Stowe says, "Drury Lane, so called, for that there is a house belonging
to the family of the Druries.[1] This lane turneth north towards S.
Giles in the field. From the south end of this lane in the high street,
are divers faire buildings, hostelries, and houses for gentlemen, and
men of honor, &c."
[1] Dr. Donne resided in a house of Sir R. Drury. Vide _Life_ by
honest Izaak Walton.
Nightingale tells us, "The west end of Wych Street was formerly
ornamented by Drury House, built by Sir William Drury, an able commander
in the Irish wars, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and who
unfortunately fell in a duel with Sir John Burroughs, through a foolish
quarrel about precedency. During the time of the fatal discontents of
Elizabeth's favourite, the Earl of Essex, it was the place where his
imprudent advisers resolved on such counsels, as terminated in the
destruction of him and his adherents. In the next century it was
possessed by the heroic Earl of Craven, who rebuilt it. It was lately a
large brick pile, concealed by other buildings and was a public-house,
bearing the sign of the Queen of Bohemia's Head, the earl's admired
mistress, whose battles he fought animated by love and duty. When he
could aspire to her hand, he is supposed to have succeeded, and it is
said, that they were privately married; and that he built for her the
fine seat at Hampstead Marshal, in the county of Berks, afterwards
destroyed by fire. The services rendered by the earl to London, his
native city, in particular, were exemplary. He was so indefatigable in
preventing the ravages of the frequent fires of those days, that it was
said his very horse smelt it out. He and Monk, Duke of Albemarle,[2]
heroically staid in town during the dreadful pestilence, and at the
hazard of their lives preserved order in the midst of the terror of the
times." The house was taken down, and the ground purchased by Mr. Philip
Astley, who built there the Olympic Pavilion. In Craven Buildings there
was formerly a very good portrait of the Earl of Craven in armour, with
a truncheon in his hand, and mounted on his white horse. The Theatre
Royal in this street, originated on the Restoration. "The king made a
grant of a patent (says Pennant) for acting in what was then called the
Cockpit, and the Phoenix, the actors were the king's servants, were on
the establishment, and ten of them were called gentlemen of the Great
Chamber, and had ten yards of scarlet cloth allowed them, with a
suitable quantity of lace."
[2] He married a daughter of one of the Fine Barber-women of
Drury Lane.
There is a curious specimen of ancient architecture at the sign of the
Cock and Magpie public-house, facing Craven Buildings. Smith, in his
_London_, says, "The late Mr. Thomas Batrich, barber, of Drury
Lane, (who died in 1815, aged 85 years,) informed me that Theophilus
Cibber was the author of many of the prize-fighting bills, and that he
frequently attended and encouraged his favourites. It may be here
observed, that Drury Lane had seldom less than seven fights on a Sunday
morning, all going on at the same time on distinct spots." At present,
the fights are between the apple-women and the dogberries, respecting
the _legal tenure of stalls_:
"Bess Hoy first found it troublesome to bawl,
And therefore plac'd her cherries on a _stall_."