Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/90

 82

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. IT. JULY so, *

is let into the wall of one of the houses, in 1647. About the same time Vere Street was probably built, as it received its name from Elizabeth, daughter of Horatio, Lord Vere of Tilbury, and wife of the second earl. As this lady did not die till 1683, she had probably the pleasure of witnessing the dramatic per- formances which took place in Gibbons's Tennis Court in Vere Street, which was con- verted into a theatre by Thomas Killigrew in 1660, and in which his company performed till April, 1663, when the new theatre in Drury Lane was ready to receive them. The second earl was succeeded in 1665 by his son Gilbert, who, according to an inscribed stone, was responsible for the naming of Denzil Street, which received its designation from his uncle, the well-known Denzil, Lord Holies, who died on 17 Feb., 1679/80, after having earned a name in history as one of the Five Members. After the third Earl of Clare was named another disreputable court known as Gilbert Passage, which was demolished several years ago, and of which an admirable sketch by Mr. J. P. Emslie, taken while the houses were in process of destruction, will be found in the 'Illustrated Topographical Record' lately issued by the London Topographical Society. Newcastle Street, which will also be swept away to the advantage of the morals of the community is a much older thoroughfare, which received its latest de- signation from the fourth earl, who succeeded to the title on the death of his father, 16 Jan., 1688/9, and was subsequently created Duke of Newcastle. At his death in 1711 the family of Holies became extinct in the male line, and the dukedom passed to the family of Pelham. It was this nobleman who pur- chased from Lord Powis the commanding mansion at the north-west angle of Lincoln's Inn Fields, which is still known as Newcastle House, and which was for a time the residence of the great Whig Chancellor, Lord Somers.

The neighbouring Wych Street still retains some vestiges of early days in the tavern at the eastern end, the "Rising Sun," and in the dilapidated timber house which is associated in popular tradition with that predatory hero Jack Sheppard. From Wych Street there is a gateway into New Inn, which, despite its name, is said to be the oldest of the Inns of Chancery, and to have nurtured the early years of Thomas More. Although the existing houses in this Inn do not seem to date beyond the respectable days of the brick order of architecture favoured by the builders of William and Anne, it is impossible not to regret the approaching decease, for the re- freshing piece of greensward in the midst,

with its cooing pigeons, makes it a pleasant aackwater in which one may escape for an nstant from the flood of London traffic. In meeting the fate of the neighbouring Lyon's [nn- the erstwhile abode of Mr. William Weare we may hope that it will serve as an object lesson to those who are responsible for carrying out the new scheme, and that in bheir haste to secure "betterment" and other financial advantages they will not forget the store that Londoners place upon trees and herbage. The theatres we shall lose the Gaiety, the Globe, and the Olympic will doubtless find homes elsewhere, out an open space in London, once built over, is lost for ver, and advantage should be taken of the present opportunity to provide another play- round for the thousands who will still epend upon the Strand and its vicinity for their means of livelihood. It may also be hoped that in the nomenclature of the new thoroughfare and its tributaries the ancient associations of the district may not be entirely forgotten. W. F. PKIDEAUX.

45, Pall Mall, S.W.

ANCIENT ZODIACS.

(Continued from p. 63. )

96. In the Villa Borghesi "a low marble cylinder, having the signs of the zodiac carved round its convex trunk, and the Dii Consentes round a hole in the top, is called

an altar of the Sun To me it appeared

rather the plinth or base of a temple can- delabrum." Forsyth, 'Italy,' 1835, p. 224.

97. On a globe, in a painting from Pompeii. Archceologia, xxxvi. 198 ; in 'Le Pitture Antiche d'Ercolano,' 1760, vii. 11.

98. "Muratori mentions the epitaph of a Roman, styled Gauncarius, holding in his left hand a book, charged with the signs of the zodiac. Query if it means a geographer?" Magas, 'Encycl. des Antiq.'; Fosbroke, i. 396.

99. On a fragment of white marble, " Tabula Iliaca. Capitoline Museum, Rome." " Thetis appears bearing the shield of Achilles (bk. xviii.), which differs from Homer in having a border with the signs of the zodiac engraved on it." Seven signs are visible, from Capricornus to Gemini. In Anderson, ' Atlas to Homer,' 1892, p. 3, pi. i. fig. 4.

100. On a round gem, enclosing Jupiter seated, above his eagle, Neptune below with trident, Mars with spear and shield, Mer- cury with caduceus, and Cupid. In Beger, ' Thesaurus Palatine,' Heidelbergae, 1685, p. 3.

101. Planisphere of Bianchini. Isaic hiero- glyphic table No. 232. White marble tablet