14. _Long Acre._ Mr. Cunningham, upon the authority of Parton's _History
of St. Giles's_, says:
"First known as the Elms, then called Seven Acres, and since
1612, from the length of a certain slip of ground, then first
used as a public pathway, as Long Acre."
The latter part of this statement is incorrect. The Seven Acres were
known as _Long Acre_ as early as 1552, when they were granted to the
Earl of Bedford. See _Strype_, B. vi. p. 88.
Machyn, in his _Diary_, printed by the Camden Society, p. 21., under the
date A.D. 1556, has the following allusion to the _Acre_:
"The vj day of December the Abbot of Westminster went a
procession with his convent. Before him went all the Santuary
men with crosse keys upon their garments, and after went iij for
murder: on was the Lord Dacre's sone of the North, was wypyd
with a shett abowt him for kyllyng of on Master West, squyre,
dwellyng besyd ... and anodur theyff that dyd long to one of
Master Comtroller ... dyd kylle Recherd Eggylston the
Comtroller's tayller, and kylled him in the _Long Acurs_, the
bak-syd Charyng Crosse."
15. _Norfolk House, St. James's Square._ The present Norfolk House was
built from a design by R. Brettingham, in 1742, by Thomas Duke of
Norfolk, and finished by his brother Edward in 1762. Mr. Cunningham
speaks as if the old house, in which George III. was born, was still
standing.
16. _Soho Square._ Mr. Cunningham has not corrected his mistake about
Mrs. Cornelys's house in this square, (see "Notes and Queries," vol. i.,
pp. 244, 450.). _D'Almaine's_, which Mr. Cunningham confounds with Mrs.
Cornelys's, was at a former period tenanted by the Duke of Argyll; then
by the Earl of Bradford; and, at a later time, by the celebrated Onslow,
who held his parliamentary levees in the principal drawing-room. The
ceilings of the best rooms are adorned with paintings by Rebecca and
Angelica Kauffman.
Mr. Cunningham has taken some pains to destroy the _Pennant_ tradition
concerning the name of this square, but he has not given us one
important piece of information, i.e. that between the years 1674 and
1681, the ground was surveyed by _Gregory King_, an eminent architect of
those days, who projected the square with the adjacent streets. Query,
Did it not take the name of _King's_ Square from the architect? This
seems very probable; more especially as the statue of Charles I. was not
placed in the square until the beginning of the next century. The centre
space was originally occupied by a splendid fountain, (the work of
Colley Cibber's father), an estimate of the "cost and charges" of which
is now before me.
Among the eminent inhabitants of this square, not noticed by Mr.
Cunningham, were the following:--Lord {228} Berkely, Lord Byron, Lord
Grimstone, Lord Howard, Lord Leicester, Sir Thomas Mansel, Lord Morpeth,
Lord Nottingham, Lord Peterborough, Lord Pierrepoint, Lord Pigot, Dudley
North, the Earl of Dartmouth, the Duchess of Cleveland, the Duchess of
Wharton, &c. These names appear in the books of the parish of St. Anne,
between the years of 1708 and 1772.
17. _Surrey Institution._ At one period (about 1825), this building was
known as the _Blackfriars Rotundo_. Here that execrable character,
Robert Taylor, who styled himself "the Devil's Chaplain," delivered his
blasphemous discourses.
18. _Opera House._ Mr. Cunningham, speaking of the translation of
_Arsinoe_, the first Anglo-Italian opera performed in this country,
says: "The translation was made by Thomas Clayton." This is an error,
for Clayton himself says, in his preface: "I was obliged to have an
Italian opera translated." Clayton was the composer of the music.
19. _James's (St.) Chapel, St. James's Palace._ Mr. Cunningham says,
"The service is chanted by the boys of the Chapel Royal." This ought to
read, "The service is chaunted by the boys _and gentlemen_ of the Chapel
Royal" The musical service of our cathedrals and collegiate
establishments cannot be performed without four kinds of voices, treble,
alto, tenor, and bass.
20. _Bagnigge Wells._ Mr. Cunningham makes a strange mistake concerning
this once popular place of amusement when he says, "first opened to the
public in the year 1767." A stone, still to be seen, let into the wall
over what was formerly the garden entrance, has the following
inscription:
"S + T
This is Bagnigge
Hovse neare
The Pinder a
Wakefeilde
1680."
The gardens were first opened for the accommodation of persons who
partook of the mineral springs; subsequently, amusements were added; and
in Bickham's curious work, _The Musical Entertainer_ (circa 1738), is an
engraving of Tom Hippersley mounted in the "singing rostrum," regaling
the company with a song. About half a century after this date, a regular
orchestra was erected, and the entertainments resembled Marylebone
Gardens and Vauxhall. The old house and gardens were demolished in 1842,
to make room for several new streets.
Edward F. Rimbault.
* * * * *