for recovering my weariness, and recruiting my spirits so as
to make me better than before I set out, for either business
or pleasure. At the mentioning the last of these, methinks I
see you smile; but I confess myself so changed (which you
maliciously, I know, will call decayed) as to my former
enchanting delights, that the company I commonly find at home
is agreeable enough to make me conclude the evening on a
delightful terrace, or in a place free from late visits except
of familiar acquaintance.
“By this account you will see that most of my time is
conjugally spent at home; and consequently you will blame my
laziness more than ever, for not employing it in a way which
your partiality is wont to think me capable of: therefore I am
obliged to go on with this trifling description, as some
excuse for my idleness. But how such a description itself is
excusable, is what I should be very much in pain about, if I
thought any body could see it besides yourself, who are too
good a judge in all things to mistake a friend’s compliance in
a private letter, for the least touch of vanity.
“The avenues to this house are along St. James’s Park, through
rows of goodly elms on one hand, and gay flourishing limes on
the other; that for coaches, this for walking; with the Mall
lying betwixt them. This reaches to my iron pallisade that
encompasses a square court, which has in the midst a great
basin with statues and water-works; and from its entrance
rises all the way imperceptibly, till we mount to a terrace in
the front of a large hall, paved with square white stones
mixed with a dark-colour’d marble; the walls of it covered
with a set of pictures done in the school of Raphael. Out of
this on the right hand we go into a parlour thirty-three feet
by thirty-nine, with a niche fifteen feet broad for a
beausette, paved with white marble, and placed within an arch
with pilasters of divers colours, the upper part of which as
high as the ceiling is painted by Ricci.
“From hence we pass through a suite of large rooms, into a
bedchamber of thirty-four feet by twenty-seven; within it a
large closet, that opens into a green-house. On the left hand
of the hall are three stone arches supported by three
Corinthian pillars, under one of which we go up eight and
forty steps, ten feet broad, each step of one entire Portland
stone. These stairs by the help of two resting places, are so
very easy, there is no need of leaning on the iron baluster.
The walls are painted with the story of Dido; whom though the
poet was obliged to dispatch away mournfully in order to make
room for Lavinia, the better natur’d painter has brought no
farther than to that fatal cave, where the lovers appear just
entering, and languishing with desire. The roof of this
stair-case, which is fifty-five feet from the ground, is forty
feet by thirty-six, filled with the figures of Gods and
Goddesses. In the midst is Juno, condescending to bed
assistance from Venus, to bring about a marriage which the
Fates intended should be the ruin of her own darling queen and
people. By which that sublime poet intimates, that we should
never be over eager for any thing, either in our pursuits, or
our prayers; lest what we endeavour or ask too violently for
our interest, should be granted us by Providence only in order
to our ruin.
“The bas reliefs and all the little squares above are all
episodical paintings of the same story: and the largeness of
the whole had admitted of a sure remedy against any decay of
the colours from salt petre in the wall, by making another of
oak laths four inches within it, and so primed over like a
picture.
“From a wide landing place on the stairs head, a great double
door opens into an apartment of the same dimensions with that
below, only three feet higher; notwithstanding which it would
appear too low, if the higher saloon had not been divided from
it. The first room of this floor has within it a closet of
original pictures, which yet are not so entertaining as the
delightful prospect from the windows. Out of the second room a
pair of great doors give entrance into the saloon, which is
thirty-five feet high, thirty-six broad, and forty-five long.
In the midst of its roof a round picture of Gentileschi,
eighteen feet in diameter, represents the Muses playing in
concert to Apollo lying along on a cloud to hear them. The
rest of the room is adorned with paintings relating to arts
and sciences; and underneath divers original pictures hang all
in good lights, by the help of an upper row of windows which
drown the glaring.
“Much of this seems appertaining to parade, and therefore I am
glad to leave it to describe the rest, which is all for
conveniency. As first, a covered passage from the kitchen
without doors; and another down to the cellars and all the
offices within. Near this, a large and lightsome back stairs
leads up to such an entry above, as secures our private
bedchambers both from noise and cold. Here we have necessary
dressing rooms, servants rooms, and closets, from which are
the pleasantest views of all the house, with a little door for
communication betwixt this private apartment and the great
one.
“These stairs, and those of the same kind at the other end of
the house, carry us up to the highest story, fitted for the
women and children, with the floors so contrived as to prevent
all noise over my wife’s head, during the mysteries of Lucina.
“In mentioning the court at first, I forgot the two wings in
it, built on stone arches which join the house by corridores
supported by Ionic pillars. In one of these wings is a large
kitchen thirty feet high, with an open cupulo on the top; near
it a larder, brew-house, and laundry, with rooms over them for
servants; the upper sort of servants are lodged in the other
wing, which has also two wardrobes and a store-room for fruit.
On the top of all a leaden cistern holding fifty tuns of
water, driven up by an engine from the Thames, supplies all
the water-works[1] in the courts and gardens, which lie quite
round the house; through one of which a grass walk conducts to
the stables, built round a court, with six coach houses and
forty stalls. I will add but one thing before I carry you into
the garden, and that is about walking too, but ’tis on the top
of all the house; which being covered with smooth milled lead,
and defended by a parapet of balusters from all apprehension
as well as danger, entertains the eye with a far distant
prospect of hills and dales, and a near one of parks and
gardens. To these gardens we go down from the house by seven
steps, into a gravel walk that reaches cross the garden, with
a covered arbour at each end of it. Another of thirty feet
broad leads from the front of the house, and lies between two
groves of tall lime trees, planted in several equal ranks upon
a carpet of grass: the outsides of these groves are bordered
with tubs of bays and orange trees. At the end of this broad
walk, you go up to a terrace four hundred paces long, with a
large semicircle in the middle, from whence is beheld the
Queen’s two parks, and a great part of Surry; then going down
a few steps, you walk on the bank of a canal six hundred yards
long, and seventeen broad, with two rows of limes on each side
of it.
“On one side of this terrace, a wall covered with roses and
jessamines is made low, to admit the view of a meadow full of
cattle just under it, (no disagreeable object in the midst of
a great city) and at each end a descent into parterres, with
fountains and water-works. From the biggest of these parterres
we pass into a little square garden, that has a fountain in
the middle, and two green-houses on the sides, with a
convenient bathing apartment in one of them; and near another
part of it lies a flower garden. Below all this a kitchen
garden, full of the best sorts of fruits, has several walks in
it fit for the coldest weather.
“Thus I have done with a tedious description; only one thing I
forgot, though of more satisfaction to me than all the rest,
which I fancy you guess already; and ’tis a little closet of
books at the end of that green-house which joins the best
apartment, which besides their being so very near, are ranked
in such a method, that by its mark a very Irish footman may
fetch any book I want. Under the windows of this closet and
green-house, is a little wilderness full of blackbirds and
nightingales. The trees, tho’ planted by myself, require
lopping already, to prevent their hindring the view of that
fine canal in the Park.
“After all this, to a friend I’ll expose my weakness, as an
instance of the mind’s unquietness under the most pleasing
enjoyments. I am oftener missing a pretty gallery in the old
house I pulled down, than pleased with a saloon which I built
in its stead, though a thousand times better after in all
manner of respects.
“And now (_pour fair bonne bouche_, with a grave reflection)
it were well for us, if this incapacity of being entirely
contented was as sure a proof of our being reserved for
happiness in another world, as it is of our frailty and
imperfection in this. I confess the divines tell us so, but
tho’ I believe a future state more firmly than a great many of
them appear to do, by their inordinate desires of the good
things in this; yet I own my faith is founded, not on those
fallacious arguments of preachers, but on that adorable
conjunction of unbounded power and goodness, which certainly
must some way recompense hereafter so many thousand of
innocent wretches created to be so miserable here.”
Footnote 1:
Considerable alterations have been made in the house since this
letter was written. The water-works in particular no longer exist.
BUCKINGHAM _street_, a handsome street, and well inhabited, extends from
the Strand to the river Thames, where for the convenience of taking
water are built those fine stairs called York stairs. The street is
thus called from John Villars Duke of Buckingham. See YORK BUILDINGS,
and YORK STAIRS.
BUCKLE _street_, Red Lion street, Whitechapel.
BUCKLERSBURY, Cheapside. Mr. Maitland observes that it is more properly
Bucklesbury, as it was originally so named, from a manor and tenements
belonging to one Buckles, who dwelt and kept his courts there.
BUCKLER’S _rents_, Rotherhith wall.†
BUCKRIDGE _alley_, George street, Spitalfields.†
BUCKRIDGE _court_, Bembridge street.
BUCK’S HEAD _court_, Great Distaff lane.*
BUCK’S _rents_, Rosemary lane.†
BUDGE _row_, Watling street.
BUFFORD’S _buildings_, St. John street, Smithfield.†
BULL _alley_, 1. Back alley, in Three hammer alley, Tooley street.* 2.
Brick lane, Old street.* 3. Broad street, London wall.* 4. Bull
stairs, Upper Ground street, Southwark.* 5. Fore street, Lambeth.* 6.
Kent street, Southwark.* 7. Nicholas lane, Lombard street.* 8.
Turnmill street.* 9. Upper Ground, Southwark.* 10. Whitechapel.*
BULL _bridge_, 1. Horselydown. 2. Limehouse.
BULL _court_, 1. Bishopsgate street.* 2. Nightingale lane.* 3. Petticoat
lane.* 4. Ragged row, Goswell street.*
BULL HEAD _alley_, Rag street, Hockley in the Hole.*
BULL HEAD _court_, 1. Broad street, London wall.* 2. Cow lane.* 3. Great
Queen street, Drury lane.* 4. Jewin street, Aldersgate street.* 5.
Laurence lane.* 6. Newgate street.* 7. Peter street, Cow Cross.* 8.
Wood street, Cheapside.*
BULL HEAD _passage_, Gracechurch street.*
BULL HEAD _yard_, near Blackman street, Southwark.*
BULL INN _court_, in the Strand.*
BULL _lane_, Stepney.*
BULL AND MOUTH _street_, St. Martin’s le Grand.*
BULL _stairs_, Bull alley, Upper Ground street, Southwark.*
BULL STAKE _alley_, Whitechapel.*
BULL WHARF, near Brook’s wharf.*
BULL WHARF _lane_, Thames street.*
BULL _yard_, 1. Dunning’s alley, Bishopsgate street without.* 2. Goswell
street.* 3. St. John’s street, near Clerkenwell.* 4. Kingsland road,
Shoreditch.* 5. Old Horselydown.*
BULLEN’S _rents_, Shoe lane, Fleet street.†
BULLIFORD _court_, Fenchurch street.
BULLOCKS _court_, 1. Chequer alley, Old Bethlem. 2. Minories.
BULLOCK’S _yard_, 1. Shoreditch. 2. Nightingale lane.†
BULL’S _rents_, 1. Freeman’s lane.† 2. Lambeth marsh.†
BULSTRODE, the seat of the Duke of Portland, near Beaconsfield in
Buckinghamshire. It is a large handsome house finely situated in a
pleasant park, and you have a good view of it from the road to
Beaconsfield, which goes close to the park gate.
BUNCH’S _alley_, Thrall street.
BUNHILL _court_, Bunhill fields.
BUNHILL FIELDS, formerly called Bonhill fields, was anciently a tract of
ground of considerable extent, reaching from the north side of
Chiswell street to Old street.
BUNHILL FIELDS _Burial ground_, a large piece of ground near Upper
Moorfields. Maitland says it was formerly called Bonhill, or Goodhill.
It was set apart, consecrated and walled at the expence of the city,
in 1665, the dreadful year of pestilence, as a common cemetery for the
interment of such corps as could not have room in their parochial
burial grounds: but it not being used on this occasion, Mr. Tindal
took a lease of it, and converted into a burial ground for the use of
the dissenters. There are a great number of raised monuments with
vaults underneath belonging to particular families, and a multitude of
gravestones with inscriptions. The price of opening the ground, or of
interment, is 15_s._
BUNHILL FIELDS _School_, was erected by the company of Haberdashers, in
the year 1673, pursuant to the gift of Mr. Throgmorton, who endowed it
with 80_l._ _per annum_, for the education of thirty poor boys of the
parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate.
BUNHILL _row_, near Bunhill fields.
BURDEN’S _street_, David’s street.†
BURGE’S _court_, Wood street, Cheapside.†
BURIAL _yard_, Mill yard, Rosemary lane.
BURLEIGH _court_, Burleigh street.
[Illustration:
_Burlington House._
_S. Waledel._ _B. Green sculp._
]
BURLEIGH _street_, in the Strand, near the house which formerly belonged
to the great Lord Treasurer Burleigh.
BURLINGTON _gardens_, a street by Bond street; took its name from its
being built on the spot, which was formerly the Earl of Burlington’s
garden.
BURLINGTON HOUSE, in Piccadilly. The front of this house, which is of
stone, is remarkable for the beauty of the design and workmanship. The
print representing the body of the house and a part of the wings, was
all that could be taken into the visual angle. The circular colonade
of the Doric order which joins the wings, is very noble and striking.
The house is hardly grand enough for the colonade, and seems to want
something in the center to make the entrance more conspicuous. The
house is of an older date than the front, which was built by the late
Earl of Burlington. The rooms within are in a fine taste, and the
stair-case is painted by Seb. Ricci, with great spirit and freedom.
BURLINGTON _mews_, Great Swallow street.
BURLINGTON _street_, Great Swallow street.
_The Earl of_ BURLINGTON’S seat at Chiswick. See the article CHISWICK.
BURNTWOOD. See BRENTWOOD.
BURR _street_, Lower East Smithfield.
BURTON’S _rents_, Holiwell street.†
BURY _court_, St. Mary Ax.†
BURY _street_, 1. Duke’s place. 2. Piccadilly.
BUSH _alley_, St. Catharine’s lane.
BUSH _lane_, Canon street, Walbrook.
BUSHE’S _rents_, St. John’s court, Cow lane.†
BUSHELL _court_, Lothbury.
BUSHELL’S _rents_, Wapping.†
BUSHY, a small village near Watford in Hertfordshire, adjoining to which
is a spacious common, called _Bushy Heath_, extending towards
Stanmore, in the county of Middlesex. This heath rises to a
considerable height, and from its top affords a most delightful
prospect. On the one hand we have a view of St. Alban’s, and of all
the space between, which appears like a garden: the inclosed corn
fields seem like one grand parterre: the thick planted hedges resemble
a wilderness or labyrinth: the villages interspersed thro’ the
landscape, appear at a distance like a multitude of gentlemen’s seats.
To the south east is seen Westminster Abbey, more to the south appears
Hampton Court, and on the south west Windsor Castle, with the Thames
winding between both, through the most beautiful parts of Middlesex
and Surry, its banks adorned with towns, and a multitude of
magnificent seats of the nobility.
BUTCHERHALL _lane_, Newgate street. Formerly a market being kept in
Newgate street, the slaughter houses of the butchers were in this
lane, when from the nastiness of the place it was called stinking
lane: but the market being removed after the fire, and this lane
rebuilt, here the company of butchers had their hall, whence it took
its name.
BUTCHER _row_, 1. East Smithfield. 2. Ratcliff cross. 3. Without Temple
Bar.
BUTCHERS, a fraternity that seems to have been very ancient, since they
were fined by Henry II. in the year 1180, as an _adulterine_ guild,
for being set up without the King’s licence; though they were not
incorporated till the year 1605. This company consists of a Master,
five Wardens, twenty-one Assistants, and two hundred and fourteen
Liverymen, who pay a fine of 2_l._ each upon their admission into the
livery. They have a neat and convenient hall in Pudding lane, in which
are three handsome rooms neatly wainscoted and adorned with fretwork.
BUTCHER’S _alley_, 1. Cable street. 2. St. John street, West Smithfield.
3. Windmill hill, Moorfields.
BUTCHERS ARMS _yard_, Goswell street.*
BUTCHER’S _close_, King street, Moorfields.
BUTCHER’S _dock_, Rotherhith wall†
BUTCHER’S _yard_, Brick lane.
BUTLER’S _alley_, 1. Grub street, Cripplegate.† 2. Windmill hill row.†
BUTLER’S _Almshouse_, in Little Chapel street, Westminster, was founded
by Mr. Nicholas Butler, in the year 1675, who endowed it with 12_l._
_per annum_. It consists of only two large rooms, for two poor men and
their wives.
BUTLER’S _court_, Houndsditch.†
BUTLER’S _yard_, Monkwell street.†
BUTTERFLY _court_, Grub street, Cripplegate.*
BUTTERMILK _alley_, Phenix street, Spitalfields.
BUTT’S _street_, Lambeth.†
BUTTONMOULD _row_, Dean’s court, St. Martin’s le Grand.
BYAS _rents_, Crucifix lane.
BYFIELD’S _passage_, Petticoat lane.†
BYFIELD’S _rents_, Petticoat lane.†
BYFLEET, a village in Surry, situated on a branch of the river Mole,
adorned with several gentlemen’s seats, and a fine park in its
neighbourhood. At this place is a handsome house belonging to Lieut.
Gen. Cornwall; and at a place at a small distance the Rev. Mr. Spence
has made many neat and elegant improvements. The river Mole flows by
the side of Byfleet park, and forming a great number of windings,
renders its course near four miles within the compass of the
inclosure.
[Illustration]
C.
CABBAGE _alley_, 1. Barnaby street. 2. Long lane, Southwark.
CABBAGE _lane_, near King’s Arms stairs.
CABBAGE _yard_, Cork lane, Swan fields.
CABINET _court_, Duke street, Spitalfields.
CABLE _court_, Cable street.
CABLE _street_, Rag fair.
CADD’S _row_, Islington.†
CÆSAR’S HEAD _court_, Crutched Friars.*
CAGE _alley_, Cock hill, Ratcliff.
CAIN AND ABEL’S _alley_, 1. Angel alley, Houndsditch.* 2. Bishopsgate
street without.*
CALENDER’S _court_, 1. Drury lane. 2. Long alley, Moorfields.
CAMBERWELL, a pleasant village in Surry, two miles from Southwark, in
the road to Croydon.
CAMBERWELL _road_, Newington butts.
CAMBRAY _house_. See CANONBURY _House_.
CAMBRIDGE _heath_, in Middlesex near Hackney.
CAMBRIDGE _street_, Broad street, Poland street.
CAMDEN _court_, Clerkenwell.
CAMDEN _house_, in Middlesex, a little to the west of Kensington palace,
was lately the seat and manor of the Earl of Warwick, but it now
belongs to Henry Fox, Esq.
CAMEL _row_, Mile end.
CAMOMILE _court_, Camomile street.
CAMOMILE _street_, Bishopsgate street.
CAMPION _lane_, Allhallows, Thames street.†
CAMPION’S _alley_, Market street, Westminster.†
CAMP’S _Almshouse_, in Wormwood street, was founded by Mr. Laurence
Camp, for the relief of six poor people of the parish of Allhallows
London Wall, who had an allowance of 1_l._ 14_s._ 8_d._ a year.
CANARY _court_, Exeter court in the Strand.
CANDLEWICK _Ward_, took its name from a street called Candlewick, or
Candlewright street, remarkable for wax and tallow chandlers, who were
anciently called candlewrights, and is bounded on the south by Bridge
and Dowgate wards; on the west by Dowgate and Wallbrook wards; on the
north by Langborne ward; and on the east by Bridge ward. The principal
streets in this ward are, Eastcheap, and a part of Canon street, and
St. Martin’s lane. The most remarkable buildings are the parish
churches of St. Clement’s Eastcheap, St. Mary Abchurch, and St.
Michael’s Crooked lane.
It is governed by an Alderman, his Deputy, and seven other Common
Council men; twelve wardmote inquest men, six scavengers, eight
constables, and a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest
serve on juries in Guildhall in the month of December.
CANE’S _wharf_, Milford lane.†
CANON _alley_, St. Paul’s church yard.
CANON _row_, or Channel row, New Palace yard, Westminster; called Canon
row from this row formerly consisting of the houses for the Canons of
St. Stephen’s Westminster.
CANON _street_, 1. In the Mint. 2. Ratcliff Highway. 3. A considerable
street extending from Budge row to Eastcheap.
CANONBURY, vulgarly called CAMBRAY _House_, formerly belonged to the
Prior and Canons of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield. It is pleasantly
situated on a beautiful eminence on the east side of Islington, and
commands three delightful prospects to the east, north, and south.
CANONS _of St. Paul’s_. These Canons or Prebendaries, who are 30 in
number, with the Bishop of London at their head, compose the Chapter,
which has the management of the affairs of this cathedral; these
canonries are in the collation of the Bishop, and are as follows. 1.
_Bromesbury_, in the parish of Willesden, Middlesex. 2. _Brownswood_,
in the same parish. 3. _Cadington Major_, in the manor of Astonbury,
Bedfordshire. 4. _Cadington Minor_, in the parish of Cadington,
Bedfordshire. 5. _Chamberlain’s-Wood_, in the parish of Willesden,
Middlesex. 6. _Chiswick_, in the county of Middlesex. 7. _Consumpt.
per Mare_, a prebend in the parish of Walton, or Waltome, on the coast
of Essex, which being overflowed by the sea, before the conquest, the
present name serves only to perpetuate the remembrance of that fatal
catastrophe. 8. _Eald Street_, or _Old_ _Street_, in Shoreditch
parish. 9. _Ealdland_, in the parish of Tillingham, Essex. 10.
_Holiwell_, alias _Finsbury_, in the parishes of St. Giles
Cripplegate, and Shoreditch. 11. _Harleston_, in the parish of
Willesdon, Middlesex. 12. _Holborn_, in the suburbs of London. 13.
_Hoxton_, in the parish of Shoreditch. 14. _Islington_, in the county
of Middlesex. 15. _Kentish-town_, in the parish of St. Pancras. 16.
_Mapelsbury_, in the parish of Willesdon. 17. _Mora_, in the parish of
St. Giles Cripplegate. 18. _Neasdon_, in the parish of Willesdon. 19.
_Oxgate_, in the same parish. 20. _St. Pancras_, in Middlesex. 21.
_Portpool_, in the parish of St. Andrew Holborn. 22. _Reculvarland_,
in the parish of Tillingham, Essex. 23. _Rougemere_, in the parish of
Pancras. 24. _Sneating_, in the parish of Kirkeby, Essex. 25. _Stoke
Newington_, Middlesex. 26. _Tottenhall_ or _Tottenham Court_, in the
parish of St. Pancras. 27. _Twyford_, in the parish of Willesdon,
Middlesex. 28. _Wenlakesbarn_, in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate.
29. _Wildland_, in the parish of Tillingham, Essex. 30. _Willesdon_,
in the county of Middlesex. _Newc. Repert._
The _petty Canons_ who are twelve in number, are chosen out of the
ministers and officers belonging to the cathedral, and should be
persons of unspotted characters, with harmonious voices, and skilled
in vocal music. These were constituted a body politic and corporate by
letters patent granted by King Richard II. in the year 1399, by the
title of _The College of the twelve petty Canons of St. Paul’s_; and
allowed a common seal, with one of their number for a Warden. _Newc.
Repert._
CANTERBURY _court_, 1. Black Friars, 2. Phenix street.
CAR _court_, Rotten row, Old street.
CAR _yard_, 1. Moor lane. 2. Redcross street. 3. White’s yard, Rosemary
lane.
CARD _court_, West Smithfield.