Philip Norman

“ The space is covered with miles upon miles of dull monotonous streets; pleasant gardens have disappeared, hills are levelled, [xiv] valleys filled up, wells choked, the clear streams turned into sewers, nothing remaining to remind us of what has gone before except the names, and here and there an old house, a carving or inscription. The existence of a few of these mementoes has attracted me to Islington and Clerkenwell, and must be my excuse for describing in detail several of the spas and places of entertainment with which in the eighteenth century this region abounded. ”

“ Even now there is a house at the corner of Lloyd’s Row and Spa Cottages, the residence of the last proprietor, which recalls the vanished glory of other days by the inscription in capital letters, ‘islington spa, or new tunbridge wells.’ At the back, in the cellar of No. 6, Spa Cottages, I have seen grotto-work with stone pilasters; on each side are steps descending. ”

“ Not very many years ago the late J. P. Emslie, who, with C. J. Richardson and others, carried on the work of previous generations, told the present writer that he had just completed his thousandth drawing for the Gardner collection.
To conclude. It is now somewhat the habit to speak slightingly of topographical pictures and drawings, as if there were something unworthy in copying with correctness the appearance of an interesting building or an attractive river or street scene. Such work is supposed to be outside the region of art, as giving no play to the imagination. ”

“ On this jug, Balthazar has the star and crescent moon; Casper, as he is here called, the seven stars; and the Ethiopian is assigned to Melchior. A work of art truly delightful, but conveying no heraldic lesson, is the long fresco of the journey of the Three Kings by Bennozzo Gozzoli, in the Riccardi Palace at Florence, wherein the rich cavalcade is shown, winding about by rock and river and wooded landscape, on which the painter has lavished all his poetry of invention and feeling for fresh nature. ”

“ Architecturally the Bell was interesting, because, with one possible exception, it was the last galleried inn in London on the Middlesex side of the river, though until the advent of railways such houses were common. The galleries were perhaps as old as the reign of Charles II. A still older portion was a cellar immediately to the left of the entrance, which was built of stone with well laid masonry and might have been mediæval. All the rest of the buildings seem to have dated from the earlier part of the eighteenth century. ”

“ We will now say a few words about the great private collections of London topographical prints, drawings, maps and plans, formed many years ago, chiefly of material which comes within the period to which we are limited. Three of these collections are specially famous, and they were brought together by busy men who died within living memory. These were Frederick Crace, to whom we owe the many portfolios catalogued under his name in the Print Room of the British Museum; James Holbert Wilson, whose collection has unfortunately been dispersed, and John Edmund Gardner. ”

“ It is a satisfactory thing that the relics of former fashions of decoration should be registered for the information of those who desire to keep themselves in touch with the history of the past. Even in this materialistic age there are many who love to live in imagination in a former age, and a sculptured sign or inscription on an old house will often help them to do this.
For centuries London was remarkable for its gardens, but this has been changed at the end of the nineteenth century. ”

“ And here, on the east side of Davies Street, named after her, stands Bourdon House, a pleasant old dwelling, over-shadowed by the trees 36 which grow in its little courtyard. Inside, the most noteworthy feature is the carved woodwork, which seems to be French in style, dating, perhaps, from the early part of the eighteenth century. There is a strong tradition that this house was originally occupied by the Davies family; it is certainly one of the oldest on the estate. The name Bourdon first appears on the parish rate books in 1739. Within the last few years the house has been enlarged. ”

“ One still sees occasionally on May Day, in the less-frequented streets of London, a dance performed by two or three sweeps to the sound of fife and drum. They are dressed fantastically; one of them is, as a rule, half concealed in a frame covered with leaves and flowers, and is called a Jack-in-the-green. They are generally accompanied by a woman. These may be considered to a certain extent descendants of the morris-dancers, and their black faces happen to carry out the old idea. ”

“ With an effort of faith we may believe that we are looking at representations of old St. Paul’s, the Tower, London Bridge, Ludgate, and the church of the Black Friars, but the design is symbolic rather than imitative.
Illuminations in manuscripts of the previous century in one or two instances give us clearer topographical hints. A volume of the English poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans, among the royal manuscripts at the British Museum, shows the duke, who was captured at the battle of Agincourt, as a prisoner in the Tower of London, where he was kept for many years. ”

“ On the river front beyond Lindsey House, no great distance from the site of Cremorne Gardens and next but one to a tavern called the Aquatic Stores, stands a small cottage, one of a pair now joined together and numbered 118, Cheyne Walk, to which in his old age J. M. W. Turner, the great artist, used to retire from his house in Queen Anne Street. He must have loved the Thames, for he had previously resided first at West End, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, and afterwards, from time to time, at Sandycombe Lodge, Twickenham. ”

“ At this great time in the nation’s history, when changes moral and material are following each other with such speed that we “know not what a day may bring forth,” it seems all the more incumbent on us while we live in the present not to forget the past. Accordingly, the Committee felt that pictures and drawings of the London of our ancestors would have exceptional interest, and the present exhibition is the result. ”

“ The shafts of the columns are set off with a wreath of foliage running round them. On the frieze are the arms of Sir John Lawrence, in the attic are the City arms, and the whole structure is crowned with the arms of Charles II., supported by two gilt angels, and surmounted with the royal crown.’ I hope that this interesting memento of a great City worthy, though not ‘Gothic’ in style, will be carefully preserved during the far more wholesale restoration which is now in progress.
Sir John Lawrence’s arms were: argent, a cross raguly gules, a canton ermine. ”

“ Dividing the gardens of Devonshire House and Lansdowne House is Lansdowne Passage, a short cut for walkers from Curzon Street to Hay Hill. Thomas Grenville records that the iron bars at the two ends were put up late in the 18th century, because a mounted highwayman who had committed a robbery in Piccadilly escaped through this passage by riding down and up the steps. Lansdowne House, like that last described, is interesting from its connection with historic personages, as a specimen of the dwelling of a great 35 nobleman in the 18th century, and from its having a considerable garden. ”

“ The spectator may here suppose himself to be standing near the site of Paul's Wharf, which Stow describes as "a large landing place with a common stair upon the river Thames, at the end of a street called Paul's Wharf Hill, which runneth down from Paul's Chain." The bridge in the middle distance is Southwark Bridge. In the immediate foreground is a curious riverside dwelling, squeezed in between two great warehouses; its quaint bay window projecting over a wide doorway for the passage of goods, which opens on to the Thames. ”

“ The little towns and villages of three hundred years ago, then some distance from London, and numbering among their inhabitants people of high birth unconnected with trade, became by degrees half rural suburbs, where well-to-do citizens sought amusement and repose. Folks of this class have now gone further afield, and for many years the speculative builder has been at work, providing for a humbler and far more numerous population. ”

“ The old galleries on the north and east sides were let out in tenements. In the inner yard were some quaint old houses crowded with lodgers (vide No. 6) . From here, looking back, one often saw the smoke of the bacon curer's furnaces curling out of the windows of the main building (as shown in drawing No. 3) . The remains of the old White Hart were pulled down in July 1889, and hop factors' rooms built on the site, the yard being very much curtailed. The modern tavern on the south side was closed some time ago. It is now used for the storage of goods. ”

“ In the following pages I shall try to describe all the London sculptured signs of which we have any record; for convenience I have classified them, and naturally begin with those in which human beings are represented. One of the most interesting and best known is the sign of the Boy and Panyer, which is still to be seen, its base resting on the ground, and let into the wall between two houses on the eastern side of Panyer Alley, a narrow passage leading from Paternoster Row to Newgate Street. ”

“ The accumulation of earth and débris in the City is so great, that the present town is raised many feet above Roman London. Now that excavations for new buildings are carried down much deeper than formerly, valuable objects are not unfrequently brought to light. The Roman [174] antiquities in the Museum are many and important; of these perhaps the most striking is a large piece of tessellated pavement from Bucklersbury, in almost perfect condition. It was found no less than 19 feet below the level of the roadway, on which account it is thought to be an early relic of the Roman occupation. ”