JESSE'S MEMORIALS OF LONDON.

As regards London or Paris, ample materials exist for any kind of work—antiquarian, historical, anecdotical, or topographical. The chro- niclers, letter-writers, and poets of the middle ages, contain sufficient notices of manners and customs, while muniments of various kinds fur- nish ample facts of a more tangible nature. Since the dawn of popular literature and memoirs, these materials kept gradually growing, till more authorities probably exist for the life and story of these two capitals than remain for the whole history of the ancient world. Their acquirement and use is another matter. The man who is most versed in old records is not always best fitted to use them to advantage, and is probably alto- gether incapable of seizing the more delicate traits which indicate the manners of the age or the character of individuals : he still more rarely possesses the easy, flowing, agreeable style, necessary to endow dryness with grace and redeem trifles from triviality. Some judgment, too, is re- quired to deal with the matter according to the object of the writer. His- torical scenes, actual incidents, 'or sketches of general manners, are inte- resting to all who take an interest in such books ; but localities—the change in the fashionable estimate of places, the growth or transformation of neighbourhoods—have attraction for those only who are acquainted with the place ; and to them this kind of matter is often the most attrac- tive of any. These remarks refer to an original work. But so many writings of ability upon both capitals have appeared, that a clever littkrateur with a turn for this kind of reading might easily pick up materials enough to make an amusing book, especially if his employments or his habits bad led him among analogous studies, so as to give to his lucubrations an occasional air of freshness and research. This is about the character of Mr. Ileneage Jesse's Literary and Historical Memorials of London. What he had to read for writing his Court of England, about parks, palaces, duels, demireps, and similar things and persons, gave him ma- terials, or the means of finding them, for one class of subjects in these volumes,—as St. James's Street, Square, Palace, and Park, and the old Palaces of Westminster and Whitehall. The same work, with the Pre- tenders and their Adherents, rendered Mr. Jesse familiar with the cases and executions of the Jacobite Lords, which are duly served up as part of the feast in Westminster Hall and the Tower, with a spice of re- petition. The Earl and Countess of Somerset have, we believe, already ben married, and tried for murder, by Mr. Heneage Jesse ; and here we have them again, the incidents figuring bit by bit, not according to the unity of place but the separation of' localities. We forget whether he ever did the trials of Strafford and Charles the First ; but they have been done so often that we could well have spared an incidental rechauffe of them and similar historical novelties. The editing of George Selwyn and his Contemporaries necessarily introduced our author to the let- ter-writers and manners-delineators of the last century ; who fur- nish many particulars touching the domiciles of celebrated men in particular streets, with the parties, social scenes and occasional quarrels, that took place there. The maps and copies Of scarce prints that illus- trate the volumes, gave the compiler some general ideas as to the appear- ance of neighbourhoods at various epochs; and he has gained more specific information by examining either well-known works, such as Pen- nant's, or the fugitive literature of the day. Having been so long en- gaged in this sort of reading, Mr. Jesse has a wide range of gossipy know- ledge and a facility in setting it forth in a readable way ; but he falls into blunders which show the laxity of his mind and the very loose nature of his acquisitions. We pass small errors or careless repetitions ; and his representation, in the account of Bow Street, that the indecent and pro- time " frolic " of Sedley and Dorset, at the Cock Tavern, took place before Dorset was born, because the mistake is probably owing to the printer and a want of revision. But he has discovered that Dryden's character of Achitophel was intended for Arlington ! Ward the publican and poet- eater once kept a house in Long Acre ; and in treating of that vicinity,

Mr. Jesse thus, somewhat needlessly, displays his reading.

"Among those to whom it was 'worth while' to live in the days of Pope, and whom he has immortalized in the Dunciad, was Edward Ward, a voluminous but now forgotten poet, in Iludibrastic verse, who at one period of his life, like Taylor the Water Poet, kept a house of entertainment in Long Acre. He is twice ho- noured by a mention in the Dunciad- . Not sail with Ward to ape-end-monkey climes,

Where vile Mondungus trucks for viler rhymes!'

And again—

As thick as bees o'er vernal blossoms fly, As thick as eggs at Ward in pillory."

Edward Ward is thrice mentioned in the Dunciad ; in the first of the above quotations, and in two other places.

"Know Eusden thirsts no more for sack or praise; He sleeps among the dull of ancient days; Safe where no critics damn, no duns molest,

Where wretched Withers Ward, and Gildon rest." And again in Book III. lines 144-149. The "Ward in pillory" was John Ward, Esq., of Hackney, M.P. Having been convicted of forgery, he was first expelled the House of Commons and then sentenced to the pillory. This species of learning is not needful or important, but a per- annzahould therefore be the more accurate when he pretends to it. As regards extent, the Memorials of London is incomplete, unless the book is to be continued; of which we see no indication. Except the Thames and the Tower, the City is quite neglected ; though until after the accession of the Tudors there was little of London beyond the walls, and some of the richest memorials whether literary or historical relate to the City proper and to Southwark in the period before the Stuarts. The plan of the work is obvious and pretty uniform. Mr. Jesse takes places, such as Piccadilly, the region of May Fair, or other West-end streets and squares, and gossips about the origin of their name, their condition before they were built upon, the date of their formation, and their subsequent changes, to- gether with notices of houses remarkable for their occupants or any inci- dents which occurred in them. Palaces, churches, parks, Westminster Hall, Covent Garden and Drury Lane—the street as well as the theatre, -are handled in the same way ; and the second volume closes with the Thames and the Tower.

This book will be pleasant and attractive to those who have read little upon the subject, from its various, gossipy, and anecdotical cha- racter, with the picture of manners which many of the incidents convey, or the real interest they possess. A person who has any knowledge of the subject will recognize a number of old acquaintances, see many things insufficiently treated, and recognize the book-stuffing art of the compiler, in the manner in which large quotations from Shakspere's Henry the Eighth and similar matters are introduced in the account of old Whitehall, the Tower expanded by notices of people executed there, and other arts of extension. Even to such a person, however, the book will not be unacceptable, from Mr. Jesse's knack of stringing facts to- gether, and his vocation for storymongery. The following are rather more than average samples.

• "STORY" OF GEORGE THE THIRD.

The first street diverging from Piccadilly of any particular interest is Half Moon Street, which derives its name from a public-house called the "Half Moon" which stood at the corner. Here died the charming comic actress Mrs. Pope. After having performed at Drury Lane for forty years, she retired from the stage into private life, with an unblemished character and an easy fortune. She was sapposed to bear a strong resemblance to the beautiful Lady Sarah Bnnbnry, the first and perhaps the only romantic love of George the Third. Many years after the beauty of both ladies had been on the decline, the King happened to attend the performances at Drury Lane when Mrs. Pope was acting. 1 he recollection of his earliest love came back to his mind, and, in a moment of melancholy abstrac- thm, he is said to have observed to the Queen, "She is like Lady Sarah still."

Porn's Town HOUSE.

I am glad to be able to point out the London residence of the great poet Pope. lie lived at No. 9, Berkeley Street, leading from Piccadilly into Berkeley Square, dose to his friend Lord Burlington; and it was here, possibly, on the eve of his departure to his quiet retreat at Twickenham, that he composed his "Farewell to London, an 1715.

"Luxurious lobster nights, farewell. For sober studious days; And Burlington's delicious meal. For salads, tarts, and Peas."

I am assured that in the lease of the house the name of "Mr. Alexander Pope" occurs as a former occupant. From the poet it passed into the hands of General Bulkeley; who died about the year 1815, at an extreme old age. The present or- =pant informs me, that he well remembers that whenever the General visited his family, it was invariably his habit to observe, with an air of respectful interest, 'rThis is the house Mr. Alexander Pope lived in!" THE HAYMARKET, 1658.

As late as the last days of the Protectorate, the tract of ground to the North between Pall Mall and the villages of Hampstead and Highgate, consisted almost entirely of open country: St. Martin's Church stood literally In the fields; Whit- combs Street was then Hedge Lane; St. Martin's Lane and the Haymarket were really shady lanes with hedges on each side of them; the small village of St. Giles stood in the fields a little to the East; a windmill, surrounded by one or two scattered dwelling-houses, was to be seen where the present Windmill Street now stands; Leicester. Square was occupied by Leicester House and its pleasure grounds; while the only other object worthy of no:ice was a building on the rising ground at the upper end of the 'Haymarket, then known as the "Gaming- house.' Shortly after the Restoration, this latter building was pulled down, and Coventry House, from which the present Coventry Street derives its name, was erected on its site. This house appears to have been built by the Right Honourable Henry Coventry, Ambassador to Sweden and Secretary of State in the reign of Charles the Second; who retired here from the cares of public employment in 1679, and who died here in December 1686.

PEDIGREE OF NORTR-WEST STREETS AND SQUARES.

Seymour Street and Wigmore Street lead us into Cavendish Square. It is cu- rious to find how almost entirely the streets in this vicinity have derived their names from the Harleys, Earls of Oxford, and from the different families with which they have intermarried. From the Earldom of Mortimer and the Barony of Harley of Wigmore, we trace the names of Mortimer Street, Harley Street, oat Wigmore Street; from the marriage of Edward, second Earl of Oxford and Mon. timer, with Henrietta Cavendish, daughter and heiress of John Holies, Duke of Newcastle, we derive Edward Street, Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, and Holies Street; from the union of their only child Margaret to William Reminds, second Duke of Portland, we trace Margaret Street, Bentinek Street, Duke and Dntchess Street, and Portland Place; and lastly, we derive Bulstrode Street from the family seat of the Dukes of Portland, and Welbeck Street from an estate for- merly in the possession of the Dukes of Newcastle, which came into the possession of the Honeys by the marriage of the last female descendant of the former to the second Earl of Oxford.

Cavendish Square was built about the year 1718. Here Lady Mary Wortley Montagu held her court, composed of youth, rank, and beauty, before her long absence from England; and at the corner house of the Square and Harley Street, the Princess Amelia, daughter of George the Second, lived and died. In the same house afterwards lived Mr. Hope, the anther of "Auastasius," and subsequently Mr. Watson Taylor.

Harley Street, and other streets to the North, were not built till many years after the erection of Cavendish Square. This site was formerly known as Harley Fields; and as late as 1768 we find thousands of persons assembling here in tha open air to listen to the exhortations of the eminent preacher Whitfield. About the same time we find the celebrated John Wesley preaching on "execution days" on Kennington Common. In Harley Street lived Sir Philip Francis, previous to his removal to St. James's Square.