BARGE YARD, BUCKLERSBURY.

According to tradition, Boats and Barges came up Walbrook from the Thames to that place, where they delivered their cargoes or freights.

BIRDCAGE WALK.

A name given to the south side of St. James's Park, between Buckingham Gate and Storey's Gate, from the aviary established there in the reign of James I., and the decoy made there in the reign of Charles II.

BUCKINGHAM HOUSE.

This mansion in St. James's Park, for so many years the residence of our royal family, was erected by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, in 1703, in the reign of Queen Anne. It is related that the architect and builder, Captain Wynde, having expended large sums of money upon it, his employer, the duke, was backward in paying the same, upon which he resorted to the following stratagem. The architect one day prevailed upon his Grace to mount the top of the building, for the alleged purpose of seeing the surrounding prospect. The moment the duke sat his foot on the roof, the man of science and bricks shut down the trapdoor, locked it, and threw the key to the ground below. The duke, astonished at the action, exclaimed, "How am I to get down?” The builder, assuming a melancholy countenance, replied “ My Lord Duke, I am a distressed man, I have ruined myself by making advances for this building, and unless you immediately relieve me, it is my intention to leap down and destroy myself!" "What is to become of me, you having thrown the key away?" demanded the duke. "You must leap down also," rejoined the builder, "unless you consent to satisfy my wants." Upon which, it is said, the duke instantly complied, by giving him an order upon his banker for the amount he named. The builder then gave a preconcerted signal to one of his men, who came up with the key, unlocked the trapdoor, and set the duke at liberty. It is generally supposed that the duke complied with the request of the builder, not from any sense of fear, but because he admired the ingenious mode in which he had been called upon to pay his debts. Buckingham House was taken down by George IV. in 1825, and the present Palace erected in its stead.

BERMONDSEY STREET.

The name of this manor, or district, being a Saxon compound, and the last syllable thereof seeming to imply an island, it is supposed anciently to have been such a place, belonging to one Bermond, and which the situation gives room to conjecture. Be that

as it will, the village of Bermundeseye, in the Conqueror's survey, appears to have been a royal manor, wherein were twenty-five villeins, or servile husbandmen, and twenty-three Bordonanni, or Cottagers.

CORNHILL.

This is the highest* part of London, and was denominated thus in consequence of that circumstance, and the great number of Corn-chandlers who resided here in former times.

CHEAPSIDE.

Cheapside received its name from Chepe, a Market,—this being originally the great street for splendid shops. In the year 1246 it was an open field, called Crown-field, from an inn of that sign at the east end.

CONDUIT STREET.

Built in 1718, and is so called from a Conduit of water in certain fields between Piccadilly and Paddington.

COVENTRY STREET.

This appellation is derived from Coventry House, the residence of Henry Coventry, third son of Lord Keeper Coventry, and himself Secretary of State to Charles II.

CRUTCHED-FRIARS.

Crutched-Friars is derived from the house of Crutched or Crossed Friars, a fraternity who wore a large red cross on their garments-hence, also, the Red Cross Knights. "The Friars Hall was made a glass house, wherein glass was made of divers sorts to drink in, which house, in the year 1575, on the 4th of September, burst out into a terrible fire, and was all consumed to the stone walls."-Stow, p. 56.

CORAM STREET.

Coram Street, Brunswick Square, is so called after Captain Coram, projector of the Founding Hospital. He died March 29, 1751, aged 84.

CRANBOURNE-ALLEY.

This property belongs to the Marquis of Salisbury, and derives its cognomen from the Marquis's second title, which is borne by

* In Panier Alley, leading from Newgate Street to Paternoster Row, a stone announces that spot to be the highest part of London.

his eldest son-Viscount Cranbourne. The late Lord Erskine being on a visit to the late Marquis at Hatfield House, and the latter being anxious for his lordship's opinion on his new picture gallery, took the earliest opportunity of showing it to him, when his lordship made the following happy impromptu :

"Your room, though long and narrow,

And as straight as an arrow,

Will ne'er with your other rooms tally;

But give it to your son,-'twill be excellent fun
To hear it call'd Cranbourne Alley."

In 1843, the whole south side of Cranbourne Alley was taken down, and the street widened, making a carriage way from Coventry Street to Long Acre. The new street was opened in March, 1844.

COLEMAN STREET.

Coleman street derives its name from Coleman, the first builder and owner thereof. The Star in Coleman Street was a tavern where Oliver Cromwell and several of his party occasionally met.

CLARE MARKET.

From the Clare family, who had a house contiguous to Clement's Inn.

CARNABY MARKET.

On this site formerly stood the mansion of Sir Raynold Carnaby, who figured in the reign of Henry VIII., and who enjoyed a great portion of that monarch's favour. His descendants continued to reside there till the reign of James I., when the present market was built, and which was named after the family of the Carnabys.

CARLTON HOUSE.

Carlton House, once the celebrated town residence of George IV., derives its name from its original possessor, Henry Boyle, Baron Carlton, who built it on a piece of ground leased to him by Queen Anne in 1709. Lord Carlton died without issue in 1725, and his house and grounds descended to his nephew, Richard Boyle, Lord Burlington; he bestowed it in 1732 upon his mother, the Countess-dowager of Burlington, who in the same year transferred it to Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George the Third. Carlton House was taken down in 1826, and the columns of the Portico transferred to the National Gallery.

CRIPPLEGATE.

St. Giles is the patron of beggars. Going to church in his youth, he gave his coat to a sick beggar who asked alms of him

-the mendicant was clothed, and the garment miraculously cured a disorder with which he was afflicted. He was also the patron of Cripples. It is related of him by that pious chronicler of the saints, Ribadeneira, that one day when the French king was a hunting near a thicket where St. Giles was concealed, he was wounded by an arrow from a huntsman's bow while in the act of praying; whereupon, being found unmoved from his position, the king fell at his feet, craved his pardon, and gave orders for the cure of his wound; but this the Saint would not permit, preferring to remain a Cripple, and thereby increase his merits. The church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, is dedicated to him; hence the name of the locality.

COAL-HARBOUR LANE.

Here stood a spacious and stately edifice, denominated Cold Herberg, or Harbrough, the latter being a corruption of the former, which signifies an Inn or Mansion-house; the epithet of Cold was probably added on account of its bleak situation, so near the river Thames. However, the site thereof, and buildings thereon, are at present known by the name of Coalharbour lane, in Upper Thames Street.

CHARING CROSS.

Here formerly stood the village of Charing, from whence the present name is derived. The Cross was an ancient Gothic structure, placed there in 1291 to Eleanor, queen of Edward I., being the last stage at which the queen's body stopped, previous to its interment in Westminster Abbey. "But neither its ornamental situation, the beauty of its structure, nor the amiable design of its erection," says an intelligent writer, "could preserve it from the merciless zeal of the times." It was demolished by the House of Commons, during the Commonwealth, as a relic of Popish superstition.

CHARLES THE FIRST'S STATUE.

This noble equestrian statue at Charing Cross is the work of Hubert le Sour, a Frenchman, who came to England about the year 1674. "The commanding grace of the figure, and the exquisite form of the horse, are striking to the most unpractised eye," says Horace Walpole. This piece was cast in 1633, in a spot of ground near to Covent Garden, and not being erected before the commencement of the civil war, it was sold by the Parliament to John Rivet, a brazier, living at the Dial, near Holborn Conduit, with strict orders to break it to pieces. This worthy, we may presume, was a royalist. At any rate, ho was a sagacious wight, for he produced a quantity of fragments of old brass, and concealed the statue and horse under ground

until the Restoration. "He cast a number of knives and forks," says M. de Archenholz, “in brass, which he sold as manufactured from the statue. These were purchased with avidity by the royalists, out of affection to their unfortunate sovereign; and sought with equal eagerness by the rebels, as a trophy of the downfall of a despot.'

COVENT GARDEN.

On the site of the western Piazza of Covent Garden, or as it is vulgarly called Common Garden, formerly stood a Convent of Sisters, which was with other monasteries seized and confiscated by order of our Eighth Harry. Where the market is held now, formerly was the Convent Garden, and which circumstance gave it its present name. "I conclude with being Edward Honeycomb, in the time of Henry the Eighth, helping to undo the convent that stood there. I strike his Majesty's warrant on the door, and change every thing like a harlequin. The convent becomes a playhouse, monks and nuns turn actors and actresses. The garden, formal and quiet, where a salad was cut for a lady abbess, and flowers were gathered to adorn images, becomes a market, noisy and full of life, distributing thousands of fruits and flowers to a social metropolis. Who is this coming this way, looking so earnest and full of frown? Is it a little Dominican friar, longing to denounce us all to the Inquisition? No; it is Mr. Kean, in his great-coat, who delights us all, and does us good, in a profane playhouse. Miss Stephens, and Miss Tree, too, instead of

'Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon,'

raise their voices in delightful duets, and have good warm benefits." -Landor's Conversations.

CANNON STREET.

Cannon Street was originally Candlewick Street, deriving its name from its formerly being principally occupied by the wax and tallow trades, which were of great importance till 1548, when, by order of Henry VIII., the burning of candles in religious services were prohibited.

CROSBY SQUARE.

The house in Crosby Square called Crosby House, built by one Sir John Crosby, was the city residence of Richard III., and is alluded to in the play. After passing through various hands, it was in 1672 converted into a Presbyterian Meetinghouse, and in 1677 the present houses in Crosby Square were erected on a portion of the offices attached to the mansion. The lease expiring 1831, a subscription was raised to restore the hall to its original state. The first stone of the new works