nected with the subject. We could wish that this practice would become general. We oftener gain more just ideas of a character from a tolerably good delineation of the face, than from whole volumes of declamation. In the countenance of Lord Walpole every observer of nature will recognise the features of benevolence and good sense;-in that of the others, prudence, temperance, reservedness, acuteness, wit, and epicureanism, or empty vanity, are sufficiently manifest. In addition to the portraits, Mr. Coxe has given short biographical notes, which his readers will find very convenient, and even interesting. These illustrations, indeed, were in some measure necessary to enliven an otherwise dry detail of politics, which tend rather to inspire contempt than respect for statesmen. How far Mr. Coxe's plan of writing Memoirs is laudable or defective in this age of conceited sentiment, we cannot now inquire; but we have seldom read a work in which the author so rarely delivers his own opinion, so cautiously avoids discussing any abstract principles, or abstains from all those reflexions and digressions which have been not inaptly termed the philosophy of history. It would be unjust, however, to disguise the modest merit which seeks not to elevate itself, but the noble subject with which it is occupied. Had these Memoirs been written by Lord Walpole himself, they could not perhaps have been more copious in facts and details of his own opinions on men and measures. In his lordship's letters we observed many French idioms and expressions which would not now be tolerated; but we do not think them worthy of farther notice in this place. To the historian, the statesman, legislator, and general politician, these volumes will furnish instruction and entertainment,

Londina Illustrata; or, a Collection of Plates, consisting of Engravings from original Paintings and Drawings, and fac-simile Copies of scarce Prints, displaying the State of the Metropolis from the Reign of Elizabeth to the Revolution, and adapted to illustrate the admired Topographical Works of Strype, Stowe, Pennant, &c. with Descriptions original and compiled. Nos. I. II. and III. 4to. Price 8s. Atlas 4to. 10s. 6d., and Proofs on India Paper, - 10s. 6d., but without the Letter-press. Wilkinson. 1808. THE nature and intention of this work is fully displayed by the title; and, as far as it has yet proceeded, it seems

well calculated to answer its professed purposes. The first number contains the Royal Exchange, as it appeared in 1566, reduced from a print by Vertue; two views of the Palace of Whitehall, the one from a very scarce print by Silvestre, etched about 1638, and the other from a pen-and-ink drawing made about the reign of James the Second; and St. Saviour's Church, Southwark, copied from one of the prints etched by Hollar to illustrate Dugdale's Monasticon. No. II. consists of four views, viz. the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, from an etching by Hollar, executed for the Monasticon; Suffolk House; York House; and the Houses of Durham, Salisbury, and Worcester-all of them from drawings by the same artist, now preserved in the Pepysian Collection at Cambridge. No. III. contains Cheapside Cross, as it appeared on the eve of the coronation of Edward VI., from a print published by the Society of Antiquaries; Cheapside Cross, as rebuilt in 1606; and Paul's Cross "and preaching there: the two latter from drawings in the Pepysian Library, apparently by Hollar.

Each subject is accompanied by a letter-press description; and those of the second and third numbers, with one exception, have also a brief account engraved beneath. This is a good plan, as it serves the more indelibly to impress the memory with the history of the object represented. The descriptions appear to be drawn up with proper attention to accuracy, and the language is plain and unaffected. As a specimen both of the manner of composition and of the authorities consulted, we insert the account of Durham, Salisbury, and Worcester Houses; all which stood withina short distance of each other near the banks of the Thames, and are engraved on the same plate.

"Durham House,

The first in the plate, stood on the site of the present Durham Yard, and occupied that space of ground now covered by the buildings of the Adelphi. It was for many ages the town residence of the Bishops of Durham, and was erected, according to Stowe, by Thomas de Hatfield, who was made bishop of that see in 1345 *. Mr. Pennant says, it was originally built by the famous

"So Strype, who quotes the following entry, MS. Will, de Chambre, Bodl. Lib. Oxon. Manerium sive Hospitium Episcopale Londoniæ cum capella et cameris sumptuosissime construxit.' This bishop died May 8, 1381, at his manor near London, called Alford, now Oldford, near Stratford-le-Bow.-Strype's Stowe, v: ii. p. 2. b. vi.

Anthony Bec, Bishop of Durham, in the reign of Edward I., and that Bishop Hatfield was only a refounder*.

66

Spelman (Reliquiæ Spelmanianæ) informs us, that Bishop Tonstal, in 26 Henry VIII. exchanged this mansion with the King for the building called "Coldharborough," in Thames Street, and other premises in London, and converted it into a royal palace. Edward VI. gave it to his sister Elizabeth as a temporary residence; and the see of Durham being soon afterwards dissolved by a smuggled act, which gave its rich possessions to the crown, the same monarch bestowed Coldharbour on the Earl of Shrewsbury. Queen Mary, who considered the gift as sacrilege, permitted the earl to retain Coldharbour; but to compensate the see of Durham for that loss, gave her reversion of Durham House to the bishop next in succession, when Elizabeth's life-interest expired. In consequence of this grant, Sir Walter Raleigh (to whom the Queen had given the use of it during her life) was in the next reign obliged to resign the possession to the then Bishop of Durham, Toby Matthew, afterwards Archbishop of York t.

"In 1608 a new Exchange was built by the Earl of Salisbury, on the site of the stables of this house which fronted the Strand, and which were hovels of too mean a description for so public a situation. The mansion itself was soon afterwards forsaken, and was in 1640 purchased and built on by Philip Earl of Pembroke. The Exchange flourished longer, but at length the shops, says Maitland, being deserted by the mercers, were in the year 1737 pulled down, and the spot covered with houses. Mr. Smith Antiq. Westminster, p. 5.) has given the view of a fragment of the front of this Exchange, destroyed in the year 1790, and then called Durham House. A small portion of ancient stone wall still remains at the corner of Durham Yard.

"Salisbury House

"Was a noble turretted mansion, built by the famous Secretary Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, and Lord Treasurer to James I., evidently in a style of architecture which prevailed at that period. After the founder's death, being thought too extensive for the residence of the then earl, it was divided into two mansions, the lesser of which, itself a large house, was let to persons of quality: some years afterwards it was divided into various tenements, till at length it was purchased by builders, and Salisbury Street,' erected on the site. Another part adjoining Great Salisbury House,' and over the long gallery, was converted into an Exchange, and called the Middle Exchange, which consisted of a very long and large room, with shops on both sides, having a passage from the Strand down to the water side, at the bottom of which was a handsome flight of stairs to take boat at; but it had, says Strype,

"* London ed. 1805. p. 120.

"+ Bishop of Durham's case.

"

For an account of this Exchange, and likewise the great feast held at Durham House by Henry VIII., see Strype and

Maitland.

the bad luck to be nick-named Whore's Nest; whereby, with the ill fate that attended it, few or no people took shops there, and those that did were soon weary and left them; insomuch that it lay useless, except three or four shops towards the Strand; and coming into the Earl's hands, this Exchange, with Great Salisbury House, and the houses fronting the street, were pulled down, and converted into a fair street called 'Cecil Street *.'

"Worcester Houset

"Occupied the space of ground now covered by Beaufort Buildings. It was a very large house, with gardens to the water-side, and had several possessors. In the reign of Henry VIII., it belonged to the see of Carlisle. It was afterwards inhabited by the Earls of Bedford, and known by the names of Bedford House and Russel House §. From them it came to the Earls of Worcester, when it assumed the name of Worcester House.' Edward, the last Earl of Worcester, temp. Charles I. lived and died in this house. From him it descended to his eldest son, Henry, afterwards created Duke of Beaufort. Worcester House changed its name with this new dignity to that of Beaufort House,' but does not appear to have been much liked by its noble landlord, who, finding it to be crazy, and by its antiquity grown ruinous, and although large, yet not after the modern way of building, thought it better to let out the ground to undertakers than to build a new house thereon, the steepness of the descent to the Thames rendering it not proper or easy for coaches, if the house were built at such a distance from the street as would have been requisite: but the ⚫ said Duke caused a lesser house to be built on part of the site for the conveniency of transacting business when he came to town.' This latter house being afterwards burnt down through the carelessness of a servant, Beaufort Buildings were erected on the site.

"Concerning building the old house, says Strype, (he must mean enlarging it,) there goes this story-that there being a very large, walnut-tree growing in the garden, which much obstructed the eastern prospect of Salisbury House near adjoining it, it was

"Strype's Stowe, v. ii. b. iv. p. 120, ed. 1720.

"The Bishops of Worcester had a town house or inn in the Strand, which was pulled down, together with that of the Bishop of Chester, by the Protector Somerset, to make way for the erection of Somerset House. This mansion was, however, totally distinct from the above.-See Stowe.

"Fuller's Church Hist. b. iii. p. 63.

"It is called Russel House' in Norden's Plan of Middlesex, 1595.

Edward, Earl of Worcester, died at his house in the Strand, 3 Martii, 1627, and was buried in St. Mary's Chapel,, within St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Collins's Peerage, v. i. p. 71, "New View of London. v. ii. p. 623.

proposed to the Earl of Worcester's gardener by the Earl of Salisbury, or his agent, that if he could prevail with his lord to cut down the said tree, he should have one hundred pounds; which offer was told to the Earl of Worcester, who ordered him to do it, and take the one hundred pounds, both which were performed to the great satisfaction of the Earl of Salisbury, as he thought; but, there being no great kindness betwixt the two Earls, the Earl of Worcester soon caused to be built, in the place of the walnuttree, a large brick house, which then took away the whole east prospect.'

ور

The descriptions of the Crosses in the third number are intermingled with much historical anecdote, by which means the reader is relieved from that monotonous dryness that so frequently attends antiquarian pursuits. The original Cross erected in Chepe, was one of those built by Edward the First, to the memory of Queen Eleanor; but of that no memorial remains." The second Cross on the same spot was raised between the years 1441 and 1486, and is represented by a print. It was pulled down about the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and another less " superstitious" in its imagery was built in its place soon afterwards. The state of the popular feeling in respect to the second Cross may be estimated from the following curious

extract:

"This beautiful architectural specimen stood the ornament of the street until the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the squeamish taste of the age began to find fault with it as a remnant of popish superstition, and its destruction was eagerly solicited. It was frequently presented as a common nuisance; but these complaints not being attended to, the petitioners began to redress themselves. An attack was made by some unknown persons, in the night of the 21st of June, 1581, on the lower tier of images, being of the Resurrection, Virgin Mary, Christ, and Edward the Confessor; all of which were miserably mutilated: the Virgin was robbed of her son, and her armes broken, by which she staied him on her knees; her whole body also hailed by ropes, and left ready to fall *. The Queen offered a reward for the apprehension of the offenders, but they were not discovered. It probably deterred them however from fresh excesses, for we hear

"Survaie of London, p. 252, ed. 1598. Stowe must mistake in describing the Virgin and Child as forming a part of the lower tier of images, as the plate evidently places them in a niche on the second story. This also accounts for the figures being ' hailed by ropes,' in order to pull them down, as being otherwise out of reach. Edward the Confessor is plainly on the lower tier, being in the niche immediately beneath the Virgin.