Smithfield, on the site of Chick-Lane, noted about sixty years since for the Black-Boy-Alley gang, twenty-one of whom were, for murder, &c. on this detestable spot, executed at once at Tyburn. After this event, a large piece of waste ground, now the site of St. Sepulchre's workhouse, bore the appellation of Jack Ketch's Common. Black-Boy-Alley has been since the scene of a weekly exhibition of badger-baiting, &c. which, with the cruelties practised upon that noble animal the horse, it was hoped Lord Erskine's proposed bill would have put an end to; but this was lost by a majority against it! Saffron-Hill is a long street of indifferent houses: á passage from this leads to Charles-Street and Kirby. Street. In Cross-Street the remains of Hatton-House are still to be seen in good preservation. It has behind it a neat chapel, originally built for a congregation of Emanuel Swedenborg's persuasion; this is now occupied by a congregation of Calvinistic principles. Hat and Tun Yard adjacent, is a corruption of Hatton-Yard, the name being derived from the occupier of the house in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.' The building at the corner of Cross-Street towards Hatton-Garden, now occupied as a charity-school for St. Andrew's parish, was erected by Christopher Lord Viscount Hatton, for a chapel. Hatton-Garden has been inhabited by many respectable persons; among them Sir Edward Coke, Edward Stillingfleet, D.D., Dr. Moore, Bishop of Norwich, &c. &c. Of late years, several of the houses in this spacious street have been converted into shops, &c. Here is one of the Police Offices, where the magistrates attend every day. About 1662, Lord Hatton began to build the handsome streets that occupy and give name to the site of the garden. Passing through Christopher-Street, we arrive at Leather-Lane, crossing which we enter Liquor L pond Street, remarkable only as the situation of the immense brewhouse of Messrs. Meux and Reid. Gray's-Inn-Lane has been considerably improved within the last ten years, containing very good houses, built within that period, almost up to the FoundlingHospital, and on the eastern side a handsome chapel for the late eccentric William Huntingdon, S. S. or Saved Sinner. The house of the Welsh Charity School, a little higher up, is a handsome brick building, enclosed within a large area, and contains some curious valuable manuscripts relating to the history of the Ancient Britons, particularly an accurate copy of the laws of Howel Dha. This establishment supports one hundred children. Nearly adjacent to this place is the elegant riding-house of the City Light Horse Volunteers. Theobald's Road and King's Road were so called, because James I. always passed this way when he came to town from his palace at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire. Baldwin's Gardens, running between Leather-Lane and Gray's-Inn-Lane, were, according to a stone which till lately was to have been seen against a corner house, bearing the arms of Queen Elizabeth, named after one of her gardeners, who began building here. The Hole-in-the-Wall was the resort of the facetious Tom Brown. A large house at present on the north side of this street contains the National Society's Central School, where several hundred children are instructed according to Dr. Bell's system. Gray's Inn. This is the most distinguishable object in Gray's-Inn-Lane, &c. It is a place of great antiquity, and extends from the west side of this lane to the back of Bedford-Row, and to Holborn and Theobald's Road on the south and north. The principal entrance is from Holborn, where the Society's domains are concealed by a number of mean old houses, not one of which, it has been observed, is elegant, though" of fifty various forms," nor even tolerable, the Gray's-Inn Coffee-house excepted. The northern boundary of Gray's-Inn is formed by a tall brick wall, which encloses. the grove and garden belonging to the Society. These are extensive, and have a rural and pleasing effect. The entrance to them from the south side is through a rich gate and piers, and a vile court. The Holborn entrance to Gray's-Inn-Lane is not much better. The avenue from Gray's-Inn-Lane has been much improved since the erection of the new houses called Verulam Buildings, which are handsome and substantial, but without any decorations. The Chapel and Hall stand between that part of the Inn called Holborn-Court and the Square, extending towards Gray's-Inn-Lane, at the south-east corner of the Square. It is destitute of every kind of ornament, and so entirely plain, that one of the best writers on the subject of architecture observes, "that a description of it will be accomplished in saying it has four walls, and several windows large and small." The Hall is a brick building in that style of architecture which prevailed from the time of Henry VIII. to that of James I., with buttresses of two gradations on the sides, projecting angular mullioned windows and embattled gables, and a turret. The roof of this Hall is similar to that of the Middle Temple, and the skreen of the Tuscan order with pillars; caryatides support the cornice; the windows are filled with armorial bearings. "This College or Inn of Court is situated within the manor of Purtpule, alias Portpool, near Holborne, in the county of Middlesex, which hath remained hereditary in the honourable family of the Grays, the absolute owners thereof from anno 22 Edward I. until the reign of Henry VII." &c.: thus it appears that the noble family of the Grays de Wilton demised it to several students of the law. Below Grays-Inn-Lane in Holborn is Brook-Street, leading to Brook's-Market, Beauchamp-Street, Dorring ton-Street and Greville-Street, all named from the titles of the Lords Brooke, Earls of Brooke and Warwick. The mansión called Brook-House fronted Holborn. Near this place was also the mansion of the family of Bourchier, Earls of Bath, afterwards called Bath-Place. Furnival's-Inn. The noble family of Furnival came from Normandy in the reign of Richard I.; from this family this inn or dwelling came to the Talbots, who sold it to the Society of Lincoln's Inn, in the reign of Edward VI. The Inn is divided into two squares or courts; but the buildings are in a státe of decay, and much neglected. The front next Holborn is a fine specimen of old brick work, adorned with pilasters and mouldings, and a handsome arched gateway, apparently in the mode of architecture which prevailed in the time of Inigo Jones. Nothing particular occurs in this Walk till we come to Ely Place, the first turning to the east beyond the street called Hatton-Garden. The elegant houses which occupy the site of the ancient palace of the Bishops of Ely, which was formerly called Ely's Inn, was built in consequence of a will made by Bishop John de Kirkby, who died in 1290, which bequeathed to his successors a messuage and nine cottages, situated in Holborn, which afterwards formed the site of the capital mansion of the Bishops of Ely. The estate of Ely House had increased to such a degree, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, that the whole, consisting of buildings, gardens, pastures, and inclosures, contained above twenty acres of ground enclosed within a wall. Bishop Richard Cox, at the pressing instances of Queen Elizabeth, leased the western part of the house, and all the great garden to Christopher Hatton, Esq. afterwards High Chancellor of England, for the term of twenty-one years. This |