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CHAPTER III

A residential neighbourhood-Emigration of nobility and gentry from the city-The Piazzas and the criticsFirst instance of brick construction-Artistic centreSir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Sir James Thornhill, Richard Wilson, Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and other celebrated residents of the Garden-Punch's Theatre-Sport in the Piazzas-National Sporting Club.

IN 1580 Elizabeth, startled at the great increase of the metropolis, issued a proclamation forbidding the erection of any houses but those of the highest class within three miles of the City; and in 1617 James I. commanded all noblemen, knights, and gentlemen who had mansions in the country to depart thither, within twenty days of his proclamation, with their wives and families, and to spend the summer vacation there.

Charles I., about the time when the Earl of Bedford commenced the improve

ment of Covent Garden, the neighbourhood having then first become a residential one, forbade the entertainment of additional inmates in houses already existing. This practice, according to Mr. Knight, "would multiply the inhabitants to such an extent that they could neither be governed nor fed."

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(Poor Mr. Knight! If he could only "revisit the glimpses of the moon and see our seething metropolis to-day!)

The Earl, however, appears to have disregarded the mandate, and continued his building operations. How he appeased the King is not known. Probably he was fined, and submitted with good grace, as he foresaw his operations would turn into a profitable speculation.

In 1657 an Act was passed by the Protector, Cromwell, "that in regard of the Great Charges that Francis, late Earl of Bedford, hath been at in building a Church. in Covent Garden, in the County of Middlesex, and in the endowment of the same Church and other Publick Charges in and about the Parish of Covent Garden aforesaid, there be abated unto William, Earl

of Bedford, John Russell and Edward Russell Esquires, Sons of the said Francis, late Earl of Bedford, out of the Fines which shall be payable unto them by force of this Act, in Respect of the Building in the said Parish of Covent Garden, the sum of £7000, the same abatement to be made unto them by the said Commissioners proportionately accordingly as they shall be severally chargeable by this Act" (Strype).

The newly constructed buildings naturally attracted the best people, who even before the Great Fire (1666) were leaving the City to reside in the newer parts of the West End.

Inigo Jones had been busy in the neighbourhood, and on all sides fine mansions had sprung up, and such streets as Drury Lane, Great and Little Queen Street, and Lincoln's Inn Fields became tenanted by noblemen and gentry. These thoroughfares, together with Bow Street, Russell Street, King Street, and Henrietta Street, were in the hey-day of their fashion, just as smart and expensive localities as are Grosvenor Square and Park Lane to-day.

The Piazzas are said to have been copied from that at Livorno in Italy. Being a complete innovation, they became, on the principle of "omne ignotum pro mirifico," one of the show places of the town. The name itself, too, seems to have caught on and become attractive, much in the same way as the old woman expressed her admiration of "that godly word Mesopotamia." Mr. Hare, in his "Walks in London," says that the name Piazza was frequently given to foundlings, many of whom were left at the door of the Bishop of Durham, who resided there. It may be doubted whether his Episcopal Holiness was much gratified by these left-handed compliments thus "laid at his door," having probably not so much claim as Charles II. to be regarded as "the Father of his people." At any rate, the registers of the time abounded in such names as Peter, Mary, or Paul Piazza.

It was the original intention of the architect that the whole square should be encompassed by this kind of arcade, but the scheme was never carried out in its entirety. In 1783 a book was published entitled "A Critical Review of the Public Buildings and

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