finding it closed, he walked on as far as the Sun in Long Acre, where he indited the following quatrain:

"Since the Half Moon is so unkind

To make me go about,

The Sun my money now shall have,
The Moon shall go without."

Endell Street was formerly divided, and

called Old and New Belton Streets.*

Its

chief building is the Lying-in Hospital, the oldest institution of its kind in London. It formerly occupied premises in Brownlow Street, since renamed Betterton Street. This street was named after Sir John Brownlow, whose house and gardens stood on the spot. He resided here between 1676 and 1682, and it is thought that the Charity occupied part of the original mansion after it was vacated. Michael Mohun, the actor, died in Brownlow Street in 1684.

At the rear of No. 25, Endell Street, are to be found the reputed remains of an old bath, which was fed by a stream of clear water, boasting certain medicinal qualities, useful in curing gout and rheu* See Appendix.

matism. It was known as Queen Anne's Bath, but whether it was ever patronised by her Majesty is a matter of conjecture; and since we know that " Queen Anne is dead," she cannot be crossexamined in verification (or the reverse) of the rumour.

The shop is now occupied by a firm of ironmongers, and the bath, or rather what remains of it, is now a lumber-room.

The celebrated Lewkner's Lane, mentioned previously, is now named Macklin Street. It was, from its earliest days, a street of evil repute, and later it became quite renowned for its vicious inhabitants. Jonathan Wild, the thief-taker, ran a house of ill-repute here. Mr. Cunningham assigns to it the same unsavoury reputation as late as 1850.

CHAPTER XIII

Covent Garden as we know it to-day

AFTER this review of the immediate neighbourhood of Covent Garden there yet remains for our investigation the market proper. From the preceding chapters we have seen how the market became established by the regular gathering of a few itinerant vendors of fruit and vegetables from the surrounding villages. Its growth in commercial importance has gradually but surely increased, in spite of the competition of other markets which have been established at different periods in various parts of the metropolis. I have already referred to Farringdon Market, which at one time was a serious rival to Covent Garden and might even have eventually eclipsed it in importance had it not been for the erection of Waterloo Bridge, which gave a long-desired access to the western

market and which was immediately taken advantage of by the Surrey and Kentish. growers.

Hungerford Market was established in 1679 on the site of Hungerford House, Charing Cross. The first market-building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral. Sir Edward Hungerford, a famous spendthrift, after having exhausted the family fortune, thought to again enrich himself by the formation of a market, and, after obtaining the King's permission, erected stalls and buildings on the site of the family residence, Hungerford House, which had been destroyed by fire on April 25, 1669. Like its neighbour, Covent Garden, the market was devoted to the sale of fruit and vegetables, and offered a decided advantage to growers on account of its immediate proximity to the river, thus abolishing the porterage charges on goods which were consigned to Covent Garden by way of the Thames. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the roads, not only in the country, but even in London, were in such a neglected condition as to be almost impassable to

wagons bearing loads of a perishable nature, such as fruits and vegetables, which necessitated a quick journey to the markets. The river, therefore, was a decidedly easier mode of transport, besides which some of the market-gardens were situated on the river bank. The most important of these were at Chelsea and were named the NeatHouses. Strype describes them as parcel of Houses, most seated by the banks of the River Thames and inhabited by Gardiners; for which it is of note, for the supplying London and Westminster Markets with asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers, musmelons, and the like useful things that the Earth produceth, which, by reason of their keeping the Ground so rich by dunging it (and through the nearness to London, they have the soil cheap), doth make their crops very forward, to their great Profit in coming to such good Markets." There were also Neat-Houses at Limehouse in Strype's time.

Hungerford market was not a success, and the fruit trade gradually deserted it, and in 1815 there were only about half a dozen butchers left in the market. It was