. At their house, towards the close of the last century, used to meet a knot of literary, musical, and artistic celebrities, including Flaxman and William Blake, the long-forgotten artist and poet, who would sometimes recite his verses to the company. Of Blake Mr. Smith predicted, with great judgment, that a day would come when his drawings would be sought after with the most intense avidity, adding that, although little known to the world at large, he was regarded by Flaxman and Stothard with the highest admiration. The prophecy has of late years been fulfilled, and Blake's powers, as an artist and a poet, are now recognised at their true worth. It was through Mr. Mathew's influence, combined with that of Flaxman, that Blake's volume of poems was | |
| issued in . We have already spoken of Blake's career in our account of the neighbourhood of . In return for the friendly welcome which he always received from Mr. and Mrs. Mathew, Flaxman decorated the walls of their parlour with models of figures in classical and tasteful niches. But these have long since perished. | |
has always borne an artistic reputation, and at present it is the head-quarters of artists' repositories, and of vendors of paints and drawing materials. Mr. Peter Cunningham reminds us in his that These brothers also wrote a in small volumes; of them was also editor of the and the other editor of the . Mr. John Timbs, in his tells us that the idea of the was likewise
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numbered among its residents, in former times, Mr. Nathaniel Hone, R.A., the painter of the picture called the He died here in . In , Mr. E. H. Baily, R.A., the sculptor, was living here; as also was Mr. Peter De Wint, the water-colour painter. Here lived the learned Baron Maseres, author of the He died in , at the age of . In , all mention of the street is struck out from the Such is the westward march of fashion. | |
The locality of and , which lies immediately to the north of it, is thus mentioned by Mr. J. T. Smith, in
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Passing along for a short distance, we arrive at , which was originally a zigzag country lane, leading out of the into . It was at , says Mr. J. T. Smith, better known by the vulgar people under the name of and subsequently Hanway Yard, and it was for some time the resort of the highest fashions for mercery, and other articles of dress; and it has continued to this day to be noted for its china-dealers and curiosity shops, as it was in days of yore when high-heeled shoes and stiff brocades were all the rage. | |
The author of who wrote under the assumed name of and was a native of , remembered this thoroughfare when it was still called Hanway Yard. It was narrow and dirty, and full of old china-shops, including Baldock's, and at the end stood a muffin and crumpet shop, which had about it an air of mystery and romance, as a suspected depository of smuggled goods. Another shop, for the sale of Dutch toys, was kept by an old woman named Patience Flint, a thin, little, shrunken old dame, who dressed in a close-fitting gingham gown, and wore a stiff muslin cap tightly drawn over her forehead. She rarely spoke, but conducted her business by signs, holding up fingers to denote that the price of a cup or a saucer was fourpence, and scarcely eating, drinking, or sleeping at all. winter's morning went to the shop, but found it closed, and that the neighbours were about to follow the old woman of Hanway Yard to the burial-ground at . The coffin-plate bore the inscription,
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In , in , there was living a certain Mrs. Elizabeth Alexander, aged , under a portrait of whom, published in that year, appear the words,
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How came to be so called, we have no definite authority for stating. It may probably have been named after [extra_illustrations.4.471.1] , to whom we are mainly indebted for bringing into general use in England that very necessary article of daily need--in our variable climate, at least--the umbrella. Hanway's name had already become favourably known in London, from his many schemes of benevolence. He originated both the Marine Society and the Magdalen, and, in conjunction with Captain Coram, he was active in promoting the foundation of the , of which we shall speak in a future chapter. In | |
p.471 | respect to his courage and perseverance in bringing umbrellas into general use, Hanway was a greater benefactor than at might be supposed. Gay's poem of it is true, commemorates the earlier use of an umbrella by poor women, and but even with this class it was a winter privilege, and woe to the woman of a better sort, or to the man, whether rich or poor, who dared at any time so to invade the rights of coachmen and chairmen. But Hanway steadily underwent all the staring, laughing, jeering, hooting, and bullying; and having punished some insolent knaves who struck him with their whips as well as their tongues, he finally succeeded in overcoming the prejudices against it. Jonas made a less successful move when he tried to write down the use of tea. |
With reference to the above subject, we quote the following from Chambers's --
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We must not, however, be too severe in our censure of the folly of the public in mocking at the use of umbrellas, when we remember in our own day, even so very recently as the beginning of the Crimean War, it was regarded as almost a mark of insanity for a private gentleman to wear a beard. | |
At No. in , a few doors eastward of , was exhibited, in , a most ingenious piece of glass-painting of the elaborately worked out from Hall's and containing upwards of a figures and portraits. It cost the designer, a Mr. Wilmhurst, upwards of , and covered square feet. After it had been exhibited in the metropolis for little more than a year, this painting was destroyed by fire. | |
Further eastward, and near the junction of with , is the Music Hall, occupying the site of the old which dated back to about the year . The was of the earliest and most popular of the metropolitan music-halls, and the present is the building of the kind which has occupied the same site, the previous halls having been destroyed by fire. It consists of a spacious room in the rear of the hotel, facing the street, and to which it is attached; and it has a lofty arched entrance, which, together with the hall itself, is tastefully decorated. The hall is fitted up with a stage, and around the other sides there is a gallery or balcony. The performances given here consist of selections from popular operas, comic and sentimental singing, glees, duets, &c., with an occasional acrobatic performance. | |
In the roadway of was made the subject of some experimental paving. The space between and was laid with a dozen different specimens either in wood, stone, bitumen, asphalte, or some | |
p.472 | other material; the whole, being laid in different patterns, presented a most even and beautiful roadway. The remarks that These experiments being somewhat in advance of the age, and the public taste not being ripe for change, the roadway was suffered to remain unaltered. The subject, in fact, appears at that time to have elicited but little public interest; indeed, magnate, Sir Peter Laurie, was as strongly resolved to oppose all wood-paving as he was to
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In connection with these experiments, a statement was published by the Marylebone Vestry, which will give the reader some idea of the immense traffic in the streets of London in :-- The number of vehicles passing through at the present time, we need hardly state, is probably double what it was years ago, notwithstanding the introduction of underground railways. | |
Passing from these dry matter-of-fact statements, we may add that this thoroughfare has witnessed some amusing scenes: for instance, the punishment of a Tom and Jerry boy of the older school, as recorded in the of . The culprit, a carpenter, was whipped from the watch-house in to the in , for stealing the knockers from gentlemen's doors. He had brass knockers tied round his neck. | |
A much pleasanter scene, however, was witnessed in , in the early part of , on the occasion of the Prince of Wales returning thanks at on his recovery from a dangerous illness. In obedience to the wishes of the inhabitants, the return journey of the Queen and the Royal Family to Buckingham Palace was made by way of and , and the whole line of route was beautifully decorated with flags and streamers. | |
At the northern end of , and running eastward into , is , which is chiefly noticeable on account of the chapel near its western end. The fabric, which is known as Percy Chapel, was erected about by the Rev. Mr. Mathew, of whom we have spoken above. It was for some years the scene of the pastoral labours of the Rev. Robert Montgomery, the author of
and other poems, who died in . The article on his poems in is probably of the severest pieces of criticism ever published. | |
In this street lived the parents of Henry West Betty, at the time when the child made his appearance at , and took the town by storm. We shall have occasion to speak of him further, when we come to Camden Town. | |
, the thoroughfare leading from to , was named either after Charlotte, Duchess of Grafton, or after the Queen of George III. Here, in the house formerly occupied by Sir Thomas Apreece, George Morland, the celebrated painter, was living in . Mr. J. T. Smith thus records a visit which he paid him in that year, in company with a generous patron of art and artists, Mr. Wigston:--
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On the east side of is . Here, in the early part of the reign of George III., the was established; it was afterwards removed to , and thence to Highgate Rise. | |
was so called after the speculating builder who erected the houses in it. In , the date of the map in Northouck's it appears to have been called Crabtree Street. | |
Further northward, running parallel with , and crossing , is . Here is of the most fashionable of the London theatres, the Prince of Wales's. The building was originally the concert-room of Signor F. Pasquali, and was purchased and enlarged by the directors of the Concerts of Ancient Music, | |
p.473 | who built a superb box for George III. and Queen Charlotte. Early in the present century it was fitted up by Colonel Greville for a body of amateur dramatists, called the
writes Mr. J. Timbs, In , or the following year, like the Olympic, it was converted into a sort of circus for equestrian performances, but it never in this respect rivalled Astley's. In it passed into the hands of Mr. Brunton, whose daughter, [extra_illustrations.4.473.1] , was of its greater stars. The ring had, in due course of time, given place to a pit, which is described, years later, by Mr. J. R. Planche, as being Its outof-the- way and unfashionable situation, however, did not prevent the from patronising it occasionally. |
In some of the earliest bills it is called the ; afterwards it took the names of the the and the and after the accession of William IV., out of compliment to, Queen Adelaide. An attempt was made, in the year , by Mr. Macfarren, to turn it into a sort of English Opera House, but it was not successful. years or so later it acquired a transitory celebrity under the name of as the home of burlesque, and afterwards of French plays. In it was taken by Mrs. Nesbitt, who re-opened it under its old name of It was for some time under the management of Madame Vestris; but its career seems to have been anything but flourishing until the year , when it was taken by Miss Marie Wilton (afterwards Mrs. Bancroft), in the joint capacity of lessee and manager, who partly reconstructed the theatre and altered its name to the
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In , on the east side, between Tottenham and North Streets, is the church of St. John the Evangelist. The edifice, which is in the Norman or Romanesque style of architecture, was built from the designs of Hugh Smith, and was consecrated in . At the western end is a tower and spire, about feet in height, and it has a large wheel window beneath the intervening gable. | |
At No. in this street is the founded in , and strictly limited in its members to artists, architects, and sculptors. Here are held during the season, and the pictures and drawings of members are shown previous to being exhibited publicly at the Royal Academy, the Dudley Gallery, or the Gallery of British Artists. | |
At No. are the offices of the Association for the Aid and Benefit of Dressmakers and Milliners. This institution, which was founded in , provides a home for deserving young persons, and assists them in obtaining employment; it also affords pecuniary and medical aid to those in distress, and there are also, in connection with the association, almshouses for the aged and decayed. | |
The erection of [extra_illustrations.4.473.2] , which we now enter, was begun about the year . According to Mr. Cunningham, it commemorates the name of Charles Fitzroy, the Duke of Grafton (whose father, the duke, was a natural son of King Charles II., by Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland), to whom the lease of the Manor of descended in right of his mother, Lady Isabella Bennet, the daughter and heiress of Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, of the statesmen who composed the Ministry of the above-named king. | |
In consequence of the stagnation to trade generally, caused by the wars at the close of the last and the beginning of the present centuries, this square remained a long time unfinished, the south and east sides alone being built. In the published in , it is described as continues the writer, They were designed by the brothers Adam, already familiar to our readers in connection with the and . | |
Between and was Fitzroy Market. It consisted of a number of small and dark tenements, and was pulled down in . | |
The neighbourhood of has for a long time been a favourite haunt of painters, no doubt on account of the excellence of the light on the northern side, by reason of the vicinity of the . Indeed, from to , all the neighbourhood between this square and appears, from an examination of the and to have been studded with artists, among whom figure a few R.A.'s, . Among the former, living in , are the names of Mr. C. L. Eastlake (afterwards President of the Royal Academy), [extra_illustrations.4.474.1] , miniature painter to the Queen; in this street, too, lived [extra_illustrations.4.474.2] , R.A., during the | |
p.474 | last years of his life. He died in , and lies buried at Hampstead. |
In lived Daniel Maclise, the gifted Royal Academician, until a short time before his lamented decease, in , whilst in the zenith of his fame. Maclise was a native of Cork, but settled in London in , and in the following year became a student at the Royal Academy. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in , and years later attained the full honours. In , on the death of Sir Charles Eastlake, the presidential chair of the Royal Academy was offered for his acceptance, but was declined. Besides his large wall-paintings in the new Houses of Parliament-- and the Maclise will be, perhaps, best remembered by his in the national collection, the and the of Mr. Maclise's latest works was painted in the year of his death. In - Mr. Maclise was living in the same neighbourhood, at No. , . At this house a sketching society used often to meet, including Eastlake, Stanfield, David Roberts, Decimus Burton, and the brothers Alfred and John Chalon. They met at each other's rooms, the host of the evening giving out the subject, and an hour was the time allowed for each to work out his conception. When the artists went further a-field into the suburbs, this little coterie broke up. In the of the period above mentioned there is also a sprinkling of and baronets, and knights named as living here; but these have all disappeared when we come to the reign of Victoria. | |
In , which runs from into , lived, in , E. W. Wyon, the sculptor, and Miss Chalon, sister | |
p.475 p.476 | to the brothers Chalon, and herself also an artist of considerable repute. Upper , in , had among its residents, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Robert Smirke, R.A., the architect of the General Post Office and other public buildings. |
, on the north of , running parallel to the , was so called, probably, after the wife of the Lord Southampton, Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Admiral Sir Peter Warren. Some of the houses in it have a double frontage. In this street in , and for several years subsequently, resided the celebrated [extra_illustrations.4.476.1] author of some works which have made his name widely known--the most celebrated being which has passed through several editions. He was the son of a coal merchant residing in , Strand, and was born in . He received his education at Eton, and took his degree at Glasgow; but as he inherited a good fortune from his father, he did not follow his profession. In Allibone's he is described as His hours of rising, eating, and retiring to rest were all regulated by system. His lunches, to which only the favoured few had the privilege of , were superb. They consisted of potted meats of various kinds, fried fish, savoury , rich , &c., in great variety and abundance. His dinners, unless when he had parties, were comparatively plain and simple, served in an orderly manner, cooked according to his own maxims, and placed upon the table invariably within minutes of the time announced. His public dinners were things of more pomp, ceremony, and etiquette: they were announced by notes of preparation, of which the following will serve as a specimen :-- | |
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Dr. Kitchiner possessed an extensive library, for in the introduction to the he gives a list of the titles of about different books treating of the subject of cookery, all of which, he tells us, he consulted in the preparation of the book above named. Another of his books was entitled, to which is added He was likewise a connoisseur in telescopes, and in his --a book abounding with many curious facts of great interest to amateur astronomers-he gives a description of telescopes, reflecting and achromatic, which he purchased or had made for him during his years' experience as an astronomical amateur, at an expense of more than . Among other eccentric habits of Dr. Kitchiner which are on record, is to the effect that it was his practice always to take his own wine with him when he went out to dinner. His will was remarkable for its eccentricity, and it is said that another, making serious alterations in the disposal of his property, was intended for signature on the day following his death, which happened suddenly, on the . | |
The ; , which runs thence southwards, towards ; , which leads from the south-east corner of into ; and , which skirts the west side of the square, are all so called after the various family connections of the ducal house of Grafton, and of Lord Southampton. | |
On the east side of Fitzroy and Charlotte Streets, and running parallel with , is , so named after the Rev. George Whitfield, or Whitefield, of whom we shall speak on reaching the in . Here are cross streets, bearing the names of Pitt and Lord North respectively, and thereby declaring the date of their erection; but they are quite barren of incident and history. | |
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Passing through , we enter . This name, like that of Covent Garden, is a popular corruption, sinning, however, rather strangely, by way of elongation instead of abridgment. The country road which, or centuries ago, ran northwards from Pound, between green hedges and open fields, was so called from Totten, or Totham, or Totting Hall, the manor-house of which stood at the north-west corner of cross-ways, on the site of what now is the celebrated in Hogarth's picture in the last century, and of which we shall have to speak in a future chapter. This manorhouse, it appears, belonged to William de Tottenhall, as far back as the reign of Henry III. It is described in as belonging to the Dean and Chapter of . After changing hands several times, the manor was leased for years to Queen Elizabeth, when it came popularly to be called . In the next century it appears to have become the property of the Fitzroys, who erected , upon a part of the manor estate, towards the end of the last century; and the property still belongs to the Fitzroys, Lord Southampton. In the map in Northouck's (), a turnpike-gate is marked at the top of , but this has long since disappeared. | |
In Fair was kept for days without interruption, but says Mr. Frost, in his
In fact, although the notices of the fair make mention of a great theatrical booth, it seems to have been devoted rather to wrestling and singlestick than to purely Thespian purposes. These booths were occasionally used for the settlement of by means of pugilistic encounters. The challenges were duly announced in the newspapers of the day, in the form of advertisements. Here is which appeared in :--
The half-crowns were an ingenious device to prevent scratching. Cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and other advertisements, accompany these ladylike diversions. | |
Mr. J. T. Smith thus writes, in his -- This must have been about the year . | |
Fair appears, from Mr. Frost's to have risen into sudden fame and celebrity about the end of George I. or the beginning of George II. Mr. Frost is unable to trace the origin of the fair, but contents himself with telling us that he adds, Of the exact time when this fair was discontinued we have no authority for stating; but the truth is, that when the good people of St. James's ceased to patronise the those of Bloomsbury voted them low, and followed in the wake of their wealthier and more aristocratic neighbours. | |
In a previous chapter we have spoken of the insecurity of these northern districts of the metropolis in the last century, in consequence of the numerous bands of highwaymen infesting the locality; and in the we read that as lately as prisoners were sentenced to death at Newgate for robbing a gentleman and his wife near turnpike. | |
The vicinity of , being near to the , appears to have enjoyed an unenviable notoriety as a depository for dead bodies. At all events, Hunter tells us, in his that in the town was startled by the discovery of the remains of more than a corpses in a shed hereabouts, which were
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On the west side of the road, between Tottenham and Howland Streets, is Chapel, or, as it is generally called,
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p.478 | It was designed by the Rev. George Whitefield, the eloquent colleague and fellow-worker of John Wesley. The immediate cause of its erection was the opposition which he met with, as minister of a chapel in , from the Vicar of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, who had no sympathy with the new doctrines. Hindered thus in his ministry, he obtained from the Fitzroys a lease of a plot of ground in what was then called, in maps and surveys, close to a pond known as on the road which ran from to the In writing to his patroness, the Countess of Huntingdon, Whitefield says, When he built it, he desired to place it within the pale of the Established Church, and had hoped to have done so all the more easily on account of his position as chaplain to a peeress of the realm; but in this he was disappointed. He sailed, however, as near to the model of the English Church worship as the law allowed him. The foundation-stone was laid in , Mr. Whitefield himself preaching on the occasion. It was a large but plain double-brick building, feet square, and capable of holding a large congregation; over the door, we are told, were the arms of Mr. Whitefield. But the preacher was so popular that the edifice had soon to be enlarged; and or years later an octagonal front was added, which gave it a singular appearance. alms-houses and a chapel-house soon grew up by its side, all the result of private subscriptions among the adherents of Indeed, so celebrated was Mr. Whitefield as an orator that he numbered among his occasional hearers the Prince of Wales and several of his brothers and sisters, Lords Chesterfield, Halifax, and Bolingbroke; also David Hume, Horace Walpole, and David Garrick. Ned Shuter, the actor, also, who was acting the at the time, came in day, when Whitefield, turning to him, implored that in the course of his wanderings he might be led to towards his Saviour. Shuter was struck at the unexpected attack on himself, and expostulated with the preacher, but in the end he became a Methodist. Whitefield died in America, in , and his funeral sermon was preached here by John Wesley. There is in the chapel a monument to George Whitefield, and another to his wife, who was buried here. There is another to Augustus Toplady, author of the well-known hymn John Bacon, R.A., the sculptor, is buried under the north gallery. The chapel was satirically called by the opponents of the new doctrines, Whitefield's on which the latter merely said, Whitefield was also burlesqued by Samuel Foote, on the stage of old , in and This, however, provoked him no further than to observe, with a smile, There are few anecdotes told in favour of Foote's magnanimity; but deserves to be recorded. The epilogue to his farce of contained a burlesque of the style and manner of the wellknown preacher, under the title of During the run of the farce it happened that Whitefield died. The epilogue was withdrawn. On its being loudly called for by the audience, Foote came forward, and said that he was incapable of holding up the dead to ridicule. |
Following in the wake of the great preachers of the previous century-South and Barrow-and in a style which was afterwards copied by Rowland Hill at the , and by or preachers even in the present day, Mr. Whitefield increased his popularity by using eccentric terms and modes of expression in his sermons, and by reference to commonplace and trivial matters. In fact, his discourses often sparkled with wit and fun. Both Whitefield and Wesley contrived, as the Established Church disclaimed their acts, to disown and to defy its authority in turn, and therefore they gradually found themselves forced to take up the position of Nonconformists and Dissenters. A man of superhuman energy and power, John Wesley has been able to exercise the widest influence over the English-speaking race. Macaulay observes of him that and others have compared him with St. Ignatius Loyola. | |
It is recorded in the that during a violent thunder-storm which passed over London, on Sunday, , a man was killed by the lightning in this chapel. The electric fluid penetrated the roof just over the man's head, and entering a little above his breast, pierced his heart. He had children by him at the time, neither of whom received the least hurt. | |
It is said that Whitefield wished to have the ground adjoining consecrated as a burial-ground, but that the Bishop of London refusing to perform the ceremony, he obtained several cart-loads of consecrated earth from a churchyard in the City conveyed them hither, and spread them over the adjacent surface, which he thenceforth regarded as | |
p.479 | sacred. How deep the consecration went downwards was a question he did not even attempt. to decide. |
It would appear that the ministers of the chapels in and often preached alternately in these edifices. At any rate, the eccentric Matthew Wilks, who was minister at from to , is stated to have had the oversight of the chapels. | |
On the expiration of Whitefield's lease, in , the chapel was closed for years, when it was purchased by trustees, and greatly altered in its appearance, the exterior being coated with stucco. About the year the fabric was enlarged and re-fronted with stone. | |
There were persons living in , as is clear from a letter published at that date in Hone's who The writer remarks that he himself remembered the destruction of a tree which once shadowed the skittle-ground and roadside of the same house. It was cut down and converted into firewood by a man who kept a coalshed hard by. Persons living at the above date could recollect ending at , and the mill still in position which gave its name to , and the neighbourhood of being occupied by large open soil-pits. The writer above referred to tells the following grim story about this neighbourhood:-- he adds,
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At a public-house in this street, lived an eccentric character named Shooter. He had been pot-boy at a tavern in Covent Garden, and became on such friendly terms with the rats in the cellars of the house, by giving them sops from his porter--for at that time everybody, if he liked, might have a bit of toast in his beer---that they would creep about him, and over his hands and face, without fear and without injury. He would carry them about the streets between his shirt and his waistcoat, to the surprise of every , and even make them answer to their names. Later in life he became a Methodist, through listening to the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield. | |
in the present day is of the busiest thoroughfares in London, and can boast of several monster commercial establishments, notably among them being those of Messrs. Moses and Son, outfitters, at the corner of the ; Messrs. Shoolbred and Co., linendrapers; and Messrs. Hewetson and Milner, upholsterers. At No. are the offices of the North London Consumption Hospital, of which we shall speak on reaching Hampstead, where the hospital itself is situated. | |
This thoroughfare being of comparatively recent growth, there is but little to say in the way of anecdote connected with it. Here Fryer, a wonderful old actress, who quitted the stage in the reign of Charles II., kept a public-house in her latter days. A farce called the by Charles Molloy, was brought out at in ;, and to Mrs. Fryer, then eightyfive years of age, was assigned the part of an old grandmother. In the bills it was mentioned:-- The character in the farce was supposed to be a very old woman, and Peg exerted her utmost abilities. The farce being ended, she was brought again upon the stage to dance a jig. She came tottering in, and seemed much fatigued; but on a sudden, the music striking up the Irish trot, she danced and footed it almost as nimbly as any girl of . She resided in until her decease, which took place in , at the reputed age of years. | |
The a tavern still standing at the corner of and , says Mr. J. T. Smith, in his
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Charles Dickens, as a boy, when living at Camden Town, and acting as a drudge at the blacking shop at , used to frequent the secondclass pastry-cooks along this route, and spend his coppers on stale buns at half-price. | |
At the southern extremity of the road, where it joins , and on the west side, are or isolated houses, the little foot-passage behind which is called Bozier's Court. They stand on what was waste land adjoining the old Pound. The removal of these old houses has been often threatened, but never carried into effect. | |
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Footnotes: [] For instance, in the Act of Parliament, in 1678, laying down the boundaries of the new parish of St. Anne's, Soho. [extra_illustrations.4.469.1] S. and J. Fuller--Rathbone Place [extra_illustrations.4.471.1] Jonas Hanway [extra_illustrations.4.473.1] Mrs. Yates [extra_illustrations.4.473.2] Fitzroy Square [extra_illustrations.4.474.1] Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. C. Ross, A.R.A. [extra_illustrations.4.474.2] John Constable [extra_illustrations.4.476.1] Dr. Kitchiner |
