ESSEX-HOUSE, UNDER VARIOUS NAMES. 217 PAGET. HOUSE. seized by the mob, hurried to Cheapside, where they beheaded him, and carried his corpse before his own palace, and there buried it beneath a heap of sand. The house is said to have been very magnificent. Lacy, bishop of Exeter in the reign of Henry VI. added a great hall. The first lord Paget, a good catholic, made no scruple of laying violent hands on it, in the grand period of plunder. He improved it greatly, and called it after his own name. At this house it was alleged that the great duke of Somerset designed the assassination of several of the council. This involved the noble owner in his ruin. In the reign of queen Elizabeth, it was possessed by the great earl of Leicester, and changed its name to Leicester-house. The earl LEICESTERleft it by will* to his son-in-law Robert, earl of Esser, the unfortunate imprudent favorite of Elizabeth, and it was called after his name. This was the scene of his frantic actions; from hence he sallied on the vain hope of exciting the city to arm in his behalf against its sovereign; to this place he forced his way back, and after a short siege submitted, and soon afterwards received his due punishment, reluctantly inflicted by his mistress, hesitating between fear and unseasonable love. The memory of these transactions is still retained in the name of Essex-street, and Essex • Sydney Papers, i. 73. HOUSE. ESSEXHOUSE. 218 BAT PIDGEON. TEMPLE BAR. BAT PIDGEON. TEMPLE BAR. stairs, and Devereux-court. In the last, on the outside of a house, is placed a bust of the parlement general, son of the unfortunate favorite. SINCE the GUARDIAN did not think it beneath him to celebrate some of the capital artificers of his time, A. D. 1713, in his first, forty-third, and sixty-fourth numbers, I may venture to mention the great Bat Pidgeon, who in his advanced age cut my boyish locks in the year 1740. He lived in the corner house of St. Clements Church-yard, next to the Strand, and was most eminent in his day, among the very few who at that time practised the art. In 1794 an army might be raised among the professors! In the times I mention, Bat might have been the only one to whom the family of the Lizards (N° 43.) and other persons of rank would entrust their heads. Our sex, even the youngest, in general wore wigs, much to the disadvantage of the soft features of the early age: and the ladies confided the important charge of their lovely tresses, then uncontaminated by grease and powders, to their cleanly maids, or the fashionable tiring-woman, a profession long ago lost in our metropolis. The Strand was divided, in 1670, from Fleetstreet, by the gate called Temple-bar; before the great fire, by nothing but posts, rails, and chains. On the east side, in the niches, are the statues of James and Anne of Denmark, not without some The foundation stone of the WATERLOO BRIDGE, was laid on Friday, Oct.11AD1811, by the Directors for executing the same, Henry Swann, Esq. MP. Chairman; in the Futy-First Year of the Reign or KING GEORGE the III; and during the Regency of HR.H.GEORGE, PRINCE of WALES. It is a well-proportioned & handsome struct ure, composed of nine arches or equal span & elevation supported by stone Piers, each ornamented by two Columns, & the whole crownad by an elegant Balustrade. This undertaking was carried on by a joint Stock Company, under the auspices of Parliament, & is one of the most beautiful ornaments of the Metropolis 1240 e Opened by the PRINCE REGENT, the DUKE of YORK, and the D on the London side.... Total length from the Strand where the building begins to the to the spot in Lambeth where it falls to the level of the Road. Walth within the Balustrades... 1250 Feet 7 28 120 20 1080 Carriage Road under the Arch 26 Ft Span on the Surrey Side, leading to Westminster Bridge. London; Published by Wright Engraver & Irinter 35,Blue Anchor Passage, Bunhill Row. |