518 LON 
Amidft tlie area wide they took their (land, 
Where the tall maypole once o’erlook’d the Strand: 
But now, fo Anne and piety ordain, 
A church collefts the faints of Drury-lane. 
We may, at a proper time, fay fomething more upon 
the origin of May-games and May-poles, which, though 
now out of fafhion, are Hill connected with fome parts of 
our hiftory.—See p. 72, 73, and 451, of this volume ; alfo 
the article Game, vol. viii. p. aoi-3. _ 
Weft ward from Eflex Houfe, mentioned vol. xi. p. 68. 
flood the bifhop of Bath’s inn, which in the reign of Ed¬ 
ward VI. was fevered from the bifhopric, and granted to 
lord Thomas Seymour, high admiral, when it received the 
name of Seymour Place. It came afterwards into the 
pofleflion of Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel, who, on 
the attainder of the high admiral, purchafed it of Ed¬ 
ward VI. with feveral other mefluages in the parifli, for 
41I. 6s. 8d. when its appellation was changed to Arundel 
Houfe. Though this building covered great extent of 
ground, it appears from Thane’s views of it to have been 
low and mean. When it was pulled down, and the four 
flreets bearing the family name and titles were erefted 
on its file, there was a defign to build a manfion-houfb 
for the family out of the accumulated rents, on that part 
of the gardens next to the river, and an aft of parliament 
was obtained for the purpofe ; but the plan was never 
executed. We have feen two views of this houfe on the 
bank of the Thames well executed, though on a very finail 
fcale, by Hollar ; and they fold for eleven guineas each, 
although four guineas might have covered the engraved 
part of the copper upon which they were originally etched. 
They were fcarce—and our readers know that, with print, 
pifture, coin, and manufcript, colleftors, fcarcity is every 
thing! It turns nonfenfe into wit, unfinifbed engravings 
into mafter-pieces, daubs into fine produftions, rubbilh 
and obliterated pieces of metal into valuable medals, and 
gives credit to unedited or unreprinted old pamphlets, 
which to their want of intrinfic merit alone owe their 
having never been thought worthy of revival. Seep. 317. 
At the weft end of Wych-ltreet, and the fouth end of 
Drury-lane, flood the ancient manfion of the noble fami¬ 
lies of Drury and Craven, and alfo that of the queen of 
Bohemia, the unfortunate daughter of James I. The re¬ 
mains of the latter have been lately taken down to make 
way for a new equeftrian theatre, under the direftion of 
Mr, Aftley, called the Olympic Pavilion, which, in com¬ 
petition with the Amphitheatre near Weftminller-bridge, 
exhibits feats of horfemanfbip, rope-dancing, &c. See. 
Drury-houfe was built, according to Pennant, by fir 
William Drury, a moft able commander in the Iriih wars, 
who unfortunately fell in a duel with fir John Boroughs, 
in a foolifh quarrel about precedency. During the time 
of the fatal difeontents of the favourite Eftex, it was the 
-place where his imprudent advifers fefolved on fuch coun- 
fels as terminated in the deftruftion of him and his ad¬ 
herents. This houfe afterwards came into pofieffion of 
•the heroic William lord Craven, who, in 1673, was created 
earl Craven. Part of it is now a public houfe ; and on 
,the fite of another part is erefted a court called Craven- 
buildings, at the upper end of which was a portrait of this 
hero in armour, with a truncheon in his hand, mounted 
on a white horfe. It was fuppofed that this illuftrious 
nobleman afpired to the hand ot his royal neighbour, 
whofe battles he had fought; and that he fucceeded, and 
married her privately. This conjefture was not a little 
ftrengthened fome years ago, when, on digging in the 
ftahte-yard behind both houfes, a fubterraneous commu¬ 
nication was difeovered between them. 
Crofnng over from Little Drury-lane, we find Somerfet 
Houfe.-—This is one of the nobleft pieces of architect ure 
which London can boall of; and, when you have feen 
St. Paul’s bafihea and the royal looking palace of Somer¬ 
fet-Houfe, you leek in vain within the bills of mortality 
for any thing that can be compared to them. Foreigners, 
D O N. 
ufed to the lofty ruins of ancient Rome, and of the high 
edifices of modern Paris, are naturally apt to find this 
building too low; and indeed, were it twenty feet higher, 
it would have much more effeft and majefty. The cele¬ 
brated and juftly-admired hofpital at Greenwich labours 
under the fame *defeft. If Somerfet Houfe difplays a no¬ 
ble appearance in the Strand, what (hall we fay of the vievr 
of it from the Thames ? Here the aftonillied eye ranges 
from the rippling furface of the waves to the top of the 
“grand corps,” which is the centre of the whole; and a 
noble terrace fupported by arches, through which the cu¬ 
rious fight winds along, as we row before them, into myf- 
tarious cavities, feems to defy other countries to boaft of 
a more majeltic fabric. 
It was originally built, about the year 1549, by the 
duke of Somerfet, uncle to Edward VI. and proteftor of 
England, who demolifhed the palaces of the bilhops of 
Chefter and Worcefter, and an inn of chancery called 
Strand-inn, with the church of St. Mary le Strand, that 
flood there ; an-d alfo the Strand-bridge. Mr. Pegge gives 
a particular account of thefe places refpeftively ; and then 
proceeds—“What is now a llreet, called the Strand, was 
at that time no more than a highway, leading from London 
weftward to the village of Charing, where Hood queen 
Eleanor’s crofs, and a few houfes; from whence, in a right 
line, you was led on, through open fields, to St. James’s 
houfe, lately an hofpital, but then a royal houfe. This 
highway, being the property of the crown, as fuch was 
eafily modified to accommodate the king’s uncle, and con- 
fequently there was little difficulty or hardfcip upon the 
fubjeft in the change it underwent by levelling ; and on. 
the whole, perhaps, the road was rendered better by the 
change.” By Stowe’s account, there was not any current 
of water under this bridge ; for, fays he, in the autograph 
remaining in the Britifh Mufeum, “then had ye, in the 
high llreet, a fair bridge, called Strand-bridge, and under 
it a lane, which went down to the Strand, fo called from, 
being a banque of the river of Thames.” But here Stowe 
fpeaks of it as if it were in his own time, and not with 
reference to the reign of king Edward VI. or toany prior 
period. Maitland, on the other hand, tells us, that there 
was a rivulet under the bridge; for, fays he, “a little to 
the eaft of the prefent Catharine-ftreet, and in the high 
llreet, was a hand fome bridge, denominated, from its litu- 
ation, Strand-bridge, through which ran a final! vvater- 
courfe from the fields, which, gliding along a lane below, 
had its influx to the Thames near Someriet-ftairs.” In 
this account we ffiould incline to believe Maitland ; be- 
caufe lanes do not often become rivers, though the beds 
or rivers, by a diverfion of their courfes, may become lanes. 
Befides demolilhing the places we ha>'e mentioned, the 
duke availed himfelf of the materials he obtained front 
the church of St. John of Jerusalem with its tower, (fee 
p. 106.) and the cloillers on tile north fide of :St. Paul’s 
church, together with the chapel and xharnel-lioule, all 
of which.he caufed to be deltroyed lor this purpofe; .and 
the building from him obtained the name of Somerfet- 
houfe : but, the duke being foon after attainted, it fell to 
the crown. 
In this palace Anne of Denmark, queen to James I. 
kept her court, whence it was called Denmark-houfe dur¬ 
ing that reign; but it foon after recovered the name of 
the founder. It was afterwards the reiidence of queen 
Catharine, dowager of Charles II. and, by an aft palled 
in the fecond year of the reign of his. prefent inajetty 
George III. it was fettled upon his queen for life; but 
has fince been exchanged for Buckinghatn-houfe. 
This palace confided of feveral courts, and had a gar¬ 
den behind it fmiated on the bank of the Thames. The 
front next the Strand was adorned with columns and 
other decorations, and in the centre was a handfome gate 
that opened into a quadrangle. On the fouth fide of this 
quadrangle was a piazza before the great hall, or guard- 
room : beyond which were other courts that lay on a de- 
feent towards the garden. The back-front next ■ tits* 
Thames 
