Nov. 8. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



363 



Thomas Earl of Arundel, and is now in the pos- 

 session of Philip Henry Howard, Esq., of Corby 

 Castle, M.f.), and the staff of office of High Con- 

 stable of England, formerly used by the Earl, and 

 which in 1757 was in the possession of the Earl of 

 Stafford. 



Of the fate of the marbles which remained at 

 the time of the removal of Arundel House, some 

 interesting particulars are given by Mr. James 

 Theobald in a letter written from Surrey Street, 

 10th May, 1757, and addressed to Lord Wil- 

 loughby de Parham, President of the Society of 

 Antiquaries; and believing that these particulars 

 are little known, I will now subjoin them to the 

 somewhat lengthy memoranda which I have written 

 by way of introduction. 



" As there were many fine statues, basso-relievos, 

 and marbles, they were received," suys Mr. Theobald, 

 " into tlie lower part of the gardens, and many of them 

 were placed under a colonnade there ; and the upper 

 part of the grounds, next the Strand, was let to 

 builders, who continued the street next the Strand, 

 from Temple Bar towards Westminster, and built 

 thereon the several streets called Arundel, Norfolk, 

 and Surrey Streets, leading from the Strand as far as 

 the cross street called Howard Street, which ran pa- 

 rallel therewith. A cross wall was built to separate the 

 ground let for building from that reserved for the 

 family mansion ; and many of the workmen, to save 

 the expense of carrying away the rubbish, threw it 

 over this cross wall, where it fell upon the colonnade, 

 and at last by its weight broke it down, and falling 

 upon the statues, &c. placed there, broke several of 

 tliem. A great part of these statues, &.C., in that sad 

 condition, were purchased by Sir William Fermor, from 

 whom the present Earl of Pomfret is descended, and he 

 removed them to his seat at Easton Neston in Nor- 

 thamptonshire, where he employed some statuary to 

 repair such as were not too much demolished. There 

 they continued until the year 1755, wlien the present 

 countess made a present of them to the University of 

 Oxford. In this collection was the fimous sleeping 

 Cupid represented lying on a lion's skin to express his 

 absolute dominion over fierceness and strength, some 

 roses being scattered on the skin, probably as emblems 

 of silence and secrecy, as Cupid presented that flower 

 to Harpocrates, the god of silence, as a bribe to him to 

 conceal the amours of his mother, to whom the rose is 

 also supposed to be sacred. Below the foot of Cupid 

 on tile cushion is the figure of a lizard, which some 

 have supposed to have been placed here as a known in- 

 gredient of great efficacy in love-charms; others, as a 

 proper attendant on those who sleep, from an opinion 

 that tills reptile wakes them on approach of danger. 

 But the real design of the sculptor is, rather to per- 

 petuate Ills name by this symbol, for it was Saurus. 

 The Uomaiis, observing how much the Grecian sculp- 

 tors excelleil them in this art, whenever tliey employed 

 them to execute any work of this sort forbade them 

 to put, as had been custijmary, tlicir names to their 

 works ; and I'liny tells us that Saurus had recourse to 

 this expedient, by putting the lizard upon this figure, 



as well as on another which he executed jointly with 

 Batrachus, on which they were not permitted to put 

 their names, therefore they placed on the bases the 

 figures of a frog and a lizard. 



" Some other of these broken statues, not thought 

 worth replacing, were begged by one Boyder Cuper, 

 who had been a servant (I think gardener) to the 

 family, and were removed by him to decorate a piece of 

 garden ground which he had taken opposite Somerset 

 water-gate, in the parish of Lambeth*, which at that 

 time was a place of resort for the citizens and others in 

 holiday time, slid called after him by the name of 

 Cuper's, and thence corruptly Cupid's Gardens, which 

 were much of the same nature as Sadler's Wells and 

 Mary'bone Gardens. Here they continued for a con- 

 siderable time, till Mr. John Freeman of Fawley 

 Court, near Henley-on-Thames, and Mr. Edward 

 Waller of Beaconsfield, observing something masterly 

 in the designs and drapery of several of them, desired 

 I would treat with Mr. John Cuper for them. I 

 agreed with him for 75/., and soon afterwards they 

 were divided between these two gentlemen, and sent 

 part to Fawley Court, and part to Beaconsfield, where 

 they at present remain. 



" What statues and broken fragments yet remained 

 undisposed of in Arundel Gardens, the Duke of Nor- 

 folk obtained leave from the Crown to remove across 

 the water, just on the opposite shore, to a piece of 

 waste ground in the manor of Kennington, belonging 

 to the principality of Wales ; and one Mr. Arundel, a 

 relation of the Duke's I think, at the latter end of the 

 reign of King Charles II. or King James II., did 

 obtain a grant of the said piece of ground at a small 

 rent for a term of years, which was renewed on paying 

 a fine. (These are again referred to.) 



" What were thought not worth removing were 

 burled in the foundations of the buildings in the lower 

 parts of Norfolk Street and the other buildings on the 

 gardens. Mr. Aislabie, who inhabited one of these 

 houses, found a broken statue in his cellar, which he 

 carried to his seat In Yorkshire; and he tells me there 

 is a sarcophagus in the cellar of Mr. James Adamson, 

 who lives in the corner house on the left hand going 

 into the lower part of Norfolk Street. 



" As to those carried over the water and laid on the 

 Prince of Wales' ground, ftlr. Arundel, soon after he 

 obtained the grant of the ground, let it for a timber- 

 yard, and the person who took it built up a wharf; and 

 when the foundation of St. Paul's was laid (Mr. Cun- 

 ningham gives 1st May, 1G74, as the date when the 

 ground began to be cleared), great quantities of the 

 rubbish were brought over thither to raise the ground 

 which used to be overHowed every spring tide, so that, 

 by degrees, these statues and other marbles were 

 buried under the rubbish, and lay there for many years 

 forgotten. About 171 '.2 this piece of ground was 

 rented by my father, who, on digging foundations, fre- 

 quently met with some of these broken fragments, 

 which were taken up and laid on the surface of the 

 ground. The late Earl of Burlington liaving heard of 



* Mr. Cunningham mentions that the Waterloo 

 Bridge Road now runs over the very centre of these 

 mirdens. 



