Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, by deed dated February 6, 1681. Lord Arlington sold the property the same year to a Mr. Pym, who for many years inhabited one of the largest houses in this street, and in whose family the ground still remains. Sir Dudley North, the famous merchant (d. 1691), had a passion for watching buildings in progress. His brother Roger says: "Wherever there was a parcel of building going on he went to survey it; and particularly the high buildings in Arlington Street, which were scarce covered in before all the windows were wry. mouthed, fascias turned SS., and divers stacks of chimnies sunk right down, drawing roof and floors with them; and the point was to find out from whence all this decay proceeded.-Lives of the Norths, vol. iii. p. 210. Eminent Inhabitants.-Duchess of Cleveland (1691-1696), after the death of Charles II., and when her means were too small to allow of her living any longer in Cleveland House. Duchess of Buckingham (1692-1694), the widow of Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, and daughter of Fairfax, the Parliamentary general. was neglected by the Duke, and was called in derision, during the Duke's lifetime, the "Duchess Dowager." Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, before her marriage, in the house of her father, the Marquis of Dorchester, afterwards Duke of Kingston. In Arlington Street, next door to the Marquis of Dorchester, is a large house to be let, with a garden and a door into the Park.—Advertisement in No. 207 of The Tatler, August 5, 1710. William Pulteney, Earl of Bath (1715), in a house on the west or Green Park side. Sir Robert Walpole became a resident here in 1716, and lived next door to Pulteney. We're often taught it doth behove us To think those greater who're above us; Who live above you twice two story; And from my garret can look down On the whole street of Arlington. FIELDING, Epistle to Sir Robert Walpole, 1730. His son Horace was born here in 1717. When Sir Robert went out of office in 1742, he bought a smaller house, No. 5, on the east or "non-ministerial side," in which he died (1745-1746), and the lease of which he left to Horace, who lived in it till his removal, in 1779, to Berkeley Square. June 30, 1742.-He (Sir Robert Walpole) goes into a small house of his own in Arlington Street, opposite to where we formerly lived.-Horace Walpole to Sir H. Mann (Letters, vol. i. p. 181). January 6, 1743.-Next, as to Arlington Street: Sir Robert is in a middling kind of house, which has long been his, and was let; he has taken a small one next to it for me, and they are laid together.- Walpole to Mann (Letters, vol. i. p. 223). September 30, 1750.—I was sitting in my own dining-room on Sunday night, the clock had not struck eleven, when I heard a loud cry of “Stop_thief!” a highwayman had attacked a post-chaise in Piccadilly, within fifty yards of this house: the fellow was pursued, rode over the watchman, almost killed him and escaped.-Walpole to Mann (Letters, vol. ii. p. 227). From December 1, 1768.-Nothing can be more dignified than this position. my earliest memory Arlington Street has been the ministerial street. The Duke of Grafton is actually coming into the house of Mr. Pelham, which my Lord President is quitting, and which occupies too the ground on which my father lived; and Lord Weymouth has just taken the Duke of Dorset's: yet you and I, I doubt, shall always be on the wrong side of the way.-Walpole to George Montagu (Letters, vol. v. p. 136). October 21, 1779.-You perceive by the date that I have removed into my new house [Berkeley Square]. It is seeming to take a new lease of life. I was born in Arlington Street, lived there about fourteen years, returned thither, and passed thirty-seven more.- Walpole to Mason (Letters, vol. vii. p. 262). Walpole's house, after passing through many hands, became the property of Edward Ellice, Esq., M.P., and then till his death of the Right Hon. Sir R. J. Phillimore. A Society of Arts tablet has been placed on the front of the house. No. 18 is the residence of Sir John Pender, M.P., and contains a fine collection of modern pictures, including, among others, Landseer's Highland Shepherd in a Storm and Dead Stag; Venice, Mercury and Argus, and Wreckers, by Turner; Gipseys' Toilette and La Gloria, by Philip; Napoleon crossing the Alps, by Delaroche; Francesca and Paolo, by Ary Scheffer, and others by Stanfield, Nasmyth, Creswick, Linnell, Faed, and Millais. Lord Carteret lived at the last house in the street on the Green Park side.-Lord Carteret to Swift, Arlington Street, June 20, 1724. He built the present house about 1734. Henry Pelham, at No. 17, on the site where Sir R. Walpole had lived, the house built by William Kent, now the Earl of Yarborough's. Walpole speaks of "the great room as "remarkable for magnificence." August 7, 1732.-Lady Carteret writes me word that she has bought the ground her house stood on in Arlington Street, and that my Lord designs to build there.— Mrs. Delany, Correspondence, vol. i. p. 369. Hough, the good old Bishop of Worcester, is dead. I have been looking at the "fathers in God," that have been flocking over the way this morning to Mr. Pelham, who is just come to his new house. This is absolutely the ministerial street: Carteret has a house here too; and Lord Bath seems to have lost his chance by quitting this street.—Walpole to Mann, Arlington Street, May 12, 1743. Among the works of art at Lord Yarborough's are-Bust of Laurence Sterne, by Nollekens; marble group of Neptune and Tritons, by Bernini, purchased of the executors of Sir Joshua Reynolds for £500; Frost Scene, by Cuyp, a first-rate specimen; two fine pictures (The Wreck and The Vintage) by J. M. W. Turner, R.A. No. 19 is the Earl of Zetland's. No. 20, the town-house of the Marquises of Salisbury, was lately rebuilt by the present Marquis. David Mallet was living here 1746-1747. Charles James Fox, for a short time, at No. 14. At No. 14 lived and died General Fitzpatrick.— Dyce's Table Talk of Samuel Rogers, p. 105. Lord Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty, the friend of Pitt, lived at No. 6. Lord Nelson.— In the winter of 1800-1801 [January 13, 1801] I was breakfasting with Lord and Lady Nelson, at their lodgings in Arlington Street, and a cheerful conversation was passing on indifferent subjects, when Lord Nelson spoke of something which had been done or said by "dear Lady Hamilton," upon which Lady Nelson rose from her chair, and exclaimed with much vehemence, "I am sick of hearing of dear Lady Hamilton, and am resolved that you shall give up either her or me." Lord Nelson with perfect calmness said, “Take care, Fanny, what you say; I love you sincerely; but I cannot forget my obligations to Lady Hamilton, or speak of her otherwise than with affection and admiration." Without one soothing word or gesture, but muttering something about her mind being made up, Lady Nelson left the room, and shortly after drove from the house. They never lived together afterwards.-Mr. Haslewood (Lord Nelson's executor) to Sir Harris Nicolas (Despatches, vol. vii. p. 392). The Duke of York, who died (1827) in the house of the Duke of Rutland (No. 16) in this street. The house was afterwards occupied by the Viscount Dudley. No. 21 was the residence of Lord Sefton, renowned for his dinners, dressed by Ude. It was afterwards long occupied by M. Van der Weyer, the distinguished Belgian minister and accomplished scholar. No. 22 was long the residence of the Marquis Camden. It was afterwards the residence of the Duke of Beaufort, who had the house decorated in fresco work by Mr. E. Latilla, 1839-1840, the drawing-room by Mr. Owen Jones. It was purchased by the Duke of Hamilton in December 1852 for £60,000. Hamilton house, as it was then called, covers nearly half an acre, and has a frontage to the Green Park corresponding to that in Arlington Street. It was sold by auction in December 1867, and is now occupied by Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, Bart. Armourers' and Brasiers' Hall, 81 COLEMAN STREET, CITY, the corner of London Wall, was erected 1840 from the designs of Mr. J. H. Good jun., architect, on the site of the old Hall of the Armourers; a Company incorporated by Henry VI., in 1453, by the name and designation of "The Brothers and Sisters of the Fraternity or Guild of St. George of the Mistery of the Armourers of the City of London." Company, however, is believed to have been founded before the beginning of the 14th century, for records are in existence showing that at that time (1307-1327) the Company had vested in it the right of search of armour and weapons. About the year 1515 the craft of Blacksmiths was incorporated with the Company of Armourers. The Company of Brasiers, which is believed to have been originally incorporated by Edward IV. about 1479, was joined with the Armourers in 1708. In the Hall is Northcote's well-known picture of The Entry into London of Richard II. and Bolingbroke. The old plate of the Armourers is hardly to be surpassed by that of any of the great Companies of London. Observe a maser inscribed "Edward Frere gave the Maser," etc. (1579); silver gilt cup inscribed "Pra fir John Richmond;" six pounced wine cups, the gift, in 1633, of Gawen Helme; 72 very large table spoons; the Dixon Cup of 1598, and the Mexfield Cup of 1608. In the Horse Armoury at the Tower is a noble suit of armour, richly gilt, made and presented, it is said, by the Company to Charles I. when Prince of Wales. The records of the Company are silent on the subject. Army and Navy Club, PALL MALL, corner of George Street, St. James's Square. Built 1848-1851, from the designs of Messrs. Parnell and Smith, and opened to the members in February 1851. The façade is closely modelled on that of Sansovino's Palazzo Cornaro on the Grand Canal at Venice. The club consists of 2550 members. Entrance fee £40; annual subscription, by old members, 7 guineas, but members elected after June 1878 pay 10 guineas. Art Union of London, Office, No. 112 STRAND. Established 1836, and incorporated by 9 & 10 Vict. c. 48, "to aid in extending the Love of the Arts of Design within the United Kingdom, and to give encouragement to Artists beyond that afforded by the patronage of individuals.' Each subscription of a guinea entitles the subscriber to an engraving and one chance for prizes varying from £10 to £200. The subscription is annual, and the prizes are drawn every April, previous to the opening of the London Exhibitions, from whence the works of art are required to be selected. Arthur's Club House, 69 and 70 ST. JAMES'S STREET, derives its name from a Mr. Arthur, the proprietor of White's Chocolate House in the same street. Arthur died in June 1761, in St. James's Place; and in the following October Mr. Mackreth, who had been, it is said, billiard marker and was now head waiter, married Arthur's only child, and Arthur's Chocolate House, as it was then called, became the property of this Mr. Mackreth, who purchased the Cobham and East Horsley estates, was knighted, and acquired considerable notoriety in Surrey as Sir Robert Mackreth. Everything goes on as it did-luxury increases—all public places are full, and Arthur's is the resort of old and young; courtiers and anti-courtiers; nay, even of ministers; and at this time !—Lady Hervey's Letters, June 15, 1756. The present building was designed by Mr. Thomas Hopper, 18251827. [See Almack's, White's.] Arthur's Show, an exhibition of Archery held at Mile End Green by a toxophilite Society of London citizens, who styled themselves, or were styled, "The famous order of Knights of Prince Arthur," according to an account of the Society published in 1583 by Richard Robinson; but who, according to a tract by Richard Mulcaster, master of St. Paul's school, published in 1581, were called "The Friendly and Frank Fellowship of Prince Arthur's Knights in and about the City of London." The associates, fifty-eight in number, assumed the arms and the names of the Knights of the Round Table. It was one of Justice Shallow's boasts that he had been of the fellowship: "I remember at Mile End Green (when I lay at Clement's Inn) I was Sir Dagonet in Arthur's Show." Henry VIII. visited and patronised the show, and gave an allowance or charter to the fraternity.1 Artillery Ground, Bishopsgate. [See next article.] 1 Nares, vol. i. p. 136; Douce, Illustrations, vol. i. p. 461. VOL. I F Artillery Ground, between the west side of FINSBURY SQUARE and BUNHILL Row, and extending northward from behind the houses in Chiswell Street and Bunhill Fields Burial Ground; the exercising ground of the Honourable Artillery Company of the City of London. The Honourable Artillery Company is sometimes confounded with the old City Train Bands, but was, from its origin, a distinct and additional company, formed as "A Nursery for Soldiers" for the defence of the city.1 A charter was granted to the Fraternity of Artillery, in great and small ordnance, by Henry VIII., but surrendered for a new charter with larger powers in 1585, during the fear of the Spanish invasion. The City troops mustered in great strength at the camp at Tilbury, when the captains were selected from the Artillery Company and called Captains of the Artillery Garden. But, the danger past, the assemblies and exercises were neglected, the Company fell into decay, and the Artillery Garden was reserved for the practice grounds of the Tower. 2 April 20, 1669.-In the afternoon we walked to the old Artillery Ground, near the Spitalfields, where I never was before, but now by Captain Deane's invitation did go to see his new gun tryed, this being the place where the officers of the Ordnance do try all their great guns.-Pepys. About 1610 Philip Hudson, a lieutenant of the Company, set himself energetically to bring about its revival. A considerable number of wealthy citizens, as well as many country gentlemen, joined the Company and undertook to bear the necessary expenses; the King, James I., gave them his patronage, and Prince Charles entered the ranks. It is from the year 1610 that the Honourable Artillery Company itself dates its present existence. July 3, 1612.-Order in Council that the citizens of London be permitted to exercise arms in the Artillery Garden, or other convenient place, provided their number be not more than 250.-Calendar of State Papers, James I., 1611-1613, p. 137. January 1, 1616.-Grant to Sir Richard Morrison of the Lieutenancy of the Ordnance and keeping of the storehouses near Aldgate, and the Artillery Garden, for life.-Cal. James I., 1611-1613, p. 342. Henry VIII. gave to the Fraternity of Artillery, for their exercise ground, a field belonging to the dissolved priory and hospital of St. Mary Spital, beyond Bishopsgate, known as the Teazle Close, and this was the original Artillery Garden so often mentioned: the site is now marked by Artillery Lane and Artillery Street, Bishopsgate Street Without. According to Petowe, the poet of the Company, writing shortly after its revival— The Teazle ground . . . by indenture bearing date, Th' Eighth of that name ;-the convent did conjoin Cross-bows, hand guns, and of archery, For full three hundred years, excepting three. Then is there a large close called Tasel Close, for that there were tasels planted 1 Strype's Stow, B. v. p. 457. 2 Ibid, B. ii. p. 96. |