employment proving too irksome for him, he repaired to London, and, taking up his abode in Gray's Inn Lane, commenced the composition of those dramatic writings which have conferred such celebrity on his name. Happily he lived in a reign in which genius was seldom left to linger long in obscurity. Charles the First appreciated his genius, and invited him to his court. Henrietta Maria conferred on him an appointment in her household. If Charles in the days of his prosperity extended his smiles and his bounty to the poets, the latter, when the sky of royalty became overcast, displayed no want of gratitude or affection towards their unhappy sovereign. On the breaking out of the Civil troubles Shirley bade adieu to his wife and children, and enlisted himself beneath the banner of the Duke of Newcastle. On the downfall of the royal cause he returned to London a ruined man. Plays had in the interim been alike prohibited by the government and denounced from the pulpit, and accordingly, it was only by the kindness of Thomas Stanley, the author of the "History of Philosophy," that he was saved from becoming the inmate either of a workhouse or a gaol. In this revolution in his fortunes, Shirley reverted to his former profession of teacher, and opened a grammar-school in White Friars. Then followed the Restoration, and with it the revival of his plays on the stage; bringing back, however, no long career of prosperity to the poet. His house in Fleet having been burnt to the ground in the great fire of 1666, he was compelled to seek refuge in the neighbouring village of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, whither, however, he retired only to die. As has been already mentioned the loss of his property, added, probably, to the horrors of the terrible conflagration which he had witnessed, gave such a shock to his constitution that he survived the event scarcely twenty-four hours. Another unfortunate poet whose name is associated with Gray's Inn Lane is John Ogilby, now principally remembered by his translation of Homer, a task in which he was assisted by his friend Shirley. Ogilby served his apprenticeship to a dancing-master in Gray's Inn Lane, in which undignified profession he acquired so great a proficiency, that in a short time he was able to purchase his discharge from his apprenticeship, as well as to obtain the liberty of his father, who was a prisoner in the King's Bench. His talents as a dancer led to his introduction at court; a circumstance so far unfortunate for him that, in cutting a caper at a masque given by the Duke of Buckingham, he fell to the ground and so severely strained one of the sinews of his leg as ever afterwards to continue lame. He now turned author by profession, and after suffering great vicissitudes, succeeded, towards the close of life, in obtaining the appointments of Cosmographer and Geographic printer to Charles the Second, the emoluments of which offices probably enabled him to end his days, if not in affluence, at least not in actual want. There remains to mention but one more poet, the Reverend John Langhorne, in connection with Gray's Inn Lane. He lived before the days of "clubs," when men of the learned professions, and even clergymen, were accustomed to assemble at particular taverns, where they could enjoy the society which best suited them, and the beverage which they most loved. The favourite haunt of Langhorne was the Peacock in Gray's Inn Lane, famous in the last century for its Burton ale; a beverage to which he was so partial, that an over-indulgence in it is said to have hastened his end. The affliction which he suffered at the loss of his beloved wife-the "Constantia" of Cartwright's verse, and whom he himself so pathetically and poetically lamented, probably laid the foundation of the unhappy infirmity which he had contracted. About the year 1756, in the days of his penury and distress, Dr. Johnson was a resident in Gray's Inn Lane. In 1640, at the period when the illustrious Hampden was heading the great struggle in defence of the liberties of his country, he was a resident of Gray's Inn Lane. At the same time, too, from a house almost adjoining that of his friend, Pym might be seen sallying forth day after day to conduct the impeachment and prosecution of his arch-enemy, Lord Strafford. In 1673 John Aubrey, the antiquary, was lodging in Gray's Inn Lane. In the immediate neighbourhood of Gray's Inn, in the days of his ignominy and disgrace, lived Lord Bacon. The name of Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn, still points out the spot where stood the last London residence of the fallen but still immortal philosopher. "If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, The Blue Boar Inn, in High Holborn, now No. 270, was the scene of a curious passage in the life of Charles the First. A secret compact is said to have been entered into between Charles on the one side, and Cromwell and Ireton on the other, by which the King guaranteed to Ireton the Lieutenancy of Ireland, and to Cromwell the Garter, £10,000 a year, and the Earldom of Essex, on condition of their restoring him to liberty and power. His spirited consort Henrietta Maria, who was then in France, wrote to reproach him for these unworthy concessions. Her letter is said to have been intercepted by Cromwell and Ireton, who, having informed themselves of its contents, forwarded it to the un * Hume, vii. 96; Kennet's "Complete History," iii. 170. suspecting monarch, whose reply they anxiously awaited, and also in due time intercepted. The proofs which it contained of Charles's insincerity are said to have sealed the King's fate. So far, he said, was it from being his intention to keep faith with "the rogues," that in due time, "instead of a silken garter, they should be fitted with an hempen cord." "The letter," said Cromwell to Lord Orrery, "was sewn up in the skirt of a saddle, and the bearer of it was to come with the saddle upon his head, about ten of the clock that night, to the Blue Boar Inn, in Holborn, for there he was to take horse, and go to Dover with it. This messenger knew nothing of the letter in the saddle, but some persons in Dover did. We [Cromwell and Ireton] were at Windsor, and immediately Ireton and I resolved to take one trusty fellow with us, and with troopers' habits, to go to the inn in Holborn; which accordingly we did, and set our man at the gate of the inn, where the wicket only was open, to let people in and out. Our man was to give us notice when any person came there with a saddle, whilst we, in the disguise of common troopers, called for cans of beer, and continued drinking till about ten o'clock: the sentinel at the gate then gave notice that the man with the saddle was come in. Upon this we immediately arose, and as the man was leading out his horse saddled, came up to him with drawn swords, and told him that we were to search all that went in and out there; but as he looked like an honest man, we would only search his saddle, and so dismiss him. Upon that, we ungirt the saddle, and carried it into the stall where we had been drinking, and left the horseman without sentinel; then ripping up one of the skirts of the saddle, we there found the letter of which we had been informed; and having got it into our own hands, we delivered the saddle again to the man, telling him he was an honest man, and bidding him go about his business. The man, not knowing what had been done, went away to Dover."* This singular story must doubtless be received with caution. Nevertheless, that such a letter, in the handwriting of Charles the First, was intercepted either by Cromwell or by his emissaries, there exists reasonable grounds for believing. Lord Oxford, in fact, assured Lord Bolingbroke that he had read it, and offered for it no less a sum than £500.† Diverging from the east side of Gray's Inn Lane is Fox Court, in which wretched alley the profligate Countess of Macclesfield was delivered of her illegitimate child, Richard Savage. In "The Earl of Macclesfield's Case," presented to the House of Lords in 1690, will be found some curious particulars respecting the accouchement of the Countess, and the birth of the future poet. From this source it appears that Anne Countess of Macclesfield, under the name of Madam Smith, was delivered of a male child in Fox Court, Holborn, by a Mrs. Wright, a midwife, on Saturday, the 16th of January, 1697, at six o'clock in the morning; that the child was baptized on the Monday following, and registered by Mr. Burbridge, assistant-curate of St. Andrew's, Holborn, as the son of John Smith; that it was christened on Monday, the 18th of January, in Fox Court, and that, from the privacy maintained on the occasion, it was supposed by Mr. Burbridge to be a "by-blow." During her delivery Lady Macclesfield wore a mask. By the entry of the birth in the parish register of St. Andrew's, it appears that the child's putative father, Lord Rivers, gave his son his own Christian name. “January 1696-7. Richard, son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox Court, in Gray's Inn Lane, baptized the 18th." Adjacent to the entrance into Chancery Lane stood the Orrery's "State Letters,” i. 26. + "Richardsoniana," p. 132. |