It is now entirely occupied by modern wharves. In 1861 the largest of London fires since 1666 destroyed several of them. There were here stairs for landing. Strangways and four score rovers taken and landed at Bridgehouse, August 14, 1559.-Machin's Diary. Bridge Street (New), BLACKFRIARS, built (1765) when Fleet Ditch was arched over, is largely made up of Insurance Offices. Here, on the west side, No. 14, is the entrance to Bridewell (which see); on the east side are the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Station (opened 1864), and the Blackfriars Bridge Station of the Metropolitan District Railway. Horace Twiss, author of the Life of Eldon, died here in 1849. Bridge Street, WESTMINSTER, built when (old) Westminster Bridge was built (1739-1750), on the site of the Long Woodstaple. The south side was removed in 1866-1867 in order to lay open Palace Yard and the front of Westminster Hall. George III. suggested the improvement more than half a century earlier. Queen's Palace, June 8, 1804.-His Majesty fully authorises his most excellent Lord Eldon to give his consent to the House of Lords proceeding with the Bills, and in particular approves of the one for laying open Westminster Abbey to Palace Yard. . . . The King will with great pleasure, when it is proposed, agree to the purchasing and pulling down the west [south] side of Bridge Street and the houses fronting Westminster Hall; as it will be opening to the traveller that ancient pile which is the seat of administration of the best laws and the most uprightly administered. -Twiss, Life of Eldon, vol. i. p. 454. Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the New Palace of Westminster, son of W. E. Barry, stationer, was born in one of the houses removed to open that building to public view. Bridge Ward Within, one of the twenty-six wards of London, "so called of London Bridge, which bridge is a principal part of that ward."1 Boundaries.-North, Gracechurch Street, as far as Fenchurch Street and Lombard Street; south, the Thames; east, Monument Yard and the east wall of St. Magnus Church; west, Old Swan Stairs and Arthur Street West. Stow enumerates four churches in this ward :St. Magnus, London Bridge; St. Margaret, on Fish Street Hill (destroyed in the Fire and not rebuilt: the monument stands where it stood); St. Leonard's, Eastcheap (destroyed in the Fire and not rebuilt); St. Benet Gracechurch, taken down in 1867. Fishmongers' Hall is in this ward. [See all these names.] Bridge Ward Without, another name. for the borough of Southwark, one of the twenty-six wards of London, and so called from lying without, or beyond, the bounds of the City proper. Southwark was long an independent borough, a sanctuary for malefactors of every description, and was first annexed judicially to the City in the reign of Edward III. In 1550, in consideration of the payment of a sum of money into the Augmentation Office, Edward VI. resigned his right as lord of the 1 Stow, p. 79. manor, only reserving to himself two messuages, one called Suffolk Place, the other The Antelope. In the same year Sir John Aylophe, Knt., was appointed the first Alderman of Bridge Ward Without by the Mayor and Aldermen. The Charter of Edward VI. granted the Borough of Southwark to the City, and shortly after an Act of Common Council was passed; by this it was made a ward of the City and named Bridge Ward Without. The Mayor and Aldermen appointed the first Alderman for the new ward, the ward also directing that the inhabitants of the ward should for the future elect the Alderman as was done in other wards. This was never carried into effect.-Municipal Corporations, Second Report, 1837, p. 22. Bridge Ward Without is nominally governed by an Alderman, whose office is a sinecure, and therefore given always to the senior Alderman, who, on the death of his predecessor, vacates his former ward, and takes that of Bridge Ward Without as a matter of course.-. -Elmes. Not as a matter of course. It is offered to the senior Alderman, and if declined by him to the next senior, and so on until one accepts it. It was thus in 1871, when taken by the late Sir R. W. Carden, who was seventh on the list. Bridgewater House, ST. JAMES's, fronts the Green Park, and was built, 1847-1850, from the designs of [Sir] Charles Barry, R.A., for Francis, Earl of Ellesmere, great nephew and principal heir of Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater. The duke, dying in 1803, left his pictures, valued at £150,000, to his nephew, the first Duke of Sutherland (then Marquis of Stafford), with remainder to the marquis's second son, Lord Francis Egerton, afterwards Earl of Ellesmere. Whilst the collection was in the possession of the Duke of Sutherland it was known as the Stafford Gallery, and was described under that title in the well-known work of Mr. W. Y. Ottley, 4 vols., with engravings of all the pictures. We have conjectured that the Duke's early association with [Robert] Wood might possibly have generated the taste for old pictures, which ultimately displayed itself in the formation of the Bridgewater Collection. Dining one day with his nephew, Lord Gower, afterwards Duke of Sutherland, the Duke saw and admired a picture which the latter had picked up a bargain for some £10 at a broker's in the morning. "You must take me," he said, "to that d- -d fellow to-morrow."-Lord Ellesmere in Quarterly Review, March 1844. The collection contains 47 of the finest of the Orleans pictures (marked O. C. in the subjoined list); and consists of 127 Italian, Spanish, and French pictures; 158 Flemish, Dutch, and German pictures; and 33 English and German pictures—some 317 in all. This is independent of 150 original drawings by the three Caracci, and 80 by Giulio Romano, bought in 1836 by the Earl of Ellesmere from the Lawrence Collection. WORKS OF THE BEST MASTERS. 4. RAPHAEL.-La Vierge au Palmier. In a circle, 3 feet 9 inches in diameter -one of two Madonnas, painted at Florence in 1506 for his friend Taddeo Taddei, O. C. La plus Belle des Vierges, O. C. La Madonna del Passeggio, O. C. (considered by Passavant to be by Francisco Penni). La Vierge au Diadème (from Sir Joshua Reynolds's collection). 1. S. DEL PIOMBO.-The Entombment. 1. LUINI.-Female Head, O. C. I. GIULIO ROMANO.-Juno with the Infant Hercules, O. C. 4. TITIAN.-Diana and Acteon, O. C. (very fine). Diana and Calisto, O. C. (very fine). The Four Ages of Life, O. C. O. C. 2. PAUL VERONESE.-The Judgment of Solomon. of Adonis, O. C. Venus rising from the Sea, Venus bewailing the Death 3. TINTORETTO.-Portrait of a Venetian Gentleman, O. C. The Presentation in the Temple (small sketch). The Entombment, O. C. 1. CARAVAGGIO.-Pharaoh and the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea, a very characteristic work. 1. RIBERA (LO SPAGNOLETTO).—Christ teaching in the Temple, O. C. 3. VELAZQUEZ.-Head of Himself. Philip IV. of Spain (small full-length). Full-length Portrait of the natural son of the Duke d'Olivarez (life size). 2. SALVATOR ROSA.-Les Augures (very fine). 4. GASPAR POUSSIN.-Landscapes. 8. N. POUSSIN. - Seven called the Seven Sacraments, O. C. These were bought by the Regent, Philip, Duke of Orleans, for 120,000 livres; the Duke of Bridgewater gave £700 each for them at the Orleans sale. Moses striking the Rock (very fine), O. C. 7. AN. CARACCI.-St. Gregory at Prayer. O. C. St. John the Baptist, O. C. Vision of St. Francis, O. C. Danäe, 6. L. CARACCI.-Descent from the Cross, O. C. Dream of St. Catherine. St. Francis. A. Pietà. 2 Copies after Correggio. 5. DOMENICHINO.-Christ bearing the Cross, O. C. Calisto, O. C. Ecstasy of St. Francis, O. C. Female Saint. Landscape, O. C. 2. GUIDO.-Infant Christ sleeping on the Cross, O. C. Assumption of the Virgin (altar-piece). 2. GUERCINO.-David and Abigail, O. C. 2. PANNINI.-Interior of St. Peter's, Rome. 5. BERGHEM. Saints adoring the Trinity (study). 6. RUYSDAEL.-Landscapes, woods, and waterfalls. 4. CLAUDE.-Morning (a little picture). Morning, with the story of Apuleius. Evening, Moses before the Burning Bush. Morning (composition picture). 5. REMBRANDT.-Samuel and Eli. Portrait of Himself. Portrait of a Burgomaster. Portrait of a Lady. Head of a Man. 3. RUBENS.-St. Theresa (sketch of the large picture in the Museum at Antwerp). Mercury bearing Hebe to Olympus. Lady with a fan in her hand (half-length). 1. VAN DYCK.-The Virgin and Child. 2. BACKHUYSEN.-View near Amsterdam. View of the Texel. Entrance to the Brill. A 6. CUYP.-Five Landscapes. Landing of Prince Maurice at Dort (very fine). 7. Vandervelde.—Rising of the Gale (very fine). Calm. Two Naval Battles. A Fresh Breeze. 8. TENIERS.-Dutch Kermis or Village Fair (76 figures). Village Wedding. Winter Scene in Flanders. The Traveller. Ninepins. Alchymist in his Study. Two Interiors. 2. JAN STEEN.-The Schoolmaster (very fine). The Fishmonger. 6. A. OSTADE.-Interior of a Cottage. Lawyer in his Study. Village Alehouse. Dutch Peasant drinking a Health. Tric-Trac. Dutch Courtship. 3. G. Dow. Interior, with his own Portrait (very fine). Portrait of Himself. A Woman selling Herrings. 1. TERBURG.-Young Girl in white satin drapery. 1. N. MAES.-A Girl at work (very fine). 3. HOBBEMA. 3. METZU.-The Halt. Lady with Spaniel. Woman selling Herrings. 4. PHILIP WOUVERMANS.-Three Landscapes, with figures; the fourth, a very fine picture. Cavalry attacking Infantry. I. PETER WOUVERMANS. 1. PAUL POTTER.-Oxen in a Meadow (small). 1. (Unknown.) The Chandos portrait of Shakespeare, bought at the sale at Stowe, in 1848, for 355 guineas. It belonged to Sir W. Davenant the poet, Betterton the actor, and Mrs. Barry the actress. 1. DOBSON.-Head of Cleveland the Poet. 1. REYNOLDS.-Lord and Lady Clive with Child and Hindoo Nurse, colour very fine. I. GAINSBOROUGH.-Landscape, Cows in a Meadow. 2. RICHARD WILSON, R. A.-Replica of the Niobe in the National Gallery, and a small landscape. 1. G. S. NEWTON, R.A.-Young Lady hiding her face in grief. 1. J. M. W. TURNER, R.A.-Gale at Sea (nearly as fine as the fine Vandervelde in this collection, Rising of the Gale), as a companion to (or in competition with) which it was painted. 1. F. STONE.-Scene from Philip Van Artevelde. 1. PAUL DELAROCHE.-Charles I. in the Guard-room, insulted by the soldiers of the Parliament. Of the sculpture the most noteworthy is Foley's charming group of Ino with the Infant Bacchus. The house stands on the site of what was once Berkshire House, then Cleveland House, and afterwards Bridgewater House. In the supplemental volume to Roscoe's edition of Pope's Works (p. 114) there is a letter addressed "To Mr. Pope, to be left with Mr. Jervasse, at Bridgewater House, in Cleveland Court, St. James's." Cleveland House was bought by the first Duke of Bridgewater in 1730, after which it was called sometimes Bridgewater and sometimes Cleveland House. [See Berkshire House and Cleveland House.] Bridgewater Square, BARBICAN (north side). A new, pleasant, though very small square on the east side of Aldersgate Street.— Hatton, 1708, p. 11. Bridgewater Square, a very handsome open place, with very good buildings, well inhabited. The middle is neatly enclosed with palisado pales and set round with trees, which renders the place very delightful; and where the square is, stood the house of the Earl of Bridgewater.-Strype, B. iii. p. 93. The Earl of Bridgewater's house fronted Barbican; the grounds extended northwards, and are marked by BRIDGEWATER GARDENS (now Fann Street), north of Bridgewater Square. Both Square and Gardens. have been partially cleared away in the course of recent improvements. Brill (The), SOMERS TOWN. Stukeley,1 the antiquary, imagined that he had discovered, in a place called The Brill, extending northward from the New Road (now the Euston Road) to (old) St. Pancras Church, the distinct traces of a Roman camp, 500 paces long and 400 wide, "the prætorium, still very plain," being "over against the church," and the Fleet river flowing through its midst. The camp, the ardent antiquary had no difficulty in persuading himself, was that in which Julius Cæsar lodged his army of 40,000 men, and "made the two British kings friends-Casvelhan and his nephew Mandubrace." And 1 Itinerarium, vol. ii. p. 1. BRITISH AND FOREIGN SAILORS' SOCIETY 249 not only was he able to assign the place where were Cæsar's quarters, but those of his generals, M. Crassus, Cominus, etc. His description is accompanied by a plan in which all the arrangements of the camp as well as the surface of the country are fully set forth. Stukeley was greatly enamoured of his discovery, and says, "Whenever I take a walk thither, I enjoy a visionary scene of the whole Camp of Cæsar as described in the plate before us; a scene just as if beheld, and Cæsar present." There can be no doubt that the whole was a "vision." No subsequent antiquary confirmed the discovery, though it must be confessed that as late as 1827 Mr. Joseph Fussell, an excellent artist in his way, sketched what he supposed to be the prætorium.1 Lysons thought it "not improbable that the moated areas near the church were the sites of the vicarage and rectory house; which in a Survey of the parish of Pancras, bearing date 1251, are described as two area, one prope ecclesiam, the other ad aquilonem ecclesia."2 Others have supposed that the lines Stukeley saw were traces of the entrenchments thrown up by the Londoners beyond the Duke of Bedford's house during the Long Parliament; but neither that nor the "battery and breastwork on the hill east of Black Mary's Hole," as laid down on the Plan of the Parliamentary Fortifications, agrees with Stukeley's very precise description. However it may be, all traces of entrenchments have long since been cleared away. When Stukeley wrote (October 1768) "three or four sorry houses commemorated the name of the Brill." But a few years later (about 1768) Somers Town began to be built and the Brill proper (the fields by the New Road) was quickly covered with houses; its name was commemorated" in Brill Place, Brill Terrace, Brill Row, and Brill Crescent, and until quite recently the district was popularly known as The Brill. It was a region of small shops and mean houses, and on Saturday nights, at the eastern end, there was usually a sort of costermonger's market with cheap jacks, itinerant auctioneers, vendors of second-hand wares, and the like. But the formation of the great terminus and viaduct of the Midland Railway and the clearance for the road and works west of it have swept away that end of the Brill and altered its character. Britain's Burse. [See New Exchange.] The first edition of The Tragedy of Othello, the Moore of Venice, was published at The Eagle and Child in Brittans Bursse, 1662. Britannia Theatre, HIGH STREET, HOXTON, built, 1858, on the site of the Britannia Tea Gardens. A favourite east-end house, excellently built for sight and hearing. British and Foreign Bible Society. [See Bible Society.] British and Foreign Sailors' Society (including the "Port of London Society," and "Bethel Union Society"), for promoting the educational, moral, and religious improvement of seamen. Sailors' Institute, Mercers Street, Shadwell. 1 It is engraved in Hone's Every Day Book, vol. ii. p. 1119. Office, 2 Environs, vol. ii. p. 613. |