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THE LITERARY HISTORY
OF THE ADELPHI AND
ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD
[Illustration:
_Allen & Co. (London) Ltd. Sc._
_The Terrace. York Buildings. 1796._
_From a water colour by J. Richards R.A._]
THE LITERARY HISTORY
OF THE ADELPHI
AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD
_By_ AUSTIN BRERETON
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION
[Illustration]
NEW YORK:
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
36-38 WEST 37th STREET
1909
_First Edition_ 1907
_Second Edition_ 1908
(_All rights reserved._)
Note
This book is intended for the general reader, as well as for the
antiquarian and the lover of London. To this end, the history of the
Adelphi and its immediate neighbourhood to the west and on the south
side of the Strand has been related in--as far as possible--narrative
form. At the same time, it need hardly be said, every care has been
taken to present the multitude of details correctly and as a truthful
picture of one of the most interesting parts of the great metropolis.
I should be ungrateful if I did not take this opportunity of again--as
in the case of my chronicle of the Lyceum and Henry Irving--thanking
Mr. E. Gardner for so courteously placing at my disposal his unique and
invaluable collection of London records and engravings. The majority
of the illustrations were kindly lent by him; others were copied from
prints in the British Museum. I have also to thank the officials of St.
Martin's Library for their ready help in enabling me to consult, at my
leisure, some scarce books connected with the literature of historical
London.
A.B.
INTRODUCTION
"The Literary History of the Adelphi" has journeyed from one side of
the neighbourhood to the other, from west to east. That is to say, its
publication has been acquired by Mr. Fisher Unwin, hence the removal
of the book from York Buildings to Adelphi--originally called "Royal,"
and still so marked on the old plans--Terrace. This peregrination
gives me the opportunity of supplementing the original work with some
interesting particulars which have just come into my possession.
Who would think that within a short distance of the Strand, if not
actually within the proverbial stone's throw, there are "cottages," and
cottages, too, with trees and flowers and lawns, and a mighty river,
for prospect? Yet such is the case, although it is no wonder that the
rate collector who is new to this part of London has much ado to find
"Adelphi cottages." They belong to that mysterious region which lies
underneath the Strand level of the Adelphi and is vaguely known as the
"arches." If the reader will glance at the illustration which faces
page 32--"The Buildings called the Adelphi"--he will see, at the top of
the arches and under the terrace, some fifteen semi-circular recesses.
These are really capacious rooms, and from the windows thereof the view
of the Embankment Gardens and the Thames is considerable compensation
for the tediousness and deviousness of the approach. The "cottages"
were originally attached to the houses on the terrace above, and, until
recent years, they were inhabited. Now, however, the majority of them
are let separately and are used as stores or workshops. One of them,
however, is still occupied as a dwelling-place, and, whatever else it
may be, this habitation is certainly unique.
Underneath the "Adelphi cottages," and extending below the houses of
the terrace, and John, Robert, and Adam Streets, are the famous arches,
which few people, either Londoners, who know nothing of their own city,
or Americans, who are versed in the lore of our ancient streets, have
ever visited. Truth to tell, the expedition to the Adelphi arches is
not to be undertaken with too light a heart. The gloomy recesses do not
conduce to joy, and, although the foot-pad has scant opportunity for
indulging in his nefarious practices, he would be a venturesome person,
a stranger to these parts, who would wander alone in this underground
world after the sun, which never enters these passages, had ceased to
illumine the earth above. This very darkness and dismalness has its
advantages at times. When Messrs. Coutts, for instance, moved from
their old premises in the Strand, there was much speculation as to the
manner in which they transferred their immense stock of securities,
deeds, and other valuables from one side of the road to the other.
There was great talk at the time of armies of detectives and the use of
the early hours of Sundays, and other vague suggestions were allowed to
be promulgated. It was assumed that the transference would take place
from one side of the road to the other, and it was thought that there
might be some audacious attempts at robbery. In reality, the matter was
quite simple and there was not the slightest danger of any attack upon
the priceless possessions. Far removed from the noisy Strand--in regard
to atmosphere and surroundings--there is an arch, dark indeed, and shut
off from the outer world by huge gates, which are some distance away.
Here, many feet below the surface of the streets, is a secret entrance
to the premises of the old bank. And here, in absolute security, never
dreamt of by the enterprising thief, the carts were loaded with their
treasures.
The actual removal of these valuables was effected with great ease. The
carts wended their innocent way through the dreary arches, in front of
the "cottages," and passed out by a "right of way" underneath the Hotel
Cecil, towards Blackfriars. Thus, the would-be thief was deluded of his
prey. This "right of way" marks the bottom of Ivy Lane, which is still
in existence. It runs from the Strand and denotes the boundary of the
Duchy of Lancaster and the City of Westminster. Formerly, it was an
open thoroughfare, but there is now, at the Strand entrance as well as
at the bottom, a gate. At the river end, there was, in olden times, a
bridge, or pier, called Ivy Bridge. But I think that there must have
been, not only a bridge in the Strand, but that there was a stream
which ran hence into the Thames. John Stow, in his "Survey of London,"
first published in 1598, speaks of "Ivy Bridge, in the High Street,
which had a way under it leading to the Thames, the like as sometime
had the Strand Bridge." Now, the Strand Bridge was over the stream of
St. Clement's Well, and Strand Lane, like Ivy Lane, ran down to the
river, and, like it, there was a pier at the end. I am the more certain
that there must have been a river of sorts at the junction of Ivy Lane
and the Strand, because to this day, as I found in the course of a
recent investigation, a stream trickles under John Street and renders
useless a large cellar. Nothing can stop it. It percolates now, just
as it has done ever since the excavations made by the Brothers Adam in
1768. It is drained away, but it is just sufficient to create a damp
atmosphere which is detrimental to the storing of wine.
Hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine--chiefly port, claret, and
burgundy--are in bins here, and a most admirable place for the purpose
it is. The underground Adelphi is absolutely dry--save for the one
spot mentioned--and the temperature does not vary five degrees in the
course of a year. Here, also, are many hundreds of cases of champagne,
and here the jaded Londoner--if he be sufficiently favoured--might come
and feast his eyes on some few dozens of bottles of "white port"--a
wine which is not in fashion in these degenerate days, but which, I
rejoiced to learn, is still sent hence to a certain royal household.
Strange as it may seem, there is a strong air of royalty about these
dimly-lit vaults. What between the secret entrance to the old premises
of the great bankers--Messrs. Coutts are the bankers for his Majesty
and for the Queen[1]--and the "white port" which gives its benefit
to illustrious persons of royal lineage, there is a distinct feeling
that one is moving on an exalted plane when, paradoxical as it may
seem, we are in this subterranean place. The distinctly regal air
which pervades these caves of silence may have given rise to a certain
statement that hereabouts--half a dozen yards from the royal stock of
"white port"--Lady Jane Grey was cast into a dungeon deep and carried
thence to the dreaded Tower, there to be beheaded. But the "Nine Days'
Queen" knew only her gardens and her flowers when she lived in Durham
House--the predecessor of the Adelphi. Here, in May, 1553, the Duke of
Northumberland married his son, Lord Guildford Dudley, to Lady Jane,
in pursuance of his design for altering the succession from the Tudor
to the Dudley family. The unfortunate girl of scarce seventeen summers
certainly left Durham House for the Tower--but it was with great pomp
and circumstance, in order to be proclaimed Queen. Her execution
followed hard upon, but she knew not imprisonment in what is now the
Adelphi. On the other hand, the haunt of a wretched woman is still to
be seen in this gloomy spot. "Jenny's Holes" figure on the plan to this
day, and are not likely to be obliterated therefrom. Into one or other
of these places--recesses by the main arches--the outcast came to sleep
and, finally, to die; some say, indeed, that she was murdered here.
"Jenny" has no history, but the vague tradition of her misery still
haunts these "dark arches." Nor is the story at all improbable. The
"dark arches" are forbidding enough now, and, even in the day-time, the
sparse gas jets only serve to make darkness visible. So recently as the
early seventies, when Mr. George Drummond came into the property, cows
were kept in the underground passages of the Adelphi.
Adelphi Terrace, Adam Street to the east, and John Street, which is
parallel with the terrace and the Strand, and in between, still retain
much of their old-world appearance. But at the western side of the
Adelphi changes are afoot. There is a new building, facing the river,
but stunted and barred from its proper height by that bugbear of the
modern builder, "ancient lights." Then, again, the Caledonian Hotel,
in Robert Street, has taken to itself a new storey, and has been
transmogrified into modern flats with--oh, shade of Adam!--bath-rooms.
The searcher after the picturesque in London architecture might do
worse than descend from the Strand, past the Tivoli. He will then be on
the site of one of the gateways of Old Durham House, and, turning to
the right, he will see a bridge of beautiful design. It was built, in
order to connect the Strand and Adelphi premises of the bank, by Thomas
Coutts, who procured a special Act of Parliament for the purpose.
The entire Adelphi estate occupies a little over three acres and a
quarter, divided as follows:--
Superficial
feet.
Houses (only) 78,400
Roadways, terrace, and areas 45,400
Foreground 19,200
--------
143,000
The names of two more noted inhabitants of the Adelphi have to be
included in this "History." The learned Vicesimus Knox (1752-1821), who
is best known to fame as the compiler of "Elegant Extracts" (1789),
lived at No. 1, Adam Street. The first floor of the same house was
the place of retirement, for a score of years, of George Blamire,
barrister-at-law, "of very eccentric habits, but sound mind." John
Timbs, in his "Curiosities of London," states that "no person was
allowed to enter his chamber, his meals and all communications being
left by his housekeeper at the door of his ante-room. He was found dead
in an arm-chair, in which he had been accustomed to sleep for twenty
years. He died of exhaustion, from low fever and neglect; at which time
his rooms were filled with furniture, books, plate, paintings, and
other valuable property." The eccentric habits are evident; but the
"sound mind" is a little doubtful.
Finally, I may state that I have followed the fortunes of my book,
and, after a brief excursion into the noisy part of the world on the
other side of Charing Cross, have returned to the quiet and comparative
solitude of the Adelphi, where tubes do not trouble and motor buses do
not annoy. "Sir," said Dr. Johnson, "when a man is tired of London, he
is tired of life." And I think that there is no part of London of which
a man can be in less apprehension of tiring than the Adelphi. It is of
London, yet away from it; in the heart of the world, yet secluded. To
know it is to love it.
Austin Brereton.
_September, 1908._
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: See page 212.]
Contents
CHAPTER I
PAGES
Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham--The Papal Legate and the Oxford
Clergy--Henry III. and the Earl of Leicester--Prince Henry--The
Author of _Philobiblon_--Edward III.--Thomas Hatfield--Henry
VIII.--Cuthbert Tunstall--Cranmer at Durham House--Anne
Boleyn--Henry VIII. and Anne of Cleves feast at Durham House--Dudley,
Duke of Northumberland--Lady Jane Grey--Queen Mary--Queen
Elizabeth--Philip Sidney--Sir Walter Raleigh--Elizabeth
Throgmorton--Glanville _v._ Courtney--Thomas Egerton--Fire at
Durham House--Raleigh and his Pipe 1-20
CHAPTER II
The New Exchange--The Earl of Salisbury proprietor--Opened by
James I.--Popular Allusions--The First Edition of _Othello_ published
Here--Samuel Pepys a Frequent Visitor--Henry Herringman--Otway
--Etherege--Wycherley--Dryden--Addison--Durham House
in Decay--Acquired by the Earl of Pembroke--Various Public
Offices in Durham Yard--Charles II. helps to extinguish a Fire
Here--Archbishop Le Tellier--Godfrey Kneller--David Garrick,
wine merchant--Dr Johnson--Voltaire--Murder in the New
Exchange 21-48
CHAPTER III
The Romantic Story of the White Milliner, otherwise the Beautiful Frances
Jennings, Duchess of Tyrconnel--Her Youthful Escapade--Her
Connection with the New Exchange the subject of a Play by Douglas
Jerrold--Its Failure and the Author's Disappointment--"Nan"
Clarges, afterwards Duchess of Albemarle, sells Wash-balls in the
New Exchange--Her Burial in Westminster Abbey--Sir William
Read, the Quack, cures "Wry Necks" in Durham Yard--Demolition
of the New Exchange--A Noted Book-shop--Ambassadors
reside Here 49-74
CHAPTER IV
Enter the Brothers Adam--Their Marvellous Transformation of the Ruins
of Durham House and Yard into the Present Adelphi--The Magnitude
of the Project--Opposition of the City--Defeated by Special
Act of Parliament--The Adelphi Buildings only completed by Aid
of a Lottery--The Adams explain their Position--Robert Adam:
His History--His Death--James Adam--Some Poor Wit, including
Walpole's, at the Expense of the Architects 75-99
CHAPTER V
The Society of Arts--Its Foundation--Its Removal to the Adelphi in
1774--James Barry and his Famous Paintings--Visited in John Street
by Burke and Johnson--The Latter's opinion of his Genius--Description
of his Pictures for the Society--The Work of the Society--"Spot"
Ward, the Inventor of "Friar's Balsam"--Johnson speaks
in the Great Room--Forsaken by his "Flowers of Oratory" 100-122
CHAPTER VI
David Garrick--His Residence in the Adelphi--Founds the Drury Lane
Fund--His Last Appearance on the Stage--Honoured by Parliament--The
Friendship of Mr and Mrs Garrick for Hannah More--Their
Correspondence--Garrick helps the Production of _Percy_--Presents
his Buckles to Hannah More--The Production of _Percy_--Garrick's
Prologue gives Offence--Garrick brings Hannah More's Dinner from
the Adelphi to the "Turk's Head"--The Literary Club--His Last
Illness and Death 123-144
CHAPTER VII
Garrick's Funeral from the Adelphi--Johnson's Opinion of Garrick: "A
Liberal Man"--His Death "Eclipsed the Gaiety of Nations"--Topham
Beauclerk and Johnson--Mrs Garrick's famous Dinner
Party--Johnson and other Celebrities Present--Described by Hannah
More and Boswell--Johnson's Morning Visit to Adelphi Terrace--Hannah
More's Life Here--Another Dinner Party--Death of Mrs
Garrick--Shakespeare's Gloves sent to Mrs Siddons from the
Adelphi--Goldsmith writes from a Sponging-House to Garrick in
the Adelphi--Becket, the Bookseller 145-171
CHAPTER VIII
The celebrated Quack, Dr Graham--His Temple of Health in the
Adelphi--Satirised by Colman and Bannister--"Vestina, the Rosy
Goddess of Health"--Emma Lyon, Lady Hamilton--Osborn's Hotel--The
King and Queen of the Sandwich Islands--Their Death in the
Adelphi--Isaac d'Israeli--The Earl of Beaconsfield--Thomas Hill,
the Original of Paul Pry--Thomas Hood and Charles Dickens--_David
Copperfield_ and _Pickwick_--Ivy Lane--The Fox-under-the-Hill--The
Adelphi "Dark Arches" 172-191
CHAPTER IX
The First Bankers--Middleton & Campbell, predecessors of Coutts & Co.,
"at The Three Crowns in the Strand"--Patrick and John Coutts--Patrick
and Thomas Coutts in London--Death of James Coutts--Enter
Thomas Coutts--Letter by Him--His Stern Character--Married
to Harriot Mellon--Susan Starkie and "The Three Graces"--Sir
Francis Burdett--Angela Georgina Burdett--The Duchess of
St Albans--Anecdotes of Thomas Coutts--His Personal Appearance--Interior
of the Bank--The Chinese Wall-Paper--The Adelphi
Chapel--Illustrious Customers of Messrs Coutts--Partners in the
Firm--The Wills of Thomas Coutts and the Duchess of St Albans--The
Savage Club--Thomas Hardy--E.L. Blanchard 192-217
CHAPTER X
York House--Francis Bacon--The Great Seal taken from Him--Lord
Keeper Egerton--The Duke of Buckingham, King James' "Steenie"
--Magnificence of his Entertainments--Contemporary Descriptions--Bishop
Goodman's Praise--The Second Duke--Dryden's Revenge--The
"Superstitious Pictures" of York House--Buckingham's Marriage--Spanish,
Russian, and French Ambassadors Here--Visits by Pepys
and Evelyn--Duke of Buckingham sells York House--His Curious
Condition of Sale--The Duke's _Litany_ 218-234
CHAPTER XI
The York Water-Gate--Inigo Jones' Beautiful Work--Built for the Duke
of Buckingham--The Proposal for its Removal--Satires on the
Subject--The Gate Neglected--Its Restoration--The Water Tower--The
West-end supplied with Water from Here--The Steam
Engine--Samuel Pepys resides in Buckingham Street--William
Etty and Clarkson Stanfield--Peter the Great Lodges Here--His
Love of Strong Drink--The Witty Earl of Dorset--David Hume and
Jean Jacques Rousseau--Moore writes to his Publisher Here--The
Father of Modern Geology--A Great Actor dies Here--The Original
of Smollett's Hugh Strap--David Copperfield's Chambers--Evelyn
lives in Villiers Street--Sir Richard Steele--Zara acted Here--Mrs
Cibber--Misstatement by "Anthony Pasquin" 235-248
CHAPTER XII
The Strand in 1353--St Mary Rounceval--Northampton House--Earl of
Surrey, the Poet--Suffolk House--Suckling's _Ballade upon a
Wedding_--Algernon Percy, Earl of Northumberland--The Restoration
planned at Northumberland House--Lady Elizabeth Percy--Her
Romantic Marriages--Murder of "Tom of Ten Thousand"--The
"Proud" Duke of Somerset--_Edwin and Angelina_--Goldsmith at
Northumberland House--Fire Here--Dr Percy's Library saved--The
Famous Lion--Demolition of the House--The Duke's Lament--Northumberland
Avenue--Craven Street--Benjamin Franklin--Sir
Joshua Reynolds--Heinrich Heine--The Author of _Rejected
Addresses_--J.S. Clarke 249-272
APPENDIX
Samuel Pepys and the Adelphi 273-284
Hannah More and Garrick's Funeral 284-285
INDEX 286-294
List of Illustrations
The Terrace, York Buildings, Adelphi _Frontispiece_
TO FACE PAGE
The Adelphi (Durham Yard and the New Exchange) and Charing
Cross in 1755 8
Durham House. Salisbury House. Worcester House 16
The New Exchange, Strand 24
"The Buildings called the Adelphi," 1777 32
The Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi 40
Garrick's House, 5 Adelphi Terrace 56
Adam Street, Adelphi 64
Adelphi Terrace in Garrick's Time 72
The Thames, from the Water Works, York Buildings, Adelphi 80
York Stairs and the Water Tower 88
The Society of Arts distributing its Awards 96
The Strand Entrance to Durham Yard 104
Ivy Lane, Strand (the boundary of the Duchy of Lancaster and the
City of Westminster) 112
Entrance to the Adelphi Arches 120
The Fox-under-the-Hill 128
York House, York Stairs, and Durham House 136
York Stairs and Water Works 152
Pepys' Library, Buckingham Street, Adelphi 160
St Mary Rounceval, the Original Site of Northumberland House 168
Suffolk (subsequently Northumberland) House 176
The Strand Front of Northumberland House in 1752 184
Northumberland House, from the Gardens 208
The Ball-room, Northumberland House 224
The Drawing-room, Northumberland House 240
Charing Cross, before the building of Northumberland Avenue 256
The Lion, Northumberland House 272
[Illustration: AN ADAM DOOR.]
The Literary History of the Adelphi and its Neighbourhood
CHAPTER I
Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham--The Papal Legate and the Oxford
Clergy--Henry III. and the Earl of Leicester--Prince Henry--The Author
of _Philobiblon_--Edward III.--Thomas Hatfield--Henry VIII.--Cuthbert
Tunstall--Cranmer at Durham House--Anne Boleyn--Henry VIII. and Anne
of Cleves feast at Durham House--Dudley, Duke of Northumberland--Lady
Jane Grey--Queen Mary--Queen Elizabeth--Philip Sidney--Sir Walter
Raleigh--Elizabeth Throgmorton--Glanville _v._ Courtney--Thomas
Egerton--Fire at Durham House--Raleigh and his Pipe.
IT is my pleasant duty to relate in these pages the romantic story
of kings and queens, of prelates and princes, of book-writers and
book-sellers, of artists, architects, and actors, and of other players
on life's fitful stage who, for six centuries and a half, have
contributed to one of the most interesting chapters in the history of
London. Within that small space which has been known as the Adelphi
since 1772, a district so confined that it is contained within five
hundred square yards, came, in its earlier years, several bishops and
other clerical dignitaries, then that prince who was afterwards the
fifth King Henry of England, anon, amid much pomp and pageantry, King
Henry VIII. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were familiar with it, and
here lived, for twenty years, Sir Walter Raleigh, who inhabited one
of the towers which is seen in Hollar's engraving of Durham House.
Lady Jane Grey went hence to the Tower and thence to the scaffold.
Dryden alluded to it in one of his plays. Voltaire drank wine here,
and its memory is hallowed by Dr Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and a host of other celebrities. Here David Garrick began his
career, and here, curiously enough, he ended it, the funeral procession
of the "poor player" reaching from the Adelphi to Westminster Abbey,
those who followed him to the grave numbering many men of rank and
genius, including Johnson, and a large concourse of the general public
who grieved for the loss of the great actor.
The history of the world-famous banking firm of Coutts & Co. is
indelibly associated with the Adelphi. Dickens, when a boy, prowled
about its dark arches--until lately, one of the most degraded spots in
London--and last, though not least, the brothers Adam, to whom London
owes several architectural triumphs, in addition to the Adelphi, claim
our attention. It is said that at a public dinner, at the beginning
of the last century, a worthy alderman whose knowledge of Greek was
very vague, was much struck by the toast, in reference to two royal
brothers--George IV. and the Duke of York--of "the Adelphi."[2] When it
came to the alderman's turn to speak, he said that, as they were on the
subject of streets, he would "beg leave to propose 'Finsbury Square.'"
In somewhat similar manner, before we get to the Adelphi, we must go
back to its origin, and this takes us to the thirteenth century.
Durham House, which, with its grounds, formerly occupied the entire
site of the Adelphi, was the town residence of Anthony Bek (otherwise
Anthony de Beck or Bec), Bishop of Durham in the reign of Edward I.
So it is affirmed by Pennant, and there is no reason to doubt the
assertion. Some mistakes have arisen on this point, in consequence,
as it appears to me, of there having been two men of the same name,
both of whom were bishops. Their ancestor, Walter Bek, came to England
with William the Conqueror, and from his three sons sprang three
great Lincolnshire families: Bek of Eresby, Bek of Luceby, and Bek of
Botheby. Now, Bishop Antony Bek the second (1279-1343), son of Walter
Bek of Luceby, constable of Lincoln Castle, was at one time Bishop
of Lincoln, and, in 1337, Bishop of Norwich. But Antony Bek, son of
Walter Bek, baron of Eresby, was appointed to the see of Durham in
1283. He was intimately associated with Edward I., being one of his
chief advisers during the negotiations regarding Baliol, and of great
assistance to him in his Scottish expeditions of 1296 and 1298. Owing
to a dispute with the prior of the convent of Durham, he was deprived
of certain of his rights by the king (but regained them on application
to the Pope). As this, however, occurred in the year 1300, it may
safely be assumed that Antony Bek had occupied Durham House before that
event.
But there was a Durham House even earlier than this of Antony Bek's,
if we are to credit an account given by Thomas Fuller. Here, in 1238,
the papal legate, Otho, was staying, and hither he summoned the English
bishops in order to debate as to what "further steps should be taken
respecting the churches and schools of Oxford, which he had laid
under interdict on account of the scholars having, when the legate
was staying at Oseney, killed his brother and clerk of the kitchen in
an affray,"[3] the legate himself being obliged to fly from the city.
At the intercession of the bishops, the legate assented to pardon
the university on condition of the clergy and scholars making their
"solemn submission" to him. As a result, the offenders "went from St
Paul's in London to Durham House in the Strand, no short Italian, but
an English long, mile, all on foot; the bishops of England, for the
more state of the business, accompanying them, as partly accessory to
their fault, for pleading on their behalf. When they came to the Bishop
of Carlisle's house, the scholars went the rest of the way barefoot,
_sine capis et mantulis_, which some understand, 'without capes or
cloaks.' And thus the great legate at last was really reconciled to
them."[4]
Some of these old chronicles are not always to be relied upon in the
matter of dates: "This howse called Durham, or Dunelme Howse, was
buylded in the time of Henry 3, by one Antonye Becke, B. of Durham. It
is a howse of 300 years antiquitie; the hall whereof is statelie and
high, supported with lofty marble pillars. It standeth on the Thamise
veriye pleasantlie." So wrote one historian in 1593. But Henry III.
died in 1272, eleven years before Bek was made Bishop of Durham. That
there was a Durham House of sorts before Bek's time is pretty certain,
although it was not the one that is attributed to that bishop. The
story has often been told of Henry III., in 1258, being caught in a
thunderstorm on his way down the Thames on his barge. At that time,
the Earl of Leicester was the head of the barons who were opposed to
the king, and it is said that he was then in occupation of Durham
House (we have already seen that the papal legate was installed there
twenty years earlier). Be this as it may, the king sought shelter from
the storm, and, as the royal barge approached the shore, the Earl of
Leicester went forth and endeavoured to allay any fears that the king
might have felt, saying, "Your Majesty need not be afraid, for the
tempest is nearly over." But the king, being moved to wrath, fiercely
exclaimed, "Above measure, I dread thunder and lightning, but, by the
head of God, I am more in terror of thee than of all the thunder and
lightning in the world." Though this story may be doubted, one early
royal memory of Durham House is that of Prince Henry (Henry V.), who,
in 1411, "lay at the bysshoppes inne of Darham for the seid day of
his comming to towne unto the Moneday nest after the feste of Septem
fratum."[5]
That most correct of London historians, John Stow, sets down the
fourteenth century as the date of Durham House. "On the south side of
which street" (meaning the Strand, which had no name in Stow's time),
he says, "in the liberties of Westminster (beginning at Ivy Bridge),
first is Durham House, built by Thomas Hatfield, Bishop of Durham, who
was made bishop of that see in 1345, and sat bishop there thirty-six
years." But we have already seen from Fuller, whose _Church History of
Britain_--from which the quotation in regard to the papal legate, Otho,
is taken--was written in 1655, fifty years after Stow's death, that
there was a Durham House in 1238.
And this brings me to a curious point. Thomas Pennant, whose _Account
of London_ affords much entertaining reading, has an amusing
disquisition on the word "palace." He writes: "That the word is only
applicable to the habitations of princes, or princely persons, and
that it is with all the impropriety of vanity bestowed on the houses
of those who have luckily acquired money enough to pile on one another
a greater quantity of stones and bricks than their neighbours. How
many imaginary _Parks_ have been formed within precincts where deer
were never seen! and how many houses misnamed _Halls_ which never had
attached to them the privilege of a manor!" Leigh Hunt took the "lively
Pennant," as he dubs him, to task on this point: "Unless the words
_palazzo_ and _piazza_ are traceable to the same root, _palatium_ (as
perhaps they are), place does not of necessity mean palace; and palace
certainly does not mean exclusively the habitation of princes and
princely persons (that is to say, supposing princeliness to exclude
riches), for in Italy, whence it comes, any large mansion may be called
a palace; and many old palaces there were built by merchants."[6] But
the disquisition does not really alter the fact that the proper name,
that is to say, the original one, should be Durham House; we have the
excellent authority of Stow and Fuller on this head. The residences in
London of the bishops were almost invariably called "House"--certainly
not "palace." Thus, Worcester House, which is now marked by the Savoy,
originally belonged to the see of Carlisle, and is "the Bishop of
Carlisle's House" which is alluded to in the extract from Fuller. York
House, which stood to the west of Durham House, was originally the town
inn or residence of the Bishop of Norwich, and, subsequently, in Queen
Mary's reign, of Heath, Archbishop of York. In the Aggas map of London
in 1563, which is the frontispiece to Pennant's "Account," Duresme
Place and York Place are given, but that the name in its earlier years
was Durham House there is no doubt. The London County Council has
lately (1906) perpetuated the name by changing Durham Street to Durham
House Street.
[Illustration: THE ADELPHI (DURHAM YARD AND THE NEW EXCHANGE) AND
CHARING CROSS, IN 1755.]
One of the earliest of the literary inhabitants of Durham House was the
learned Richard de Bury (1281-1345), son of Sir Richard Aungerville. He
was tutor to Edward III., when Prince of Wales, and, subsequently,
was of the king's household. He was Dean of Wells and Bishop of Durham
in 1333, lord chancellor from September 1334 to July 1335, and lord
high treasurer in 1337. He was employed by the king in Paris and in
Hainault in 1336, and, in 1337 and 1342, in Scotland. It is pleasant
to think that he wrote his _Philobiblon_ during his residence by the
Thames. At any rate, we may be sure that so learned and so useful a
man, one who had the confidence of the king for so long, was visited
here by Edward III.
Another name of note associated with Durham House is that of Thomas
Hatfield, already alluded to by Stow as having built that structure.
He probably added to it, or he may have rebuilt it. He was a great
prelate, and, in addition to the bishopric of Durham, which he held
from 1345 until his death in 1381, he was made keeper of the Privy Seal
in 1343, and, in 1346 and 1355, he accompanied Edward III. to France.
In Durham, he built part of the south side of the cathedral choir and
the hall of the castle, hence, possibly, the credit given to him by
Stow of building the Thames-side Durham House. His learned _Survey of
Durham_ was edited by the Rev. William Greenwell in 1856.
It is a far cry from the joyous days of Prince Henry to the turbulent
times of Henry VIII., but the old chronicles do not contain any
mention of Durham House during that lengthy period. In the reign of
the latter king, the then Bishop of Durham "conveyed the house to
the King in fee"; in other words, the noble Henry appropriated the
property to his own uses. He had the saving grace, however, to give
to the see of Durham, in exchange, some houses in Cold Harbour (now
marked by Upper Thames Street), and elsewhere. The exact date of the
transfer is unknown. The history of this bishop, who was made to
surrender Durham House to King Henry, is curious. Cuthbert Tunstall,
or Tonstall, was Master of the Rolls, and bishop successively of
London and Durham. Extolled by Erasmus, and the friend of Sir Thomas
More, he was learned in Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, and civil law.
Harrow-on-the-Hill had him for rector in 1511, he was prebendary
of Lincoln in 1514, archdeacon of Chester in the year following,
ambassador to the Prince of Castile at Brussels, 1515-1516, Master
of the Rolls in 1516, prebendary of York in 1519, and ambassador to
Charles V. in 1519, and again in 1525. He was Bishop of London from
1522-1530, keeper of the privy seal in 1523, and Bishop of Durham in
1530. It must have been after the latter year that he transferred
Durham House to Henry VIII. Accused of inciting to rebellion, 1550, he
was deprived of his bishopric of Durham by Edward VI., in 1552. Queen
Mary, however, restored him immediately on her accession, and he
remained in possession of Durham House--which Mary had also restored to
the see--until, in the year of his death, 1559, he was again deprived
by Queen Elizabeth, to whom he had refused the oath of supremacy.
A very interesting chapter in the history of Durham House came into
existence, thanks to its acquisition by Henry VIII., who granted it
to the Earl of Wiltshire (1477-1539), Thomas Boleyn, father of Queen
Anne Boleyn. It is not impossible that the Earl of Wiltshire was in
occupation of Durham House during the childhood of his daughter: at
any rate, it is certain that Anne's daughter, the Princess Elizabeth,
afterwards Queen, resided here.
Through Henry VIII. we get a glimpse of Cranmer at Durham House, for
that worthy wrote to the Earl of Wiltshire bidding him "let Doctor
Cranmer have entertainment in your house at Durham Place for a time, to
the intent he may bee there quiet to accomplish my request, and let him
lack neither bookes, ne anything requisite for his studies."[7] Cranmer
attended the Earl of Wiltshire as ambassador to Charles V. in 1530, and
it is probable that he lodged in Durham House in 1533, for in that year
he returned to England, gave formal sentence of the invalidity of the
king's marriage with Catharine of Aragon, and pronounced King Henry's
marriage with Anne Boleyn to be lawful. So that it is easy to imagine
that the king's "request" occupied Cranmer's thoughts at Durham House,
and that Henry came here in order to confer with him.
That Henry VIII. was familiar with Durham House there is no room
for doubt, for, as the pious chronicler, Stow, quaintly puts it,
"in the year of Christ 1540," that being the thirty-second year of
Henry's reign, "on May-day, a great and triumphant jousting was
holden at Westminster, which had been formerly proclaimed in France,
Flanders, Scotland, and Spain, for all comers that would undertake
the challengers of England; which were, Sir John Dudley, Sir Thomas
Seymour, Sir Thomas Ponings, and Sir George Carew, knights, and Anthony
Kingston and Richard Cromwell, esquires; all which came into the lists
that day richly apparelled, and their horses trapped all in white
velvet. There came against them the said day forty-six defendants or
undertakers--viz., the Earl of Surrey, foremost, Lord William Howard,
Lord Clinton, and Lord Cromwell, son and heir to Thomas Cromwell, Earl
of Essex, and chamberlain of England, with other; and that day, after
the jousts performed, the challengers rode unto this Durham House,
where they kept open household, and feasted the King and Queen, with
her ladies, and all the court. The second day Anthony Kingston and
Richard Cromwell were made knights there. The third day of May the said
challengers did tourney on horseback with swords, and against them
came forty-nine defendants--Sir John Dudley and the Earl of Surrey
running first, which at the first course lost their gauntlets; and that
day Sir Richard Cromwell overthrew Master Palmer and his horse in the
field, to the great honour of the challengers. The fifth of May the
challengers fought on foot at the barriers, and against them came fifty
defendants, which fought valiantly; but Sir Richard Cromwell overthrew
that day at the barriers Master Culpepper in the field; and the sixth
day the challengers brake up their household. In this time of their
housekeeping they had not only feasted the king, queen, ladies, and all
the court, as it is afore showed, but also they cheered all the knights
and burgesses of the common house in the parliament, and entertained
the Mayor of London, with the aldermen and their wives, at a dinner,
etc. The king gave to every of the said challengers and their heirs
for ever, in reward of their valiant activity, one hundred marks and a
house to dwell in, of yearly revenue, out of the lands pertaining to
the hospital of St John of Jerusalem, which he had confiscated."
From the merry-makings of "bluff King Hal" we turn to the more sober
employment of Durham House. Here, in 1550, were lodged the French
ambassador to Edward VI., Mons de Chastillon, and his colleagues, the
house being "furnished with hangings of the kings for the nonce." In
this year, also, Edward VI. granted Durham House for life, or until
she was otherwise advanced, to the Lady Elizabeth, afterwards Queen
Elizabeth; but, "in some way, it passed from the Princess to Dudley,
Duke of Northumberland, and was the principal London house when Edward
VI. died." I do not think that it is very difficult to account for
the transition. During the short reign of Edward VI., we find it
stated in Pennant that "the mint was established in this house, under
the management of Sir William Sharrington, and the influence of the
aspiring Thomas Seymour, lord admiral. Here he proposed to have money
enough coined to accomplish his designs on the throne. His practices
were detected, and he suffered death. His tool was also condemned;
but, sacrificing his master to his own safety, received a pardon, and
was again employed under the administration of John Dudley, Earl of
Northumberland."
This, I must confess, is a trifle vague. Sir William Sharington, or
Sherington--Pennant's Sharrington--vice-treasurer of the mint at
Bristol, assisted in the plots of Thomas Seymour, baron Seymour of
Sudeley, and was arrested and attainted, but subsequently pardoned. He
was sheriff of Wiltshire in 1552, and he died in 1553. Seymour was
found guilty of treason and executed in 1549, the second year of King
Edward VI. Is it not possible that the Duke of Northumberland received
Durham House in reward for his discovery there of the illegal mint? Be
this as it may, it certainly was the residence of John Dudley in May,
1553--the year of Edward's death. To quote once more from Pennant:
the Duke of Northumberland, in the month mentioned, "in this palace,
caused to be solemnised, with great magnificence, three marriages--his
son, Lord Guildford Dudley, with the amiable Lady Jane Grey; Lord
Herbert, heir to the Earl of Pembroke, with Catherine, younger sister
of Lady Jane; and Lord Hastings, heir to the Earl of Huntingdon, with
his youngest daughter, Lady Catherine Dudley. From hence he dragged
the reluctant victim, his daughter-in-law, to the Tower, there to be
invested with regal dignity. In eight short months his ambition led
the sweet innocent to the nuptial bed, the throne, and the scaffold."
It is, indeed, sad to think of the marriage rejoicings of Durham House
turned so speedily and so sadly into the sojourn in the dreaded Tower
and the execution of the bride-queen of seventeen summers.
On the accession of Mary, Durham House was restored to Bishop Tunstall,
but Queen Elizabeth acquired it in 1559, the year of Tunstall's death.
"The queen," said Bishop Goodman (1583-1656), in his _Court of James
I._, "did not spare Cuthbert Tunstal, Bishop of Durham, though some
will not stick to say that he was her god-father; which, if he were
not, it is most certain that he was then present and did officiate
at her christening. But I think he was her god-father, because I am
certain he gave her Durham House in the Strand to dwell in, which she
kept during her life, and did not restore it to his successors, but
suffered Sir Walter Raleigh to live there. I remember when the Bishop
of Durham in the queen's time came up to Parliament, he was fain to
hire my schoolmaster's house" (Camden's) "in Westminster to lodge in."
It is a pity that we cannot agree with Goodman on this point, but, at
the time of Elizabeth's christening, 1533, Tunstall was faithful to
the Catholic dogma. It is also to be noted that Shakespeare makes the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Cranmer, pronounce the blessing on the infant
Elizabeth in _King Henry VIII._
[Illustration:
_Hollár._ 1630.
DURHAM HOUSE. SALISBURY HOUSE. WORCESTER HOUSE.]
From Queen Elizabeth we obtain a picture of two of the most
distinguished of the literary occupants of Durham House--Philip Sidney
and Walter Raleigh. In March, 1567-1568, Sir Henry Sidney writes from
it to Archbishop Parker for permission to eat meat in Lent for "my
boy Philip Sidney, who is somewhat subject to sickness." The future
soldier, statesman, and poet was then but a child of thirteen, and
his presence there is one of the treasured memories of Durham House.
Sir Walter Raleigh was given the use of Durham House in 1583, and he
held it until his fall from favour in 1603. A picturesque glimpse of
him is afforded by Aubrey, the antiquary, who, although he was not
born until eight years after Raleigh's death, knew the Durham House of
that period. It was "a noble palace," he says. "After he" (Raleigh)
"came to his greatness, he lived there, or in some apartment of it.
I well remember his study, which was on a little turret that looked
into and over the Thames, and had the prospect which is as pleasant
perhaps as any in the world."[8] Many a time and oft did the young
favourite of the queen set out from Durham House, by water, for the
court of Elizabeth, and it is not inconceivable that Elizabeth, in
her royal barge, should have journeyed on more than one occasion from
her palace at Westminster to Raleigh's residence on the Thames. For,
during his early years here, Raleigh was in high favour. Then there
came the influence of the new favourite, Essex, Raleigh's intrigue
with Elizabeth Throgmorton, the queen's jealousy, and his commitment
to the Tower. He then settled at Sherbonne, and in 1595, 1596, and
1597, he was abroad on various expeditions. But he appears to have
retained possession of Durham House until the end of Elizabeth's
reign--1603. In that year Tobias Mathew, the then Bishop of Durham, set
forth the claim of his see to the place, and Raleigh, in a letter of
remonstrance, states that he had been in possession of the house for
about twenty years, and that he had expended some two thousand pounds
upon it, out of his own purse. But James I. and the Council, on May 25
of that year, recognised the right of the see of Durham, and restored
the house to the successors of Bishop Hatfield.
Raleigh's letter, directed "to the Right Honorabell my verie good
Lords, the Lorde Keeper of the Great Seale and my Lorde Chiefe Justice
of Ingland, and to my verie good friende, His Majesties Atturney
Generall," is as follows:--"I received a warrant from your lordships,
my Lorde Keeper and my Lorde Chiefe Justice, and signed also by Mr
Atturney Generall, requiringe me to deliver the possession of Deram
House to the Byshoppe of Deram or to his Atturney before the xxiiiith
day of June next insuing, and that the stabells and gardens should be
presentlie putt into his hands.... This letter seemeth to me verie
strange, seeinge I have had the possession of the house almost xx
yeares, and have bestowed well neare 2000 L. uppon the same out of myne
owne purse. I am of opinion that if the King's Majestye had recovered
this house, or the like, from the meanest gentleman and sarvannt hee
had in Inglande, that His Majestye would have geven six monenths tyme
for the avoydance, and I doo not know but the poorest artificer in
London hath a quarter's warninge geven him by his landlord. I have made
provision for 40 persons in the springe ... and now to cast out my hay
and oates into the streates att an hour's warninge, and to remove my
famyly and staff in 14 dayes after, is such a seveare expulsion as hath
not bynn offered to any man before this daye."
It is more than likely that Raleigh wrote several of his poems in
Durham House. His _Report of the Truth of the Fight about the Isles
of the Azores_ (1591), and his _Discovery of the Empire of Guiana_
(1596), were published during his tenure of Durham House. Raleigh was
Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and, as such, many cases were brought
before him here, the most celebrated of them being that of Glanville
_v._ Courtney, which was heard at divers stages in 1591 and subsequent
years, Thomas Egerton (afterwards Baron Ellesmere), and Viscount
Brackley, lord chancellor, being counsel on one occasion. In 1600, when
Raleigh was away in Jersey, where he had been appointed governor, some
of the out-buildings of Durham House were destroyed by fire, and this
was the beginning of the end of the magnificence which had for so long
attended this palace on Thames-side.
Oldys, in his _Life of Raleigh_, has described the "stalwart,
sour-faced" statesman during his residence at Durham House, as attired
in a suit of clothes surmounted by jewels to the value of six thousand
six hundred gold pieces. The well-known story of Raleigh's first pipe
applies--if there is any truth in the legend--to the time when he
resided here. In 1586, Drake brought tobacco to England from Virginia.
It is said that one day Raleigh's servant, carrying a tankard of
spiced ale to Raleigh in his study in the turret, found his master on
fire, as he thought, and, dropping the vessel, rushed for assistance,
shouting that his master "would be burnt to ashes if they did not run
to his assistance." Another version is that the clown dashed the ale
over his master's head. Be this as it may, the early use of tobacco is
intimately associated with Durham House, for, as is well known, Raleigh
smoked as he worked.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: From the builders of the Adelphi, the _brothers_ Adam, who
adopted the meaning of the Greek word, [Greek: adelphoi], for their
great work. Prior to this, however, Robert and James Adam had signed
their architectural drawings "Adelphi."]
[Footnote 3: _London Past and Present_, vol. i., p. 540.]
[Footnote 4: Thomas Fuller, _Church History_, B. III., cent. xiii., p.
20.]
[Footnote 5: Nicolas, _Chronicle of London_, p. 94.]
[Footnote 6: _The Town_, ed. 1859, p. 177.]
[Footnote 7: Fox, ed. 1597, p. 1689.]
[Footnote 8: Aubrey, vol. iii., p. 513.]