erected on the site of this house. Later he occupied a garret room in No. 13 Tavistock Row, overlooking Covent Garden and near Southampton Street; and in 1807 he was lodging in Camden Town, then a suburban village, while he figured, not very creditably, in the law courts. He died twelve years later, near the nursery gardens which have since become Euston Square.

Redding's

tions of

He always sat in a room facing the south. Behind the door stood a square piano-forte, on which there generally lay his favorite Cremona violin; on the left, a mahogany table with writing materials. Everything was in perfect Recollecorder. . . . Facing him, over the mantelpiece, hung a Fifty Years. fine landscape by Richard Wilson. . . . In writing, except a few lines hap-hazard, the Doctor was obliged to employ an amanuensis [he lost his eyesight a few years before his death]. Of all his acquisitions, music to him remained alone unaltered. He even composed light airs for amusement.

...

Wolcot was buried in the Church of St. Paul, Covent Garden, at his own request that he might 'lie as near as possible to the bones of old Hudibras Butler.' His grave is believed to be under the floor of the vestry-room; but there is no tablet to his memory (see BUTLER, p. 29).

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

1770-1850.

WORDSWORTH made frequent visits to London, and

we read of him here as the guest of Rogers, Lamb, Coleridge, Crabb Robinson, and others; but nowhere in his Diary, his Memoirs, his published letters, or in the works of his friends and contemporaries, is any hint given as to his

abiding-places in town. While he was more closely identified with Yarrow or the Lake District than with the stream that flows through the vale of Cheapside, still he has left a lark in the branches of the old tree on the corner of Wood Street, that will sing there as long as yellow primroses grow by rivers' brims.

WILLIAM WYCHERLEY.

Circa 1640-1715.

WYCHERLEY was entered as a student in the Middle

Temple, but soon turned from the dry study of the law to lighter, looser, and more beloved pursuits. His only known residence in London was in Bow Street, Covent Garden, 'over against the Cock.' According to Peter Cunningham, it was on the west side of Bow Street, and 'three doors beyond Radcliffe,' whose house is known to have been on the site of Covent Garden Theatre. This Cock Tavern long since disappeared.

It was here that Charles II. called upon Wycherley while he was lying ill, — a very unusual compliment of royalty to a commoner; and the result of the visit was a gift of £500, out of the public purse, to enable the dramatist to seek rest and strength in France. Wycherley, however, soon incurred the displeasure of Charles by his marriage to a Court lady, the Countess of Drogheda, whom he visited in Hatton Garden, and carried, as his wife, to Bow Street. unequal match brought as little happiness to either party as did that of Addison and his Countess; and Wycherley's contemporaries have put on record many entertaining stories of his married life, his wife being so jealous of him that he

This

was rarely permitted to quit her side. It is said that when he visited the Cock he was ordered to leave open the windows of the room in which he sat, and to show himself from time to time, that the exacting lady over the way might be assured that all his companions were of his own sex.

Another and more serious result of this union was his confinement for several years in the Fleet Prison; his disputes concerning his marriage settlements with the Countess resulting in his financial ruin and in his committal to a debtors' gaol.

The Fleet Prison, destroyed in the Gordon Riots in 1780, but immediately rebuilt, stood on the east side of the present Farringdon Street until 1846. Its exact site may be described as upon the block of ground bounded on the west by Farringdon Street, on the east by Fleet Lane, on the north by Fleet Lane, and on the south by Fleet Lane. It was approached from the Old Bailey by Fleet Lane, an irregular street shaped like the letter Y.

Wycherley was married a second time in 1715, but died eleven days after the ceremony.

He was buried in the

vaults of the Church of St. Paul, Covent Garden.

All

traces of his grave were lost in the burning of the church in 1795 (see BUTLER, p. 29).

Favorite taverns of Wycherley, besides the Cock, were the Half Moon in Aldersgate Street, marked by Half Moon Passage, No. 158 Aldersgate Street (see CONGREVE, p. 64), and the Bear at the Bridge Fort (see PEPYS. p. 238).

EDWARD YOUNG.

1681-1765.

R. YOUNG had almost no association with London

DR.

except in his marriage at the Church of St. Mary-atHill, in Bow Lane, Eastcheap, May 27, 1731. This church, one of Wren's, was still standing in 1885. The death of his wife in 1740 led to the writing of the famous Night Thoughts,' which established his reputation and is so rarely read. He lived and died in his country parish in Hertfordshire.

INDEX OF PERSONS.

BACON, FRANCIS, 11-14; mentioned, Blessington, Lady, 88, 90, 195, 278.

BARBAULD, ANNA LETITIA, 16; quo- BosWELL, JAMES, 21-22; mentioned,

Barclay and Perkins, 17, 18, 19, 70, Boufflers, Madame de, 159-160.