The distinguishing marks of what were termed private playhouses, have not hitherto been ascertained. It is certain, however, that they were smaller than the public theatres, a fact, which is ascertained from these lines, in an epilogue to Tottenham Court, a comedy by Nabbes:— 'When others' fill'd rooms with neglect disdain ye They were only opened in the winter, and the performances were by candle-light. It would appear, too, that the audience was of a more select and higher class, and a portion was privileged to sit on the stage, an indulgence not allowed in the public theatres, and for which an extra fee was demanded. It is stated in Camden's Annals of the Reign of King James the First, that this theatre fell down in 1623, and that above eighty persons were killed; but from an old tract, printed in the same year in which the accident occurred, it is evident that he was misinformed, and that the room which gave way was in a private house, appropriated to the service of religion. The title of this pamphlet. isas follows: • A Word of Comfort, or a Discourse concerning the late lamentable Accident of the Fall of a Room at a Catholic Sermon in the Blackfriers, London, whereby about Fourscore Persons were oppressed.' That it was not the theatre which fell down is further confirmed by the following lines, prefixed to a play called The Queen, published in 1653: We dare not say -that Blackfriars we heare, which in this age Or that the Puritans that once dwelt there, Prayed and thriv'd, though the playhouse were so neare.' In this theatre, the Children of the Revels occasionally performed. These were juvenile actors, selected from the choristers of the public schools and the chapel royal, who exhibited in the dramatic entertainments performed at court. They are distinguished in the records of the time as the Children of Paul's, the Children of Westminster, and the Children of the Chapel. The Children of Paul's were the favourites at the accession of Elizabeth; but were soon rivalled by the others. By the celebrity of their performances, they excited the envy of the established comedians, as appears from Shakspeare's Hamlet, (Act II. sc. 2.) Chalmers thinks it probable, that though they were termed Children, some of them might have been men; in support of which opinion, he cites the word bairn, which, in the Scottish poets, signifies a young man as well as a child, and states the word child to be employed in the same sense by Shakspeare, and in the ancient ballads. This opinion is, however, without foundation; as in many documents of the period they are termed boys; and the word child was employed by the old writers to signify a knight or hero. Boswell, jun. expresses himself (and with reason) at a loss to discover where Chalmers could find authority for such an assertion. Many pieces were performed by these Children in this theatre before 1580. Sometimes they played entire pieces; at others, they assisted the adult performers, by representing such juvenile characters as are found in Shakspeare's plays. The Case is Altered,' by Ben Jonson, appears to have been wholly acted by them. This comedy was published in 1609, as acted by the Children of Black friers.' All the plays of Shakspeare seem to have been performed at this theatre, and at the Globe. The parochial school of St. Anne, Blackfriars, is a large and handsome building of red brick; and stands within the church-yard of this parish, and adjoining Church entry. On a pannel, upon the front, is the following inscription :— Blackfriars School founded and endowed by Peter Joye, esq. anno 1705. Repaired at the expense of the parish, anno 1818. Rev. Isaac Saunders, M. A. Rector. John Taylor, William Penny, William Garnsey, Churchwardens. On a marble attached to the wall, between the court and the door of the school, is this inscription: Near this marble, in the place which before the fire of London was the porch of St. Anne, Blackfriers, lye interr'd the bodies of Dr. William Gouge, minister of this parish 46 years, who died December 12th, 1653, aged 79. Mr. Thomas Gouge, eldest son of the said Dr. sometime minister of St. Sepulchre's church, who died October 29, 1681, aged 77; with Mrs. Anne Gouge, his wife, who died December 3d, 1671, aged 55. William Gouge, esq. eldest son of ye said Mr. Thomas Gouge, who died Oct. 13th, 1706, aged 64.-This monument was erected by Mrs. Meliora Priestley, only child of the said William Priestley of Wild Hall, in the county of Hertford, esq. in pious memory of her dear father and worthy ancestors. This monument was set up in this place with the leave of the founder of the school. Opposite to the site of the church is another burying ground; and lower down the court, on the same side as the old church, is a house, on the front of which is an ornamented tablet with the ensuing inscription: THIS HOVSE WAS BVILT PART WITH THE NO OTHER VSE FOR EVER. WILLIAM BRADFORD, Į JOHN YOVNG, CHURCH WARDENS. FEBRVARY 16 ANNO DNI 1670. In the neighbourhood of Gloucester-court, surrounded by wretched passages, formed by sheds, wooden houses, and walls, is a fragment or two of the old monastery of the Black Friars, composed of flint and free-stone, with projections like brackets, shapeless through decay. Near this is a small burial-ground, with a pointed arch in one of the walls. In the parish of St. Anne's resided that admirable painter sır A. Vandyke, and on December 9, 1641, the following entry appears in the church books: Justinian, daughter of sir Anthony Vandyke, and his lady.' In the Blackfriars was a Roman catholic chapel, in which occurred a dreadful accident in 1623. It appears that over the gateway of the hotel of the French ambassador, in Blackfriars, which was of stone and brick, was a gallery, or attic story, of 40 feet in length, and 17 in width; the third in height from the ground. There were two passages to this room, one from the street, the other from the ambassador's withdrawing-room. The lower floor had a vault of stone. Twelve feet were taken from the length of the gallery by a deal partition; and this apartment served as a vestryroom for the priest; so that an auditory of near 300 persons were compressed within a space 28 feet in length by 17 in breadth; about half an hour after the service had commenced, the flooring gave way, and the whole mass of wretched sufferers were precipitated into the vault below. It was supposed that near ninety or one hundred persons lost their lives. In Printing-house-lane is the Times newspaper printing-office, formerly the king's printing-house. This house was burnt down about the year 1742, but was rebuilt as it appears at present. It consists of a centre and wings of brick, the former being slightly marked with a pediment, within which are the royal arms. 1770, the king's printing-office was removed to New-street, Gough square. In In this lane was situated the Scotch-hall, a large house, seated as well in Water-lane, as on the Ditch-side; made use of by Scotchmen on particular occasions. CHAPTER XIX. History and Topography of Farringdon Ward Without. The ward of Farringdon without, which is very extensive, forms the western extremity of the city. In the time of the Saxons, the principal part of the city lay west from Ludgate, and what is now the heart of the city, was but thinly inhabited, as appears from Fabian's Chronicle. He says, that in king Egelred's, or king Ethel red's, reign, which began in the year 981, or, according to Stow, in 978, London had more houses, or buildings, from Ludgate towards Westminster, and little or none where the chief of the city now is, except in divers places was housing, but they stood without order; so that many towns and cities, as Canterbury, York, and others, exceeded London in building in those days, as he had seen and known, by an old book in the Guildhall of London, named Docusday. But, after the Conquest, it increased, and shortly surpassed and excelled all the others. This ward is bounded on the east by the ward of Farringdon within, the precinct of the late priory of St. Bartholomew, and Aldersgate-ward, on the north by the Charter-house, the parish of St. John, Clerkenwell, and part of that of St. Andrew without the freedom, on the west by the parish of St. Clement's Danes, and on the south by the river Thames. It is divided into the seven following precincts, St. Martin, Ludgate; St. Dunstan in the West; St. Bride; St. Sepulchre; St. Andrew, Holborn; Whitefriars and Bridewell; and is governed by an alderman, and sixteen common council-men. In this ward are six parish churches, viz. St. Andrew, Holborn ; St. Bartholomew the Less; St. Bride, alias St. Bridget; St. Dunstan in the West; St. Sepulchre, and St. Bartholomew the Great. St. Andrew, Holborn. This church is the largest, and one of the most regular of the many built by sir Christopher Wren; it is situated on the south side of Holborn, at the corner of Shoe-lane, and is separated from the highway by a spacious church-yard, the approach to which is by a noble pair of iron gates, decorated with a gilt statue of the patron saint, and sustained by two piers finished with urns. The churchyard is considerably above the street, owing to its surface having been raised to a level with the highest part of the hill. It is a rectory, and was originally in the gift of the dean and canons of St. Paul's, London, who transferred it to the abbot and convent of Bermondsey; and they continued patrons thereof till their convent was dissolved by Henry VIII. His majesty granted this church to Thomas lord Wriothesley, afterwards earl of Southampton, from whom it descended by marriage to the noble family of Montague. The plan shews a nave, aisles, and chancel, with two small rooms occupying the angles formed by the projection of the latter, and a square tower at the west end, flanked by two spacious vestibules, containing stairs to the galleries. The church is lofty, but owing to the great height necessary to be given to the east end to gain the level with the higher parts of the church-yard, space is afforded for extensive catacombs. The tower is partly ancient; it is made in height into four stories, the three first comprise the whole of the old structure, the fourth is an addition of Wren's. The west front has a disused doorway, with a modernized pointed arch in the lower story, which by the accumulation of the earth is greatly abridged of its original height; the second story has a pointed window of three lights, with arched heads, inclosing five sweeps, divided by two mullions; the head of the arch being occupied by perpendicular mullions of similar design to the others, but smaller; the third story has a small pointed window of two lights, which is also repeated in the flanks; the upper story has a large round headed window in every aspect, with handsome dressings; the elevation is finished with a ballustrade, on a cornice sustained on brackets, at the angles are pedestals surmounted by pyramidal formed ornaments, composed of four cartouches, sustaining a vane; the old part of the structure have buttresses at the angles, and the whole has been covered with a modern ashlaring of Portland stone; the vestibules attached to the sides of the tower, occupy in height the two first stories; each has a segment arched window, and above it an entire circular one; the flanks have doorways instead of the lower windows; the elevations are finished with a cornice and blocking course. The south side of the church has two tier of windows, in the upper seven, in the lower five; the latter are segment arched, the former semicircular; the place of two windows at the extremities are supplied by doorways, lintelled, and covered with elliptical pediments sustained on consoles; the elevation is finished with a cornice and ballustrade. The north front is uniform with the southern. The east end of the aisles have windows corresponding with the upper tier of the flanks. The elevation of the chancel, viewed from the street, is exceedingly lofty, half its height being occupied by the wall of the catacombs; in the superstructure is a large and handsome Venetian window, in two stories, each story made into three lights by two columns, with corresponding pilasters, sustaining their respective entablatures; the lowest order is Corinthian, the upper composite; the elevation is finished by a cornice surmounted by a pediment; in the tympanum -is a circular window, and on acroteria are three lofty urns. two rooms which flank the chancel are uniform, and contain windows agreeing with the lower tier of the church in each of the fronts, they are covered with domed roofs. The southern is used as a registry, the northern as a vestry. The whole church is substantially built with Portland stone, and the roof covered with lead. It has no western entrance in use, the approaches being by the doorways in the flank walls. The tower is pierced in the north, east, and south walls, with pointed arches, sustained on semi-columns, from which circumstance it is evident it has always stood within the The tower was begun in the 25th year of Henry the VI. and the bells placed in the 85th year of the same The king; it was not completed till the 7th or 8th of Edward IV.—Malcolm. |