Mr. Cunningham's work on London is a book of such general interest, that
the additions and corrections, which I shall continue from time to time
to offer to your readers, will not, I think, be deemed impertinent or
trifling. Let it not be imagined, for one single instant, that I wish to
depreciate Mr. Cunningham's labours. On the contrary, his book is one of
the most delightful publications relative to our great city which we
possess. And let me candidly say, if I were to select only half-a-dozen
volumes for my own reading, _Cunningham's Handbook of London_ would most
assuredly be one of that number.
The quaint and learned old Fuller, in his address to the _Worthies of
England_, says:
"The bare skeleton of time, place, and person, must be fleshed
with some pleasant passages; and to this intent I have purposely
interlaced (not as meat but as condiment) many stories, so that
the reader, if he do not arise _religiosior_ or _doctior_, with
more piety or learning, at least he may depart _jucundior_, with
more pleasure and lawful delight."
This remark has been well understood by Mr. Cunningham, whose pleasant
quotations, and literary and artistic recollections, have made his book
a _readable_ one to the many, and an instructive companion for the
_initiated_.
The "bare skeleton" sometimes wants "fleshing," and hence the following
list of additions and corrections:
1. _Dobney's_, or, more correctly, _D'Aubigney's Bowling Green_, was a
celebrated place of amusement "more than sixty years since." It is now
occupied by a group of houses called _Dobney's Place_, near the bottom
of Penton street, and almost opposite to the Belvidere Tavern and Tea
Gardens.
2. _Bridge Street, Westminster._ The Long Wool-staple was on the site of
this street. Henry VIII., in 1548, founded, "in the Long Wool-staple,"
St. Stephen's Hospital, for eight maimed soldiers, who had each a
convenient room, and received an allowance of 5l. a year from the
exchequer. It was removed in 1735, and eight almshouses rebuilt in St.
Anne's Lane, bearing the inscription "Wool-staple Pensioners, 1741." In
1628, in the Overseer's books of St. Margaret's is rated in the
Wool-staple "Orlando Gibbons ij d."
3. _Campden House, Kensington._ Built by Sir Baptist Hickes in 1612;
pulled down about 1827. Nicholas Lechmere, the eminent lawyer, was
residing here when he was created a peer.
"Back in the dark, by Brompton Park,
He turned up thro' the Gore,
So slunk to _Campden House_ so high,
All in his coach and four."
Swift's Ballad of _Duke and no Duke_.
4. _Finch's Grotto._ A place of amusement, similar to Vauxhall Gardens,
much in vogue at the end of the last century. The "Grotto Gardens," as
they were sometimes called, were situated partly in Winchester Park, or
the Clink, and partly in the parish of St. George, Southwark.
5. _Leicester Square._ Mr. Cunningham does not mention the fine house of
Sir George Savile, in this square. It was subsequently Miss Linwood's
_Exhibition of Needlework_; and has latterly been used as a
concert-room, casino, &c. The statue in the centre of the square is
George I., not George II.
6. _Thavie's Inn._ A small brass plate fixed up against the first house
on the west side, has the following inscription:
"Thavie's Inn, founded by John Thavie, Esquire, in the reign of
Edward the Third; Adjudged to be extra-parochial, in the Court
of King's Bench, Guild-hall, in the causes Fraser against the
Parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, on the 7th day of July, 1823, and
Marsden against the same parish, on the 17th day of October,
1826. This memorial of the antiquity and privileges of this inn,
was erected during the Treasurership of Francis Paget Watson,
Esq., Anno Dom. MDCCCXXVII."
7. _Old Bailey._ Peter Bales, the celebrated writing master of Queen
Elizabeth's reign, was master of a school "at the upper end of the _Old
Bailey_" in 1590. It was here he published his first work, entitled,
_The Writing School Master_.
8. _Islington._ During the reign of James I. and Charles I., Islington
was a favourite resort, on account of its rich dairies. In that part of
the manor of Highbury at the lower end of Islington, there were, in
1611, eight inns principally supported by summer visitors. See _Nelson's
History of Islington_, p. 38, 4to., 1811.
"--Hogsdone, _Islington_, and Tothnam Court,
For cakes and creame had then no small resort."
Wither's _Britain's Remembrancer_, 12mo. 1628.
9. _Seven Dials._ The Doric column with its "seven dials," which once
marked this locality, now "ornaments" the pleasant little town of
Walton-on-Thames.
10. _Mews (the King's)._ The fore-court of the royal mews was used in
1829 for the exhibition of a "monstrous whale." The _building_ (which
stood upon the site of the National Gallery) was occupied, at the same
time, by the _Museum of National Manufactures_. The "Museum" was
removed, upon the pulling down of the mews, to Dr. Hunter's house in
Leicester Square, and was finally closed upon the establishment of the
_Royal Polytechnic Institution_.
Mr. Cunningham, in his _Chronology_, says the mews was taken down in
1827. In the body of the book he gives the date, perhaps more correctly,
1830. {212}
11. _Brownlow Street, Holborn._ This should be "Brownlow Street, _Drury
Lane_;" George Vertue the engraver was living here in 1748.
12. _White Conduit House._ The anonymous author of _The Sunday Ramble_,
1774, has left us the following description of this once popular
tea-gardens:
"The garden is formed into several pleasing walks, prettily
disposed; at the end of the principal one is a painting, which
serves to render it much larger in appearance than it really is;
and in the middle of the garden is a round fish-pond,
encompassed with a great number of very genteel boxes for
company, curiously cut into the hedges, and adorned with a
variety of Flemish and other painting; there are likewise two
handsome tea-rooms, one over the other, as well as several
inferior ones in the dwelling-house."
"White Conduit Loaves" were for a long time famous, and before the great
augmentation in the price of bread, during the revolutionary war with
France, they formed one of the regular "London cries."
13. _Vauxhall Gardens._ A curious and highly interesting description of
this popular place of amusement, "a century ago," was printed in 1745,
under the title of _A Sketch of the Spring-Gardens, Vaux-hall, in a
letter to a Noble Lord_, 8vo. My copy is much at Mr. Cunningham's
service for any future edition of his _Handbook_.
Edward F. Rimbault.
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