Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/407

 10 s. VIIL OCT. 28, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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was formed in continuation of Exeter Street, and the other part, turning at a right angle, was driven into the Strand. This alley was known as Denmark Court for what reason I know not, as Somerset House, -which lay some way to the eastward, had long lost its old designation of Denmark House. Denmark Court was about a century .afterwards thrown into Exeter Street. In 1830 Wellington Street was completed as a line of approach to Waterloo Bridge, and was constructed on the boundary between the two old Strand Mansions Exeter House and Wimbledon House. The Lyceum Theatre occupies part of the gardens of the former house, and the old Gaiety Theatre, which was pulled down in 1903, those of the latter. Exeter House occupied the angle at which Burleigh Street meets the Strand ; and after the house was pulled down, Exeter 'Change, of which the history is well known, was erected by Barbon in its place. Exeter Hall, however, was built on a site between Burleigh and Southampton Streets on the Bedford, and not on the Exeter, property. It derived its name, not from Exeter House, but from Exeter Street, which is situated in rear of it. Old maps and plans show that Exeter House jutted out considerably into the Strand, and no improvement was made in this respect when it was pulled down, as may be seen from the view of Exeter 'Change and the Lyceum Theatre which is given in Mr. Gordon's " Old-Time Aldwych,' p. 186. Advantage was taken of the demolition of the Exchange in 1829 to make a proper alignment of the street.

An interesting point in connexion with Exeter Hall is that the designer was the only Royal Academician who entered Parlia- ment while in the active practice of his profession. John Peter Gandy became known while a young man as the assistant of Sir William Gell in his ' Pompeiana.' In 1827 he inherited a large property in Buck- inghamshire, and changed his name to Deering. He was elected M.P. for Ayles- bury after the passing of the first Reform Bill', and was made High Sheriff of Bucking- hamshire in 1840, two years after his election -to the Academy. He died in 1850, at the age of sixty-three. W. F. PBIDEAUX.

ELECTION SUNDAY, WESTMINSTER SCHOOL {10 S. viii. 207). I think that MB. HAB- LAND-OXLEY is mistaken as to there being any " time-honoured custom " in the selec- tion of the preacher in the Abbey on Election Sunday. I was at the School from 1874 to

1880, and was present in the Abbey on five Elections Sundays during that period, both at morning and afternoon service. Cer- tainly neither the Dean of Christ Church (Liddell), nor the Master of Trinity (Thomp- son), nor the Head Master (Scott) ever preached ; and I do not think that the Dean of Westminster (Stanley) ever did. The practice of inviting some one connected with the School to preach the morning sermon (however laudable) is of recent origin, and dates, I think, from the head-mastership of the late Dr. Rutherford. The afternoon sermon was preached by the canon in residence, as now. What is described at 10 S. vi. 213 as a " large red and white rosette " worn by the King's Scholars is really nothing more than a flower worn in the buttonhole in the usual way. The colour in my time used to be white ; it is now pink (the School colour).

There is one Election Sunday custom which none of your correspondents mention : the " major candidates " (i.e., the candidates for election to Oxford and Cambridge) have the right to select the music which is per- formed at the Abbey services on that day. I do not know the origin of this right, but it certainly existed more than fifty years ago, and the Precentor for the time being always recognizes it. I remember the Rev. S. Flood Jones making a courteous apology because some difficulty in con- nexion with the choir had arisen with regard to an anthem selected for Election Sunday in 1880, and asking me to choose another.

W. A. PECK. Lincoln's Inn.

LONDON REMAINS (10 S. viii. 226, 271). A few more instances may possibly be acceptable.

The (old) Great Bell at St. Paul's, which is now used only for tolling on the death of certain eminent persons, was originally cast temp. Edw. I., and hung for four centuries in Ralph de Hengham's tower in New Palace Yard, exactly opposite the main entrance to Westminster Hall. It was then known as " Edward of Westminster," and later as " Great Tom." The tower itself is well shown on the extreme right of Hollar's view of 1647. The bell was presented to the thep new Cathedral by William III., and wa taken there on New Year's Day in 1699. It weighed at that time 8, 27 lib.; but it has since been twice recast with additional metal, and now weighs ll,4741b.

The Elizabethan stone chimneypiece in the Queen's Closet at Kensington Palace was