CAVENDISH SQUARE.

69

in the reign of Queen Anne, celebrated for its fashionable bowling-green, and as the resort of well-dressed gamesters and sharpers. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, alluding to Sheffield Duke of Buckingham, observes:

Some dukes at Mary-bone bowl time away.

Pennant, also, speaking of the Duke's intimacy with the frequenters of Mary-le-bone gardens, says, "His Grace always gave them a dinner at the conclusion of the season, and his parting toast was, ' May as many of us, as remain unhanged next spring, meet here again."" Mary-le-bone gardens are perhaps now principally remembered as being the scene of one of Macheath's debauches in the "Beggar's Opera." At a later period they were converted into a place of diversion resembling the present Vauxhall; the amusements consisting of theatrical exhibitions, vocal and instrumental music, and terminating with fire-works. The gardens, which were closed to the public about 1777, stood on the site of the present Devonshire Place, Beaumont Street, and the north end of Harley Street; and close to the latter may still be seen three or four trees, the last mementos of the once celebrated Mary-le-bone gardens. It may be mentioned, that in the theatre in Mary-le-bone gardens, Charles Dibdin and Bannister made their debût.

At a tavern in High Street Mary-le-bone, the celebrated Nancy Dawson, when a young girl, was employed in setting up skittles. She died at

Hampstead in 1767, and was buried behind the Foundling Hospital. In Titchfield Street, Maryle-bone, Cuthbert Shaw, the poet, "distinguished alike by his genius, his misfortunes, and his misconduct," died in great distress in 1771, and in this street, at the house of a brother artist, Joseph Bonomi, died the celebrated artist James Barry in 1806.+

We will conclude our notices of the vicinity of Cavendish Square, with a tragical event which occurred at Chandos House, the London residence of James Brydges, Duke of Chandos, styled from his magnificent mode of living, the "grand duke," and sometimes the "princely Chandos." Exceeding his customary splendour, the Duke had announced a princely entertainment on the occasion of the christening of his infant heir. The King and Queen had consented to become sponsors; for weeks the magnificent preparations were the topic of conversation in every circle; the long expected night arrived; the guests, including the royal family, filled the gorgeous apartments; and, with all due honours, the child, in the arms of its nurse, was conducted to the place of honour which had been appointed for the ceremony of its initiation into the church. Suddenly, however, the scene changed. Affected, it is said, by the excessive glare of light, the child was seized with convulsions; the ceremony was stopped;

* Boswell's "Life of Johnson."

Annual Register for 1806.

the guests departed to their respective homes, and, before midnight, the infant pride of the princely Chandos had breathed its last. The Duke and Duchess were both deeply affected by their extraordinary bereavement. The former died shortly afterwards, and the latter retired from the world, but not from the house which had witnessed the wreck of her fondest hopes, for she is said to have conceived a melancholy pleasure in residing there to the last.

Hanover Square and the adjoining streets were built about the same time as Cavendish Square. In 1716, the site which they occupy was open country, but their names appear in the plans of London, published in 1720. Pennant, who died as late as 1798, observes," Oxford Street, from Prince's Street eastward, as far as High Street St. Giles's, was almost unbuilt on the north side. I remember there a deep hollow road, and full of sloughs there was here and there a ragged house, the lurking-place of cut-throats; insomuch, that I never was taken that way by night, in my hackneycoach, to a worthy uncle's who gave me lodgings at his house in George Street, but I went in dread the whole way." At his house in Hanover Square, died, in 1735, the once popular poet George Granville, Lord Lansdowne; here also at one time lived the celebrated circumnavigator of the globe, George Lord Anson; and here, in 1792, a no less celebrated naval commander, George Lord Rodney, breathed his last.

In George Street, Hanover Square, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu passed the last months of her long life. We learn, from a member of her family, that from her long residence on the continent, she had imbibed foreign tastes and foreign habits, and consequently that the change from the gloomy magnificence of an Italian palace, to a small, three storied house in the neighbourhood of Hanover Square, was as striking as it was disagreeable. "I am most handsomely lodged," she said, "for I have two very decent closets, and a cupboard on each floor."* One can almost imagine her figure as she issued from her house in George Street; such at least as it is described by Walpole in a letter written about six months before her death. "Lady Mary Wortley," he writes, "is arrived; I have seen her; I think her avarice, her dirt, and her vivacity, are all increased. Her dress, like her languages, is a galimatias of several countries; the ground-work rags, and the embroidery nastiness. She needs no cap, no handkerchief, no gown, no petticoat, no shoes. An old black laced hood represents the first; the fur of a horseman's coat, which replaces the third, serves for the second; a dimity petticoat is deputy, and officiates for the fourth; and slippers act the part of the last." Such is the picture, drawn at the close of life, of the once witty, beau

"Works and Letters of Lady M. W. Montagu," edited by Lord Wharncliffe.

+ Letter from Horace Walpole to George Montagu, 2nd February, 1762.

tiful, and fascinating Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. She died in August 1762, of a terrible disorder, a cancer in the breast.

Before quitting the neighbourhood of Hanover Square, let us cross New Bond Street into Woodstock Street, which will always be interesting to the lovers of literary history, as the street where Dr. Johnson first fixed himself with his "Tetty," after his arrival in London in search of fortune and fame. "He now [1737] removed," says Boswell, "to London with Mrs. Johnson. His lodgings were for some time in Woodstock Street, near Hanover Square, and afterwards in Castle Street, Cavendish Square. As there is something pleasingly interesting to many, in tracing so great a man through all his different habitations, I shall, before this work is concluded, present my readers with an exact list of his lodgings and houses, in order of time, which, in placid condescension to my respectful curiosity, he one evening dictated to me, but without specifying how long he lived at each."

In Argyle Street, within a short distance of Hanover Square, lived the unfortunate Dr. Dodd, who expiated a life of vanity, hypocrisy, and pleasure, on the gibbet. Wraxall mentions his having dined at his table in Argyle Street, when the celebrated Wilkes, Sir William Jones, and De Lolme, formed the remainder of the company. "Mrs. Dodd," says Wraxall, "presided, and afterwards received in her drawing-room a large party of both sexes." In that