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seized, contrary to law, by the House of Commons, and for committing to prison the Messenger of the House who arrested the printer. The printer's crime was his printing the debates in Parliament. The result of Crosby's conduct was that the debates have been freely printed ever since.

October 1773.-We have had a great thunderstorm. It has even split the Obelisk in St. George's Fields: no exaggeration in this; you may see the crack when you come home.—Mrs. Thrale to Dr. Johnson.

Obelisk (The), VICTORIA EMBANKMENT. [See Cleopatra's Needle.] October Club (The), a club of country members of Parliament of the time of Queen Anne, about 150 in number, Tories to the backbone, who were of opinion that the party to which they belonged were too backward in punishing and turning out the Whigs. They met at the Bell, afterwards the Crown, in King Street, Westminster. The portrait of Queen Anne, by Dahl, which ornamented their clubroom, was bought of the Club after the Queen's death by the Corporation of Salisbury, and may still be seen in the council chamber of the Corporation.

The Beef Steak and October Clubs are neither of them averse to eating and drinking, if we may form a judgment of them from their respective titles. —The Spectator, No. 9.

Of Alley (now York Place), BUCKINGHAM STREET, STRAND. Built circ. 1675,2 and so called to preserve every word in the name and title of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. It is spelled Of Alley in Strype's Map, 1720, and also in Dodsley, 1761. Going down Villiers Street from the Strand it is the first turning on the left hand. [See Buckingham Street, Strand; York House, etc.]

Those who live in Buckingham Street, Duke Street, Villiers Street, or in Of Alley (for even that connecting particle is locally commemorated) probably think seldom of the memory of the witty, eccentric, and licentious George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, whose titles are preserved in the names of their residence and its neighbourhood.-Scott's Peveril of the Peak, vol. iii. p. 115.

Olave's (St.) (the Danish St. Olaf), HART STREET, a church in Tower Street Ward, at the top of Seething Lane, Crutched Friars, and sometimes called "Crutched Friars Church." A church was standing on the present site in 1319 when an agreement was made between the Brethren of the Crutched Friars and William de Jamford, the rector, by which the Friars were to pay the rector and his successors for ever the sum of two marks and a half per annum, as compensation for any injury he might sustain by the erection of their friary. The present church escaped the Great Fire, and is often mentioned by Pepys in his Diary.

June 6, 1666.—To our own church, it being the common Fast-day, and it was just before sermon; but, Lord! how all the people in the church stared upon me to see me whisper [the news of the victory over the Dutch at sea] to Sir John Minnes and my Lady Pen. Anon I saw people stirring and whispering below, and by and

1 Swift's Journal to Stella (Scott, vol. ii. p. 227).

2 Rate-books of St. Martin's.

by comes up the sexton from my Lady Ford to tell me the news, which I had brought, being now sent into the church by Sir W. Batten in writing, and passed from pew to pew.-Pepys.

The advowson of the living was left in trust to five of the senior inhabitants of the parish by Sir Andrew Riccard, an eminent East India merchant, who died in 1672. Pepys speaks of his wealth and importance, and a statue in the church perpetuates his personal appearance. Observe. -Tablet on the south-east wall to William Turner, author of the first English Herbal (fol. 1568). Tablet of black and white marble, south of the communion table, to Sir John Mennis, comptroller of the Navy under Charles II., and author, in conjunction with James Smith, of Musarum Delicia (12m0, 1656). Monument in chancel to the wife of Samuel Pepys, secretary to the Navy in the reigns of Charles II. and James II., and author of the entertaining Diary which bears his name. Pepys's brother, Tom, was buried (March 18, 1663-1664) in the middle aisle of the church, "just under my mother's pew;" and Pepys himself (June 4, 1703) in a vault of his own making, by the side of his wife and brother. The burial service at Pepys's funeral was read at nine at night by Dr. Hickes, author of the Thesaurus. A monument to the diarist (designed by Sir A. Blomfield) was erected in the church by public subscription in 1884. It is affixed against the wall where the gallery in which Pepys sat formerly stood. The parish register records the baptism (1590-1591) of Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, the Parliamentary general, and adds that Lancelot Andrews, (afterwards Bishop of Winchester) baptized the child, and preached the sermon on the occasion. The baptism was at Walsingham's house in Seething Lane.1 [See Seething Lane.]

The church was "restored" in 1870-1871 under the direction of Mr. (now Sir A.) Blomfield; the pews removed and open seats substituted; the chancel remodelled; the fine carved pulpit brought here from the demolished church of St. Benet Gracechurch, and various carvings from the church of Allhallows Staining, this having become the church of that parish on the demolition of Allhallows Church shortly before. In the spring of 1838 a pair of rooks built a nest in the crown surmounting the vane of this church.2

Olave's (St.), JEWRY, or ST. OLAVE UPWELL, in the JEWRY, a church in Coleman Street Ward, destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt under the direction of Sir C. Wren in 1673-1676.

In the Old Jewry is a proper parish church of St. Olave Upwell, so called in record 1320.-Stow, p. 106.

It served as well for the parish of St. Martin Pomeroy, St. Mary Colechurch, and St. Mildred Poultry. In the old church was buried Robert Large, mercer, the master of Caxton, the father of English printing; and in the present church was buried Alderman John 1 Life of Andrews, p. 34.

VOL. II

2 Harting's Birds of Middlesex.

2 R

Boydell, the well-known engraver and print-publisher, Lord Mayor, 1790 (d. 1804), whose example and encouragement contributed to the formation and development of the British School of Historical Painting. There was a monument to his memory against the north wall. The church was a plain edifice of brick and stone, with a square tower at the west, surmounted with pinnacles at the angles. The interior was 78 feet long, 34 wide and 36 high, and had some good oak carvings on the pulpit and chancel fittings. John Chamberlain, whose letters afford such valuable materials for history, was the son of an alderman and ironmonger who resided in this parish. The church was restored in 1874, but in 1888 the parish was united to that of St. Margaret, Lothbury, under the Bishop of London's Union of Benefices Act.

Olave's (St.), SILVER STREET, a church in Aldersgate Ward, destroyed in the Great Fire, and not rebuilt. The living was united to that of St. Alban's, Wood Street. Stow calls it "a small thing, and without any noteworthy monuments." The burial-ground remains

unbuilt on.

On St. Olave's day [1557], the holiday of the church in Silver Street, which is dedicated to that saint, was kept with much solemnity. At eight of the clock at night, began a stage-play, of goodly matter, being the miraculous history of the life of that saint, which continued four hours, and was concluded with many religious songs.-Warton's Hist. of Poetry, ed. 1840, vol. iii. p. 268.

Olave's (St.), or St. Olaf's Street. The original of Tooley Street, into which it has become corrupted in the course of time.

Olave's (St.), TOOLEY STREET, SOUTHWARK, a church in the ward of Bridge Ward Without. The church was rebuilt 1737-1739 by Henry Flitcroft, the architect of the church of St. Giles's-inthe-Fields. The building is of Portland stone, 82 feet by 59, with a square tower at the west end. The interior has nave and aisles divided by fluted columns of the Ionic order, and a semi-circular apse. The nave is covered by a groined roof with five bays. On the night of August 19, 1843, the church was nearly destroyed by a fire which. consumed the neighbouring shot tower, warehouses, and other river-side premises. The church was restored under the direction of Mr. George Allen, at a cost of about £4600, and reopened, November 17, 1844, by Archdeacon (afterwards Bishop) Wilberforce. There is an excellent organ by Hill. Of the old church there is a view by West and Toms. On the bank of the river of Thames is the parish church of St. Olave, a fair and meet large church, but a far larger parish, especially of aliens, or strangers, and poor people.-Stow, p. 154.

Old Bailey, a narrow street running between Ludgate Hill and Newgate Street. At the Newgate Street end is Newgate Prison, where public executions take place. The upper end was widened by the removal of a Middle Row of mean tenements, the lane on the west side of which was called the Little Old Bailey.

The xxviii daye of November [1557] came ridyng through Smythfelde and Old Balee and through Fleet Street into Somersett Plase, my good lade Elisabeth

grace, the Queen's syster; with a grate company of velvett cotts and chaynes.-MS., quoted by T. Warton, Life of Sir T. Pope, p. 100.

The same MS. describes her return "down Fleet Strete and through Old Bailee," etc., "towards byshope hatfeld plase;" but this does not quite agree with the received account, which represents her as proceeding, on her return, to the Tower.

I have not read how this street took that name, but it is likely to have risen of some Court of old time there kept and I find, that in the year 1356, the 34th of Edward III., the tenement and ground upon Houndes ditch, between Ludgate on the south, and Newgate on the north, was appointed to John Cambridge, fishmonger, Chamberlain of London, whereby it seemeth that the Chamberlains of London have there kept their Courts, as now they do by the Guildhall, and till this day the Mayor and Justices of this City kept their Sessions in a part thereof, now called the Sessions Hall, both for the City of London and Shire of Middlesex.-Stow, p. 145. Here is the "Old Bailey Sessions House," or "Central Criminal Court," regulated by 4 & 5 Will. IV., c. 36.

This Justice Hall (commonly called the Sessions House) is a fair and stately building, very commodious for that affair; having large galleries on both sides or ends, for the reception of spectators. The Court Room being advanced by stone steps from the ground, with rails and banisters inclosed from the yard before it. And the Bail Dock, which fronts the Court, where the prisoners are kept until brought to their trials, is also inclosed. Over the Court Room is a stately Dining Room, sustained by ten stone pillars; and over it a platform, leaded, with rails and banisters. There be fair lodging-rooms and other conveniences on either side of the Court. It standeth backwards, so that it hath no front towards the street, only the gateway leading into the yard before the House, which is spacious. It cost above £6000 the building. And in this place the Lord Mayor, Recorder, the Aldermen and Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex do sit, and keep his Majesty's Sessions of Oyer and Terminer.-Strype, B. iii. p. 281.

The building

That most celebrated place,

Where angry Justice shows her awful face;
Where little villains must submit to fate,

That great ones may enjoy the world in state.

Garth's Dispensary.

described by Strype was destroyed in the Gordon riots of 1780. That which Dance erected in its place has been added to and greatly altered, but the dining-room still exists, and there the Judges dine when the Court is over, a practice referred to, though inaccurately, in the well-known line :

And wretches hang that Jurymen may dine.

[See Newgate Prison.]

At the Old Bailey the regicides were tried, and the following persons variously eminent: William Lord Russell, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Jack Sheppard, Jonathan Wild, Savage the poet, Elizabeth Canning, Dr. Dodd, Governor Wall, Bellingham, Thistlewood, Horne Tooke, Hardy, Thelwall, Fauntleroy, etc. The last person who stood in the pillory in London was Peter James Bossy, tried for perjury, and sentenced to transportation for seven years; previous to which he was to be imprisoned for six months in Newgate, and to stand in the pillory in the Old Bailey for one hour. The pillory part of the

sentence took place on June 22, 1830.

Milton's books were burned

by the common hangman at the Old Bailey in September 1660.

Several copies of those infamous books made by John Goodwin and John Milton in justification of the horrid murder of our late glorious sovereign King Charles the First were solemnly burnt at the Sessions House in the Old Bailey by the hand of the common hangman.-News for September 3-10, 1660, quoted in Masson's Life of Milton, vol. vi. p. 193.

William Camden, the son of a painter-stainer, and the author of the Britannia, was born in the Old Bailey in 1550. Peter Bales, the famous penman of the 16th century, a remarkable man in many ways, had a school of much celebrity at the upper end of this street. Middleton mentions him in his Black Book (1604), "We were commanded to draw any mark with a pen which should signify as much as the best hand that ever old Peter Bales hung out in the Old Bailey." Algernon Sidney is said to have resided in the Old Bailey, in "the house of Mr. Meres, printer." In Ship Court (three doors from Newgate Street, on the west side) Hogarth's father kept a school. The house was pulled down in 1875, as was also No. 67, at the corner of the court, where William Hone in 1817 published his three celebrated political parodies on the Catechism, the Litany, and the Creed, for which he was thrice tried at Guildhall, and thrice acquitted. At No. 68, the second door south of Ship Court, lived Jonathan Wild, the famous thief and thief-taker. His house was distinguished by the sign of Charles I.'s head.1 Jesuits' bark was first sold in the Old Bailey.

The fever bark, commonly called Jesuits' Powder, which is so famous for the cure of all manner of agues, brought over by James Thompson, merchant of Antwerp, is to be had either at his own lodgings, at the Black Spread Eagle, in the Old Bailey, over against Black and White Court, or at Mr. John Crook's at the Ship in St. Paul's Church Yard, with directions for use.—Mercurius Politicus, December 9 to December 16, 1658.

Black and White Alley in Strype's Map, 1720, was an opening halfway up on the west side, so that the "Black Spread Eagle" was on the site of the present Sessions House. In the Beaufoy Collection is a 17th century token of Thomas Paulson at the Black Spread Eagle in the Old Bailey. There is also one of the "Blew Bell Inn, Old Baley, 1650." The Blue Bell was the evening resort of William Oldys, Norroy King-at-arms, the learned bibliographer (d. 1761). His beverage was porter, with a glass of gin between each pot. This was potent tipple, and to ensure his finding his way to his chambers at the Heralds' College before the clock struck twelve-after which every person entering had to pay the porter a fine of sixpence-Oldys engaged the watchman to convoy him safely at the proper hour every night. Oldys was a laborious punster as well as antiquary. He used to address his associates at the Blue Bell as "rulers," the inn being within the rules of the Fleet. The inn still exists, but now calls itself "The Bell Hotel;" it is at the entrance to Prujean Square. There 1 Captain Alexander Smith's Life of Jonathan Wild, 12m0, 1726.

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