CHAPTER XLI.
BLOOMSBURY SQUARE AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
BLOOMSBURY SQUARE.
—"Around what public works I see!
Lo! stately streets. Lo! squares that court the breeze."—Thomson.
Southampton (afterwards Bedford) House—The Patriot Lord Russell and his Noble-hearted Wife—An Historic Romance—Lucy, Countess of
Bedford—An Episode in the Life of Anne, Wife of the Fifth Earl of Bedford—John, Fourth Duke of Bedford—Invitations to "take Tea
and Walk in the Fields"—A Curious Advertisement—Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist Divine—An Anecdote about Dr. Radcliffe—Fashionable Residents—Poor Sir Richard Steele—Pope's Allusion to Bloomsbury Square—Sir Hans Sloane and his "Curiosities"—The
Gordon Riots—Attack on Lord Mansfield's House—Charles Knight's Residence in this Square—Isaac D'Israeli, the Author of "Curiosities
of Literature"—His Son, Benjamin Disraeli, born here—Edmund Lodge, the Eminent Biographer—Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain—The Royal Literary Fund—The Famous Mississippi Schemer, Law—The Statue of Charles James Fox—Bloomsbury Market—Southampton Street and Row—National Benevolent Institution—Bloomsbury Place—Thomas Cadell, the Publisher—The Corporation
of the Sons of the Clergy—Hart Street—St. George's Church—Archdeacon Nares—Miss Stride's "Home" for Destitute Girls.
Bloomsbury Square owes its origin to Thomas
Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the son of
Shakespeare's patron and friend, and also the father
of Lady Rachel Russell, wife of Lord William
Russell, whose tragic death we have recorded as
the disgrace of Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Under date of February 9, 1665, Evelyn has the
following note in his Diary, touching the building
of this square:—"Dined at my Lord Treasurer's,
the Earle of Southampton, in Blomesbury, where
he was building a noble square or piazza, a little
towne; his owne house stands too low, some noble
roomes, a pretty cedar chappell, a naked garden to
the north, but good aire." It was at first called
Southampton Square; and Macaulay places it
among the head-quarters of the fashion of the
metropolis, in the reign of Charles II. "Foreign
princes," he tells us, on the authority of the
"Travels of the Grand Duke of Cosmo," "were
taken to see the square as one of the wonders of
England, whilst Soho Square, just built, was a
subject of pride, with which the present generation
will hardly sympathise."
Southampton House (afterwards called Bedford
House), the residence of the above-mentioned earl,
stood on the northern side of the square, and a
portion of the ground which it occupied is now
covered by some of the outbuildings on the east
side of the British Museum. The mansion was not
only the scene of the childhood and early life, but
also, during many of the years of her widowhood,
the home of that illustrious and noble woman, Lady
Rachel Russell, many of whose "Letters" are dated
from within its walls.
Northouck, the topographer, writing of Bloomsbury Square, in 1772, after the house had changed
its name, observes:—"The north side is entirely
taken up with Bedford House, which is elegant,
though low, having but one storey. It was the
work of Inigo Jones. Beside the body of the
house are two wings, and on each side the proper
offices. The square forms a magnificent area
before it, and the grand street in front throws the
prospect of it open to Holborn. Behind, it has the
advantage of most agreeable gardens, commanding
a full view of the rising hills of Hampstead and
Highgate; so that it is hardly possible to conceive
a finer situation than that of Bedford House."
One of the wings of the house, we are told,
formed a magnificent gallery, in which were copies,
by Sir James Thornhill, of the cartoons of Raphael,
as large as the originals; indeed, the mansion was
very rich, for that date, in works of art, both sculptures and paintings. When the house was pulled
down, about 1802, its contents were sold, and Sir
James Thornhill's cartoons were disposed of for a
little under £500! They would fetch a much
higher price in the present day, when high art is
better appreciated.
The Wriothesleys, Earls of Southampton, were
heads of a family who long enjoyed considerable
influence in State affairs, and held many important
public offices. As far back as the reign of
Edward IV. we find John Wriothsley (as the
name was then spelt) occupying the post of
"Faucon Herald," and as having letters patent for
the office of Garter King-at-Arms in the first year
of Richard III. His two sons likewise held offices
in the College of Arms, and his grandson, Thomas
Wriothesley, who was esteemed "a man of learning,
and a good lawyer," was elevated to the peerage as
Baron Wriothesley, in 1544, and soon afterwards,
on the death of the great Lord Audley, constituted
Lord Chancellor of England. Three years later
his lordship was advanced to the Earldom of
Southampton. His son Henry, second earl, was
a friend of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and involved
himself in trouble by promoting the contemplated
marriage of that nobleman with Mary, Queen of
Scots, "to whom and her religion (says Dugdale)
he stood not a little affected." His successor,
Henry, third earl, is not only known to history as
the friend of Shakespeare in his early days, when
he needed friends, but also as the companion in
arms of the Earl of Essex, and a participator in
the treason by which that unfortunate nobleman
forfeited his life in the reign of Elizabeth. Lord
Southampton was also tried, condemned, and
attainted; but his life was spared. Upon the
accession of James I. he was released from prison,
restored in blood by Act of Parliament, and
created by a new patent, in the year 1603, Earl of
Southampton, "with the same rights, precedency,
and privileges, that he had formerly enjoyed."
His son, Thomas, who succeeded as fourth earl,
was a staunch supporter of Charles I., and was the
Lord Treasurer mentioned by Evelyn in his note
quoted above. His lordship died at Southampton
House, "near Holburne, in the suburbs of London,"
in May, 1667, when his honours became extinct.
The mansion remained in the possession of his
daughter, Lady Rachel Russell, through whose
marriage it passed into the possession of the Duke
of Bedford, and afterwards, as we have said, came
to be called Bedford House.
Lady William Russell, as every reader of English
history knows, was a woman distinguished for her
ardent and tender affection, "pious, reflecting,
firm, and courageous; alike exemplary in prosperity
and adversity, when observed by multitudes, or
hidden in retirement." Her firm and noble conduct in attending her husband's trial, for the
purpose of taking notes and giving him assistance,
have been themes of the highest interest and
admiration alike to the historian and the artist.
The bitterness of their parting is described in the
most pathetic language, and a lasting grief is shown
in her subsequent correspondence. Lord William
Russell, as we have stated in the previous volume, (fn. 1)
was executed in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and his
widow lived here in retirement till her death, in
the reign of George I., at the age of eighty-six.
Lord Russell's father was the first Duke of Bedford. His Grace came of a good old Dorsetshire
family, one member of whom is said to have gained
a favourable introduction to Court through one of
those unexpected incidents which may be attributed
solely to good fortune. Sir Bernard Burke, in his
"Peerage," relates how that towards the end of
the reign of Henry VII., "the Archduke Philip of
Austria, only son of the Emperor Maximilian I.,
and husband of Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabella, King and Queen of Castile and
Aragon, having encountered a violent hurricane in
his passage from Flanders to Spain, was driven into
Weymouth, where he landed, and was hospitably
received by Sir Thomas Trenchard, knight, a gentleman of rank in the neighbourhood. Sir Thomas
immediately apprised the Court of the circumstance, and in the interim, while waiting for instructions what course to adopt, invited his first
cousin, Mr. John Russell, then recently returned
from his travels, to wait upon the Prince. The
Prince, fascinated by Mr. Russell's companionable
qualities, desired that he should accompany him to
Windsor, whither the King had invited him on a
visit. On the journey the Archduke became still
more pleased with his attendant's 'learned discourse and generous deportment,' and recommended him strongly to the King. Mr. Russell
was, in consequence, taken immediately into royal
favour, and appointed one of the Gentlemen of the
Privy Chamber. Becoming subsequently a favourite
of Henry VIII., and a companion of that monarch
in his French wars, Mr. Russell was appointed to
several high and confidential offices." He was
finally elevated to the peerage in 1538–9, as Baron
Russell of Cheneys, Buckinghamshire; and on the
dissolution of the monasteries, in the following
year, he obtained a grant of the site of the abbey
of Tavistock, and of extensive possessions belonging
to it. After the accession of Edward VI., Lord
Russell had a grant of the monastery of Woburn,
in Bedfordshire, and was created Earl of Bedford.
Francis, the second earl, was a person of great
eminence during the reign of Elizabeth, and three
of his sons likewise greatly distinguished themselves; he was succeeded in the earldom by his
grandson Edward, son of Francis, Lord Russell.
Lucy, Countess of Bedford, to whom Ben Jonson
addresses several of his best epigrams, sister and
co-heir of the second Lord Warrington, and wife
of Edward, the third earl, was distinguished alike
by the variety of her attainments, and her liberal
patronage of men of genius. Amongst those upon
whom this lady specially bestowed her munificence
were Ben Jonson, Drayton, Daniel, and Donne;
and they have all paid poetical homage to her
merits and her bounty. "Sir Thomas Roe," says
Granger, "has addressed a letter to her as one
skilled in medals; and she is celebrated by Sir
William Temple for projecting the most perfect
figure of a garden that he ever saw." She died in
1627. Ben Jonson thus addresses her:—
"Lucy, you brightness of our sphere, who are
Life of the Muse's day, their morning star!
If works, not th' authors, their own grace should look,
Whose poems would not wish to be your book?"
William, the fifth earl, to whom we now pass,
was, in 1694, created Marquis of Tavistock and
Duke of Bedford. He married Anne, daughter
and sole heiress of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset,
by his too celebrated Countess, Frances Howard,
the divorced wife of Essex. "Francis, Earl of
Bedford," the father of this nobleman, says Pen
nant, "was so adverse to the alliance, that he gave
his son leave to choose a wife out of any other
family but that. Opposition usually stimulates
desire; the young couple's affections were only
increased. At length the King interposed, and
sending the Duke of Lennox to urge the Earl to
consent, the match was brought about. Somerset,
now reduced to poverty, acted a generous part,
selling his house at Chiswick, plate, jewels, and
furniture, to raise for his daughter a fortune of
£12,000, which the Earl of Bedford demanded,
saying, that since her affections were settled, he
chose rather to undo himself than make her unhappy." It is said that the lady was ignorant of
her mother's dishonour, till informed of it by a
pamphlet, which she accidentally found; and it is
added, that she was so struck with this detection of
her parent's guilt, that she fell down in a fit, and
was found senseless with the book open before her.
The duke had by this admirable woman seven
sons and three daughters, and the eldest surviving
son was the celebrated patriot, Lord William
Russell, of whom we have already spoken.
John, the fourth Duke of Bedford, to whom we
now pass on, was for some time Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, and subsequently our ambassador to the
Court of France, in which character he signed, at
Fontainebleau, the preliminaries of peace with
France and Spain. His Grace is mentioned by Lady
Hervey, in her " Letters," as a " rich great person."
He nevertheless had the misfortune of being very
unpopular in his day, but he hardly deserved all
the invectives with which Junius has " damned him
to everlasting fame." In 1748 he gave at Bedford
House a masqued ball, said to have been one of
the most magnificent that ever had been given;
the King, the Duke of Cumberland, and many of
the nobility, being present in masquerade.
About this time, it is said that the Duchess of
Bedford sent out cards to her guests, inviting them
to "take tea and walk in the fields;" and sarcastic
persons remarked, that it was expected that syllabubs would soon be milked in Berkeley Square,
around the statue of his Majesty. In the same
style, we are told that Lady Clermont was not more
remarkable for her conversational parties than for
her al fresco gatherings. In May, 1773, when
living in St. James's Place, she issued invitations to
300 dear friends " to take tea and walk in the
Park."
Having said thus much concerning Bedford
House, and the families of its successive owners,
we now proceed to speak of the other parts of
Bloomsbury Square. In 1642, we read, among the
forts ordered by the Parliament to be raised around
London, of " two batteries and a breastwork at
Southampton (afterwards Bedford) House," probably in the present square.
Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his " Handbook of
London," quotes one of the advertisements from
the London Gazette, No. 946, which we take the
liberty of copying here:—" Lost, from my Lady
Baltinglasses (sic) house, in the great square of
Bloomsbury, the first of this instant December
(1674), a great old Indian spaniel or mongrel, as
big as a mastiff; he hath curled and black hair all
over, except in his fore-feet, which are a little white;
he hath also cropt ears, and is bowed and limps a
little in one of his fore-feet. If any can bring news
thereof, they shall have twenty shillings for their
pains."
In this square lived Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist divine, at the time of his persecution by
Judge Jefferies; and here his wife died in 1681.
Dr. Mead, in " Richardsoniana," tells an amusing
story about Dr. Radcliffe, the celebrated physician,
whom we have already had occasion to mention,
and who was living in this square when he gave
£520 to the poor non-juring clergy. "Dr. Radcliffe," he says, "could never be brought to pay
bills without much following and importunity; nor
then if there appeared any chance of wearying
them out. A paviour, after long and fruitless
attempts, caught him just getting out of his chariot
at his own door in Bloomsbury Square, and set
upon him. 'Why, you rascal!' said the Doctor,
'do you pretend to be paid for such a piece of
work? Why, you have spoiled my pavement, and
then covered it over with earth, to hide your bad
work!' 'Doctor!' said the paviour, 'mine is not
the only bad work the earth hides.' 'You dog,
you!' said the Doctor, 'are you a wit? You must
be poor; come in'—and paid him."
Our readers will have already gathered from
Macaulay's remark quoted above, that in Queen
Anne's reign this neighbourhood could dispute for
the palm of fashion with Lincoln's Inn Fields and
Soho Square, and not without good reason; for at
this time not only did the Russells live in Bloomsbury Square, but also Lord Paget, Lord Carleton,
and the Earl of Northampton. Lord Mansfield's
house was at the north-east corner. Lord Ellenborough, when Chief Justice, lived at the corner
house of Bloomsbury Square and Orange Street,
before he removed to St. James's Square; and Lord
Chief Justice Trevor occupied a house on the west
side of the square.
At his house here, in 1713, died Philip, second
Earl of Chesterfield, the same who figures as a
member of the Court of Charles II. and James II.,
in the "Memoirs" of Count Grammont. In June
of the above year, too, Sir Richard Steele was living
in this square, as shown by the date of a letter, republished in fac-simile in Smith's "Historical and
Literary Curiosities." Having already burdened
himself—as we have said—with a small house near
Jermyn Street, for which he was unable to pay, (fn. 2)
Sir Richard, in 1712, could not content himself
without taking a much larger, finer, and grander
house in Bloomsbury Square; and here again he
got into still greater difficulties than before. It is
recorded that, on giving a grand entertainment in
his new mansion, he engaged half-a-dozen queerlooking individuals to wait at table on his noble
and distinguished guests, to whom he coolly confessed that "his lacqueys were bailiffs in disguise
to a man." "I fared like a distressed prince,"
writes the kindly prodigal, in the Tatler, generously
complimenting Addison for his assistance—"I
fared like a distressed prince who calls in to his
aid a powerful neighbour. I was undone by my
auxiliary; when I had once called him in, I could
not submit without dependence on him." "Poor
needy Prince," writes Thackeray, tenderly; "think
of him with pity in his palace, with his allies from
Chancery Lane thus ominously guarding him!"
The same incident is said to have occurred a
century later to another man of letters, Richard
Brinsley Sheridan. (fn. 1)
Pope, who was at this period at the height of his
fame, thus alludes to this once fashionable quarter
of the town:—
"In Palace-yard, at nine, you'll find me there;
At ten, for certain, sir, in Bloomsbury-square."
Here, in the early part of the last century, lived Dr.
Akenside and Sir Hans Sloane, already mentioned
as the founder of the British Museum. The house
of the latter was on the south side of the square,
and here Dr. Franklin came to see Sloane's
"curiosities," "for which," says Franklin, "he paid
me handsomely."
In the Gordon Riots of June, 1780, the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury gained a sad notoriety as
one of the chief points of attack by the infuriated
mob, which, in its zeal for the Protestant faith, very
nearly laid London in ruins, being guilty, as Sir N.
W. Wraxall remarks, of grosser and more senseless
outrages than even the fiends of Paris in the first
great Revolution. In the following account he
writes with all the vividness of an eye-witness
of these fearful scenes:—"I was personally present at many of the most tremendous effects of
the popular fury on the memorable 7th of June,
the night on which it attained its highest point.
About nine o'clock on that evening, accompanied
by three other gentlemen, who, as well as myself,
were alarmed at the accounts brought in every
moment of the outrages committed, and of the
still greater acts of violence meditated, as soon
as darkness should favour and facilitate their
further progress, we set out from Portland Place,
in order to view the scene. Having got into a
hackney-coach, we drove to Bloomsbury Square,
attracted to that spot by a rumour, generally spread,
that Lord Mansfield's residence, situate at the
north-east, was either already burnt, or destined for
destruction. Hart Street and Great Russell Street
presented each to the view, as we passed, large
fires composed of furniture taken from the houses
of magistrates, or other obnoxious individuals.
Quitting the coach, we crossed the square, and had
scarcely got under the wall of Bedford House,
when we heard the door of Lord Mansfield's house
burst open with violence. In a few minutes, all the
contents of the apartments being precipitated from
the windows, were piled up and wrapt in flames.
A file of foot-soldiers arriving, drew up near the
blazing pile, but without either attempting to
quench the fire or to impede the mob, who were,
indeed, far too numerous to admit of their being
dispersed, or even intimidated, by a small detachment of infantry. The populace remained masters,
while we, after surveying the spectacle for a short
time, moved on into Holborn, where Mr. Langdale's dwelling-house and warehouses afforded a
more appalling picture of devastation. They were
altogether enveloped in smoke and flame. In front
had assembled an immense multitude of both sexes,
many of whom were females, and not a few held
infants in their arms. All appeared to be, like
ourselves, attracted as spectators solely by curiosity,
without taking any part in the acts of violence.
The kennel of the street ran down with spirituous
liquors, and numbers of the populace were already
intoxicated with this beverage. So little disposition, however, did they manifest to riot or pillage,
that it would have been difficult to conceive who
were the authors and perpetrators of such enormous mischief, if we had not distinctly seen, at the
windows of the house, men who, while the floors
and rooms were on fire, calmly tore down the furniture and threw it into the street, or tossed it into
the flames. They experienced no kind of opposition during a considerable time that we remained
at this place; but a party of the Horse Guards
arriving, the terrified crowd instantly began to disperse, and we, anxious to gratify our curiosity,
continued our progress on foot, along Holborn,
towards Fleet Market."
Lord and Lady Mansfield, we are told, narrowly
escaped falling into the hands of the lawless and
infuriated mob, and only just succeeded in beating
a retreat by a back door. His lordship's valuable
library was destroyed; indeed, "even the civilisation of the eighteenth century," writes Mr. D'Israeli,
in his " Curiosities of Literature," "could not preserve from the savage and destructive fury of a
disorderly mob, in the most polished city of Europe,
the valuable papers of the Earl of Mansfield, which
were madly consigned to the flames."
ISAAC D'ISRAELI.
Whilst all these riots were proceeding, we are
told, George III. was at the Queen's Palace;
nevertheless, the author of "Biographiana" states,
without reserve or qualification, that "in these
disgraceful riots the property and buildings of the
metropolis were preserved by the spirited behaviour
of the Sovereign." Yet it is difficult to see that
the King had any claim to spirited conduct except
negatively; at all events, Dr. Johnson wrote at the
time to Mrs. Thrale thus:—" The King said in
Council that the magistrates had not done their
duty, but that he would do his own; and a proclamation was accordingly published, directing us
to keep our servants within doors, as the peace was
now to be preserved by force. The soldiers were
sent out to different parts, and the town is now
quiet." Readers of " Barnaby Rudge" will not
have forgotten Charles Dickens' description of
the Gordon Riots.
Lord Mansfield was one of Pope's executors,
and Lady Lepel Hervey in her "Letters" makes
allusions to his "artful eloquence"—meaning,
elaborate and artificial; for we may be sure that he
did not forget the words of Pope to himself—
"Plain truth, dear Murray, needs no flowers of speech."
ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, BLOOMSBURY.
"His lordship's night of life," writes Cradock,
"was disturbed by many difficulties; yet he had
undoubtedly many blessings to counterbalance
them. Though his house was burnt down in
Bloomsbury Square, he still possessed an elegant
seat and extensive domain in the neighbourhood of
London; and his nephew and heir, Lord Stormont,
was appointed as the representative of Majesty at
the Court of France. He lived to much greater
age than could have been expected, and died in
the zenith of his fame; and his memory has been
embalmed by the testimonies of some of the
wisest and best of his contemporaries. Pope had
celebrated him in a well-known distich, and other
poets, haud passibus æquis, had followed in the
train. Lord Chesterfield, in glowing terms, had
freely spoken of the rising talents both of Mr. Pitt
and Mr. Murray, in a letter to his son: 'No
man,' says he, 'can make a figure in this country
but by Parliament. Your fate depends on your
success as a speaker, and, take my word for it,
that success turns much more upon manner than
matter. Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Murray, the Solicitor
General, are, beyond compare, the best speakers.'"
It has been thought strange that Lord Mansfield's
will should be written only by himself on half
a sheet of paper, and that the contents there
enumerated, in neglect of all the forms of legal
practice, should have proved valid for the disposal
of half a million of property.
Of other residents of Bloomsbury Square in more
recent times, may be mentioned Charles Knight,
who, in 1826, lived at No. 29, when helping to
lay the foundation of the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge; and Isaac D'Israeli, the
author of the "Curiosities of Literature," who at
that time occupied the house No. 6, which, strange
to say, appears to have lately reverted to Jewish
associations, as its present occupant is a Mr.
Tabernacle. D'Israeli lived here for many years
before he settled down as a country gentleman
in Buckinghamshire; and here his gifted son
was born in December, 1804. "In London,"
says that son, "my father's only amusement was
to ramble about among the bookseller's shops;
and if he ever went into a club, it was only to
go into the library." With regard to the younger
D'Israeli—the future Premier of England—it may
be stated that as a child he used to toddle and
run about the enclosure of the square with his
nursemaid; and at a fit age was sent to a small
school, first at Islington, and afterwards at Walthamstow, at a seminary kept by a clergyman of
Unitarian opinions, where he used to keep his
schoolfellows awake at night by telling them ghoststories. In the register of the Portuguese Synagogue for 1805, the name of Benjamin D'Israeli
occurs in the January of that year, as having been
initiated into the Jewish Church when only eight
days old. When about fourteen years of age he
exchanged Judaism for Christianity, being baptised
at the Church of St. Andrew's, Holborn. He next
spent a year or two as a clerk in a solicitor's office
in the City, in the neighbourhood of Old Jewry and
the present Moorgate Street; and then, before
he was twenty-one, had astonished the world by
editing a journal of Radical sentiments, and publishing the novel of "Vivian Grey." Mr. Disraeli, in
the course of one of his speeches at Taunton, made
an uncomplimentary reference to Daniel O'Connell,
then in the zenith of his fame. The agitator, a few
days after, returned his invective with interest, and
declared, alluding to Disraeli's Hebrew origin, that
"he made no doubt that, if his genealogy could be
traced, he would be found to be the true heir-atlaw of the impenitent thief on the cross." The
reply to this outrage was a challenge, not to the
speaker, who was known uniformly to decline
duelling, but to his son. No, duel, however, took
place; but the correspondence was published in
the newspapers. A published letter, written to
O'Connell by Disraeli, concluded with the magniloquent boast, "We shall meet at Philippi." This
prophecy was fulfilled, in 1837, by the return of
Disraeli for Maidstone. Of his subsequent Parliamentary career we have already spoken. (fn. 4)
At his house in this square, in January, 1839,
died, at an advanced age, Edmund Lodge, Clarenceux King of Arms, the author of the "Peerage"
which bears his name. This eminent biographer
became a cornet in the King's Own regiment of
Dragoons, in 1772; but having a pure taste for
antiquities and literature, he left the army, and
obtained the situation of Blue Mantle Pursuivantat-Arms. He was subsequently promoted to the
offices of Lancaster Herald, Norroy, and Clarenceux, and was created a Knight of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order. Among his other literary
productions may be mentioned, "Illustrations of
British History;" "The Life of Sir Julius Cæsar;"
"Memoirs of Illustrious Personages of Great
Britain;" and many other works of the greatest
merit, learning, and research.
The house at the north-west corner of the square
forms the head-quarters of the Pharmaceutical
Society of Great Britain, which was instituted "for
the purposes of uniting the chemists and druggists
into one ostensible, recognised, and independent
body for protecting their general interests, and for
the advancement of pharmacy, by furnishing such
an uniform system of education as shall secure to
the profession and to the public the safest and most
efficient administration of medicine." A royal
charter of incorporation was granted in 1843, in
which, in addition to the above, the objects of the
society were declared to include the providing a
fund for the relief of distressed members and
associates, and of their widows and orphans. The
society has an excellent library and museum, and a
laboratory. The museum claims to be very extensive, comprising rare specimens of the animal,
vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, and substances
and products used in medicine and pharmacy. It
contains also groups and series of authenticated
specimens, valuable for identifying, comparing, and
tracing the origin and natural history of products.
The museum includes the valuable collections of
Cinchona barks made by eminent foreign naturalists,
and formerly belonging to the late Dr. Jonathan
Pereira.
In the above house, down to about 1862, was
for many years carried on the work of the Royal
Literary Fund. The object of this society, which
is now located in John Street, Adelphi, is to
administer assistance to authors of genius and
learning, who may be reduced to distress by unavoidable calamities, or deprived by enfeebled
faculties or declining life of the power of literary
exertion. This assistance is extended at the death
of an author to his widow and children. In the
application of this liberality the utmost caution is
used, both as to the reality of the distress and the
merits of the individual. No writer can come
within the views of the society who has not published a work of intelligence and public value, or
been an important contributor to periodical literature; and every author, without exception, is excluded whose writings are offensive to morals or
religion, and whose personal character is not
proved by satisfactory testimony to be beyond
suspicion. The business of the society is transacted
by a committee; the most anxious consideration is
given to the feelings of individuals; all names, and
all circumstances which might lead to names, are
carefully suppressed, and every precaution taken to
avoid distressing publicity. The bounty of this
institution is bestowed without regard to national
or political distinctions. Here the Council of the
Fund showed a small collection of curiosities and
treasures, among which were the two daggers employed by Colonel Blood and his accomplice
Parrot in their attempts to seize upon the crown
and the other regalia in the Tower, in the reign of
Charles II.
This square has not been known merely by the
names of Southampton and Bloomsbury, but its
different sides have been separately named: for
instance, at one time the east side was called
Seymour Row; the west was known as Allington,
or Arlington, Row; and the south side was called
Vernon Street. The latter name is still retained
in Vernon Place, at the south-east corner of the
square. On account of its remoteness from houses,
the site now covered by this square, like the fields
at the back of old Montagu House, was in former
times—particularly in the reign of William III.—often chosen by the "gallants" and "bloods" of
the period as a place for the settlement of "affairs
of honour" with pistols and swords. Here the
financial adventurer named Law, subsequently so
famous as the Mississippi schemer, having picked
up a quarrel with his antagonist, killed the "magnificent and mysterious Beau Wilson" in a duel.
The centre of the square is laid out in grass
plats, planted with plane-trees and shrubs. On the
north side of the enclosure, facing Bedford Place,
is a fine bronze statue of Charles James Fox, by
Sir Richard Westmacott, set up in 1816. This
statue, which rests upon a granite pedestal, is considered to be one of Westmacott's best productions.
Dignity and repose appear to have been the leading
objects of the artist's ideas. "The English sculptors," writes the French author of a "Tour in
England" in 1825, "have generally disguised their
statues of historical personages by certain anachronisms in costume. Thus we see the Charleses
and the Jameses clothed in the Roman toga, the
royal periwigs being disregarded, an omission very
creditable to the taste of the artist, though in our
(French) busts and statues of Louis XIV. a wig
usually encircles the brow of Le Grand Monarque."
There is nothing offensive, however, in the figure
of Charles James Fox, represented as he is in a
consular robe, for there was a certain degree of
Roman eloquence in the Parliamentary speeches
of that great leader. He is represented as seated,
with his right arm extended, and supporting Magna
Charta. His name forms the only inscription on
the pedestal, but that name alone is sufficient to
enshrine his memory. The countenance is said
to present a striking resemblance to the original.
The attitude is dignified, and the statue, as a whole,
reflects great credit on the genius of Westmacott.
At the south-west corner of the square was
Bloomsbury Market, built by one of the Russell
family for the accommodation of that part of the
town. Although the market has long been discontinued, it is still kept in remembrance by one
of the streets on the site being called Market
Street.
Southampton Street, which connects this square
with Holborn, witnessed the birth of Colley Cibber,
in November, 1671. At the south-west corner of
this street, with its principal entrance in Holborn,
is the Chief Post and Telegraph Office of the
Western Central District. At a short distance
eastward is Southampton Row, a broad and wellbuilt thoroughfare extending from High Holborn
to Russell Square. It was formerly known as King
Street, and is described in the "New View of
London," published in 1708, as a "spacious and
pleasant street between High Holborne and the
fields to the north." At No. 65, on the west side,
are the offices of the National Benevolent Institution. This institution was founded by the late
Peter Hervé, and established in 1812, with the
view of affording relief, by annual pensions, to distressed and aged gentry, merchants, tutors, and
governesses, and persons who have been engaged in
professional pursuits, or in the higher departments
of trade. The unfortunate Dr. Dodd was at one
time a resident in this row.
Connecting Southampton Row with the northeast corner of Bloomsbury Square is Bloomsbury
Place. At his residence here, in 1802, died Mr.
Thomas Cadell, the eminent publisher of the
Strand. He was the publisher of the first edition,
and of many consecutive editions, of Gibbon's
"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." At
No. 2, in Bloomsbury Place, are the offices of the
Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy. This institution was established in 1655, and incorporated
by Royal Charter in 1678, for the purpose of
"relieving necessitous clergymen, pensioning their
widows and aged single daughters, and educating,
apprenticing, and providing outfits for their
children." The pensions and donations are
granted by the Court of Assistants, after investigation of the merits of each case; and it may be
interesting to learn that the number benefited by
this institution in the course of a year amounts to
upwards of one thousand. The Festival of the
Sons of the Clergy, which has been already mentioned in our account of St. Paul's Cathedral, (fn. 5)
commenced in 1655, and was virtually the basis of
the above-mentioned corporation. The proceeds
of these festivals are placed at the disposal of the
corporation for the apprenticing of the sons and
daughters of necessitous clergymen in situations
of credit and respectability, and other analogous
purposes which the committee may approve. The
stewards of the festival contribute a sum of not
less than thirty guineas towards the expenses of
the festival, and are subsequently elected governors
of the corporation.
Hart Street—a fine and broad thoroughfare
running from New Oxford Street into the southwest corner of Bloomsbury Square—is destined to
form, along with Vernon Place, Theobald's Road,
and other streets through the parish of Clerkenwell, a continuous line of route through Northern
London to Shoreditch and Hackney. Hart Street
was probably so named—like Hart Street, Covent
Garden—from an inn bearing the sign of the
"White Hart," which may have stood there. On
the north side of this street stands the Church of
St. George. To use the words of the "Pocket
Guide to London," this church "enjoys the privilege of being at once the most pretentious and the
ugliest ecclesiastical edifice in the metropolis. All
the absurdities of the classic style are here apparent. It was designed by Hawkesmoor, the pupil
of Sir C. Wren, and was completed in 1731. The
architect chose for his model the description given
by Pliny of the tomb of Mausolus, in Caria; but
if the original possessed all the faults of the copy,
we can scarcely understand its having been considered one of the seven wonders of the world,
unless viewed in the light of a monstrosity.
This church has a tower and steeple at the side
of the main edifice: upon the former, at the four
sides, is a range of Corinthian pillars, placed there
apparently for no earthly use. The steeple consists
of a series of steps, with the royal arms, guarded
by excessively fierce-looking lions and unicorns,
and on the summit is a statue of King George I.
in a Roman costume." The statue of the king is
said to have been the gift of a loyal brewer, Mr.
William Hucks, sometime M.P. for Abingdon and
Wallingford. On the statue being placed in its
exalted situation a wag wrote the following epigram
on it:—
"The King of Great Britain was reckoned before
The 'Head of the Church' by all good Christian people;
But his brewer has added still one title more
To the rest, and has made him the 'Head of the
Steeple!'"
Horace Walpole, who speaks of this steeple as
"a master-stroke of absurdity, consisting of an
obelisk, crowned with the statue of King George I.,
and hugged by the royal supporters," treats us with
the following version of the same epigram:—
"When Harry the Eighth left the Pope in the lurch,
The people of England made him 'Head of the Church;'
But George's good subjects, the Bloomsbury people,
Instead of the Church made him 'Head of the Steeple.'"
The steeple as applied to a building on the
Grecian or Roman plan is always absurd, and even
Sir C. Wren could not always rescue it from
deserved and contemptuous criticism; but Hawkesmoor appears to have been the only architect who
ventured to place this part of the structure at the
side instead of making it rise out of the building.
The front of the church, facing Hart Street, has
a grand portico, elevated on a flight of steps, which
support six Corinthian columns. The church is
singular from its standing north and south; hence,
contrary to the established custom, the altar stands
at the north end; so that, in this case at least, the
"eastward position" is not rigidly carried out.
The fabric is of too recent erection to contain
many monuments or objects of interest; there is,
however, in it a tablet to the memory of the great
Lord Mansfield.
At his residence in Hart Street, in 1829, died
Archdeacon Robert Nares, librarian of the MSS. in
the British Museum, and the learned editor of part
of the "Catalogue of the Harleian Miscellany,"
and for many years joint editor of the British
Critic. He was the son of Dr. James Nares,
many years organist and composer to George II.
and George III. He was a busy and voluminous
writer, an acute critic, and a Fellow of the Royal
and other learned societies.
At No. 17, in this street, are the offices of Miss
Stride's Home in Great Coram Street, which was
instituted for the training and supporting of destitute girls, for the reformation of fallen women, and
for the purpose of aiding women on their discharge
from prison.