"1

makeshift house, and "rebuilt it from the ground," says Cibber, “as it is now standing." He did not live, however, to see his work completed; and this, the third theatre on the same spot, was opened (December 18, 1714) with a prologue, spoken by his son, John Rich (died 1761), dressed in a suit of mourning. John Rich's success in this house was very great. Here he introduced pantomimes among us for the first time-playing the part of harlequin himself, and achieving a reputation that has not yet been eclipsed. Here Quin played all the characters for which he is still famous. Here, January 29, 1727-1728, the Beggar's Opera was originally produced, and with such success that it was acted on sixty-two nights in one season, and occasioned a saying, still celebrated, that it made Gay rich and Rich gay.2 Here Miss Lavinia Fenton, the original Polly Peachum of this piece, won the heart of the Duke of Bolton, whose Duchess she subsequently became; and here Fenton's Mariamne was first produced. Rich removed from Lincoln's Inn Fields to the first Covent Garden Theatre, so called in the modern acceptation of the name, on December 7, 1732.

The house in Portugal Street was subsequently leased for a short time by Giffard, from Goodman's Fields; and in 1756 was transformed into a barrack for 1400 men. It was afterwards Spode's and then Copeland's China Repository, and was taken down August 28, 1848, for the purpose of enlarging the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. The principal entrance was in Portugal Street.

Lincoln's Inn Hall and Library, a noble structure (Philip Hardwick, R.A., architect) in the Tudor style, built of red brick with stone dressings, on the east side of Lincoln's Inn Fields. First stone laid April 20, 1843. Publicly opened by Queen Victoria in person, October 30, 1845. Total cost £88,000. The hall is 120 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 64 feet high. The roof is of carved oak. The north wall is covered with the grand fresco by G. F. Watts, R.A., ot the "School of Legislation." In this great work-50 feet by 34 feetthe painter has assembled the chief lawgivers of every age, in the same way as Raphael in his "School of Theology" has brought together the chief teachers of religion. In the drawing-room are portraits of Sir Matthew Hale, by Wright; Lord Chancellor Bathurst, by Nathaniel Dance; and Sir William Grant, Master of the Rolls, by Harlowe.

The library is a handsome room, 80 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 44 feet high. The books number over 40,000 volumes,—a well-selected general collection, with many particular works of great rarity and value. Among them are the unique fourth volume of Prynne's Records, for which the Society paid £335 at the Stow sale in 1849; and the rich collection of books and MSS., the bequest of Sir Matthew Hale, “a treasure," says Hale in his will, "that are not fit for every man's view.”

1 Cibber's Apology, ed. 1740, p. 352.

2 There is at Mr. Murray's [see Albemarle Street] a capital picture by Hogarth of a scene in

the Beggar's Opera, containing portraits of the original cast of actors. The theatre itself is engraved in Wilkinson.

The Old Hall, the theatre of the ancient feasts and revels, is a good room, 62 feet by 32 feet. It was divided and used for the Courts of Chancery. This hall has lately been restored. Observe.-Hogarth's picture of Paul before Felix, painted for the Benchers on the recommendation of Lord Mansfield, as the appropriation of a legacy to the Inn of £200; statue of Lord Erskine, by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A. Sir James Mackintosh delivered his lectures on the Law of Nature and Nations (1799-1800) in the Old Hall.

The stately range of red brick and stone buildings opposite the Hall, of a Gothic type somewhat anterior to the neighbouring buildings, are the New Chambers, erected in 1872 and following years from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott.

The gardens-originally known as Coney-garth, from the rabbits which burrowed there, and which the students were forbidden to shoot at with arrows-were famous till the erection of the hall, by which they were curtailed and seriously injured.

The walks of Lincoln's Inn

Under the Elms.-Ben Jonson, The Devil is an Ass.

Much hurry and business had to-day perplexed me into a mood too thoughtful for going into company; for which reason, instead of the tavern, I went into Lincoln's Inn Walks; and having taken a round or two, I sate down, according to the allowed familiarity of these places, on a Bench.-The Tatler, May 10, 1709, No. 13.

I was last week taking a solitary walk in the Garden of Lincoln's Inn (a favour that is indulged me by several of the Benchers who are my intimate friends, and grown old with me in this neighbourhood) when, etc.-The Tatler, November 29, 1709, No. 100.

Ten years later (The Theatre, No. 3, January 3, 1719-1720) Steele writes: "As I walked in Lincoln's Inn Gardens while I was musing concerning the course of human affairs in the Upper Walk."

Lincoln's Inn New Square was built near the close of the 17th century on Little Lincoln's Inn Fields, and only in part belongs to the Inn of Court called Lincoln's Inn. It was commenced by Henry Serle, a bencher, and the builder was Dr. Barebone, "the famous projector," who appointed John Asgill, barrister of Lincoln's Inn, the notorious pamphleteer, his executor, assigning as his reason that his creditors might never be paid. Asgill accepted the trust; called the creditors together in the Hall of Lincoln's Inn, and after reading the will said, “ Gentlemen, you have heard the Doctor's testament: I assure you I will religiously attend to the wishes of the deceased." In No. 1 New Square resided for twenty-three years Arthur Murphy, the dramatist and friend of Johnson. Sir Samuel Romilly, at No. 2, and afterwards at No. 6. Sir William Grant in No. 3. The Hon. Charles Yorke, the Lord Chancellor of a day, was living in No. 1o when, on June 27, 1752, a fire broke out which destroyed both No. 10 and No. II. The papers of the great Lord Somers perished on this occasion. In the middle of the square was a small column of the Corinthian order, from the design of Inigo Jones, the top supported by a sun-dial, and

at the four corners of the pedestal tritons holding shells which spouted water. This was erected by Cavendish Weedon, of Lincoln's Inn, but in 1817 it was taken away and replaced by a gas lamp.

Lincoln's Inn Old Square, or Old Buildings, originally GATEHOUSE COURT. In No. 1 Old Square, in a small set of chambers three stories high, then called “Gatehouse Court," the Hon. William Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, began the study of the law. It was on the ground floor of No. 24 that Cromwell's Secretary, Thurloe, had chambers from November 1646 to November 1659, and at the latter date he removed to the second and third floors of No. 13, where he died, February 21, 1668. Many years afterwards the Thurloe Papers were discovered at No. 13. No. 13 has been pulled down to lengthen Lincoln's Inn Chapel, but a Society of Arts tablet has been placed on the Chancery Lane front of No. 24.

The principal part of this collection consists of a series of papers, discovered in the reign of King William, in a false ceiling in the garrets belonging to Secretary Thurloe's Chambers No. XIII. near the Chapel in Lincoln's Inn, by a clergyman who had borrowed those chambers during the long vacation of his friend Mr. Tomlinson the owner of them. This clergyman soon after disposed of the papers to John Lord Somers, then Lord High Chancellor of England, who caused them to be bound up in sixty-seven volumes in folio.-Preface to Thurloe's State Papers, 7 vols. fol. 1742.

Lindsay House, CHELSEA, was built by Sir Theodore Mayerne, physician to James I. and Charles I., bought by Bertie, Earl of Lindsay, Lord Great Chamberlain, and rebuilt by him about 1668. It was afterwards (1694-1699) occupied by the Duchess of Mazarin, niece of the Cardinal, one of the most prominent beauties of Charles II.'s Court. St. Evremond was in a great measure domiciled in her house and assisted in her somewhat equivocal entertainments. Lindsay House was sold in 1751 to the Moravian Society, whose Bishop, Count Zinzendorf, resided here as long as he remained in England. The chapel and burial-ground still existing behind Lindsay House were formed by him on part of the gardens and stabling of Beaufort House. The house was subsequently divided into separate dwellings, and called Lindsay Row; the large one in the centre, named Lindsay House, became the residence of Henry Constantine Jennings, the celebrated collector. He is better known as "Dog Jennings," from his discovery of an ancient sculpture which he, remembering the anecdote in Plutarch, recognised as representing the dog in Alcibiades, from it being without a tail. His mansion commanded a fine view of the river, but as the windows were never cleaned, nothing could be seen from them. His predecessor in the house was the Marquis of Buckinghamshire, his old schoolfellow at Westminster.1 Lindsay House was afterwards occupied by the eminent engineers Brunel, father and son, and afterwards by Bramah, the inventor of the hydraulic press, and then by John Martin, the painter of Belshazzar's Feast.

1 An amusing account of a visit to him is given in the Annual Biog. and Obituary for 1820.

Lindsay House, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS (No. 59), was built by Inigo Jones, for Robert Bertie, Earl of Lindsay, General of the King's forces at the outbreak of the Civil War under Charles I. He fell at the battle of Edgehill, and Clarendon has left a glowing sketch of his character.

The Lord Lindsey his dwelling house is on the west side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, a handsome building of the Ionic order and strong beautiful court gate, consisting of six fine spacious brick piers with curious iron work between them, and on the piers are placed very large and beautiful vases.-Hatton's New View of London, 1708, p. 627. The fourth Earl of Lindsay was created Duke of Ancaster, and Lindsay House was for some time distinguished as Ancaster House, The Duke of Ancaster subsequently sold it to the proud Duke of Somerset, who married the widow of the Mr. Thynne, murdered by Count Koningsmarck. The open balustrade at the top was originally surmounted by six urns.

Linnæan Society, BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY. Their previous house was at No. 32 Soho Square, formerly the residence of Sir Joseph Banks. The Society, founded 1788, incorporated - 1802, was established for the cultivation of natural history in all its branches, and more especially of the natural history of Great Britain and Ireland. The Society possesses a good library and valuable collections of natural history, including the herbaria of Linnæus and of Sir J. E. Smith.

Lion Key, Lower Thames STREET.

Next to this [Billingsgate] is Sommer's Key, which took that name of one Sommer dwelling there, as did Lion Key of one Lion, owner thereof, and since of the sign of a Lion.-Stow, p. 78.

When the Duchess of Suffolk escaped from Bishop Gardiner's persecution she, after much difficulty, took boat from Lion Key

The Duchess of Suffolk seeing this,
Whose life likewise the tyrant sought

For fear of death was fain to fly,
And leave her house most secretly.

Duchess of Suffolk's Calamity.

Okey, the regicide, was a chandler at this quay.1 When James, Duke of York (James II.), on the night of April 20, 1648, made his escape from St. James's Palace, he put on women's clothes in the house of one Loe, a surgeon, near London Bridge; and, attended by Bamfield and his footman, went "to Lyon Key, where there waited a barge of four oars, into which they entered, and so went down the river, the tide serving for the purpose." 2

Liquorpond Street, from the north end of Gray's Inn Lane to the north end of Leather Lane. Strype (1720) describes the street, but without any attempt at a derivation of the name. It is, he says, "handsome and large, with pretty good buildings, indifferently in

1 Wood's Fasti,. p. 78.

VOL. II

2 Clarke's James II., vol. i. p. 35.

2 D

Hatton (1708) writes, "Liquorpond, or Lickapan, Street," but the last, no doubt, is only the vulgar pronunciation. For a long period the south side of the street has been occupied by Messrs. Reid's great porter brewery, and in Strype's time there seem to have been several breweries in the immediate neighbourhood. Probably these were attracted by abundant springs and ponds, which thus afforded the liquor to the breweries. The name has now passed away, for the entire north side of the street was, in 1876, pulled down to form the broad street from New Oxford Street to Old Street, this portion of which was, in 1878, named Clerkenwell Road.

Lisle Street, the first turning north of, and parallel with, LEICESTER SQUARE. David Hume was living in this street in November 1758, when he wrote a long letter to Dr. Robertson regarding his History of Scotland. He was here again in September 1763, when he defended the authenticity of Ossian; and in June 1766, when he wrote to Rousseau about the pension which he had obtained for him from George III., and received his extraordinary string of charges in reply. Rousseau had paid him a visit here of a couple of days, and by an unlucky chance found a son of the eminent Swiss physician, Theodore Tronchin, lodging under the same roof. He describes him as the "son of the mountebank (jongleur) Tronchin, my most mortal enemy,” and makes the circumstance an additional charge against Hume. Heath the engraver was living here when, in a fire which occurred in his house, Francis Wheatley's picture of the Riots in 1780 was destroyed, "it being too large to be moved." 1 In this street was the shop and residence of the Messrs. George and William Smith, the printsellers, "the learned brothers of Lisle Street "— men remarkable alike for the extent of their collections and the accuracy of their information on all matters connected with engravings and engravers. Here Edmund Kean passed a large portion of his strangely erratic boyhood. It is said that his uncle, Moses Kean, had a brass collar made for his neck, inscribed-"This boy belongs to No. 9 Lisle Street, Leicester Square, please bring him home." Charles Mathews the elder lived in a house which looked down Leicester Place into the square.2

Lisson Grove, MARYLEBONE ROAD to GROVE ROAD, ST. JOHN'S WOOD, borrowed its name from the manor of Lisson Green (Dom. Lilestone). "Lissham Green," says Dodsley, 1761, "a pleasant village near Paddington." The pleasant village, and even the memory of it, has long passed away, and Lisson Grove is a part of the great metropolis. The manor of Lisson Green, then the property of Captain Lloyd, was sold in lots in 1792, the largest purchaser being John Harcourt, Esq., M.P.,3 and the pleasant places were hidden by houses. Lisson Grove was one of the new thoroughfares. In 1815 and succeeding years B. R. Haydon the painter, then in his highest hope and 1 Edwards, Anecdotes of Painting, p. 269. 2 Memoirs of C. Matheus, vol. ii. p. 261. 3 Lysons, vol. ii. p. 544.