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CURIOSITIES OF LONDON.

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ADELPHI, (THE),

A SERIES of streets in the rear of the houses on the south side of the Strand, reaching east and west from Adam-street to Buckinghamstreet, and facing the Thames on the south-a grand commencement of the architectural embankment of the river in 1768. It is named Adelphi shs, brother) from its architects, the four brothers Adam, who built vast arches over the court-yard of old Durham House, and upon these erected, level with the Strand, Adam-street, leading to John, Robert, James, and William Streets; the noble line of houses fronting the Thames being the Adelphi Terrace. The view from this spot is almost unrivalled in the metropolis for variety and architectural beauty: from Waterloo Bridge on the east, with the majestic dome and picturesque campanili of St. Paul's, to Westminster Bridge on the west, above which rise the towers of Lambeth Palace, and Westminster Abbey, and the pinnacles and bristling roofs of the New Houses of Parliament. At No. 5, the centre house of the Terrace, David Garrick died, Jan. 20, 1779; and here his remains lay in state, previous to their interment in Westminster Abbey, Feb. 1. Garrick's widow also died here in 1822. At No. 1 Adam-street, lived Dr. Knox, the "British Essayist." At Osborne's Hotel, John-street, in 1824, sojourned Kamehameha II., King of the Sandwich Islands, and his sister the Queen, with their gites: the Queen died here of measles, July 8; and the King died of the same disease, at the Caledonian Hotel, on the 14th: their remains lay in native pomp at Osborne's, and were then deposited in the vaults of St. Martin's Church, prior to their being conveyed in the Blonde frigate to the Sandwich Islands for interment. The poor King and Queen were wantonly charged with gluttony and drunkenness while here; but they lived chiefly on fish, poultry, and fruit, and their favourite drink was some cider presented to them by Mr. Canning.

In John-street, also, is the house built for the Society of Arts by the Adams. In the second-floor chambers at No. 2 James-street, lived, for nearly thirty years, Mr. Thomas Hill, the "Hull" of Theodore Hook's Gilbert Gurney. Hill died here Dec. 20, 1841, in his 81st year; and left a large collection of curiosities, including a cup and a small vase formed from the mulberry-tree planted by Shakspeare at Stratfordpon-Avon. Neither of these, however, is the Shakespeare Cup presented to Garrick by the Mayor and Corporation of Stratford at the time of the Jubilee. This celebrated relic was bought on May 5, 1825, for 121 guineas, by Mr. J. Johnson; and by him sold, July 4, 1846, for 404. 88. 6d., to Mr. Isaacs, of Upper Gower-street.

The Adelphi vaults, occupied as cellars and coal-wharfs, in their grim vastness, remind one of the Etruscan Cloaca of old Rome. Beneath the "dry arches," the most abandoned characters have often passed the night, nestling upon foul straw; and many a street-thief escaped from his pursuers in these subterranean haunts, before the introduction of gas-light and a vigilant police.

ADMIRALTY OFFice, (the),

Forms the left flank of the detachinent of Government Offices on the north side of Whitehall. It occupies the site of Wallingford House,

B

from the roof of which Archbishop Usher saw King Charles I. led out to execution in the front of Whitehall Palace, and swooned at the sight

The Admiralty Office, built by Ripley, about 1726, is a tasteles pile: to conceal its ugliness, the court-yard was fronted with a ston screen, by the Adams, in the reign of George III. This screen is very characteristic composition: its sculptured hippocampi, and prow of ancient vessels, combining with an anchor in the pediment of the portico of the main building, to denote the purposes of the office-th administration of the affairs of the Royal Navy. In one of the larg rooms the remains of Lord Nelson lay in state, Jan. 8, 1806; and nex day, took place the solemn funeral procession, with a military force o nearly 8000 men, from this spot to St. Paul's Cathedral.

On the roof of the Admiralty Office, many years since, was place a Semaphore, (the invention of Sir Home Popham); the arms of which extending laterally at right angles, communicated orders and intelli gence to and from the sea-ports; previous to which was used the shuttl telegraph, invented by R. L. Edgeworth. The Semaphore has, how ever, been superseded by the Electric Telegraph, of which nine wire are laid from the office in Whitehall to the Dockyard at Portsmouth the Admiralty paying the Electric Telegraph Company 12007. a-year.

ALCHEMISTS.

The last true believer in Alchemy was, according to Mr. Brand Peter Woulfe, who occupied chambers in Barnard's Inn, Holborn, whil residing in London, and usually spent the summer in Paris: he died i 1805. About 1801, an adept lived, or rather starved, in the metropoli in the person of an editor of an evening journal, who expected to com pound the alkahest if he could only keep his materials digested in lamp-furnace for the space of seven years. The lamp burnt brightl during six years, eleven months, and some odd days besides, and ther unluckily, it went out. Why it went out the adept never could guess but he was certain that if the flame could only have burnt to the en of the septenary cycle his experiment must have succeeded.-(Pape on Astrology and Alchemy, by Sir Walter Scott; Quarterly Review, 1821.

In Catherine-street, Strand, lived for many years one John Denley a bookseller, who amassed here a notable collection of the works alchemist, cabalist, and astrologer: he is the individual referred to b Sir E. Lytton Bulwer in the introduction to his Zanoni.

ALDERMAN,

The oldest office in the Corporation of London, and derived from th Ealdorman, or superior Saxon noble; but not mentioned as presidin over gilds or wards until Henry II. In some cases, the wards were th Aldermen's heritable property, and received their own names. Th present ward of Farringdon was bought by William Faryngdon i 1279, and remained in his family upwards of eighty years; it was hel by the tenure of presenting at Easter a gillyflower, then of grea rarity. Each of the twenty-six City wards elects one Alderman fo life, or "during good behaviour." The fine for the rejection of th office is 5001; but it is generally sought as a stepping-stone to th Mayoralty, each Alderman being in rotâ Lord Mayor, he having previ ously served as Sheriff of London and Middlesex. The Aldermen for a court, the Lord Mayor presiding; and sit in a superb apartment of th Guildhall, which has rich stucco ceiling painted mostly by Sir Jame Thornhill; in the cornice are carved and emblazoned the arms of all th Mayors since 1780: each Alderman's chair bears his name and arm and he wears a scarlet cloth gown, hooded and furred; and a gol chain, if he has served as Mayor. Upon state visits of sovereigns t

the City, the several Aldermen ride in procession on horseback. At the opening of the New Royal Exchange, October 28, 1844, ten Aldermen rode thus, wearing their gowns and chains and cocked hats, carrying wands, and preceding the Queen's procession from Temple Bar.

The office of Alderman has rarely been filled by men of intellectual mark. Alderman Fabian, who wrote the "Chronicles of England and France," early in the 16th century, is an exception. Alderman Barber, the first printer Lord Mayor (1733), was the friend of Bolingbroke, Swift, and Pope; and in 1721 erected a cenotaph to Samuel Butler in Westminster Abbey, notwithstanding Butler's satiric "Character" of an Alderman. The notorious John Wilkes was a man of talent, though prodigate and unprincipled. Alderman Boydell was a generous and discriminating promoter of the fine arts, and was honoured with a pubThe funeral. The Court of Aldermen, in 1850, consisted of—

2 wharfingers, 2 auctioneers, 1 potter, 1 grocer, 1 publisher, 1 ship-broker, 1 wine-merchant, 1 tea-dealer, 1 print-seller, 2 general merchants, I solicitor, 1 dealer in hides, 1 iron-master; 10 of independent property, and mostly retired traders = 26.

Five of the Aldermen sit in Parliament, one for his own City. The above list, however, does not include one banker, and only two "merchantprinces:" the dignity of the office has unquestionably been trifled with by the choice of retail traders; for an Alderman to sell a pound of canfles or a penny tart will not increase the respect for his magisterial or corporate position. The histories of the Aldermen of our time exhibit some melancholy instances of reverse of fortune: upwards of 13007. is paid annually, in pensions or allowances, by the Court of Aldermen, to the widows or descendants of their less prosperous brethren.

ALMACK'S

Assembly Rooms, on the south side of King-street, St. James's, were built by Mylne, for one Almack, a Scotsman; and were opened Feb. 12, 1765, with an Assembly, at which the Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden, was present. The large ball-room is about one hundred feet in length by forty feet in width; it is chastely decorated with gilt columns and pilasters, classic medallions, mirrors, &c., and is lit with spwards of five hundred wax-lights in five cut-glass lustres. The largest number of persons ever present in this room at one ball was 1700.

The Assembly is regulated by Ladies Patronesses, who in the season of 1850 were the Duchess of Norfolk, the Marchioness of Ely, Marchioness of Londonderry, Marchioness of Westminster, the Countess of Jersey, Countess of Kinnoull, Countess of Lichfield, Viscountess Palmerston, and Lady Clinton. The series consisted of six assemblies, on alternate Thursdays after Easter, subject to the following regulations: "Each Lady Patroness to have on her list a limited number of subscribers. The Lady Patronesses to have a limited number of nonsubscribers for each ball. No Lady Patroness can give a subscription or a ticket to a lady she does not visit, or to a gentleman who is not introduced to her by a lady whose name is upon her visiting-list. No gentlemen's tickets can be transferable.”

The rooms are let for public meetings, dramatic readings, concerts, balls, and occasionally for dinners. Here Mrs. Billington, Mr. Braham, and Signor Naldi gave concerts from 1808 to 1810, in rivalry with Madame Catalani at Hanover Square Rooms; and here Mr. Charles Kemble gave his Readings from Shakspeare, in 1844. Almack's Rooms are often called "Willis's," from the name of their present proprietor. Almack's has declined of late years; "a clear proof that the palmy days of exclusiveness are gone by in England; and though it is obviously impossible to prevent any given number of persons from

congregating and re-establishing an oligarchy, we are quite sure that the attempt would be ineffectual, and that the sense of their importance would extend little beyond the set."—(Quarterly Review, 1840.)

ALMONRY, (THE),

Or Eleemosynary, now corruptly, (as in Stow's time,) the Ambry, was named from its being the place where the alms collected in the Abbey Church at Westminster were distributed to poor persons. It was situ ated at the east end of the Sanctuary, and was divided into two parts: "the Great Almonry, consisting of two oblong portions, parallel to the two Tothill streets, and connected by a narrow lane (the entrance being from Dean's Yard); and the Little Almonry, running southward, at the eastern end of the other Almonry."-(Walcot's Westminster, 1849.)

In the Almonry the first printing-press ever known in England was set up by William Caxton, according to Stow, in an old chapel near the entrance of the Abbey; but a very curious placard, in Caxton's largest type, and now preserved in the library of Brasenose College, Oxford, shews that he printed in the Almonry; for in this placard he invites customers to "come to Westmonester in to the Almonestrye at the Reed Pale," the name by which was known a house in which Caxton is said to have lived. It stood on the north side of the Almonry, with its back against that of a house on the south side of Tothill-street. Bagford describes this house as of brick, with the sign of the King's Head: it is stated to have fallen down in November, 1845, before the removal of the other dwellings in the Almonry, to form a new line (Victoriastreet) from Tothill-street to Pimlico. A beam of wood was saved from the materials of the house, and from it have been made a chessboard and two sets of chessmen, as appropriate memorials of Caxton's first labour in England-The Game and Playe of the Chesse, 1474, folio, believed to be the first book printed in England-(See Illustrated London News, June 5, 1847). According to a view of Caxton's House, engraved by G. Cooke, in 1827, it was three-storied, and had a gallery or balcony to the upper floor, with a window in its bold gable.

In one of the almshouses built by King Henry VII., north of the Almonry, lived Thomas Barker, who aided Izaak Walton in writing The Complete Angler. And in the Little Almonry was the house of Harrington, the poet, who attended Charles I. on the scaffold; and who was here often visited by Roger l'Estrange and Andrew Marvell.

There is an old brick house in Tothill-street, opposite Dartmouthstreet, which was probably at one time connected with the Almonry. It has upon its front, sunken in the brickwork, the letters E. (Eleemosynaria?), T. A. (perhaps the initials of the almoner's name), with, however, a late date, 1571. A heart, which is above the inscription, was the symbol used in the old Clog Almanacks for the Annunciation, the Purification, and all other Feast-days of Our Lady.-(Walcot's Westminster, 1849.)

ALMONRY, ROYAL.

This Office, in Middle Scotland Yard, Whitehall, is maintained expressly for the distribution of the Royal Alms, or Bounty, to the poor. The duties of the Hereditary Grand Almoner, first instituted in the reign of Richard I., are confined to the distribution of alms at a Coronation. The office of the High Almoner is of a more general description. In the reign of Edward I., his office was to collect the fragments of the royal table, and distribute them daily to the poor; to visit the sick poor widows, prisoners, and other persons in distress; to remind the King about the bestowal of his alms, especially on Saints' Days; and to see that the cast-off robes were sold, to increase the King's charity.

For more than a century the office of Lord High Almoner was held by the Archbishops of York; but on the death of Archbishop Harcourt, in November, 1847, the office was conferred upon Dr. Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford.

The distribution of Alms on the Thursday before Easter, or Maundy Thursday, takes place in Whitehall Chapel; that at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, at the Office in Middle Scotland Yard. Thus, on Easter Monday, 1850, "upwards of 500 men and women were presented with 58. each, all being above sixty, and many upwards of ninety years of age." The pious Queen Adelaide, who died in 1849, and is known to have expended one-third of her large income in private and public charity, maintained in her household an Almoner, whose duty it was to investigate all applications for the royal benevolence.

ALMSHOUSES,

Built by Public Companies, Benevolent Societies, and private individuals, for aged and infirm persons, are very numerous in the metropohs and its suburbs. The Companies' Almshouses were originally erected next their Halls, that the almspeople might be handy to attend pageants and processions; but these almshouses have mostly been removed, owing to the increased value of ground in the City.

Almshouses succeeded the incorporated Hospitals dissolved by King Henry VIII. Among the earliest erected were the Almshouses founded by Lady Margaret, mother of King Henry VII., for poor women: they were afterwards converted into lodgings for the singing men of the Abbey, and called Choristers' Rents: they were taken down about 1800. Westminster has several of these munificent foundations: as the Red Lion Almshouses, in York-street, founded in 1577, for eight poor women, by Cornelius Van Dun, of Brabant, a soldier who served under King Henry VIII at Tournay. Next are, in the same neighbourhood, the Almshouses for twelve poor housekeepers of St. Margaret's, with a school and chapel-the boys clad in black these were founded in 1566, by the Rev. Edward Palmer, B.D., many years preacher at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, and who used to sleep in the church-tower. Emmanuel Hospital, James Street, was founded by the will of Lady Ann Dacre, in 161, for aged parishioners of St. Margaret's: and in one of its almshouses, on January 22, 1772, died Mrs. Windimore, cousin of Mary (consort of William III.,) and of Queen Anne.

In 1720, the Drapers' Company maintained Almshouses at Tower Hill, Beach Lane, Greenwich, Stratford-le-Bow, Shoreditch, St. George's Fields, St. Mary Newington, and Mile End. Whittington's College, or Almshouses, founded in 1621, on College Hill, were rebuilt by the Mercers' Company, at the foot of Highgate Hill, about 1826. The Fishmongers' Company's Almshouses, or St. Peter's Hospital, Newington Butts, founded 1618, consisted of three courts, dining-hall, and chapel: and were rebuilt on Wandsworth Common, in 1850.

Richard Alleyn, the distinguished actor, and friend of Ben Jonson and Shakspeare, besides founding Dulwich College, built and endowed three sets of Almshouses in the metropolis: in Lamb Alley, Bishopsgate Street; in Bath Street, St. Luke's; and in Soap Yard, Southwark.

Traditionally, we owe the foundation of Dame Owen's School and Almshouses, at Islington, to Archery. In 1610, this rich brewer's widow, in passing along St. John-street Road, then Hermitage Fields, was struck by a truant arrow, and narrowly escaped "braining ;" and the old lady, thinking such close shooting dangerous, in commemoration of her providential escape, built, in 1613, a free school and ten almshouses upon the scene of her adventure. Since 1839, they have been handsomely rebuilt by the Brewers' Company, trustees for the Charity.

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