In No. 44 Gower Place, between Gower Street and Euston Square, William Godwin was living, 1827-1833.

Gracechurch Street, between CORNHILL and EASTCHEAP, was so named "from the parish church of St. Benet, called Grass Church, of the herb-market there kept." 1 The church of St. Benet, at the corner of Fenchurch Street, was pulled down in 1867. It is written Grascherche in a Letter-Book of 1320. Stow writes it "Grasse Street." It was often written "Gracious Street." In Dekker's description of the royal procession in 1604, we are told that this street was worthy of that name it carries till this hour." It was destroyed in the Great Fire, and on being rebuilt was named Gracechurch Street. Graschurch was the great corn market of the City. Great pains seem to have been taken to encourage the bringing of corn to it, and its management was closely watched. In the reign of Edward I. it was laid down as "the custom of Grascherch" that every cart not belonging to a citizen shall pay a toll of a half-penny. Carts that bring cheese and corn, or nuts and corn, if the cheese or nuts be worth more than the corn, shall pay twopence; but if the corn is worth the most, they shall pay only one half penny. In the succeeding reign, 1323-1324, it was ordered that "those who bring corn or malt unto the City of London for sale . . . from the counties of Cauntebrigge [Cambridge], Huntyngdone, Bedeforde, and those who come by Ware, bring all the corn and malt which they shall bring unto the said City for sale unto the market upon the Pavement at Graschirche ; » 3 corn and malt from other parts were to be taken for sale to "the Market upon the Pavement before the Friars Minors in Newgate Street." The market was not, however, restricted to corn and malt. In an ordinance for the regulation of the trade of blacksmiths, it is directed that, for the repression of "false work," smiths "who wish to send their work for sale out of their houses or shops, shall send the same to, and stand openly at Graschirche," or upon the "pavement hard by St. Nicholas Flesshameles, or near to the Tun upon Cornhulle." 4

In Grasse Street have ye one fair Conduit of sweet water, castellated, with crest and vent, made by the appointment of Thomas Hill, mayor 1484, who gave by his testament one hundred marks towards the conveyance of water to this place. It was begun by his executors in the year 1491, and finished of his goods at whatever cost. -Stow, p. 80.

When Philip and Mary made their entry into London in 1554, The conduit in Gracechurch Street had been newly decorated: the Nine Worthies had been painted round the winding turret, and among them were Henry VIII. and Edward. The first seven carried maces, swords, or poleaxes. Henry held in one hand a sceptre, with the other he was presenting a book to his son, on which was written Verbum Dei. As the train went by the unwelcome figure caught the eye of Gardiner. The painter was summoned, called knave, traitor, heretic, an enemy to the Queen's Catholic proceedings. The offensive Bible was washed out, and a pair of gloves inserted in its place.-Froude, History of England, vol. vi. p. 253.

1 Stow, p. 80.

2 Liber Albus, p. 216.

3 Ibid., p. 372.
4 Riley, Memorials, p. 361.

Richard Tarlton, the clown (d. 1588), kept "a tavern at the sign of the Saba [Queen of Sheba] in Gracious Street."

It chanced that one Fancy and Nancy, two musicians in London, used often with their boys to visit Tarlton when he dwelt in Gracious Street at the signe of the Saba, a taverne, he being one, etc.-Tarlton's Jests, 4to, 1611.

When Tarlton dwelt in Gracious Street, at a tavern at the sign of the Saba, he was chosen scavenger, and often the ward complained of his slacknesse in keeping the streets cleane.-Ibid.

At the Cross Keys Inn, a large and noted house for coaches and waggons, and celebrated in the annals of acting,1 pulled down a few years ago, Bankes exhibited the extraordinary feats of his horse Marocco.

There was one Banks, in the time of Tarlton, who served the Earl of Essex, and had a horse of strange qualities, and being at the Crosse-Keyes in Gracious Streete, getting money with him as he was mightily, resorted to, Tarlton then, with his fellowes, playing at the Bel by, came into the Crosse-Keyes amongst many people, to see fashions, which Banks perceiving, to make the people laugh, saies, “Signior," to his horse, "Go fetch me the veriest fool in the company." The jade comes immediately and with his mouth drawes Tarlton forth. Tarlton, with merry words said nothing but "God a mercy, horse." . . Ever after it was a by word thorow London, "God a mercy, horse," and is to this day.-Tarlton's Jests, 4to, 1611.

Taylor, the Water Poet, in his Carrier's Cosmographie (4t0, 1637), mentions "The Tabard neere the Conduit," and "The Spread Eagle," both in "Gracious Street." Both houses have disappeared, the Tabard (afterwards the Talbot) leaving its memory in Talbot Court, on the east side of Gracechurch Street, near Eastcheap. The Spread Eagle remained till the advent of railways a famous coaching establishment, and a good example of those old London inns with their ample courtyards, galleries, and travellers' rooms. It was pulled down in 1865, and the vacant site-described in the Sale Catalogue as "about 12,000 feet of freehold and long leasehold ground"-was sold by auction, October 25, 1865, for £95,000-a noteworthy instance of the value of land in the City. A large block of offices have been built on the site. William Hone, author of the Every Day Book, after his failure as a bookseller, kept the "Grasshopper" coffee and chop-house, No. 13, but was as unsuccessful as in his previous ventures. It is now a noted eating-house.

In White Hart Court was the Friends' (Quakers) Meeting-house. On the passing of the Conventicles Act, in 1670, George Fox was seized and carried off to "the Mayor's house" by a party of soldiers while preaching in this meeting-house.2 It was at the house of Henry Goldney in this court that he died, January 19, 1690. He had preached in the meeting-house only two days before his death. In Nag's Head Court died (1737) Matthew Green, the author of "The Spleen," and other poems of great originality and merit. W. Curtis, author of Flora Londinensis and other botanical works, kept an apothecary's shop in this street. Peter Collinson, F.R.S., the eminent botanist, was a wholesale mercer at the sign of the Red Lion.

1 See Malone's History of the Stage, var. ed., vol. iii. p. 47, etc. 2 Fox's Journal, vol.'ii. p. 125.

Grafton Street, BOND STREET, between Old Bond Street and Dover Street, was so called from the town house of the Dukes of Grafton. In Sayer's Map of 1767 it is called Evans Row, and it is so named by Dodsley, 1761. Before this it was called Ducking Pond Row. [See Albemarle Buildings.] The ground was purchased in 1723.

All the waste ground at the upper end of Albemarle Street and Dover Street is purchased by the Duke of Grafton (d. 1757) and the Earl of Grantham (d. 1758) for gardening; and the road there leading to May Fair is ordered to be turned.-The British Journal, March 30, 1723.

The Duke of Grafton's house was at the south corner of Grafton and Bond Street, where was afterwards the Clarendon Hotel.1 Here, according to the Earl of Buchan, Boswell, in his Corsican dress, and a letter from Paoli in his hand, was introduced to the great Lord Chatham.2 Admiral Earl Howe, who defeated the French off Ushant on June 1, 1794, resided and died (1799) at No. II in this street. He has a monument in St. Paul's.

When Sir William Scott (Lord Stowell) in 1813 married the Dowager Marchioness of Sligo [daughter of Earl Howe] he took up his abode for the rest of his London life at her house, No. 11 Grafton Street. On the door was a brass plate bearing the Dowager's name, and beneath it Sir William placed another bearing his own. "Why, Sir William," said Mr. Jekyll, who had left his cards of congratulation on the wedding, “I am sorry to see you knock under." Sir William made no answer at the time but transposed the plates. "Now Jekyll," said he, when next they met, "you see, I no longer knock under." "No, Sir William," said the unrelenting wit, "you knock up now."—Life of Eldon, vol. ii. p. 238.

Sir William Scott was sixty-eight years old at the time of his second marriage. Previous to his marriage he had lived at No. 16 in this street. The Marquis Cornwallis was living at No. 16 after his return from carrying out the Irish Union, and when (1801) he was appointed plenipotentiary to conduct the negotiations with the First Consul at Amiens. Fox lived in this street in 1783, when he was Foreign Secretary, and Mrs. Fitzherbert occupied No. 24 in 1796. In 1809 the Right Hon. George Tierney was living in No. 20; and in this same house, in 1850, died Southey's fast friend, Charles Wynn. Sir G. C. Lewis removed to his father's house, No. 21 Grafton House, in 1844. No. 4 was Lord Brougham's London residence from 1839 till his death. Watson Taylor's last London house was in this street, and here in 1832 his effects were sold.

Grafton Street, FITZROY SQUARE, and Tottenham Court Road, was so called after the Fitzroys, Dukes of Grafton. In this street is Dr. Williams's Library (No. 14), removed from Redcross Street in 1865. [See Williams's (Dr.) Library.]

Grafton Street, SOHO, from Gerrard Street to Little Earl Street. In the 3d of William and Mary (1691), a Private Act was passed for

1 The corner house going to Saville Row, over against the late Duke of Grafton's.-H. Walpole, 2 Johnsoniana, 4to, p. 415.

1787.

"vesting certain pieces or parcels of ground in the parish of St. James's and St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, late the estate of Henry, Duke of Grafton, deceased, in Trustees to be sold." It has been swallowed up by Sandringham Buildings and Shaftesbury Avenue.

Grand Junction Canal (THE), commenced May 1, 1793, and completed in 1805, runs from the Thames, near Brentford, to Uxbridge, Tring, Fenny Stratford, etc. The Paddington branch, of 13 miles, unites it with the Regent's Canal. When the Paddington branch was first opened day-excursions along it in gaily fitted barges to Uxbridge and back were for a time very popular. A few years ago an attempt was made to revive them, but did not prove successful. Nollekens, the sculptor (as his biographer tells us), Benjamin West, and other distinguished artists, shared in these economical pleasures.

When it was customary for so much company to visit Uxbridge by the barges drawn by horses gaily decked out with ribbons, Mr. and Mrs. Nollekens, with all the gaiety of youthful extravagance, embarked on board, and actually dined out on that gala-day at their own expense. The sights they saw on this memorable aquatic excursion afforded them mutual conversation for several weeks; and Mrs. Nollekens actually tired her friends with letters upon their canal adventures from Paddington to Uxbridge, and from Uxbridge to Paddington. In these epistles she most poetically expatiated upon the clearness of the water, the fragrance of the flowers, the nut-brown tints of the wavey corn, and the ruddy and healthful complexions of the cottagers' children who waited anxiously to see the vessel approach their native shores. . . . The pleasures of a similar excursion induced the late venerable President West to paint a picture of the barge he went by, on the crowded deck of which he has introduced his own portrait, and also those of several of his friends who were that day on board.— J. T. Smith, Nollekens and His Times, vol. i. p. 383.

Grange (THE), an inn near Portugal Row, Lincoln's Inn Fields. "Our house-inn,” Davenant calls it. It was taken down in 1853, and King's College Hospital built on the site. In Grange Court Keeley the actor was born in 1794.

Grange Walk, BERMONDSEY, north of the Grange Road, by Bermondsey Square, was so called from the grange or farm belonging to Bermondsey Abbey, which was between it and Neckinger Bridge. The East Gate of the Abbey, demolished about 1760, was in Grange Walk. Bermondsey Square occupies the Abbey Close. John Scott of Amwell, the Quaker Poet, whose life Johnson intended to have written, was born in Grange Walk, Bermondsey, January 9, 1730.

Gravel Lane, HOUNDSDITCH, east side, near Aldgate Church; wholly occupied by Jews. Here stood a house called "The Spanish Ambassador's House," of which there is a view in No. 2 of the Archaological Album. It was taken down in 1844. [See Houndsditch.]

Gravel Lane, SOUTHWARK. Extending from Dirty Lane (now Suffolk Street) to the Falcon, Bankside (Hatton's New View). Zoar Street, where Bunyan is believed to have often preached, is a turning out of this lane.

1 Davenant's Works, vol. ii. p. 74.

Gravel Lane, WAPPING, from St. George's Street to Wapping, High Street, between the Western and Eastern Basins of the London Docks. New Gravel Lane is somewhat farther east, between the Eastern and the Shadwell Basins. When the Parliament fortified London in 16421643, they constructed "one bulwark and a half on ye hill at ye north end of Gravel Lane," close by the Thames.

Grave Maurice (THE). There are still two public-houses of this sign in the east end of London-No. 128 Whitechapel Road, and No. 18 St. Leonard's Road, East India Dock Road. The name is derived from the Graaf Maurice, often mentioned by Howell in his Letters.

Gray's Inn, an Inn of Court, with two Inns of Chancery attached— Staple Inn and Barnard's Inn; "a goodly house," says Stow, "by whom built or first begun I have not yet learned, but seemeth to be since Edward III.'s time."1 The early records of the Society are lost, but Pearce 2 quotes a MS. in the Harleian Collection to the effect that William Skepworth was the first reader at Gray's Inn, and he was Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of Edward III. The manor of Portpoole, otherwise called Gray's Inn, four messuages, four gardens, the site of a windmill, 8 acres of land, 10 shillings of free rent, and the advowson of the chantry of Portpoole were sold in 1505, by Edmund, Lord Gray, of Wilton, to Hugh Denny, Esq., his heirs and assigns. From Denny's hands the manor passed into the possession of the prior and convent of East Sheen, in Surrey, by whom it was leased "to certain students of the law," at an annual rent of £6:13:4; and the same lease was renewed to the students by Henry VIII., when at the dissolution of religious houses Gray's Inn became the property of the Crown. The name of Portpoole survives in Portpoole Lane (running from the east side of Gray's Inn Road into Leather Lane), and Windmill Hill still exists to mark the site of the windmill mentioned in the deed of transfer from Lord Gray. When the first hall was built is unknown; but Dugdale records the erection of the present hall between the years 1555 and 1560. The library was built in 1738, with steward's offices, etc., by the surveyor, F. Wigg; enlarged and remodelled in 1841. A new library was built in 1883. [See Gray's Inn Walks.] The gardens were first planted about 1600. The inn was originally divided into four courts-Coney Court; Holborn Court, south of the hall; Field Court, between Fulwood's Rents and the walks; and Chapel Court, between Coney Court and the chapel. It now comprises Field Court, Gray's Inn Square, and South Square, between which are the hall, chapel, library and steward's office, and the garden, or Gray's Inn Walks, with Raymond's Buildings on the west and Verulam Buildings on the east side, overlooking Gray's Inn Road. With its gardens Gray's Inn covers an area of nearly 30 acres, and reaches from Holborn northwards to

1 Stow, p. 163.

2 Pearce, Hist. of the Inns of Court.