Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/273

 10 B. x. SEPT. 19, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

221

LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1008.

CONTENTS. No. 247.

NOTES : Rowland Hill's Chapel and the Rotunda, Black- friars Road, 221 Salford : Saltersfprd : Saltersgate, 222 Inscriptions at Florence, 223' Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire,' 224 Boy Scouts: their War Song The Norrises of Milverton " Boot-top " as a Verb, 225 Dunbar and Henryson Cannon on Bridge Green Spelling Reform in the Seventeenth Century " Hwinca," 226 15th Light Dragoons, 227.

QUERIES : N. Le Fevre, Chemist to Charles II. King Charles the Martyr, 227 Holbeach Church- Campbell : its Pronunciation " Skalinges " : " Scabulonious " Richard Sainthill Anthony Merry, Statesman Green- wich Hospital Pensioners Arms of English Roman Catholic Bishops " William the Conqueror ten sixty-six," 228 Lord de Tabley Provost Samuel Winter Skylarks in Orkney Lizzie Doten's Poem 'Is Life Worth Living?' Mary, Queen of Scots, at Leith First Crossing of Africa High Treason and its Punishment" Hors d'oeuvre," 229 Date of Plate Banishment Certificate Sussex Arms Gormanston Family, 230.

REPLIES : Accession and Coronation Coins and Medals, 230 Pronunciation of Waterloo Smallpox Hospital in 1804: Alexandra Institution for the Blind William Crowmer : Watts Family of Sussex, 232 Hoppner and Sir Thomas Frankland's Daughters Clerical Interments " Vergel," 233 " Sarum " Mysteries of the Embo Baronetcy " Death Warrants": "Coffin Nails": "Fags," Alphonso: Haakon Augustinian Cardinal, 234 "As thick as inkle-makers" "Cardinal" of St. Paul's Ranger of Greenwich Park St. la, 235 Throat-cutting at Public Executions" Pearl," 236 "T' Wife Bazaar" Nonconformist Burial-Grounds, 237 Sheriffs of London,

23a

NOTES ON BOOKS: Poetical Works of Giles and Phineas

Fletcher 'The Quarterly Review.' Booksellers' Catalogues.

ROWLAND HILL'S CHAPEL AND THE ROTUNDA, BLACKFRIARS ROAD.

A PARAGRAPH has lately been going the round of the press concerning Rowland Hill's Chapel, Blackfriars Road, which in some particulars is incorrect. It states, for one thing, that it was " best known as the Rotunda." This is entirely an error, for, so far as I can discover, it was never so called or known. The Rotunda, with which it has evidently been confused, was situated on the opposite side of Blackfriars Road and is now No. 3 in that thoroughfare, being the third house from the bridge ; and a fanlight over the entrance bears the words "The Rotunda." It has for many years been given over to business purposes, and is now occupied by Messrs. Burn Brothers of Edinburgh, the well-known sanitary engineers.

This building has had an exceedingly chequered career since it housed the collec- tion of curiosities got together by Sir Ashton Lever, and originally exhibited by him at Leicester House in the square of that name, where it appears to have been first on view

in 1771, and whence it was removed, shortly before his death, in 1788. He called his collection the " Holophusikon," and it appears to have been really a wonderful assemblage of object^. It was not a success- ful enterprise, and was ultimately disposed of by lottery ; but out of the 36,000 tickets, only 8,000 were taken up. The drawing took place in March, 1786, the winner being a Mr. Parkinson, who is said to have held only two chances.

The new proprietor built the Rotunda, in what was then known as Albion Place, in order to house his acquisition. The building contained sixteen rooms, and here, at the end of 1787, the museum now renamed the " Museum Leverianum "- started on its fresh mission. Again fortune frowned on it, and in 1806 it was disposed of at auction, in a sale lasting sixty-five days.

The building had considerable vogue as a place for exhibitions of a somewhat non- descript character, for in 1793 the colossal statue of the King executed by Mrs. Darner for the Register House, Edinburgh, was exhibited, " with the superb addition of a crown and sceptre of exquisite workman- ship, the performance of Mr. Vulliamy."

The Rotunda, after the dispersal of the museum, was occupied for many years by the library, apparatus, &c., of the Surrey Institution, which was established in 1807, to give the benefit to Surrey-side residents of an institution similar in plan to the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street. A series of lectures, library and reading rooms, a chemical laboratory, &c., were projected ; but in or about 1820 difficulties came, and the really valuable institution was dissolved, the inevitable sale by auction winding it up. Afterwards in 1826 it was known as the Rotunda Wine and Concert Rooms, there being professional singing and music every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

In 1831-2 it was appropriated to a variety of purposes, some reputable, some quite the reverse, including penny exhibitions (of the " gaff " order) of waxworks and wild- beast shows. In the latter year there was " A Course of Moral and Philosophical Lectures by a Lady from the Country," which I hope repaid the labour spent on their preparation ; but this is open to some doubt, for in September, 1833, the building was opened as the Globe Theatre.

In 1836 it was apparently desired to ex- ploit it once more as a place for concerts, but the licence was refused ; however, one seems to have been granted later, for it is recorded to have been again opened