The handsome church of St. Martin was completed in 1726, from the designs of Gibbs the architect. In the reign of Henry VIII. a small church was built here, at the king's expense, on account of the poverty of the parish, which was then very thinly inhabited. In 1607, the parish had so increased in wealth and population, that it was found necessary to make very considerable additions to the building. In 1721, the increase had been so much greater, that it was judged advisable to provide far better accommodation than the old church could afford by any process of alteration, and it was pulled down, and the present edifice erected on its site. It was in the old church that the body of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, murdered upon Primrose Hill in the time of Charles II., under those mysterious circumstances which historians have never been able to clear up, was buried with great magnificence. The popular excitement from the fear of the Papists was extreme. Hume says, that previous to the funeral, the body was carried into the City, attended by vast multitudes. It was publicly exposed in the streets, and viewed by all ranks of men, and every one who saw it went away inflamed, as well by the mutual contagion of sentiments as by the dismal spectacle itself. The funeral was celebrated with great parade. The corpse was conducted through the chief streets of the city. Seventy-two clergymen marched before, and above a thousand persons of distinction followed after. At the funeral sermon two able-bodied divines mounted the pulpit, and stood on each side of the preacher, lest in paying the last duties to the unhappy magistrate, he should before the whole people be assassinated by the Papists. The following notice regarding the old church appears in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. iii., p. 399: "Ao. 1643-4, Feb. 14. Ordered, That the pew in St. Martin's Church, belonging to the Earl of Berkshire's house, be appointed and set apart for the Scott's Commissioners, and the vestry-men of that parish are hereby required to take notice hereof, and prepare the pew.” Until the year 1826, this end of St. Martin's Lane was a narrow thoroughfare, but in that year all the houses opposite to the church were pulled down, by which means a fine opening was made, and a view obtained from Pall Mall East of the noble portico of the sacred edifice. Vast improvements have been made in this spot within the last eight years. The old Mews have been removed-a fine open space made towards Spring Gardens, with the name of Trafalgar Square, in the middle of which are two handsome fountains, a triumphal column, which we shall mention at large presently, and lastly, a National Gallery has been erected. The Mews, which stood upon the site of the latter edifice, was appropriated for the reception of the royal falcons from a very early period-Pennant says, at least from the reign of Richard II —but it would appear that it existed even earlier. By the wardrobe accounts of Edward I., in 1299, it is shown that Hawkin, the king's falconer, had 2s. 4d. allowed him for shoes. In the 13th Edward II., John De La Becke had the custody of the King's Mews, called "de mutis apud Charryng juxta Westmonasterium," delivered to him.-Ibid. p. 250. John De St. Alban appears to have succeeded De La Becke in the custody of this Mews, in the 10th of Edward III.—Ibid. vol. ii., p. 108. In the reign of Richard II., the well-known Sir Simon Burley was keeper of the King's Falcons at Charing Cross; and the illustrious father of English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer, either in that or in the first year of the subsequent reign, was clerk of the King's works, and of the Mews at Charing. The Mews was changed to stables in the reign of Henry VIII., by reason of a fire which burnt the royal stables at Bloomsbury. The notorious Colonel Joyce was imprisoned in the Mews by order of Oliver Cromwell, as appears by a small sheet of four pages, published in 1659, and now extremely rare, entitled A True NARRATIVE of the occasions and causes of the late Lord-Gen. Cromwell's anger and indignation against Lieut.-Col. George Joyce (sometime Cornet Joyce, who secured the King at Holmby), and his proceedings against him to cashier him from the army, and imprison and destroy him in his estate." Colonel Joyce was carried away by musqueteers to the Mews, and put into a close chamber within the common Dutch prison, where he was overrun with vermin, and where he was forced to continue above ten days. After great importunity he obtained a removal to another chamber in the Mews, where he fell sick with the filthy smells and other inconveniences, and continued ten weeks, but was often sent to by Oliver Cromwell to lay down his commission, which he absolutely refused to do, declaring to all how unworthily he was dealt with, and that all that had been sworn against him was false. This building was pulled down in 1732, when a new and more handsome edifice, used as the royal stables, was erected upon its site. This lasted about a century, and was in its turn pulled down to make room for the National Gallery. This building was erected between the years 1834 and 1837, from the design of Mr. Charles Wilkins. The front is about 500 feet in length. In the centre is a portico, with eight columns of the Corinthian order, the ascent to which is formed by a flight of steps at each side, the whole surmounted by an ornamented, if not an ornamental, dome. Critics with reason object to this edifice that it is too low in comparison with the objects by which it is surrounded; the portico of St. Martin's church being considerably higher, and even the houses in Suffolk Place at the other end, against which it is affixed, being several yards more lofty. It is a mean building, when the great national purpose for which it was erected is considered. A few thousands of pounds in addition would have rendered this edifice worthy of the British nation, and have saved us many "odious comparisons" with our more liberal, and perhaps more enlightened neighbours. 66 It is generally believed that the idea of erecting a monument in the metropolis worthy of Nelson originated with our late King William IV. Certain it is that he favoured the design of opening to the people the square at Charing Cross, of naming it Trafalgar," and of placing in its centre some monument to Nelson, such as might not disgrace the patronage of a sovereign, or the immortal glories of the hero. Such, in the main, was the origin of the "Nelson Testimonial," in Trafalgar Square. For this noble object a subscription was opened, and a committee organized, the Duke of Buccleuch lending his efficient aid as chairman. Unfortunately, the sovereign did not live to witness the progress of his favourite project. On a considerable sum being raised, the committee advertised for designs for a monument of architecture and sculpture; the rewards of 2501., 150l., and 100l. respectively, being promised to the author of the design which the committee should deem first, second, and third in order of merit; and the highest premium was awarded to Mr. William Railton. The designs were then submitted to the inspection of the public, with certain additions, alterations, and amendments; and the committee, on June 22, confirmed their former choice, and finally decided upon the design of Mr. Railton. This monument, on the whole, may be pronounced a very handsome ornament to the almost unparalleled site on which it is placed, and is highly creditable to the abilities of the architect. If we say there is little originality in its conception, that will, perhaps, hardly be considered as detracting from the merits of the author; for English architects have not yet learned to create, and English taste is satisfied with imitations of the antique. Objections have been taken to the cocked-hat on the head of the statue. Undoubtedly, the effect is not poetical, and it is true, Nelson is most easily recognised in our engravings of the hero, when, as most frequently we see him, bare-headed. But when we remember the height at which the statue is placed; when, after straining our eyes to examine it, we discover that the features are not to be discerned, it will be allowed that the cocked-hat was necessary; for without it Nelson could not well have been identified, or be made to appear any body else than a private gentleman who had chanced to lose his right arm. We now pass across Trafalgar Square to Spring Gardens, which, until the time of Charles II., were what their name implies. During the Republic, and after the Restoration, they were more thickly built upon, and Prince Rupert took a house there, where he died in 1682, in the sixty-third of his age. year Here also died Mrs. Centlivre, the celebrated dramatic authoress, especially remembered for her bustling and entertaining comedies, the "Bold Stroke for a Wife," the "Wonder," and the " Busybody." Centlivre, by whose name she is alone remembered, was her third husband, and yeoman of the mouth-a cook, or a cook's assistant, in the service of Queen Anne, who fell in love with her when she was acting in male attire at Windsor. Her name then was Carroll. Her fine legs and pretty face captivated the yeoman's 's eyes, and her wit and goodnature captivated his heart. Mrs. Centlivre figures in the "Dunciad." Pope, in the notes to the passage, says, " She writ many plays, and a song before she was seven years old; she also wrote a ballad against Mr. Pope's 'Homer' before he began it." The last part of the sentence explains why she was reckoned among the dunces. She was buried in St. Paul's, Covent Garden. We have now arrived at Charing Cross, and ended the first part of our peregrinations. G CHAPTER VII. Charing Cross-Demolition of the Cross-"The Downfall of Charing Cross -Equestrian statue of Charles I., Sutton Nicholls' print of-Epigrams on the statue of George I. on Bloomsbury Church-Pillory in Charing Cross -Titus Oates exhibited there-Cruel punishment of Japhet Crook thereExecution of Hugh Peters, Harrison, and other regicides there-Number of Taverns here, the resort of wits and literati in the seventeenth century -Anecdotes connected with Sir George Etherege-The Rummer Tavern, anecdote of Matthew Prior and the Earl of Dorset-Robinson's Coffee House; anecdote of Richard Savage; his trial-Anecdote of Ben Jonson -Thomson, the poet-Sir Nicholas Bacon-King Street, the residence of Oliver Cromwell-Cromwell's guards-Hogarth's print of "Night"Wallingford House (site, now the Admiralty), anecdotes connected withResidence of General Fleetwood, and Villiers, Duke of BuckinghamAnecdote of the Duke-Scotland Yard-Palace formerly there for the Scottish Kings-Attempted assasination of Lord Herbert of Cherbury— Vanbrugh's House-Neighbourhood teems with "memories" of the Tudors and the Stuarts-Mansion of Hubert de Burgh, then York Place, the Palace of Cardinal Wolsey, afterwards Whitehall-The great man who "flitted about this palace," temp. Henry VIII.-Pageants there in the time of Elizabeth, and Revels in those of King James I.-Execution of King Charles I.-Cromwell lived and died here-Events here during Cromwell's reign-The residence of Richard Cromwell-The 'Merry Court" of Charles II. here-His death-The residence of James II.-Nearly destroyed by Fire-Converted into a chapel. 66 FROM CHARING CROSS TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY, WESTMINSTER HALL, AND THE HOUSES HORNE TOOKE, in his "Diversions of Purley," derives the word Charing from the Saxon word charan, to turn; and the situation of the original village, on the bend or turning of the Thames, gives probability to this etymology. In the reign of Edward I., Charing was a rural hamlet on the highway between London and Westminster, consisting of no more than a dozen houses, or hovels. It took the additional name of Cross from the wooden cross set up by that monarch, as a testimony of his conjugal affection, strong beyond the grave, for his beloved Eleanor. Wherever her corpse rested, on its transit from Grantham, in Lincolnshire, to Westminster Abbey, the place of her sepulture, the affectionate king erected a cross in commemoration of her. A stone cross, from the design of Cavalini, afterwards replaced the original wooden one; and it lasted until the fanati cism, which broke forth in England in the seventeenth century, |