English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism; Great Britain -- Intellectual life -- 18th century
Leicester Place and Leicester Street,--like Leicester Fields
itself,--directly preserve the memory of what Pennant aptly calls the
'pouting-place of Princes.' But there are other traces of Leicester
House in the nomenclature of the neighbourhood which had grown up about
it. One of the family titles survives in 'Lisle Street'; another in
'Sidney Alley.' Bear Street again recalls the Leicester crest, a
bear and ragged staff, while Green Street (one side of which has been
recently rebuilt), according to Wheatley and Cunningham, derives its
name from the colour of the Leicester Mews, which stood to the south
of the Fields. The central inclosure seems to have been first
systematically laid out--though it had long been railed round--about
1737. Eleven years later arrived from Canons (Lord Burlington's seat at
Edgeware) that famous equestrian statue of George I., which Londoners so
well remember. At the time of its erection it was lavishly gilt, and
was one of the popular sights of the Town. By some it was attributed
to Buchard; by others to Van Nost of Piccadilly, then a fashionable
statuary (in lead) like Cheere of Hyde Park Corner. The horse was
modelled upon that by Hubert Le Sour which carries King Charles I. at
Charing Cross.
Considering its prolonged patronage by royalty, Leicester Fields does
not seem to have been particularly favoured by distinguished residents.
Charles Dibdin, the song-writer, once lived in Leicester Place, where in
1796 (on the east side) he built a little theatre, the Sans Souci; * and
Woollett, of whose velvety engravings Mr. Louis Fagan, not many years
ago, prepared an exhaustive catalogue, had also his habitat in Green
Street (No. 11), from the leads of which he was wont--so runs the
story--to discharge a small cannon when he had successfully put the last
touches to a 'Battle of La Hogue,' or a 'Death of General Wolfe.'
* Mr. Tom Taylor ('Leicester Square,' 1874, pp. 306 and 456)
says that Dibdin's Theatre stood nearly on the site of 'The
Feathers,' Hogarth's house of call in the Fields. But if
Leicester Place did not exist until 1796, and then occupied
ground occupied six years before by Leicester House, it is
difficult to connect Hogarth with any tavern in Leicester
Place, as Hogarth died in 1764.
Allan Ramsay (in his youth), Barry, and John Opie all once lodged in
Orange Court (now Street); and here--at No. 13--was born, of a shoemaker
sire and a mother who cried oysters, into a life of many changing
fortunes, that strange Thomas Holcroft of the 'Road to Ruin.' In St.
Martin's Street, next door to the Congregational Chapel on the east
side, lived Sir Isaac Newton from 1710 until January 1725, or two years
before his death at Kensington. Few traditions, however, connect the
abstracted philosopher (he was nearing seventy when he came to the
Fields) with the locality, beyond his visits to Princess Caroline at the
great house opposite. *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account