Bell (The), in WARWICK LANE. [See Warwick Lane.]

Bell and Crown, HOLBORN. [See Holborn.]

Bell Alley (Great), east side of COLEMAN STREET; now a short passage into Moorgate Street, but before the formation of that broad thoroughfare a long narrow passage running into Little Bell Alley, and by it into London Wall. That portion of Great Bell Alley east of Moorgate Street is now named Telegraph Street. Robert Bloomfield, the poet, at the age of fifteen, lived with his brother George (to learn shoe-making) at "Mr. Simon's, No. 7 Pitcher's Court, Bell Alley, Coleman Street;" they next removed to Blue Hart Court, Bell Alley; and after his marriage, still hankering after the familiar neighbourhood, he took ready-furnished lodgings on the first floor of No. 14, working as a ladies' shoemaker in the garret, with half-a-dozen companions, and whilst thus employed composed his first and best poem, the "Farmer's Boy." He probably was afterwards able to descend to the ground floor, as Mr. Upcott used to show the poet's shop-card, neatly engraved, and inscribed, "Bloomfield, Ladies' Shoe-maker, No 14, Great Bell Yard, Coleman Street. The best real Spanish Leather at reasonable prices."

Bell Savage, or Belle Sauvage, LUDGATE HILL, an Inn "without" Ludgate, at which dramas were played, before a regular theatre was established in this country.1 The origin of the name has amused our antiquaries. "The Spectator alone," says Pennant, "gives the real derivation":

As for the Bell Savage, which is the sign of a savage man standing by a Bell, I was formerly very much puzzled upon the conceit of it, till I accidentally fell into the reading of an old Romance translated out of the French, which gives an account of a very beautiful woman who was found in a wilderness, and is called in the French, la Belle Sauvage, and is everywhere translated by our countrymen the Bell Savage. -Spectator, No. 82.

The Spectator was probably joking, though Pennant and others accepted the statement in all seriousness. Douce thought that the sign was really that of the Queen of Sheba, who, in the metrical romance of Alexander, written by Alexander Davie at the beginning of the 14th century, is spoken of as Sibely savage, and this, says Mr. Douce, is a perversion of si belle sauvage." The Queen of Sheba was as well adapted for the purpose of a sign as the wise men of the East, and in fact we know that there was a tavern in Gracechurch Street called "The Saba." 2 Mr. Akerman gives a representation of what he supposes to be the tavern token of the house issued by the landlord between the years 1648 and 1672, which, he says, exhibits the figure of an Indian woman holding an arrow and a bow,3 and Mr. Burn, in correcting the mistake, after pointing out that the token is that of

1 Collier's Annals, vol. i. p. 338; vol. iii. p. 265. 2 Tarlton's Jests, pp. 15, 21. Our old writers invariably call the Queen of Sheba the Queen of Saba. "Saba was never More covetous of

wisdom, and fair virtue, Than this pure soul shall be."-Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

3 Akerman's Tradesmen's Tokens, p. 131 (No. 1233.

Henry Young, distiller, and that the armed "Indian woman" is really "the sinister supporter of the Distillers' Company's arms and no belle sauvage at all," gives what is probably the true explanation of the puzzle. The inn was originally and properly the Bell, but as early as the middle of the 15th century it was known as "Savage's Inn," and the conjunction of the two designations might easily issue in the title that has proved so perplexing.

A deed enrolled on the Close Roll of 1453 certifies a fact that places the point in dispute beyond a doubt. By that deed, dated at London, February 5, 31 Henry VI., John Frensh, eldest son of John Frensh, late citizen and goldsmith of London, confirmed to Joan Frensh, widow, his mother, "totum ten sive hospicium cum suis pertin vocat Savagesynne, alias vocat le Belle on the Hope;-all that tenement or inn with its appurtenances, called Savage's inn, otherwise called the Bell on the Hoop, in the parish of St. Bridget in Fleet Street, London," etc. . . . . . The sign in the olden day was the Bell; "on the hoop" implied the ivy-bush, fashioned, as was the custom, as a garland. The association of Savage's inn with the sign of the Bell certainly gave an impulse to the perversion or new name of La Belle Sauvage: when that occurred is another question.-Burn's London Traders and Tavern Tokens, p. 175.

This, it will be seen, differs from Pegge's suggestion that the sign was derived from an early hostess, Isabella Savage, whose name as tenant a friend of his had seen on an old lease of the house; but Mr. Burn gives the actual terms of the lease whilst Pegge spoke only at second-hand. The inn was known at a very early date as the Bell Savage. Lambarde, writing before 1576 of "the treble oblation, first to the Confessor, then to Sainct Runwald, and lastly to the gracious Roode," observes that without it "the poor pilgrims could not assure themselves of any good, gained by all their labour, no more than such as go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or Theatre, to behold bearbaiting, interludes, or fence play, can account of any pleasant spectacle, unless they first pay one pennie at the gate, another at the entrie of the scaffolde, and the third for a quiet standing."1 The house, together with his own messuage, the sign of the Rose, was left to the Cutlers' Company in 1568, pursuant to the will of John Craythorne [see Cutlers' Hall], and two exhibitions at Oxford and one at Cambridge, with certain gifts to the poor of St. Bride's, are still provided out of the bequest. At the Bell Savage, in Queen Mary's reign, Sir Thomas Wyat was stopped in his ill-planned rebellion.

Wyat, with his men, marched still forward all along to Temple Barre, and so through Fleet Streete till he came to Bell Savage, an Inn nigh unto Ludgate. Some of Wyat's men, some say it was Wyat himself, came even to Ludgate and knocked, calling to come in, saying there was Wyat, whom the Queene had graunted to have their requests, but the Lord William Howard stood at the gate and said, "Avaunt, Traitor; thou shalt not come in here." Wyat awhile stay'd and rested him awhile upon a stall over against the Bell Savage Gate, and at the last seeing he could not get into the city, and being deceived of the ayde he hoped for, returned back againe in array towards Charing Crosse.-Stow, by Howes, ed. 1631, p. 621.

Here, in Queen Elizabeth's time, was a school of defence, and

1 Lambarde, Perambulation of Kent, p. 210 of the reprint, 1826.

L

here Bankes exhibited the feats of his horse Marocco.1 Grinling Gibbons lived in this yard.

He [Grinling Gibbons] afterwards lived in Bell Savage Court on Ludgate Hill, where he carved a pot of flowers, which shook surprisingly with the motion of the coaches that passed by.—Walpole's Anecdotes, ed. Dallaway, vol. iii. p. 158.2

At "the first door on the left hand under Bell Savage Inn Gateway, Ludgate Hill," lived Richard Rock, M.L.,3 the quack doctor ("Dumplin Dick") "first upon the list of glory," whom Goldsmith so carefully describes as "this great man, short of stature, fat, and waddles as he walks. He always wears a white three-tailed wig, nicely combed, and frizzed upon each cheek. Sometimes he carries a cane; but a hat never. "4 Allusions to the great Dr. Richard Rock will also occur to the reader of Horace Walpole. In its later years the Bell Savage was a great coaching inn; but the formation of the railways destroyed its trade; it fell into neglect and dilapidation, and was eventually (1873) demolished to make way for the immense brick building provided for the printing and publishing establishment of Messrs. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.

Bell Yard, COLEMAN STREET. [See Bell Alley.] Dodsley (1761) enumerates 19 Bell Yards in London; Elmes (1831) gives 14 Bell Yards, 17 Bell Courts, and 7 Bell Alleys. The Post Office Directory for the present and past years gives only 4 Bell Yards, but it only notices places of commercial rank.

Bell Yard, TEMPLE BAR. Pope has several letters addressed to his friend, William Fortescue, "his counsel learned in the law,” "at his house at the upper end of Bell Yard, near unto Lincoln's Inn."

It is not five days ago that they [Fortescue's family] were in London, at that filthy old place Bell Yard, which you know I want them and you to quit.-Pope to Fortescue, March 26, 1736 (Works, ed. Roscoe, vol. ix. p. 407).

There are in all 68 letters addressed to Fortescue by Pope. Fortescue was the intimate friend of Gay as well as of Pope. He was Master of the Rolls, 1741-1759. Hogarth engraved a tobacco paper for "John Harrison, Bell Yard, Temple Bar," who kept a small snuff shop there. The site of an ancient capital messuage, belonging at the dissolution of Monasteries, 32 and 34 Henry VIII., to the Hospitallers or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, is described in various deeds and records shortly after that time as that messuage and tenement called

In 1595

1 Tarlton's Jests, by Halliwell, p. 11. was published "Maroccus Extaticus; or, Bankes's Bay Horse in a Trance. A Discourse set down in a merry Dialogue between Bankes and his Beast. Anatomising some abuses and bad trickes of this Age. Written and intituled to mine Host of the Belsavage and all his honest Guests: by John Dando, the wier-drawer of Hadley, and Harrie Runt, head Ostler of Bosomes Inne."

2 In an assessment of the parish of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, dated March 20, 1677, under Bel Savage Inn Yard the name of Grinling Gibbons is scored out. This shows that he had been an inhabitant of the Inn Yard, and had left that year. 3 Public Advertiser, January 7, 1761.

4 Letters from a Citizen of the World, Letter 68.

the Bell, in the parish of St. Dunstan in Fleet Street, lately belonging to the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, situate between a tenement called the Lamb on the east and a house called the Dolphin on the west, the open fields and pasture called Fickett's Field on the north, and the King's highway on the south. [See Fickett's Field.] The west side of Bell Yard is now occupied by the railing of the Law Courts, and the east side is almost entirely rebuilt.

Bellamy's, WESTMINSTER. A coffee-house attached to the old House of Commons, which was very famous in its day for chops and steaks and port-wine.

Belton Street, LONG ACRE, now Endell StreeT. The southern portion, from Castle Street to Short's Gardens, was called Old Belton Street, the northern portion, from Short's Gardens to St. Giles's, New Belton Street. At No. 8 Old Belton Street (now No. 7 Endell Street), William Hunt, the water-colour painter, was born, March 28, 1790. Hunt's father was a tin-plate worker and japanner. At No. 3 are vestiges of the Duke's Bagnio. [See Bagnio, The.]

V Belvedere Place, ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS. Henry Constantine Jennings, known as "Dog" Jennings, collector of works of art (17311819), died in this place, which was within the rules of the King's Bench Prison.

Belvedere Road, LAMBETH, the modern name for the narrow road which runs parallel to the Thames, from Waterloo Bridge to Westminster Bridge Road. It was previously called Pedlar's Acre and Narrow Wall. [See Pedlar's Acre.] [See Pedlar's Acre.] In 1508 it was an osier-bed, let at 2s. 6d. per annum. Its present name is probably given to it from Belvedere House and Gardens, a once famous place of entertainment.

Benet (St.) Fink, a church in Broad Street Ward, "commonly called Finke, of Robert Finke the founder." [See Finch Lane.] The church described by Stow was destroyed in the Great Fire, and the church erected (1679) by Sir C. Wren to supply its place was taken down (1842-1844) to make way for the new Royal Exchange, and the improvements which its erection rendered necessary. The church stood immediately east of the present Royal Exchange. It was an elegant little elliptic edifice, with a cupola borne on six composite columns ; "a free imitation of the twin churches by the Piazza del Popolo, Rome.1 All that remained of the church (for the tower was taken down before the body of the building) was sold by auction on January 15, 1846. The sepulchral tablets were removed at the same time to the church of St. Peter-le-Poor, to which parish St. Benet Fink was united. The parish registers record the marriage of Richard Baxter, the celebrated Nonconformist, to Margaret Charlton 1 Elmes, Wren and his Times, p. 421, and in his Life of Wren, 4to ed., p. 326.

(September 10, 1662); and the baptism of "John, the son of John Speed, merchant tailor (March" 29, 1608).

1

Benet (St.) Grasschurch. This church stood at the corner of Gracechurch Street and Fenchurch Street, in the ward of Bridge Ward Within, and was "called Grasschurch of the Herb Market there kept." The old church, described by Stow and his continuators, was destroyed in the Great Fire. The church erected in its place by Sir C. Wren in 1685 was taken down in 1867-1868 in order to widen the thoroughfare. Externally it was a plain building, having a square tower at the northwest angle, surmounted with an octagonal cupola, from which rose an obelisk-shaped spire. A large clock-dial projected from the tower half across the street. The interior of the church was 60 feet by 30, with a groined ceiling. The last service was performed and the church formally "deconsecrated," February 8, 1867. The parish of St. Leonard's Eastcheap had been united after the Great Fire with St. Benet Grasschurch, and on the destruction of the latter church the two parishes were united with All Hallows, Lombard Street. The sale of the site and materials of the old church furnished funds for the erection and endowment of a new St. Benet's in Mile End Road, in the parish of Stepney. The removal of the remains of the dead from St. Benet's prior to taking down the church cost £2104: 6: 8. The site sold for £23,894: 45. An interesting collection of Roman glass was exhumed in digging up the foundations. Among the articles were two-handed narrow-necked vessels of elegant form, basins, etc. The register records the following burials:-April 14, 1559, "Robert Burges, a comon player." The yard of the Cross Keys Inn in Gracechurch Street was one of our early theatres. August 12, 1679, "Magdalen, wife of Alexander Pope." This was the mother of Mrs. Rackett, so often mentioned in her brother's Life.

The Rev. James Townley, author of High Life below Stairs, who held the living, died in 1778, and a tablet was erected to his memory in the church.

Benet's, or Bennet's Hill, UPPER THAMES STREET, so called after the Church of St. Benet, Paul's Wharf, runs from the south side of St. Paul's Churchyard to Queen Victoria Street and Upper Thames Street. In it are the Church of St. Benet and the College of Arms. At the bottom of Benet's Hill is Paul's Wharf.

Benet (St.), PAUL'S WHARF, or, ST. BENET HUDE or HYTHE, a church in Castle Baynard Ward, over against Paul's Wharf, destroyed in the Great Fire, and rebuilt as it now stands by Sir Christopher Wren in 1683. The interior is small and unimportant, the exterior of brick with boldly carved stone festoons over the round arched windows. This church was one of the nineteen City churches condemned by the Commissioners in 1877, but it has not yet been decided to destroy it. It is now used as a Welsh church, but it has no parochial status. The tower, with 1 Stow, p. 80.