was called, in honour of him, Monmouth Square; and afterwards changed to that of King's Square. I have a tradition, that, on his death the admirers of that unfortunate man changed it to Soho, being the word of the day at the field of Sedgmoor." That the ill-fated Duke of Monmouth resided on the spot mentioned by Pennant there can be no question; and, as regards the popular fiction that Soho Square derived its name from the watch-word at the battle of Sedgmoor, it is remarkable that every subsequent historian of London should have followed his authority. It is sufficient, however, to upset the "tradition" of Pennant, to remark that in the "Present State of England," published in 1683, more than four years before the battle of Sedgmoor, the London residence of the Duke of Monmouth is distinctly stated to be Soho Square. In addition to the Duke of Monmouth, Soho Square, as late as the last century, contained the London residences of the Bellasyses earls of Fauconberg, and the Howards, Earls of Carlisle. The last of the Fauconberg family who resided in Soho Square, was Mary Cromwell, third daughter of the great Protector, and wife of Thomas, first Earl of Fauconberg. At the back of the east side of the square, are still retained the names of Fauconberg Street and Fauconberg Mews, denoting that Fauconberg House must have stood in the immediate vicinity. At what period the Howards deserted Carlisle SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVEL. 23 House in Soho Square, we have no record. However, in the middle of the last century, we find it occupied by the famous Mrs. Cornely, whose public balls, masquerades, and admirable suppers attracted to her assemblies all the rank and beauty of the day. Carlisle House stood at the north-east corner of the square. The well-known admiral, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, lived in what has been notorious in our time as the "White House," on the east side of Soho Square. After his melancholy death, his body, having been thrown on shore on the island of Scilly, was brought from thence to his house in London, and subsequently was conveyed from Soho Square with considerable state to Westminster Abbey.* In 1726, we find the celebrated Spanish minister, Ripperda, living with great splendour in Soho Square; † and lastly, at Nos. 20 and 21, formerly one house, lived Sir Joseph Banks. With the exception of Gerard Street, the streets in the neighbourhood of Soho Square present no particular feature of interest. Dean Street, and Compton Street, derive their names from Bishop Compton, then Dean of St. Paul's, who at one period held the living of St. Ann's Soho; and Monmouth Street, as is well-known, is indebted for its name to the unfortunate Duke. This street is now principally celebrated as an emporium for worn out articles of wearing apparel, a purpose to * Biog. Brit. Art. "Shovel." + Lord Mahon's "Hist. of England." which it has been adapted for at least the last century. Gay says in his "Trivia,”. Shall the huge mutton smoke upon your boards? In Wardour Street lived the great sculptor, Flaxman, but Gerard Street is especially endeared to us as containing the house in which Dryden lived and died. In his dedication of "Don Sebastian" to Lord Leicester, he speaks of himself as "a poor inhabitant of his lordship's suburbs, whose best prospect is on the garden of Leicester House ;" and in a letter to Elmes Steward he writes, "My house is the fifth door, on the left hand, coming from Newport Street." From Malone we learn, that the house so consecrated by genius is No. 43, and we learn still further from Spence, on the authority of Pope, that the apartment in which the great poet "used most commonly to write" was in the groundroom next the street. The extraordinary and disgraceful scene which took place at this house, on the occasion of Dryden's funeral, is too well known to require a repetition of the particulars.* There are other interesting associations attached to Gerard Street. Here Edmund Burke lived for many years; from this street, in 1777, we find Hannah More dating her letters; and here, in 1764, at the sign of the "Turk's Head," Dr. Johnson and * See Johnson's "Life of Dryden." 66 THE LITERARY CLUB." 25 Sir Joshua Reynolds founded the celebrated "Literary Club." Besides these two illustrious men, here used to assemble Burke, Bennet Langton, Topham Beauclerk, Oliver Goldsmith, George Colman, Garrick, Sir William Jones, Boswell, Charles James Fox, George Stevens, Gibbon, Adam Smith, the Wartons, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Sir Joseph Banks, William Windham, Malone, and other celebrated persons. The club continued to be held at the Turk's Head till 1783, when their landlord died, and the house was shortly afterwards shut up. They then removed to "Prince's" in Sackville Street, and subsequently to "Baxter's," afterwards "Thomas's " in Dover Street. In 1792, they removed to Parsloe's, in St. James's Street; and, in 1799, to the Thatched House in the same street, where the club still continues to be held. Gerard Street derives its name from its having been erected on the site of the house and gardens of Charles Gerard, first Earl of Macclesfield, so distinguished for his loyalty to Charles the First, and for his gallantry during the civil wars. Pennant says, "The profligate Lord Mohun lived in this street, and was brought there after he was killed in the duel with the Duke of Hamilton: I have heard that his good lady was vastly displeased at the bloody corpse being flung upon the best bed." Pennant seems to have been in ignorance, that Lord Mohun's "good lady" was the grand-daughter of the gallant Earl of Macclesfield, and that the circumstance of the second Earl bequeathing to Lord Mohun the greater portion of his estates led to his unfortunate law-suit and duel with the Duke of Hamilton, in which both lost their lives in November, 1712. Pennant, moreover, is wrong in his assertion, that Lord Mohun's "bloody corpse was carried to his house in Gerard Street, inasmuch as, at the time of his death, he was unquestionably residing in Great Marlborough Street. From the circumstance of Lord Mohun having resided at one period in Gerard Street, it is reasonable to presume that the site on which it now stands was part of the property bequeathed to him by the Earl of Macclesfield. Previous to its falling into the hands of the Gerards, this ground was walled in by order of Henry Prince of Wales, son of James the First, for the purpose of being used for "the exercise of arms." In Newport Market, within a short distance of Gerard Street, was the chapel of the famous Orator Henley, whom Pope has immortalized in the Dunciad : High on a gorgeous seat, that far out-shone And again, Imbrowned with native bronze, lo! Henley stands, Oxford Street, which was built at different periods during the last century, was originally called the "road to Oxford." As regards historical or |