Strand, The (London, England); Streets -- England -- London
St. Martin's Lane claims many celebrated names, and was a favourite
resort for artists. The house in which Inigo Jones lived is still
pointed out--No. 31 on the east side. Almost exactly opposite this is
the Public Library, built at the same time as the Municipal Buildings;
it contains a fine reference collection (see also p. 21.) The lane
abounds with memories of the past. In St. Peter's Court Roubiliac
established a studio, afterwards a drawing academy, which numbered
Hayman, Cipriani, Ramsay, Cosway, Nollekens, Reynolds and Hogarth among
its members; this was the predecessor of the Royal Academy. This court
was two or three doors above the Free Library, and was eventually closed
up at the west end by the Garrick Theatre. No. 114 is traditionally on
the site of the mansion of the Earls of Salisbury, in which, also
traditionally, the Seven Bishops were confined before being committed
to the Tower. The names of Chippendale, Nathaniel Hone and Fuseli are
associated with the lane, also Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir James
Thornhill.
Old Slaughter's Coffee-house alone is enough to redeem any street from
oblivion. This was established in 1692, and stood on the spot where
Cranbourne Street now crosses the end of St. Martin's Lane. It was a
favourite resort of all the painters and sculptors of the time, not to
mention the wits and beaux. Hogarth was a constant visitor, his house in
Leicester Square being conveniently near. Roubiliac, Gainsborough, and
also Wilkie, came to enjoy society at Old Slaughter's, and Pope and
Dryden are known to have visited it. The first chess club in London was
established here in 1747.
And now we have strolled around the chosen area, making Trafalgar Square
the centre, and returning to and fro in two great loops eastward and
westward, resembling a true lovers' knot. We have been in the company of
King and courtier, rebel and wit. We have consorted with the gay fops of
the eighteenth century in their club and coffee house life, and we have
seen the haunts of men whose names are household words wherever the
English tongue is spoken.
It has been chiefly seventeenth and eighteenth century life that has
enchained us as we read the pages of the past, and in its richness and
variety at least the eighteenth century would be difficult to rival.
Prosaic London, with her borough councils, her Strand improvements, and
her immense utilitarian flats, still retains the glamour of her bygone
days, and if her present buildings are without much attraction, they are
glorified by the halo of their association with their fascinating
predecessors.
INDEX
Albemarle, Duchess of, 74
Albemarle, Duke of, 83
Addison, 58, 95, 106
Adelphi, 72
Adelphi Terrace, 74
Admiralty, 12
Agar Street, 71
Apsley House, 52
Arlington House, 2
Arne, Dr., 104
Arundel Street, 88
Astley, 62
Babington, 96
Bacon, 71
Baily, 27
Beauclerk, Topham, 30
Beaufort Buildings, 77
Beckford, Alderman, 33
Bedford Coffee House, 102
Bedford House, 77
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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