Cuper's Gardens (which see). From Hollar's views of the house it would appear to have been little more than a series of detached buildings, erected at different periods, and joined together without any particular display of taste or skill. Sully, when ambassador in England in the reign of James I., was lodged in Arundel House. He speaks in his Memoirs of its numerous apartments upon one floor. The first meetings of the Royal Society were held in this house. July 16, 1668.-I by water with my Lord Brouncker to Arundell House, to the Royall Society, and there saw the experiment of a dog's being tied through the back, about the spinal artery, and thereby made void of all motion; and the artery being loosened again, the dog recovers.-Pepys, Diary. Among Wren's designs at All Souls' College, Oxford, is a general plan for a house for the Dukes of Norfolk on the site of Arundel House. Arundel Street, leading from the north side of COVENTRY STREET to PANTON SQUARE. So called from the Lords Arundel of Wardour; rated to the poor, for the first time, in the books of the parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields under the year 1673; and then and there described as "next Coll. Panton's tenements." [See Wardour Street.] In the New View of London, 1708, and in Strype's Map, 1720, it is called Panton's Yard. In Dodsley, 1761, neither Arundel Street nor Panton's Yard is set down. Arundel Street, STRAND, was built in 1678, on the site of Arundel House. Gay has photographed this street for us, as it appeared in 1716 Behold that narrow street which steep descends, Where statues breath'd, the work of Phidias' hands, Gay's Trivia, B. ii. Eminent Inhabitants.—John Playford, the musician (d. 1693).1 Simon Harcourt, in 1688, afterwards Lord Chancellor (d. 1727). Thomas Rymer, whose Fadera is our best historical monument, died at his house in this street, in 1713, and was buried in the neighbouring church of St. Clement Danes. John Anstis, Garter King-at-Arms, 1715-1716. In 1732 Eustace Budgell, the friend of Addison.2 Mrs. Porter, the celebrated actress, "over against the Blue Ball." V Ashburnham House, LITTLE DEAN'S YARD, and CLOISTERS, WESTMINSTER ABBEY, now a prebendal house, was threatened (1881) with destruction. It was designed by Inigo Jones on Chapter land, 1 Advertisement at end of Trapp's Tragedy of 2 Budgell's Liberty and Property, p. 122, and Saul. App. p. 5. for the Ashburnham family, to which belonged Jack Ashburnham, whose name is now inseparably connected with the misfortunes of Charles I. In the London Gazette of January 25-28, 1728-1729, Ashburnham House is advertised "to be sold." In 1730 the lease was purchased by the Crown of John, Earl Ashburnham. Here the Cotton Library of MSS. was deposited, and here a fire broke out October 23, 1731, and of the 948 volumes of which the library consisted, 114 were quite lost or entirely spoiled, and 98 much damaged. The house was then in the occupation of the celebrated Dr. Bentley, the King's Librarian, who is reported to have left at the first cry of fire, carrying the Alexandrian MS. under his arm. In the western portion of the house (all that remains of the original building, for much of it was pulled down, August 1739, to build two prebendal houses for Dr. Welles and Dr. Barker) is a drawing-room of exquisite proportions, which had once a dome in the centre; the dining-room, once the state bedroom, with a graceful alcove; and a staircase, one of the most interesting of Inigo Jones's internal works.2 The house was the residence of the Rev. H. H. Milman (afterwards Dean of St. Paul's) while he was one of the prebendaries of Westminster, and still later of Mr. Turle the organist. Ashburnham House, DOVER STREET. [See Dover Street.] Ashley Place, VICTORIA STREET. Captain Hans Busk, "an early advocate of the Volunteer Movement," died at No. 21 in 1882. General Sir Edward Sabine, K.C.B., for many years President of the Royal Society, died at No. 13, on June 26, 1883, aged ninety-five. Ashley's Punch-House, FLEET STREET, a famous punch-house, the "third door from Fleet Bridge," established in or before 1735 by James Ashley, who claimed the merit of being the first person to retail punch in small quantities. There is a scarce print of him. The first curiosity led me to, was Ashley's Punch-House, where the whole company seemed deeply attentive to the old waiter, who usually serves his customers with politics and punch. . . . Only sail up forty men of war to their very gates [of Paris], and where would they be then?-Goldsmith, Public Rejoicings for Victory. Asiatic Society (Royal), 22 ALBEMARLE STREET, was founded 1823, and received a Royal Charter in 1824. The Society possesses an extensive and valuable library of Oriental manuscripts and printed books; issues a journal in which have appeared many learned and important papers, and has assisted in publishing editions of various Oriental texts. The Society has affiliated branches in Bombay, Madras, and other Eastern cities. The Society usually meets on the first and third Saturdays in every month, from November to June inclusive. Admission fee, 5 guineas; annual subscription, 2 guineas. Aske's Hospital, HOXTON. Erected by the Haberdashers' Company in 1692, pursuant to the will of Robert Aske, Esq., who in 1688 left £20,000 to that Company, for building and endowing an 1 Daily Gazetteer, August 9, 1739. 2 H. Walpole, MS. note in Pennant. Hospital for the relief of twenty poor members of the Haberdashers' Company, and land in remainder, for the education of twenty boys, sons of decayed freemen of the Company, in all about £32,000. But the funds of the charity having greatly increased, a new scheme was drawn up by the Endowed Schools Commissioners, and adopted by the Court of the Haberdashers' Company. The Hospital for decayed freemen has been closed, and the pensioners receive out-door annuities; four £50, two £70, and fourteen £75 a year each. A new school was built (1875-1876) on the site of the old building at Hoxton, with accommodation for 300 boys and 300 girls, day scholars, and open to all; and a second and superior school, a handsome Elizabethan building, on an elevated site at Hatcham, between New Cross, Deptford, and Nunhead. Exhibitions have also been provided, amounting to 1200 a year, of sums not exceeding £40 a year each, chiefly for the sons and daughters of freemen, tenable at Hatcham or any other approved school. The new schools are from the designs of the late Mr. W. Snooke, architect to the Company. The original edifice was designed by Dr. Robert Hooke, the mathematician. The drawing by the architect hangs in the Court Room of the Company. Asparagus Garden, UPPER GROUND STREET, SOUTHWARK, near the old Barge House. In the 16th and 17th centuries this district chiefly consisted of garden ground and pasturage. Astley's Amphitheatre, WESTMINSTER BRIDGE ROAD. The first amphitheatre on this spot was a mere temporary erection of deal boards, set up, in 1774, by Philip Astley, a light-horseman in the 15th or General Eliott's Regiment. It stood on what was then an open piece of ground in St. George's Fields, through which the New Cut ran, and to which a halfpenny hatch led. The price of admission to the space without the railing of the ride was sixpence, and Astley himself, said to have been the handsomest man in England, was the chief performer, assisted by a drum, two fifes, and a clown of the name of Porter. At first it was an open area. In 1780 it was converted into a covered amphitheatre, and divided into pit, boxes, and gallery. In 1786 it was newly fitted up, and called "The Royal Grove," and in 1792 "The Royal Saloon, or Astley's Amphitheatre." The entertainment, at first, was only a day exhibition of horsemanship. Transparent fireworks, slack-rope vaulting, Egyptian pyramids, tricks on chairs, tumbling, etc., were subsequently added, the ride enlarged, and the house opened in the evening. London, at this time of year (September), is as nauseous a drug as any in an apothecary's shop. I could find nothing at all to do, and so went to Astley's, which indeed was much beyond my expectation. I do not wonder any longer that Darius was chosen king by the instructions he gave to his horse; nor that Caligula made his Consul. Astley can make his dance minuets and hornpipes. But I shall not have even Astley now; Her Majesty the Queen of France, who has as much taste as Caligula, has sent for the whole of the dramatis persona to Paris.-Horace Walpole to Lord Stafford, September 12, 1783. In 1794 (August 17) the amphitheatre and nineteen adjoining houses In 1803 (September 2) it was again burnt were destroyed by fire. down, the mother of Mrs. Astley jun. perishing in the flames. Base Buonapartè, fill'd with deadly ire, Sets, one by one, our playhouses on fire. Some years ago he pounced with deadly glee on The Opera House, then burned down the Pantheon; Thy hatch, O Halfpenny! pass'd in a trice, Boil'd some black pitch, and burnt down Astley's twice. Rejected Addresses. This was said or sung in 1812; and in 1841 (June 8) it was a third time burnt down, Mr. Ducrow, who had been one of Astley's riders and became manager, dying insane soon after, from the losses he sustained. Old Astley, who was born at Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1742, died in Paris, October 20, 1814. He is said to have built nineteen different theatres. Tom Dibdin tells how, in his young days, Philip Astley paid him 14 guineas for three Burlettas and a Pantomime, and insisted on putting his own name to them, as he had "bought the thingumbobs."-Dibdin's Autobiography. In 1862 Astley's was converted into the Theatre Royal, Westminster, by Mr. Dion Boucicault, and is now both theatre and amphitheatre. Astronomical Society (Royal), BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY. Instituted 1820, "for the Encouragement and Promotion of Astronomy;" and incorporated by Royal Charter, dated March 7, 1st of Will. IV. Entrance-money, £2: 2s.; annual subscription, £2:25. Annual general meeting, second Friday in February. Medal awarded every year. Apartments were in the first instance granted to the Society at Somerset House, but on the erection of new wings to Burlington House for the use of the learned Societies, apartments were provided for the Royal Astronomical Society in the west wing. The Society has a し good mathematical library, and a few astronomical instruments. Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. [See Deaf and Dumb Asylum.] Atheling Street, is an old form of the name of Watling Street, and is so given by Leland. Among the manuscripts of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's is a document of 25 Edw. III., in which mention is made of a tenement in Athelyng Street.-Historical MSS. Comm., Appendix to Ninth Report, p. 5. There does not appear to actual authority for connecting this street with the old Roman be any road. Athenæum Club, PALL MALL, instituted in 1824 by the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir F. Chantrey, Mr. Jekyll, Sir Humphry Davy, etc., "for the association of individuals known for their literary or scientific attainments, artists of eminence in any class of the Fine Arts, noblemen and gentlemen distinguished as liberal patrons of Science, Literature, or the Arts." The members are chosen by ballot, except that the committee have the power of electing yearly, from the list of candidates for admission, a limited number of persons "who shall have attained to distinguished eminence in Science, Literature, or the Arts, or for Public Services," the number so elected not to exceed nine in each year. The number of ordinary members is fixed at 1200; entrance fee, 30 guineas; yearly subscription, 8 guineas. One black ball in ten excludes. The present Club-house (Decimus Burton, architect) was built in 1829, and opened February 8, 1830. Pending its erection the members occupied the house at the south-west corner of Regent Street. The first meetings were held in the rooms of the Royal Institution, and Faraday acted for a short time as honorary secretary. "The original prospectus and early list of members have his name attached to them."-Life, vol. i. p. 380. The only Club I belong to is the Athenæum, which consists of twelve hundred members, amongst whom are to be reckoned a large proportion of the most eminent persons in the land, in every line-civil, military, and ecclesiastical, peers spiritual and temporal (ninety-five noblemen and twelve bishops), commoners, men of the learned professions, those connected with Science, the Arts, and Commerce in all its principal branches, as well as the distinguished who do not belong to any particular class. Many of these are to be met with every day, living with the same freedom as in their own houses. For 6 guineas a year every member has the command of an excellent library, with maps, of the daily papers, English and foreign, the principal periodicals, and every material for writing, with attendance for whatever is wanted. The building is a sort of palace, and is kept with the same exactness and comfort as a private dwelling. Every member is a master without any of the trouble of a master. He can come when he pleases, and stay away as long as he pleases, without anything going wrong. He has the command of regular servants without having to pay or to manage them. He can have whatever meal or refreshment he wants, at all hours, and served up with the cleanliness and comfort of his own house. He orders just what he pleases, having no interest to think of but his own. In short, it is impossible to suppose a greater degree of liberty in living.—Walker's Original. The library is the best Club Library, and contains one of the choicest collections of books of reference in London. The number of volumes is between 50,000 and 60,000. There is a JUNIOR ATHENÆUM CLUB, which, though of much more recent date, is also a large and flourishing body. For their club-house they were fortunate in securing HOPE HOUSE, the fine mansion erected in 1848-1849 by H. T. Hope, Esq., of Deepdene, in Piccadilly, at the corner of Down Street. Athenian Club, Strand, a social club which in the early years of the 19th century met for dinners and conversation at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand. It has long been extinct. December 31, 1804.-I dined at the Athenian Club at the Crown and Anchor : a society of gentlemen, men of great fortune, M. P.'s, rich City merchants, philosophers, and men of literature, John Kemble is a member.-Sir Charles Bell's Letters, p. 32. Auction Mart, BARTHOLOMEW LANE, opposite the eastern front of the Bank of England, was designed by John Walters, architect, 18081810, for the sale of estates, annuities, shares in public institutions, |