the Hospital is about £11,000; the average number of children maintained about 500.

Among the principal benefactors to the Foundling Hospital, Handel stands the first. Here, in the chapel of the Hospital, he frequently performed his Oratorio of the Messiah.

When that great master presided there, at his own Oratorio, it was generally crowded; and as he engaged most of the performers to 'contribute their assistance gratis, the profits to the charity were very considerable, and in some instances approached nearly to £1000.-Lysons, vol. iii. p. 377.

Handel bequeathed the score of the Messiah to the Hospital.
Observe,-Portrait of Captain Coram, full length, by Hogarth.

The portrait I painted with the most pleasure, and in which I particularly wished to excel, was that of Captain Coram for the Foundling Hospital; and if I am so wretched an artist as my enemies assert, it is somewhat strange that this, which was one of the first I painted the size of life, should stand the test of twenty years' competition, and be generally thought the best portrait in the place, notwithstanding the first painters in the kingdom exerted all their talents to vie with it.-Hogarth.

The March to Finchley, by Hogarth; Moses brought to Pharaoh's Daughter, by Hogarth; Dr. Mead, by Allen Ramsay; Lord Dartmouth, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; George II., by Shackleton; View of the Foundling Hospital, by Richard Wilson; St. George's Hospital, by Richard Wilson; Sutton's Hospital (the Charter House), by Gainsborough; Chelsea Hospital, by Haytley; Bethlehem Hospital, by Haytley; St. Thomas's Hospital, by Wale; Greenwich Hospital, by Wale; Christ's Hospital, by Wale; three sacred subjects by Hayman, Highmore, and Wills; also bas-relief, by Rysbrack. These pictures were chiefly gifts, and illustrate the state of art in England about the middle of the last century. The music in the chapel of the Hospital on Sundays-the children being the choristers-is worth hearing, and the children at dinner after the morning service is a pretty sight. The founder was buried in the catacombs beneath the chapel in 1751, where are also buried Sir Thomas Bernard, philanthropist (d. 1818). Lord Chief Justice Tenterden (d. 1832). Sir Stephen Gaselee, Justice of Common Pleas (d. 1839). Rev. J. Forshall, Keeper of the MSS. at the British Museum (d. 1863).

The Hospital is open for the inspection of strangers every Monday, from ten to four o'clock. The Juvenile Band of the Establishment perform from three to four. The services in the Chapel on Sundays commence in the morning at eleven o'clock, and in the afternoon at three precisely. Strangers may walk over the building after the services. A collection is made at the Chapel doors to defray the expenses of that part of the Establishment, when each person is expected to contribute.

1

Foundry (The), MOORFIELDS, "a large building which had been the foundry for cannon during the Civil Wars, and for some time after the Restoration," and was leased by John Wesley as a place for preaching when he resolved to separate from the Moravians. Silas Todd describes it in 1740 as "a ruinous place with an old pantile covering, a few rough deal boards put together to constitute a temporary

1 Southey's Life of Wesley, p. 212.

pulpit, and several other decayed timbers which composed the whole structure." Southey adds, "No doubt it was improved afterwards. Mr. Wesley's preaching hours when he began there, were five in the morning and seven in the evening, for the convenience of the labouring part of the population. The men and the women sat apart." For many years the foundry was the centre of Wesley's operations; but the lease expiring while Wesley was still alive, funds were raised for building a new chapel in the City Road, and thither, in 1778, the headquarters of the Society were removed. [See City Road.]

Some of the pewter plates now in use in taking up a collection are the same as were in the Foundry: One of these was used by Mr. Wesley on the occasion when a collection was raised to defray the expense of building the present edifice [the City Road Chapel]. It is said that as he stood with the plate at the door to receive the offerings of the congregation, such was the enthusiasm of the people that it was nearly filled with gold.—Four Years in the Old World, p. 33.

Houses were built on the site of the Foundry-the west end of Worship Street,-to which were given the name of Providence Row: a name retained till a few years back.

Fountain Court, CHEAPSIDE-south side, a little west of Friday Street, so called of "the Fountain Tavern," described in 1720 as "of good account as most in Cheapside." 1 A passage by St. Matthew's Church, Friday Street, led to the back door of the Fountain.

Fountain Court, in the STRAND, was so called from "the Fountain Tavern," at the corner, which gave its name to the Fountain Club, a political association opposed to Sir Robert Walpole.2

November 28, 1710.-Two hundred members supped last night at the Fountain Tavern, where they went to determine about a Chairman for Elections. Medlicot and Manley were the two candidates; but the company could not agree and parted in an ill humour.-Swift to Archbishop King.

Renamed Savoy Buildings in 1883.

In the early years of George I. it was a favourite resort of the Jacobites; and here, by a singular indulgence, the Lieutenant of the Tower allowed the Earl of Derwentwater and his brother "rebel lords," on their return to the Tower from the examinations preparatory to their trial at Westminster (February 1740), to stop and dine, for which he was sharply censured by the Lord Chancellor and directed not to permit it to occur again. On Sir Robert Walpole's fall and the appointment of the Earl of Wilmington as the head of a new ministry, the dissatisfied members of the Opposition which had overthrown Walpole met at the Fountain, peers and commoners, to the number of about two hundred and fifty, to dine together and discuss the position of affairs. The only prominent member of the party who refused to attend was Lord Carteret, who said he “never dined at a tavern." The meeting was held on February 11, "the very day of Walpole's official resignation." 3

1 Strype, B. iii. p. 196. 2 Glover's Life, p. 6. 3 Horace Walpole to Sir H. Mann, February

18, 1742; Lord Stanhope's History of England, vol. iii. p. 111.

Then enlarge on his cunning and wit:
Say how he harangued at The Fountain;
Say how the old patriots were bit,

And a mouse was produc'd by a mountain.

Sir C. H. Williams (on Pulteney, Earl of Bath), The Statesman, vol. i. p. 152. The front houses in the Strand, which are lofty and well-built, are inhabited by tradesmen ; with one very fine tavern, which hath the sign of the Fountain, very conveniently built for that purpose, with excellent vaults, good rooms of entertainment, and a curious kitchen for dressing of meat, which with the good wine there sold makes it to be well resorted unto : close by this tavern is an alley that leadeth to Fountain Court, a very handsome place with a freestone pavement, and good buildings which are well inhabited.-Strype, B. iv. p. 119.

I remember that, about that time, I happened to be one night at the Fountain Tavern in the Strand, with the late Dr. Duke, David Loggen the painter, and Mr. Wilson, of whom Otway has made honourable mention in Tonson's first Miscellany, and that after supper we drank Mr. Wycherley's health by the name of Captain Wycherley.-Dennis the Critic's Letters, p. 220.

Lillie, the perfumer, lived next door to the Fountain Tavern in the Strand, but was burnt out before his reputation had been well established. He then removed to the east or City corner of Beaufort Buildings, in the Strand.1 [See Beaufort Buildings.] At No. 3, in this court, lived William Blake, the painter, that eccentric but very remarkable genius. Blake moved here from South Molton Street in 1821, and died here on Sunday, August 12, 1827.2

December 17, 1825.—A short call this morning on Blake. He dwells in Fountain Court in the Strand. I found him in a small room which seems to be both a working room and a bed room. Nothing could exceed the squalid air both of the apartment and his dress; yet there is diffused over him an air of natural gentility.-H. C. Robinson, vol. ii. p. 306.

Here was the Coal Hole, where met the Wolf Club, or Club of the Wolves, of which Kean was a leading member, and which played a prominent part in the theatrical history of his time.

Kean enjoyed a beef-steak at the Coal Hole, or a devil or a grill at one of the small taverns near the Theatre: but the dress and ceremony, and good behaviour incident to " company," overset him altogether.-Procter's Life of Kean, vol. ii. p.

140.

The Coal Hole had previously been named The Unicorn, and was subsequently the Occidental Tavern. The building fell down in 1887 during the preparations for a new theatre to be erected on the site.

Fox Court, GRAY'S INN LANE, the first turning on the right from Holborn, down Gray's Inn Road, and leading into Brook Street, takes its name from the Fox Alehouse, the sign of which was changed in late years to the Havelock Arms. The court was for many years the resort of thieves and other bad characters. Richard Smith, the child of the Countess of Macclesfield, was born here. Richard Savage pretended to be that child. Mr. Moy Thomas in an important series of papers (Notes and Queries, 2d S. vol. vi. pp. 361, 385) gives the strongest reasons for believing Savage to have been an impostor. These may be summed up as follows: (1) Savage's story is incompatible 1 See Tatler, No. 92. 2 Gilchrist, Life of Blake, vol. i. pp. 277, 305, 361.

with facts learnt from authentic sources; (2) there is evidence that the Countess was kind to her two illegitimate children; (3) Savage did not know that a daughter was born before Richard Smith; (4) Savage contradicted himself in his statements; (5) the documents from which he affirmed that he learnt his parentage have never been seen by any one.

From The Earl of Macclesfields Case, which, in 1697-1698, was presented to the Lords, in order to procure an Act of Divorce, it appears that Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, under the name of Madam Smith, was delivered of a male child in Fox Court, near Brook Street, Holborn, by Mrs. Wright, a midwife, on Saturday, the 16th of January, 1696-1697, at six o'clock in the morning, who was baptized on the Monday following and registered by the name of Richard, the son of John Smith, by Mr. Burbridge, assistant to Dr. Manningham's curate for St. Andrew's, Holborn: that the child was christened on Monday, the 18th of January, in Fox Court, and from the privacy was supposed by Mr. Burbridge to be a "by-blow or bastard." It also appears that, during her delivery, the lady wore a mask; and that Mary Pegler, on the next day after the baptism (Tuesday), took a male child, whose mother was called Madam Smith, from the house of Mrs. Pheasant, in Fox Court, who went by the name of Mrs. Lee. Conformable to this statement is the entry in the register of St. Andrew's, Holborn, which is as follows, and which unquestionably records the baptism of Richard Savage, to whom Lord Rivers gave his own Christian name, prefixed to the assumed surname of his mother: "Jan. 1696-1697. Richard, son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox Court, in Gray's Inn Lane, baptized the 18th.”—Bindley (the book collector) in Croker's Boswell, p. 52.

Fox Hall. [See Vauxhall.]

Framework-Knitters, the sixty-fifth of the City Companies, was incorporated by letters patent of 15 Charles II., 1663. The management is in a master, two wardens, and ten assistants. The Company has a livery, but no hall.

Francis Street, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD to GOWER STREET. Edward Dayes, the landscape painter, Girtin's master and author of Professional Sketches of Modern Artists, and other works, lived at No. 32 in this street, and there, May 1804, committed suicide.1

Frederick Place, OLD JEWRY, derives its name from Sir Christopher Frederick, serjeant-surgeon to James I. He died, October 1623, and was buried in St. Olave's, Jewry. Here stood the mansion of Sir John Frederick, his fourth son, who was Lord Mayor in 1661. It was used till 1768 as the London Excise Office. [See St. Mary Colechurch.]

Free Hospital, GRAY'S INN ROAD. [See Royal Free Hospital.]

Freeman's Yard, or FREEMAN'S COURT, CORNHILL, so called after an alderman of that name, was at the east end of the Royal Exchange, until taken down about 1848 to admit of larger houses and larger rents. Daniel Defoe, who was a freeman of London by birth [see Fore Street], commenced business in this yard in 1685, when he was twenty-four years of age, as a "hose-factor," or middle-man between

1 Edwards, Anecdotes of Painters, p. 285.

the manufacturer and retail trader, and in that capacity appears to have established a prosperous agency; but about 1695 "he saw his fortune suddenly swept away by an unsuccessful adventure." He compounded with his creditors for £5000, and in after years, from a high sense of honour, paid them £12,000 more. The house in which Defoe lived was burnt down in the fire of November 10, 1759, which destroyed a large part of Cornhill. Defoe had left it seven or eight years before the following advertisement for his apprehension was issued. St. James's, Jan. 10, 1702-1703.

Whereas Daniel De Foe, alias De Fooe, is charged with writing a scandalous and seditious pamphlet, entituled "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters." He is a middle-sized spare man, about 40 years old, of a brown complexion, and dark browncoloured hair; but wears a wig, a hooked nose, a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near his mouth; was born in London, and for many years was a hose-factor in Freeman's Yard, in Cornhill, and now is owner of the brick and pantile works near Tilbury Fort, in Essex. Whoever shall discover the said Daniel De Foe, to one of her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, or any of her Majesty's Justices of Peace, so as he may be apprehended, shall have a reward of £50, which her Majesty has ordered immediately to be paid upon such discovery.-London Gazette for January, 1702-1703.

The father of Samuel Rogers was the head of the banking firm of Rogers, Olding, and Co., in this Court; and the author of the "Pleasures of Memory" was a clerk in the establishment when he wrote that pleasant poem. In 1789 the firm was "Welch, Rogers, Olding, Rogers and Rogers, 3 Freeman's Court." In 1811 the business was transferred to 29 Clement's Lane, Lombard Street. Dodson and Fogg, the notorious firm of solicitors who acted for the plaintiff in the case of Bardell v. Pickwick, were located here, by Dickens.

Freemasons' Hall, GREAT QUEEN STREET. The building was designed by T. Sandby, R.A., architect; the first stone laid May 1, 1775; opened May 23, 1776. Before the erection of the hall as the headquarters of Freemasonry the chief meetings of the several lodges were held at the halls of the Great City Companies. A new Masonic Temple was designed in 1826 by Sir John Soane, which now no longer exists. In 1867 the building was entirely remodelled and in great part rebuilt by Mr. F. Pepys Cockerell. A new and more ornamental façade, semi-classical in character, and decorated with statues and masonic symbols, was erected in Great Queen Street.

Freemasons' Tavern, adjoining Freemasons' Hall, was built in 1786 from designs by William Tyler, R.A. Here are held public meetings and dinners. The farewell dinner given to John Philip Kemble, and a public dinner to James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, on his birthday, were held here, as also a public meeting in June 1824 in honour of James Watt as the inventor of the steam engine, at which Lord Liverpool, Brougham, Mackintosh, Peel, Davy, Huskisson and Wilberforce were present. A new banqueting hall was built in 18671868, when the whole building was remodelled by Mr. F. Pepys