Aug. 31. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



211 



KOTES ON THE SKCOND EDITION OF MR. CUNNING- 

 HAM'S HANDBOOK OF LONDON. 



Mr. Cunningham's work on London is a book of 

 such general interest, that tlie additions and cor- 

 rections, which I shall continue from time to time 

 to oifer 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 

 dejjreciate Mr. Cunningham's labours. On the 

 contrary, his book is one of the most delightful 

 publications relative to our great city whicli we 

 possess. And let me candidly say, if I were to 

 select only half-a-dozen volumes for my own read- 

 ing, Cunningham' s Handbook of London would 

 most assuredly be one of that number. 



The quaint and learned old Fuller, in his ad- 

 dress 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 jiicundior, with more 

 pleasure and lawful delight." 



This remark has been well understood by Mr. 

 Cunningham, whose ])leasant (juotations, and lite- 

 rary 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 "flesh- 

 ing," and hence the following list of additions and 

 corrections : — 



1. Dohneifs, or, more correctly, D'/hcbigney's 

 Bowling Green, was a celebrated place of amuse- 

 ment "more than sixty years since." It is now 

 occupied by a group of houses called Dohney's 

 Place, near the bottom of Penton street, and al- 

 most 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, 

 wlio liad each a convenient room, and received an 

 allowance of 51. a year from the exchequer. It 

 was removed in 1735, and eight almshouses re- 

 built in St. Anne's Lane, bearing the inscription 

 " Wool-staple Pensioners, 1741." In 16-28, in the 

 Over3eer's books of St. Margaret's is rated in the 

 Wool-staple " Orlando Gilibons ij d." 



3. Cninpden House, Kensington. Built by Sir 

 Baptist Ilickes in 1G12; pulled down about 1827. 

 Nicholas Lcchmere, the eminent lawyer, was re- 

 siding here when he was created a peer. 



" Back in the dark, by Brompton Park, 

 lie turned up tliro' llie Gore, 

 So slimk to Cmnpiltn JToiise 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 Gar- 

 dens," as they were sometimes called, were situ- 

 ated 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 sidisequently Miss Linwood's 

 Exhibition of Needlework ; and has latterly been 

 used as a concei't-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 Tiiird ; Adjudged to be 

 extra-parochial, in the Court of King's Bench, Guild- 

 hall, in the causes Eraser against the Parish of St. 

 Andrew, Holborn, on the 7th day of July, 1823, and 

 Marsden against the same parish, on the 1 7th day of 

 October, 1826. This memorial of tlie antiquity and 

 privileges of this inn, was erected during the Treasu- 

 rership of Francis Paget Watson, Esq., Anno Dom. 



MDCCCXXVU." 



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 Wi-iting 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 sup- 

 ported 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," wliich once marked this locality, 

 now "ornaments" the pleasant little town of Wal- 

 ton-on-Thames. 



10. Meivs {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 occu- 

 pied, at the same time, by the Museum of National 

 Manufactures. The "Rluseum" was removed, 

 upon the pulling down of the mews, to Dr. Hun- 

 ter's house in Leicester Square, and was finally 

 closed upon the establishment of the Royal Poly- 

 technic Institution. 



Mr. Cviuningham, in his Chronology, says the 

 mews was taken down in 1827. In the body of 

 th(! book he gives the date, perhaps more correctly, 

 1830. 



