Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/290

 Sir Elijah Impey resided, on a site in Middleton Row, now occupied by Lorretto House, the Roman Catholic convent In front of the old house was a circular pond, or tank, at the exact spot where Middleton Row turns at right angles, and the present road runs over what was the carriage-drive from Park Street to the house. That a large house, probably the identical house of Sir Elijah Impey's time, stood on this spot, surrounded by the same grounds, nearly half a century before his day, may be seen by reference to the "Plan of Calcutta" of 1742: it cannot have been an English residence, and was possibly the property of a native official. When Middleton Street was made about 1815, and named after Bishop Middleton, the first Bishop of Calcutta, then newly created a Bishopric, the old house was still standing, but within a few years it was "improved" away, and Middleton Row cut up the old Park, and afforded eligible building sites for speculative builders.

Opening into Park Street nearly opposite to Middleton Row is Free School Street, leading to the Free School. This school was established in 1790, in connection with the Mission Church, and in 1800 it was united to the old Charity School, then seventy-one years old. About the time that the two schools were