Strand, The (London, England); Streets -- England -- London
The literary associations of the street are innumerable. Wycherley
lodged here, and after an illness was visited by Charles II., who gave
him L500 for a trip to France. The well-known Cock Tavern was just
opposite his rooms, and when Wycherley had married the Countess of
Drogheda he used to sit in the tavern with the windows open so that his
jealous wife could see there were no women in his company. This tavern
was the resort of the rakes and mohocks that for a while made the
neighbourhood a terror to decent people. Henry Fielding wrote "Tom
Jones" while living in this street. Grinling Gibbons died here. Edmund
Waller, the poet, lived here during the Commonwealth, and Robert Harley,
Earl of Oxford, was born here in 1661. Radcliffe, the Court physician,
was a resident in the beginning of the eighteenth century.
The streets opening out of the square can boast many interesting
associations.
Henrietta Street was named after Charles I.'s Queen. Samuel Cooper,
miniature-painter, lived here. The Castle Tavern, where Sheridan fought
with Mathews on account of Miss Linley, was in this street.
Maiden Lane can claim several illustrious names. It was the birthplace
of Turner; Andrew Marvell and Voltaire both lodged here.
Long Acre was originally an open field called the Elms, and later known
as Seven Acres, from a grant of land made to the Duke of Bedford. A
curious house-to-house survey of 1650 is preserved in the Augmentation
Office. From this it would appear that the street at that date was full
of small shops, grocers, chandlers, etc., with here and there a big
house occupied by some titled person. Ever since the first introduction
of coaches Long Acre has been particularly favoured by coachbuilders,
and at the present time it is lined by carriage-works. Long Acre was the
scene of many convivial gatherings in the Hanoverian times. It can claim
the first "mug-house," an institution which speedily became popular.
Oliver Cromwell lived on the south side of Long Acre, and Dryden and
Butler in Rose Street, a dirty little alley half destroyed by the
building of Garrick Street. Here Dryden was set upon by three hired
bullies at the command of Lord Rochester, who was insulted by some
satirical lines which he attributed to the poet.
Garrick Street was built about 1864, and the club of the same name was
founded for the patronage of dramatic art.
St. Martin's Lane is one of the oldest thoroughfares in the parish. It
was built about 1613, and was then known as West Church Lane. It ran
right through to the front of Northumberland House, and prints are still
extant showing the church peeping over the line of houses on the western
side.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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