The Castle-Street - Hoey's Court - St. Werburgh's-street - Darby Square.

**Chapter I.

The Castle-Street - Hoey’s-Court - St. Werburgh’s-Street - Darby Square.**

In the majority of the cities in Ireland the most ancient streets are usually to be found in the immediate vicinity of the castle or chief fortress of the town, the protection accorded by which was an object of paramount importance to the burghers, who, until the seventeenth century, were constantly harassed by the incursions or the native clans. Castle-street, the *Vicus Castri of Anglo-Irish legal records, was nearly coeval with the stronghold from which it received its name. In 1235 a portion of this street was styled Lorimers, *from being occupied by *Lorimers, *or manufacturers of spurs and other small iron-work; and in some excavations made here in 1787, the labourers discovered a leaden water tube, bearing an inscription of the thirteenth century. From a Pipe Roll of Henry III., it appears that the King’s Exchange *(Regis Cambium) *was located on the south-west side of Castle street before 1260. Edward I. in 1281 granted his Exchange in Ireland to Alessandro de Lucca, merchant, to be held in the same form and on conditions similar to those on which the Exchange was kept in London. The Rolls record the appointments of various subsequent keepers of the Exchange in Ireland; and an order is extant, issued by Edward III. in 1338, directing dies to be made and transmitted to Ireland for the purpose of coining pence, half-pence, and farthings, at the King’s Exchange in Dublin.

The entrance into the Castle from the city was on the south side of Castle-street, by a drawbridge placed between two strong round towers, called the “gate-towers.” The gateway was furnished with a portcullis, as a second defence in the event of the drawbridge being forced; and two large pieces of ordnance were placed on a platform opposite to the gate. The most eastern of the gate-towers was taken down about 1750 to make a more commodious entrance into the court of the Castle, and the second tower was subsequently removed. On a portion of “Austin’s-lane,” extending from the southern side of Castle-street to Ship-street, stood the residence of the Ware family, described in 1618 as “all the place, tenement, or house and shop, occupied by Thomas Pinnocke, goldsmith, deceased, and now by James Ware, Esq., with two small gardens annexed, situate within the precinct of the Castle ditch; and extending from the Castle bridge to the city wail west of the said bridge; and from the Castle west and north of the said Castle.”

James Ware, descended from the ancient French family of De Warr, or Le Ware, came to Ireland as secretary to Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam in 1588; five years after which he was appointed Clerk of the Comnlon Pleas in the Exchequer, and subsequently obtained a reversionary patent for the office of Auditor-General. His eldest son, James Ware, born in Castle-street in 1594, passed with distinction through the University of Dublin, and continued his studies in his father’s house, where he “fell under the notice of Dr. Ussher, then Bishop of Meath, who, discovering in him a great propensity to the study of antiquities, and an inclination of employing himself among old records and manuscripts, encouraged him in that sort of learning in which he so much delighted him-self; and from that time there continued a close and intimate friendship between them.”

After having examined the documents in the Tower of London and in Sir Robert Cotton’s collection, Ware published in Latin his “Lives of the Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam,” Dublin: 1626; also an “Account of the Cistercian Monasteries in Ireland,” and a “History of the Bishops of Dublin,” 1628.

On the death of his father in 1632, Ware, having been knighted by the Lords Justices, was appointed Auditor-General, in which office he displayed great knowledge and judgement. He was considered a “very honest and able officer” by the Lord Deputy Strafford, who consulted him on all occasions, and procured him a seat in the Privy Council. In 1639 Ware was elected to represent the University of Dublin in Parliament; and in the same year he published the first edition of Spenser’s “View of the State of Ireland,” and the Irish histories of Campion and Hanmer, which he dedicated to Strafford. After the rising of 1641 he distinguished himself as a loyalist; and having been dispatched to Oxford in l644 with Lord Edward Brabazon and Sir Henry Tichborne, to arrange with Charles I. relative to a treaty with the confederate Irish, he was there presented with the degree of Doctor of Laws; but the vessel in which he and the other Commissioners were returning to Ireland being captured by a Parliament ship, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for upwards of ten months, - part of which he employed in writing an imaginary voyage to an Utopian island. Having been restored to liberty by an exchange of prisoners, he returned to Dublin, and was appointed, with the Earl of Roscommon and the Lord Lambart, to investigate the proceedings of the Earl of Glamorgan. His conduct throughout this period procured him the intimate personal friendship of the Marquis of Ormond, then Lord Lieutenant, and he was nominated one of the hostages for the full performance of the treaty for the surrender of Dublin to the Parliament, after the completion of which he resided privately in the city until ordered to depart in 1649 by the Governor, Michael Jones, upon which he retired to France, and there passed his time in the society of Bochart and other learned men.

After a residence of two years abroad, the Parliament granted him a license to return; and in 1654 he published “his masterpiece,” entitled, “De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus ejus Disquisitiones,” followed in 1656 by his edition of St. Patrick’s writings, styled “Sancto Patricio, qui Hibernos ad fidem Christi convertit, adscripta opuscula?” After the Restoration he was reinstated as Auditor-General, and obtained other offices of importance through the influence of the Duke of Ormond, who, “being constituted Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was pleased to distinguish him in a very peculiar manner, by advising with him upon all occasions; and when the gout hindered his attendance at the council table, the Duke would frequently visit him at his own house.”

Charles II., in consideration of his services, offered to create him a viscount: Ware, however, declined the honour, as well as an offer of a baronetcy; but at his request the King granted him two blank baronets’ patents, which Sir James filled up and presented to two of his friends.

In 1662 he published his “Annals of Ireland during the reign of Henry VIII.,” followed in 1664 by a portion of the works of Venerable Bede, and in 1665 by his history of the Irish Bishops, under the title of “De praesulibus Hiberniae Commentarius; a prima gentis Hibernicae ad fidem Christianae conversione, ad nostra usque tempora.” He had also amassed considerable materials for other publications, but death arrested him in the midst of his labours on the 1st of December, 1666. “Our author, Sir James Ware,” says his biographer, “was of a very charitable disposition, and frequently contributed good sums of money for the relief of the indigent and necessitous, especially to the decayed cavaliers (as they who adhered to the royal cause were then called), whom he often invited to his plentiful table, being noted for hospitality.

He always forgave the fees of his office to widows, clergymen, and clergymen’s children; and was frequently known to lend money, where he had no prospect of repayment not knowing how to deny any body who asked. There is one remarkable instance of his generosity. A house in Dublin, forfeited by the rebellion, was granted to him; he sent for the widow and children of the forfeiting person and conveyed it back to them. He had a great love for his native country, and could not bear to see it aspersed by some authors; which put him upon doing it all the justice he could in his writings, by setting matters in the fairest light, yet still with the strictest regard to truth.”

Ware always maintained in his house an Irish amanuensis to interpret and transcribe Gaelic documents, and at the period of his death, Duald Mac Firbis, the most learned native historiographer of the time, was resident with him in that capacity.

While in Ware’s house in Castle-street, Mac Firbis translated the “Registry of Clonmacnois,” and the Annals of Ireland from 1443 to 1468, the latter of which together with his “History of the Tribes and Customs of Tireragh,” has been published by the Irish Archaeological Society. Four years after Ware’s death, our “antiquities received an irreplaceable blow” by the murder of Mac Firbis at Dunflin in Sligo.

The manuscripts which Sir James Ware had collected with great trouble and expense were brought to England by Lord Clarendon in the reign of James II, and afterwards sold to the Duke of Chandos, who was vainly solicited by Swift in 1734 to restore them to Ireland. On the Duke’s death the documents passed to Dean Milles, who bequeathed them to the British Museum, where they now form the principal portion of the collection known as the “Clarendon Manuscripts.”

Sir James Wars was succeeded as Auditor-General by his eldest son, James, whose only daughter, Mary, became possessed of the family estate, and married Sir John St. Leger, Baron of the Irish Exchequer. Robert, the younger son of Sir James, published several polemic tracts on religious subjects, and in 1683 issued proposals for printing a “History of the City of Dublin,” which, however, he did not complete. He died in 1696, and his grand-daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of Walter Harris, Barrister-at-law, who, in 1739-1745, published a translation and enlarged edition of the works of Sir James Ware.

On a portion of the site of “Austin’s-lane” and Sir James Ware’s house, the buildings forming “Hoey’s-court” were erected in the 17th century, apparently by Sir John Hoey, founder of the family of Hoey of Dunganstown, county of Wicklow. Jonathan Swift was born, on the 30th of November, 1667, at the house of his uncle, Counsellor Godwin Swift, No. 9 in this court, which at that period was inhabited by some of the chief lawyers of Dublin. Robert Marshall, third Sergeant of the Exchequer, who resided here from 1738 to 1741, was the friend of Swift’s “Vanessa,” who bequeathed her entire property to him and George Berkeley, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, with a request that they would publish her correspondence with the Dean. This desire was not complied with, and Berkeley was said to have destroyed the original letters, copies of which were, however, preserved by Marshall, though not printed till 1825. The Guild of Glovers and the Corporation of Brewers had their public halls till late in the last century in Hoey’s-court, where William Ruxton, Surgeon-General, resided till his death in 1783, and on the north side of which stood Eade’s tavern, closed about 1813. At the commencement of the present century the founder of Hoey’s-court was represented by Parsons Hoey, who is described as follows by one of his contemporaries:- “Commodore Trunnion was a civilized, man, and a beauty (but a fool), compared to Parsons Hoey. He had a moderate hereditary property near Wicklow; had been a Captain in the royal Navy; was a bad farmer, a worse sportsman, and a blustering justice of the peace, but great at potation, and what was called, ‘in the main a capital fellow’ He was nearly as boisterous as his adopted element: his voice was always as if on the quarter-deck; and the whistle of an old boatswain, who had been decapitated by his side, sung as a memento, by a thong of leather, to his waistcoat button-hole. It was frequently had recourse to, and, whenever he wanted a word, supplied the deficiency. In form the Captain was squat, broad and coarse:- a large purple nose, with a broad crimson chin to match, were the only features of any consequence in his countenance, except a couple of good-enough blood-shot eyes, screened by the most exuberant grizzle eyelashes. His powdered wig had behind it a queue in the form of a handspike, and a couple of rolled-up paste curls, like a pair of carronades, adorned its broadsides; a blue coat, with slash cuffs and plenty of navy buttons, surmounted a scarlet waistcoat, the skirts of which, he said, he would have of their enormous length, because it assured him that the tailor had put all the cloth in it; a black Barcelona adorned his neck; an old round hat, bordered with gold lace, pitched on one side of his head, and turned up also on one side, with a huge cockade stuck into a buttonless loop, gave him a swaggering air. He bore a Shillelagh, the growth of his own estate, in a fist which would cover more ground that the best shoulder of wether mutton in a London market. Yet the Captain had a look of generosity, good nature, benevolence, and hospitality, which his features did their very best to conceal, and which none but a good physiognomist could possibly discover.” In “Cole’s-alley” the passage from Hoey’s-court to Castle-street, was the Royal Chop-House,” a tavern much frequented for billiards about 1768. Daniel Thompson (1714) and Robert Marchbank (1770), printed, resided in “Cole’s-alley,” which is at present known as the “Castle-steps,” the houses on each side of it having been removed. and the passage extended to Ship-street, after the enactment for the insulation of the Castle.

The anthor of the “Plot and Progressa of the Irish Rebellion” tells us that “Sir George Radcliffe stormed very much against the church-warden of St. Warbre’s parish in Dublin for presenting a Mass-house that was newly erected within four or five houses of the Castle gate, in which Masse was frequently said, and he commanded the presentment to be cast forth of the court, and never could further endure the said church-warden.” And in the “Declaration of the Commons assembled in Parliament, concerning the Rise and Progress of the grand Rebellion in Ireland,” we find a statement, “That in March, 1639, the Earl of Strafford carryed with him into Ireland Sir Toby Matthews, a notorious, pernicious English jesuited priest (banished at the beginning of this Parliament upon the importunity of both Houses), lodged this priest over against the Castle of Dublin, the house where the Earl did himself reside, and from whence this priest daily rode to publique masse-houses in Dublin, and negotiated the engaging of the Papists of Ireland in the war against Scotland.” This Sir Toby Matthew, eldest son of the erudite and witty Archbishop of York of the same name, was early distinguished for his learning, which procured him the intimate friendship of Sir Francis Bacon, whose Essays he translated into Italian. During his travels, Matthew was induced to embrace the Roman Catholic religion by the learned Jesuit, Robert Parsons, and received holy orders in 1614 from Cardinal Bellarmin at Florence. On his return to England he was imprisoned, but through Bacon he obtained his liberty and repaired to the continent, whore he became acquainted with the Duke of Buckingham, who procured him permission to return to England, and brought him on the expedition with Prince Charles to Spain, relative to the match with the Infanta. For his services in the latter affair King James received him into favour, and created him a knight in 1623. He became a general favourite at court from his versatile talents, being distinguished as a politician, a pot, a painter, an author, and a man of gallantry, as evinced by his verses on Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, “she being the goddess that he adored.” Matthew, who was highly esteemed by the Earl of Strafford, is described by Sir William Boswell, the King’s agent at the Hague in 1640, as “a jesuited priest, of the order of politicians, a most vigilant man of the chief heads, to whom a bed was never so dear that he would rest his head thereon, refreshing his body with sleep in a chair for an hour or two; neither day not night spared he his machinations, a man principally noxious, and himself the plague of the King and kingdoms of England; a most impudent man, who flies to all banquets and feasts, called or not called; never quiet, always in action and perpetual motion, thrusting himself into all conversations of superiors. He urgeth conferences familiarly, that he might fish out the minds of men. Whatever he observeth thence, which may bring any commodity or discommodity to the part of the conspirators, he communicates to the Pope’s legat, and the more secret things he himself writes to the Pope, or to Cardinal Barbarino. In sum, he adjoins himself to any man’s company, no word can be spoken that he will not hold on, and communicate to his party. In the mean time whatever he hath fished out, he reduceth into a catalogue, and ever summer carrieth it to the general Consistory of the politician Jesuits, which secretly meet together in Wales, where he is an acceptable guest.”

Anthony Wood, who gives a somewhat more amiable character of this “pernicious” Jesuit, says: “I shall only tell you that he had all his father’s name, and many of his natural parts; was also one of considerable learning, good memory, and sharp wit, mixed with a pleasant affability in behaviour, and a seeming sweetness of mind, though sometimes, according to the company he was in, pragmatical and a little too forward.” Sir Toby died at the Jesuits house in Ghent in 1655, aged seventy-seven years, having bequeathed to the order eleven thousand scudi, which was expended in purchasing the vineyards of Magliana, and other property in the vicinity of Rome.

Castle-street is also connected with the history of the rising of the Irish in 1641; Sir Felim O’Neil, one of the principal actors in which, deposed, on his examination in 1652, “that about a quarter or half-a-year before the beginning of the rebellion, the plot thereof was discovered to him by the Lord Macguire and Roger Moore; and they two, with Philip O’Reily and himself, had several times in Dublin met and discoursed of the plot. That at some of the meetings Colonel John Barry, Sir James Dillon, Anthony Preston, and Hugh Mac Felim, were present. That there was an oath of secrecy administered to such persons as were made privy to the plot, and that the oath was given to him at his chamber in Nelson’s house, Castle-street, by the Lord Macguire and Roger Moore. That at their meetings it was agreed, the several forts should be taken; and to that purpose he was appointed to take Charlemount; the Lord Maguire, Enniskillen; Barry, Preston, Moore, and Plunket, the Castle of Dublin; Sir James Dillon, the fort of Galway; and Sir Morgan Cavenagh and Hugh Mac Felim, the fort of Duncannon.”

The usual lodging in Dublin of Conor Maguire, Baron of Enniskillen, attainted and executed in 1644 for having engaged in the same movement, was, at “one Nevil’s, a chirurgeon, in Castle-street, near the Pillory.” The Lords Justices, in their despatch dated Dublin, 25th October, 1641, state that, “Calling to mind a letter we received the week before from Sir William Cole, we gathered that the Lord Macguire was to be an actor in surprising the Castle of Dublin, wherefore we held it necessary to secure him immediately, thereby also to startle and deter the rest, when they found him laid fast. His Lordship, observing what we had done, and the city in arms, fled from his lodging early before day, it seems disguised; for we had laid a watch about his lodging, so as we think he could not pass without disguising himself, yet he could not get forth of the city, so surely guarded were all the gates. There were found at his lodging hidden some hatchets, with the helves newly cut off close to the hatchets, and many skeans, and some hammers.”

Shortly after the commencement of hostilities, the Lords Justices, wanting money to pay the army, issued a proclamation, on the 14th of January, 1642, ordering “all manner of persons of what condition or qualitie soever, dwelling in the city or suburbs of Dublin, as well within the liberties as without, within ten daies next after publication of the said order, doe deliver or cause to be delivered half or more of his, her, or their plate to William Bladen, of Dublin, alderman, and John Pue, one of the sheriffes of the same citty, taking their hand for receipt thereof, to the end use may be made thereof for the present relief of the said officers. And this Board by the said order did give the word and assurance of his Majestie and this State, that as soone as the treasure shall arrive forth of England, due satisfaction shall be made after the rate of five shillings the ounce, for such plate as is true tuch, and the true value of such as is not of such tuch to the owner thereof; together with consideration for forbearance for the same, after the rate of eight pound per cent. per annum.” The inhabitants of the county of Dublin were also invited to contribute on the same terms, and it was ordered “that the said William Bladen and John Pue doe meet every day (except the Sabbath day) at the dwelling house of the said William Bladen, scituate in Castle-street, in Dublin, and there continue every forenoon from nine till eleven of the clock, and every afternoon from two till four of the clock, there to receive the said plate, and to give acknowledgments of the receipts thereof, expressing the parties name from whom it comes, and the weight, tuck, and value thereof - and we thinke fit that the said William Bladen and John Pue doe call to their assistance Gilbert Tongues and Peter Vandenhoven (goldsmiths), who with the said William Bladen and John Pue are to view the said plate and the value thereof.” The silver thus obtained was “hastily coined into several kind of species of different shapes. One kind has only the weight stampt on them, as nineteen penny-weight eight grains - nine penny-weight eight grains - three penny-weight twenty grains - one penny-weight six grains. Another sort, instead of the weight, has only the value, V. for five shillings.” William Bladen was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1647, and held the office of state printer under the Commonwealth. In noticing the low condition to which the press was reduced at that period, the Rev. Dr. Leland tells us that “an order was sent to Ireland, conceived in the full spirit of arbitrary power:- “That the printer (for there was but one) in Dublin should not suffer his press to be made use of, without first bringing the copy to be printed to the clerk of the Council; who, upon receiving it, if he found anything tending to the prejudice of the Commonwealth, or the public peace and welfare, should acquaint the Council with the same, for their pleasures to be known therein,”

At the meeting in July, 1661, of the first Parliament in Ireland after the Restoration, the House of Lords ordered that “all the Bibles that had been printed by the late Usurper’s Printer, calling himself Printer to his Highness the Lord Protector, should have the title-page where those words are printed torn from them; and that no sale be made within this kingdom of any Bible with the said title-page; but that new title-pages be printed by Mr. John Crooke, his Majesty’s Bookseller, whereof all booksellers are to take notice.”

The printer of Castle-street was the ancestor of Colonel Martin Bladen, appointed Comptroller of the Mint in 1714, three years after which he declined the office Envoy Extraordinary to the court of Spain. He published a translation of Caesar’s “Commentaries” in 1750, and was also author of two dramatic pieces. Pope, who describes him as a gamester, notes that he lived in the utmost magnificence at Paris, and kept open table, frequented by persons of the first quality of England, and even by princes of the blood of France. Colonel Bladen was uncle to William Collins, author of the “Ode on the Passions,” and Edward Lord Hawke. Martin Bladen, says Warton, “was uncle to my dear and lamented friend Mr. William Collins the poet, to whom he left an estate, which he did not get possession of till his faculties were deranged and he could not enjoy it. I remember Collins told me that Bladen had given to Voltaire all that account of Camoens inserted in his Essay on the Epic Poets of all nations, and that Voltaire seemed before entirely ignorant of the name and character of Camoens.”

Among the various booksellers and printers who resided in Castle-street were, John North (1659); Samuel Dancer at the sign of the “Horse-shoe” (1663); John Leach (1666); JosephWilde (1670); M. Crooke (1671); Samuel Helsham, at the “College Arms,” next door to the “Bear and Ragged Staffe” (1685); Joseph Howes (1686); Patrick Campbell (1695); William Dowdall, next door to the sign of “London” (1704). At the “Stationers’ Arms,” in Castle-street, in the reign of James II., was the shop of Eliphal Dobson, the most wealthy Dublin bookseller and publisher of his day. He was attainted in the Parliament of 1689, and returned to his former habitation after the evacuation of Dublin by the Jacobites. “Eliphal Dobson’s wooden leg,” says Dunton, “startled me with the creaking of it; for I took it for the *crepitus ossium, *which I have heard some of our physicians speak of. Mr. Dobson is a great Dissenter, but his pretence to religion does not make him a jot precise. He values no man for his starched looks or supercilious gravity, or for being a Churchman, Presbyterian. Independent, &c., provided he is sound in the main points wherein all good men are agreed.” Dobson was succeeded by his son and namesake; and in 1737 we find Stearne Brock, bookseller, at the “Stationers’ Arms,” Castle-street. Of the other publishers in this locality may be mentioned John Henly (1713); H. Howard (1714); Thomas Benson, at “Shakespeare’s Head” (1728); Laurence Flynn (1766); Henry Saunders, at the “Salmon” (1764); William Sleater (1768); and John Hillary, of 54, Castle-street, who published “Pue’s Occurrences” after purchasing that newspaper in 1776.

On the northern side of Castle-street stood “Coryngham’s Inns,” so styled from having been occupied in the reign of Henry VI. by John Coryngham. A passage, extending from the same side of the street to that part of Fishamble-street where the Theatre now stands, is described in a deed of 1397 as “vetus venella quae ducit de vico castri usque ad vicum piscariorum;” and in a lease of 1471 we find it styled “‘Le Cow Lane.” This lane was set by the city to John Weston in 1598, and many houses were erected upon it, and “almost as many contests had for the property of the ground in the courts of law.” Sir Daniel Bellingham, first Lord Mayor of Dublin, held his mayoralty, in the year 1665, in a “large elegant structure,” erected by himself across the ancient entrance to “Cow-Lane,” at the corner of Fishamble-street and Castle-street. Bellingham was re-elected Lord Mayor for 1666, but declined the office, and obtained a letter from the Duke of Ormond to the Corporation, stating that it would be a great hindrance to his Majesty’s service if be should be continued Lord Mayor for another year, as he was Deputy Receiver in the Exchequer to Arthur, Earl of Anglesey, Vice-Treasurer. Bellingham’s house in Castle-street was occupied in the middle of the last century by Thomas Bond, an eccentric tobacconist; and subsequently by another person named Molony, engaged in the same business. “I was directed,” says an English traveller in 1791, “by the facetious Dr. O’Leary, to a Mr. Molony, a tobacconist in Castle-street, for a remarkable kind of rapee, of which I am very fond. Mr. Molony happened to be in the shop. I had some conversation with him, and found him exeeedingly well informed. Opposite to his door I observed an old wooden house, which, he assured me, had been constructed in Holland more than a century ago. It is constructed in such a manner as to be taken down and up at pleasure.” This house, which stood at the corner of Werburgh’s-street, was the last of the old cage-work buildings of Dublin; it was taken down in 1813, and an engraving of it will be found in the “Dublin Penny Journal.”

Sir Daniel Bellingham bequeathed certain lands near Finglas, value about £60 per annum, for the relief of poor debtors confined in the city and Four Courts Marshalseas. Two of the Trustees, Tisdal, Clerk of the Crown, and Richard Geering, one of the Six Clerks in Chancery, obtained possession of these lands, and evaded the purposes of the testator. About the middle of the last century the fraud was discovered by Dean Bruce of Charleville, county of Cork, who made an attempt to recover the property, then enormously increased in value. An offer was made by Geering’s representative to allocate to the original purpose an annual sum of fifty pounds, on condition that legal proceedings should be suspended, and a general release given for the profits and issues of the lands to that period. This proposal was rejected, and no specific information is extant relative to the final adjustment of the affair.

Thomas Dogget, one of the most celebrated actors of his day, and author of a comedy, published in 1696, styled “The Country Wake,” was born in Castle-street. The name of Dogoit or Doget is to be found in the Anglo-Irish Annals of the 13th century; and Gilbertus Doget is mentioned in connexion with Dublin in an published Pipe-Roll of the year 1261. Dogget’s first appearance was made on the Dublin stage, and he subsequently, in conjunction with his townsman Robert Wilks, and Colley Cibber, became joint manager of Drury-lane Theatre; his share in which, although estimated at £1000 per annum, was surrendered by him in 1712, owing to a disagreement with his partners. Some of Congreve’s plays were said to have owed much of their success to the admirable manner in which Dogget performed the parts which had been expressly written for him. The intimacy which existed between the actor and the poet probably originated while the latter was a student in the University of Dublin, and engaged in writing “The Old Bachelor,” that wonderful “first-play” which excited the admiration of the veteran Dryden. Colley Cibber made Dogget’s performance of certain parts the subject of long study, and considered himself to have attained perfection in his profession, when he was able successfully to imitate the Dublin actor.

Dogget, who died in 1721, is described as a “little, lively, spract man;” in politics he was a staunch Whig, and to commemorate the Hanoverian accession, he bequeathed a sum of money to purchase a coat and silver badge, to be rowed for on the Thames on the first of August annually, by six young watermen whose apprenticeship expired in the previous year. The Garrick Club of London- possesses an original portrait of Dogget, which, we believe, has never been engraved. The coat and badge are still regularly contended for on the Thames; but, like another Irishman, Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum, Dogget, while munificent to strangers, left nothing to perpetuate his memory in his native country.

Copper tokens were issued in the 17th century by the following residents of Castle-street: John Bush (1656), Anthony Derrey (1657), Henry Rugge, apothecary, Jespar Roads, Richard Martin, Robert Batrip, and Robert Freeman; and this street was the temporary residence of a Spanish nobleman in 1684, noticed as follows in a letter from William Molyneux to his brother at Leyden in October of that year:

“Last week arrived here a Spanish Don, the Duke de Voxar, a man of great estate (£80,000 per annum), relation, and figure in Spain He is a young man about 25 or 26, lately married to the daughter of the Duke de Medina Celli. He is now on his travels, and has passed through England hither - I believe the first that ever was here on that errand - and intends for Scotland, and go for the north countries. He is here received most splendidly by our court. The guards attend him upon his goimg out and coming into town; and he has sentinels at his lodgings in Castle-street. At the College he was entertained with a speech, and wherever he goes he is very liberal.”

In Castle-street stood the bank of Benjamin Burton, a zealous Whig, who was attainted by the Jacobites in 1689, appointed Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1706, and four times elected to represent the city in Parliament. In 1712-13 a newspaper, entitled “The Anti-Tory Monitor,” was published under Burton’s auspices, to support himself and his fellow-parliamentary candidate - the Recorder of Dublin in their opposition to the election of the proposed Tory members, Sir William Fownes and Martin Tucker.

Burton’s extensive monetary transactions, and the various estates which he purchased, procured him the reputation of unbounded wealth; and the expression, “as safe as Ben Burton,” was universally used in the city as synonymous with solvency. On the death of Burton’s partner, Harrison, in 1725, the liabilities of the bank, beyond its assets, were found to be upwards of £65,000, - a large sum in those days. After Harrison’s death, the survivor took into partnership his own son, Samuel Burton, and Daniel Falkiner, securing the latter against the liabilities referred to. Alderman Burton died in 1728, and the bank continued business to June, 1733, when it stopped payment, heavily indebted to the public: the Legislature interfered, and passed an Act in the same year, vesting all the real and personal estates of the bankers in trustees. Of the four Acts of Parliament passed relative to Burton’s bank, the last dates in 1757 24 years after the stoppage, - the creditors had then received 15 shillings in the pound, and the payment of the entire principal was anticipated. One of Alderman Burton’s daughters became Viscountess Netterville in 1731; and by intermarriage of another branch of the family of Burton with that of Conyngham, the title and estates of the latter devolved to the Burtons, from whom the present Marquis of Conyngham is thus descended.

In Castle-street, in the reign of Charles II., stood the Feather Tavern, to which we find the following allusion in “Hic et Ubique, or the Humours of Dublin,” 1663:- *

“Phantastick. *Enough, enough, Sir, let’s go to the tavern. The knowledge that this gentlemen has of the city, will inform us where’s the best wine. Come, old Sir John, you’ll favour us with your company. *

“Thrivewell. *What tavern d’ye pitch on? the London Tavern? *

“Bankrupt. *No, no, we have had too much to do with London taverns already. *

“Thriveweil. *Why, then, the Feathers.”

Of the other taverns and coffee-houses formerly situated in Castle-street, the following may be mentioned: the “Castle Tavern” (1680), the “Garter Tavern” (1696), the vestiges of which are still preserved in “Garter-court,” on the south of the street: the “Duke’s Head,” kept in the reign of William and Mary by the widow Lisle; “Tom’s Cofee-Louse, at the Castle gate, on the right-hand side turning into the Castle,” demolished in 1710 by the Commissioners appointed for enlarging and widening the streets leading from Cork-hill to the Castle; the “Thatched House Tavern” (1728); the “Drapier’s Head;” the “Harry of Monmouth”(1735), where the Hanover Club dined on their anniversaries; the “Plume of Feathers Tavern” (1753), in which the Earl of Kildare and his constituents used to hold their political dinners; “Catlin’s” (1754), frequented by gentlemen from the north of Ireland; “Carteret’s Head” (1750), which remained till lately on the north side of the street, and was entered by a long narrow passage close to the present Hibernian bank; this tavern, much frequented in the last century, now forms a portion of the premises of Mr. Andrews. The “Rose Tavern,” one of the most noted in Dublin, stood on the north side of Castle-street, nearly opposite to the present “Castle steps.” This establishment continued in fashion from the first part of the 18th century to about 30 years before the Union. Mrs. Pilkington tells us that a club of lawyers used to meet here, to which Swift alludes as follows in his verses, written in 1731, on his own death

“Suppose me dead; and then suppose

A club assembled at the *Rose;

*Where, from discourse of this and that,

I grew the subject of their chat.”

At the Rose Tavern, the “Boyne,” “Cumberland,” and other political dubs (1740-50) held their anniversary dinners. “The Ancient and most Benevolent Order of the Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick,” which still exists, used to meet here on the 17th of July, annually, to elect their President; a general grand Knot of the Order assembled on the 17th of March, the “Prefects” met at 9, and the “Regulars” at 10 a.m., to transact business, according to their constitution; after which they attended his “Benevolence,” the President, to Patrick’s Church, whence, after having heard a sermon preached for the occasion, they returned and dined at the “Rose” at 4 p.m. The members of the Order wore gold medals, suspended from a green ribbon, bearing on one side a group of hearts with a celestial crown, encompassed with a knotted cord, and two dolphins with a label from their mouths, with the motto, “Quis separabit?” on the obverse was a cross with a heart fixed in the centre, surmounted by a crown, with the words “Fidelis et constans.” This Society frequently discharged the debts of poor prisoners, and in 1762 its branch in Tipperary offered a reward of £100 fbr* *discovery of any of the agrarian conspiracies in Munster, and £50 for the apprehension of persons enlisting recruits for foreign service. At their expense a brass statue was erected to General Blakeney, Governor of Minorca, in 1756. This statue was cast, expressly for the Order, by J. Van Nost of Dublin, and first exposed to public view on the Mall, in Sackville-street, on St. Patrick’s day, 1759. The Grand Master’s Lodge of Freemasons met regularly (1763) to dine at the “Rose Tavern” on the first Wednesday of each month, and the house continued to be frequented by guilds and other public bodies until its final closure.

At the house of his brother, a bookseller in Castle-street, George Farquhar, the celebrated Irish dramatist, resided during his visit to Dublin in 1704, when he failed signally in performing Sir Harry Wildair in his own comedy of the “Constant Couple,” which had a run of 53 nights on its first production in 1700.

On a portion of the city wall, on the south ale of Castle-street, stands the Bank of Messieurs La Touche, a family which was originally settled near Blois, where it was distinguished by ennoblement and peculiar privileges. Their present name is derived from La Touche, one of their ancient estates in the mother country. David Digges La Touche, the first of the family who came to Ireland, was an officer in Calimotte’s regiment of French refugees in the service of William III., during the Irish wars of the Revolution, after the conclusion of which he entered into trade, and became a banker in Dublin.

During the dispute relative to the power of the English Cabinet to impose Wood’s halfpence on the people of Ireland, one of the La Touche family, in conjunction with another French refugee, rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious to the popular party, by dissenting from the verdict of the Grand Jury of Dublin when it ignored the bills presented by Government against the printer of the “Drapier’s Letters.” This transaction was made the subject of a ballad, in which the following verses occur:-

“Poor Monsieur his conscience preserved for a year

Yet in one hour he lost it, ‘tis known far and near;

To whom did he lose it? - a judge or a peer?

Which nobody can deny.

This very same conscience was sold in a closet,

Not for a baked loaf, or a loaf in a losset,

But a sweet sugar-plum, which you put in a posset,

Which nobody can deny.

But Philpot, and Corker, and Burrus, and Hayze,

And Rayner and Nicholson, challenge our praise,

With six other worthies as glorious as these,

Which nobody can deny.

There’s Donevan, Hart, and Archer, and Blood,

And Gibson, and Gerard, all true men and good,

All lovers of Ireland, and haters of Wood,

Which nobody can deny.

But the slaves that would sell us shall hear on’t in time;

Their names shall be branded in prose and in rhyme;

We’ll paint ‘em in colours as black as their crime,

Which nobody can deny.

But Porter’ and copper La Touche we’ll excuse -

The commands of your betters you dare not refuse;

Obey was the word when you wore wooden shoes,

Which nobody can deny.”

The original firm was La Touche and Kane; the present edifice in Castle-street was built by David La Touche, Junior, and the Bank removed to it in 1735 from another locality in the same street. Of Alderman Nathaniel Kane, who was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1734, a portrait is extant, engraved by Brooks from the original painting by Slaughter. Kane was denounced by Lucas for peculation of the city revenues, and published several tracts in vindication of his character. Latocnaye has left us the following notice of David Digges La Touche, who died suddenly in 1745, while on his knees attending divine service in the Castle Chapel:- “Ce David était venu de France, lors de la revocation de l’édit de Nantes et par une continuelle industrie de plus de quarante ans avait acquis une fortune tres considérable: quoique Banquier, c’était un homme humain et charitable: on rapporte, que sur aes vieux jours, il ne sortait jamais sans avoir ses poches pleines de shillings, gu’il donnait aux pauvres; comme on lui represéntait, qui s’il donnait tous ceux qui lui demandaraient, il ferait la chiarité a bien des mauvais sujets: ‘Oui,’ répondit il, ‘mais si mon shilling toinbe a propos une fois dans dix c’est assez.”’

David Digges La Touche left two sons, David and James Digges La Touche. The former, distinguished for his benevolence and philanthropy, was buried in Delgany Church, under a magnificent monument executed by Noah Hickey, an Irish sculptor. A silver medal, struck in commemoration of ihm, is also extant, bearing his portrait, inscribed “David Digges La Touche, Esq., Belview;” the obverse presents figures of Justice, Wisdom, and Plenty, with the legend, “Qui bene parta melius dispensavit. Nat. 1704; ob. 1785.” Belview, county of Wicklow, above alluded to, was the seat of David Digges La Touche, who, having purchased it from Dean Corbet in 1753, changed its old name of Ballydonough into Bellevue, and erected the mansion-house, upon which he and his son expended £30,000 pounds. When Charles Lucas commenced his crusade against the Board of Aldermen, he found an active colleague in James Digges La Toache, who aided him both by his writings and personal exertions. They, however, became opposed to each other in consequence of both desiring to fill the vacancy which occurred in the representation of Dublin in 1745. After the Parliamentary condemnation of Lucas, La Touche was elected member for the city in opposition to the Court candidate; the Government, incensed at the success of the populal member, interfered, and illegally deprived him of his seat, on the sole ground of his former connexion with Lucas.

La Touche published a collection of documents relative to his transactions with the city, under the title of “Papers concerning the late disputes between the Commons and Aldermen of Dublin,” 8vo; 1746; the most valuable portion of this publication, consisting of extracts from the municipal records, was claimed by Lucas, who also charged his opponent with having endeavoured, for personal emolument, to injure certain branches of the trade of Ireland. James Digges La Touche also published “Collections of Cases, Memorials, Addresses, and Proceedings in Parliament, relating to Insolvent Debtors, Customs and Excises, Admiralty Courts, and the valuable liberties of Citizens; to which are added Observations on the Embargo in Ireland.” 8vo, London: 1757.

During the panic occasioned by the stoppage of the Dublin bankers in 1760, the Committee appointed by the House of Commons on the petition of the several merchants and traders of Dublin, relative to the low state of public and private credit, passed resolutions that, in their opinion, the banks of Gleadowe and Company, David La Touche and Sons, and Finlay and Company, had respectively funds much more than solvent for any demands which the public might have against them; and that if would be expedient at that critical and distrustful season, and contribute much to re-establish credit and quiet the minds of the people, if Parliament should engage to make up to the creditors of those three banks any deficiency in their effects to answer such demands as might be made upon them respectively, on or before the 1st day of May, 1762, to the amount of any sums, not exceeding £50,000, for each bank.

In 1767 John La Touche unsuccessfully contested the representation of Dublin with the Marquis of Kildare. The partisans of the latter did not hesitate to stigmatize la Touche as a foreign intruder; and at their political banquets in the “Weaver’s Arms,” Francis-street, the principal toasts were - “May the city of Dublin never be represented by a banker;” and “May the influence of stamp paper never be able to return a representative for this city.” La Touche’s friends, at their meetings in the “Phoenix” in Werburgh-street, drank with equal fervour

• “A speedy return and success in the election” to their candidate; “May the city of Dublin never become a borough, obedient to the will of one man, however distinguished by birth and station;” and “May the citizens of Dublin, regardless of title and station, have discernment and virtue enough to chose a proper representative from among themselves.”

In 1778 the Marquis of Buckingham, then Lord Lieutenant, finding that the Irish Exchequer was completely exhausted in consequence of the oppressive restrictions imposed upon native industry to maintain English monopolies, was obliged to apply to Messieurs La Touche for a loan of £20,000, which they immediately advanced, ant thus “not only upheld the shattered credit of Government but prevented the dissolution of the State.” This sum affording but a temporary accommodation, the Irish Government solicited a second loan of a similar amount from the La Touches, who declined to make any further advance on such security: a proposed encampment of troops had consequently to be given up, and other important public business was delayed for want of funds.

David La Touche’s daughter, Elizabeth, one of the greatest beauties of her time, was married in 1781 to Robert, Earl of Lanesborough; her portrait was engraved by Bartolozzi from a painting by Horace Hone; and a play-bill is extant of a performance of “Comus,” in 1776, at Marly, the seat of her father, on which occasion she spoke an original epilogue written for her by Henry Grattan, which is the only specimen extant of the poetical compositions of that great orator.

The Bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, presented to the House of Commons in 1792, was rejected, without entering on its merits, on the motion of the Right Hon David La Touclie: although policy obliged the Legislature to sanction it after the conclusion of a few months.

On the foundation of the Bank of Ireland in 1783, David La Touche, Junior, was chosen its first Governor; and of the five of this family who sat in the Irish Parliament at the period of the Union, but one voted in favour of that measure.

The present establishment of Messieurs La Touche in Castle-street still maintains its pristine position, and can boast of being the oldest bank in Ireland. The house which now forms the eastern wing of this building next to the Castle, was originally the establishment of George Lamprey, a noted cutler, and was added to the premises of Messieurs La Touche about 40 years ago. The range of houses extending from the Bank to the corner of Cole’s-alley, now known as the Castle Steps, was removed about the year 1805 in order to insulate the Castle.

The Law or Plea Office of the Exchequer, held in Castle-street in the last century, is noticed as follows in 1732: “The Pleas-Office of the Court of Exchequer is in Castle-street, where the breadth of the street makes the situation, in one respect, less inconvenient; but houses join the office on both sides, and one side there are some of cage-work near it; on which accounts the Lords’ Committees think it too much exposed to accidents from fire. In this office, and those of the King’s Bench and Common Pleas, are the titles of almost all the judgment creditors. The Lords’ Committees beg to observe, that judgments, being one of the common securities of this kingdom, the destruction of the records of any one of these offices would leave a multitude of creditors at the mercy of their debtors.” This office was, however, continued in Castle-street till 1770, and Masonic Lodges met about the same period as the “Hen and Chickens” in this street, on every second Monday and Friday. The “Irish Woollen Warehouse,” establisLed for the promotion of that manufacture, and placed by Parliament under the management of the Dublin Society, was opened in Castle-street in 1773. In this street, also, were located the Halls of the Corporations of Joiners and Coopers, or “Guild of St. Patrick.”

The Bank of James Swift and Company was held in Castle-street, in two houses opposite the Castle gate, from 1741 to 1746, in which year that firm appears to have been succeeded by Thomas Gleadowe and Company, whose successor, William Gleadowe of Killester, having married Charlotte, daughter and heiress of Charles Newcomen of Carrickglas, in the county of Longford, was created a baronet in 1781, and assumed the arms and surname of Newcomen. His brother, George Gleadowe, was captain of the Loyal Irish or Green Regiment of Foot, and aide-de-camp to Dalling, Governor of Jamaica, in which island he died in 1780. Sir William Gleadowe Newcomen’s bank was held at 19, Mary’s-abbey, from 1777 to 1781; in the latter year it was removed back to Castle-street, to the new edifice constructed by Thomas Ivory, an eminent native architect. “The plan,” says a critic of the last century, “considering the great restraint and irregularity of the ground, is well contrived; and if the excess of ornament had been spared, the fronts would have been more perfect.” This banker acquired an unenviable notoriety by his conduct, as member for Longford in the Irish Parliament: with reference to the Union, which he “declared he supported, as he was not instructed to the contrary by his Constituents. This avowal surprised many, as it was known that the county was nearly unanimous against the measure, and that he was well acquainted with the fact. However, he voted for Lord Castlereagh, and he asserted that conviction alone was his guide; his veracity was doubted, and in a few months some of his bribes were published. His wife was also created a peeress.” From an official document in the Rolls Office, it appears that Newcomen acquired £20,000 by supporting the Union. In July, 1800, Lady Newcomen was raised to the Irish peerage by the title of Baroness Newcomen of Mosstown, county of Longford, the residence of her paternal ancestors; and in 1803 she was advanced to the dignity of Viscountess Newcomen. She was succeeded by her son, Sir Thomas Newcomen, Bart., Viscount Newcomen, on whose death in 1825 the title became extinct. Newcomen’s house in Castle-street is at present occupied by the Hibernian Joint Stock Banking Company, but its appearance has been somewhat changed by the door on its eastern front having been converted into a window.

On the southern side of Castle-street stood” Silver-Court,” in the second house of which, next door to the sign of the “Golden Hammer and Heart,” the “Dublin Intelligence” was published in 1728; as also another newspaper with the following title: “R. Dickson. The Silver-court Gazette, containing an impartial account of the most material news, foreign and domestick. Printed by Richard Dickson, in Silver-court in Castle-street, opposite to the Rose Tavern.”

Many of the early publications of George Faulkner were printed in “Pembroke-court,” on the north side of Castle-street, where also a Masonic Lodge used to meet in 1735 at the “Two Blue Posts,” on every second Wednesday; and in 1751 at the “Ring of Bells,” on every second Thursday. Before the opening of Parliament-street, “Pembroke-court” was a much frequented thoroughfare.

Werburgh-street received its name from a church which appears to have been erected there shortly after the Anglo-Norman settlement, and dedicated to St. Werburgh, patron of Chester, to which her shrine, which now forms the Bishop’s throne in that town, was brought in the year 875. In more ancient times there stood in this locality a church dedicated to St. Martin, who was highly venerated by the Irish as uncle of St. Patrick, on whom he had conferred the tonsure.

Lorcan Ua Tuathal, Archbishop of Dublin in the 12th century, is recorded to have miraculously restored to life his friend and companion, Galluüedius, a priest of St. Martin’s church, which edifice appears to have gradually fallen to decay until its remains were scarcely distinguishable in the early part of the 16th century; and a passage named Saint-Martin’s-lane in its immediate vicinity, has been also obliterated.

St. Werburgh’s is mentioned among the parochial churches of Dublin in a Papal letter of the year 1179, and its cure has been always filled by the Chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral since the archiepiscopate of Henri de Loundres. On the night of St. Colum’s festival in the year 1311, a great part of the city of Dublin was accidentally burned down, together with St. Werburgh’s Church, which originally had two chapels annexed - one called ’ OurLadie’s Chapel,” and the other named that of St. Martin, from the old church.

Nicholas Suttown, clerk, by his will in 1478 bequeathed to St. Werburgh’s Church the cost of making and painting a crucifix (“valor facturae et picturae crucifixi”) and a Memorandum Roll of the 19th year of Edward IV. (1479) registers an Act of Parliament in French, reciting that Walter Baldwin and William Cornell had granted a messuage called Coryngham’s Inns, in St. Werburgh’s parish, to Patrick Burnell and Patrick Grote, proctors of St. Werburgh’s Church, to furnish a priest to chant in the chapel of St. Martin, in St. Werburgh’s Church, for all Christian souls. Another messuage in the same parish, in occupation of John Duff; was granted for support of this priest; license was also given to purchase lands to the amount of £10, the cost of repairing houses in Dublin being considerable, or, in the words of the original record, “par cause les reparacions deins mesz’ dans la dite cite sunt si chargeuz et si custyz.” The old parish of St. Martin is occasionally alluded to in official documents down to the 16th century; and in a valuation made in the 38th year of King Henry VIII. the tithes and oblations of the rectory or chapel of St. Werburgh are stated to be of no value beyond the alterages assigned to the curate and repair of the chancel.

Nicholas Walsh, minister of St. Werbugh’s from 1571 to 1577, and subsequently Bishop of Ossory, was the first who introduced Irish types into Ireland; Queen Elizabeth, at her own expense, having provided a printing-press and a fount of Irish letters, “in hope that God in his mercy would raise up some to translate the New Testament into their mother tongue.” In 1607, James Ussher, afterwards Primate of Ireland, a divine and scholar of European reputation, was appointed to this church. His successor here was William Chappel, who had been John Milton’s tutor at Cambridge, ad who, according to Symmonds, was the reputed author of the celebrated “Whole Duty of Man:” he was afterwards Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and Bishop of Cork and Ross. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, who died in 1628, during his imprisonment in the Castle on a charge of conspiring with foreign powers against the Government, was buried in this churchyard at four in the morning.

The church is described, in 1630, as “in good repair and decency,” worth £60 per annum, there being 239 householders in the parish, all Protestants, with the exception of 28 Roman Catholics. “St. Werburgh’s,” says a writer in 1635, “is a kind of cathedral: herein preacheth judicious Dr. Hoile about 10 in the morning and three in the afternoon; a most zealous preacher, and general scholar in all manner of learning, a mere cynic.” Dr. Hoyle, the friend of Ussher, and the “tutor and chamber fellow” of Sir James Ware, was elected Professor of Divinity in, and Fellow of, Trinity College, Dublin; he sat in the Assembly of Divines, witnessed against Laud, and in 1648 was appointed Master of University College, Oxford.

Henry Dodwell, whose immense erudition has been eulogized by Gibbon, was baptized on the 4th of November, 1641, in St. Werburgh’s Church, which in the 17th century was the burial-place of many important Anglo-Irish families. Sir James Ware was interred, in 1666, in his family vault in this church, without either stone or monumental inscription; “but,” says his biographer, “he had taken care in his lifetime to erect a monument for himself by his labours, more lasting than any mouldering materials.”

A meeting of the natives of Chester resident in Dublin was held in St. Werburgh’s Church in 1671, as appears from “A Sermon preach’t before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of the city of Dublin, and the rest of the society of the city, and county palatine of Chester, and of the county palatine of Cheshire, at a publick meeting of the natives both of that city and county, in the parish church of St. Warburgh’s the 23 of November, 1671, by Samuel Hinde, D. D., one of his Majestie’s chaplains.”

This sermon is dedicated by the preacher to “The Right Honourable, John Totty, Lord Mayor of Dublin, and the rest of his worthy friends and countreymen of that ancient city, the city and County palatine of Chester, and of that famous country, and county palatine of Cheshire.” The author styles Sir John Totty and himself both natives of Cheshire, and says that the sermon was preached at the “first and last publick convention in the parish church of St. Warburgh’s, in Dublin;” and a note appended states that, “The stewards for the managing of this our Cheshire meeting were Will Billington, Mr. Henry Ashton.”

Edward Wetenhall, who had been Thomas Southern’s tutor in Trinity College, was curate of St. Werburgh’s in 1672. He was subsequently appointed Bishop of Kilmore, and distinguished himself as a controversial writer. Wetenhall was author of the well known Greek and Latin Grammars, which have gone through innumerable editions, and are still in use.

Dr. Faithful Tate, father of the Poet Laureat, was connected with St. Werburgh’s Church in the reign of Charles II.; and William King, subsequently Archbishop of Dublin, was minister here from 1679 to 1688. In King James’ time, Pierce Butler, Viscount Galmoy, a distinguished soldier, was, “for some insolent or ill actions committed by him in these days in the parish church of St. Werburgh’s, Dublin, ordered to do penance in the said church, but it was remitted for some certain mulct to be given for the use of the poor of that parish.” “This,” says a contemporary, “I saw publickly performed at a vestry in the said church.”

Samuel Foley, who succeeded Dr. King, was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor in 1694, in which year he published, in the “Philosophical Transactions,” the first account given to the public of the Giant’s Causeway. John Stearne, afterwards Dean of St. Patrick’s, rector here from 1702 to 1706, bequeathed £80 per annum for the maintenance of a divine to deliver lectures on the catechism twice a week, to be held from Easter to Michaelmas in St. Werburgh’s Church; and from Michaelmas to Easter at that of St. Nicholas Without; to be chosen every three years by the beneficed clergymen of the city of Dublin. Edward Synge, for six years minister of this parish, “preaching almost constantly to crowded congregations,” was, in 1714, promoted to the bishopric of Raphoe, and in 1716 to that of Tuam. He incurred much censure for some expressions used in a sermon at St. Werburgh’s, on Sunday, 3rd October, 1714: a contemporary manuscript states, “that it was publicklie said in the city that the Doctor was preaching a new religion;” he accordingly printed the obnoxious discourse, “to put a stop to the false and altogether groundless reports that had been spread abroad concerning it.” Dr. Synge was the son of one bishop, the nephew of another, and the father of two bishops, Nicholas, Bishop of Killaloe, and Edward, Bishop of Elphin, commonly called “Proud Ned.”

In this church, in the last century, were generally preached the charity sermons for the relief of the surviving soldiers who had fought for King Williams III., who, instead of being rewarded, did not even receive the amount of pay which was acknowledged by Parliament to be justly owed to them; and “after two and thirty years’ tedious and fruitless negotiations, the following arrears were still due to the eight regiments that formed the garrison of Derry during the siege:- Baker’s regiment, £16,274 9s. 8d; Mitchelburn’s, £9,541 16s.; Walker’s, £10,188 13s. 6d.; Monroe’s, £8,360 2s.; Crofton’s, £7,750 11s. 6d.; Hamill’s, £8,969 13s. 6d.; Lane’s, £8,360 2s.; Murray’s £5,312 9s. 6d.; making a total of £74,757 17s. 8d., not a farthing of which appears to have ever been paid.

Although recent researches among original documents have proved that the garrison of Derry vastly exceeded the number of its besiegers, and that the history of other events of those wars has been equally falsified, no palliation is to be found for the shameful manner in which the Irish Williamite officers and soldiers were defrauded by their employers.

At the commencement of the last Century the church of St. Werburgh had become “so decayed and ruinous that the parishioners could not with safety assemble therein for the performance of divine service, and was likewise so small in extent that great numbers of the conformable inhabitants were forced either to neglect the public worship of Almighty God, or repair to other parish churches;” the parishioners being mostly shopkeepers and tradesmen, who paid “great and heavy rents,” the King, in 1715, granted the plot of ground on which the Council Chamber formerly stood, towards the rebuilding of the church, which was executed, in 1718, from the design of Isaac Wills. The lower part of the new edifice was the same as at present; the upper story consisted of a lofty octagonal tower, adorned with Ionic pilasters, and crowned with a dome and cross.

James Southwell, “batchelor, born in the parish of St. Werburgh’s,” who died in 1729, aged 87 years, bequeathed £1,250 to purchase £62 10s. for ever, for certain purposes, among which were the following:- To a lecturer, to read prayers and preach a sermon every second Wednesday, £20; bread for the poor, after the sermon, 3s. 4d. each night, £4 6s. 8d.; candles in dark nights at lecture, £1; coals for poor roomkeepers, £4 3s. *4d.; *to bind a parish boy apprentice to a trade, £3. He also bequeathed £45 for a clock; £386 for a ring of bells; and £20 to twenty poor widows.

The parsimony of the donor of these charities is commemorated in “a new and mournful elegy on the lamentable death of the famous usurer, James Southwell, who died raving mad on Sunday, January the 19th, 1728-9, printed by John Durneen, next door to the Waly’s head in Patrick’s-street,” which concludes as follows

“Rejoyce, St. Werburgh’s, toll your knells,

To you he’s left a ring of bells;

A fine new ring, that when your steeple

Is higher built, will call the people;

Blew-boys, rejoyce! and eke ye poor,

By him ye’ve got now something more;

And but ye legatees complain,

To whom he left his old jack chain.”

A metal tablet, suspended in the vestry, informs us that Southwell’s charities were established, and the bells hung up, in 1748. The boys of St. Werburgh’s parish school were, in the last century, attired exactly similar to those of the Blue-Coat Hospital; and the original school-house, still standing on the “northern side of the churchyard, now forms part of a clothier’s warehouse.

Of the clergymen connected with this church in the last century we way mention the Rev. Patrick Delany (1730 to 1734), esteemed the best Dublin preacher of his day; John Blachford (1744-1748), grandfather of the authoress of “Psyche;” Sir Phillip Hoby, Bart. (1748-1766), during whose ministry, in the year 1754, an accidental fire occurred in the church, and burned its roof, galleries, organs, seats, and windows, leaving nothing but* *the stone-work and bells The church was again rebuilt, and a steeple erected with the funds bequeathed by Hoby, and by a contribution from Arthur Smyth, Archbishop of Dublin.

Hoby, who was advanced to the Archdeaconry of Ardfert, likewise left a sum of money to purchase an organ, which was built by Millar of College-street, and first publicly performed on in June 1768, in which year the building of the steeple was completed.

Thomas Carter, organist of St. Werburgh’s, composed the celebrated air, “O Nanny, wilt thou gang with me?” and the music of several other songs, once exceedingly popular. Richard Woodward, minister here from 1772 till he obtained the See of Cloyne in 1778, acquired considerable notoriety by his pamphlet reflecting on the principles of Roman Catholics, which was vigorously assailed and exposed by the able and facetious Arthur O’Leary.

On the 3rd of May, 1787, a commemoration of Handel was performed in St. Werburgh’s Church by amateurs of the highest distinction, including Sir Hercules Langrishe, Baron Dillon, Surgeon Neale, Lady Portarlington, and Mrs. Stopford.

In June, 1798, the corpse of Lord Edward Fitzgerald was conveyed from the gaol of Newgate, and entombed in the vaults of this church, immediately under tile chancel, where it still lies.

“The dear remains,” writes Lady Louisa Conolly, “were deposited by Mr. Bourne in St. Werburgh’s Church, until the times would permit of their being removed to the family vault at Kildare. I ordered every thing upon that occasion that appeared to me to be right, considering all the heartbreaking circumstances belonging to that event; and I was guided by the feelings which I am persuaded our beloved angel would have had upon the same occasion, had he been to direct for me, as it fell to my lot to do for him. I well knew that to run the smallest risk of shedding *one drop of blood, *by any riot intervening upon that mournful occasion, would be the thing of all others that would vex him most; and knowing also how much he despised all outward show, I submitted to what I thought prudence required. The impertinence and neglect (in Mr. Cook’s office) of orders (notwithstanding Lord Castlereagh had arranged every thing as I wished it) had nearly caused what I had taken such pains to avoid. However, happily, nothing happened.”

The Rev. Richard Bourne, referred to by Lady Louisa Conolly, was Rector of Werburgh’s Church from 1781 till he was advanced to the Deanery of Tuam in 1810.

“A guard,” says Lord Henry Fitz-Gerald, “was to have attended at Newgate, the night of my poor brother’s burial, in order to provide against all interruption from the different guards and patroles in the streets:- it never arrived, which caused the funeral to be several times stopped in its way, so that the burial did not take place till near two in the morning, and the people attending obliged to stay in the church until a pass could be procured to enlarge them.”

The remains of Henry Charles Sirr, the captor of Lord Edward FitzGerald, were in 1841 deposited in the eastern corner of this churchyard, under a flag, inscribed, “The family burying-ground of Major Sirr and Humphry Minchin, 1790.” This stone, which is now broken, is shaded by a melancholy, stunted tree, and appears to have been originally placed over the remains of the late Mr. Sirr’s father, who preceded him as Town Major of Dublin.

On an upright slab in the middle of St. Werburgh’s churchyard is inscribed an epitaph on John Edwin, an actor of Crow-street theatre, who died in 1805, from chagrin at the criticism of the author of the “Familiar Epistles on the Present State of the Irish Stage.”

The steeple of St. Werburgh’s Church, 160 feet in height, terminating with a gilt ball and vane, forming one of the chief ornaments of Dublin, having been found in a dangerous condition, was removed in 1810, although Mr. Johnson, the late eminent architect, offered to secure it in a permanent manner. The tower of the church was taken down in 1836, and the bells were unhung and placed in the vestibuile, where they still remain. A large stone monument, with some smaller figures, preserved from the ancient building, has been inserted in the southern wall of the church.

Before the Castle Chapel was rebuilt, St. Werburgh’s Chinch was one of the most fashionable in Dublin; it was regularly attended by the Lord Lieutenant and his suite, and was always densely thronged. The state seat is still to be seen, in front of the organ. The area of St. Werburgh’s parish is 15a. 2r. 4p., and the number of its* *inhabitants in 1851 was 2,928. In the wall, at the southern extremity of St Werburgh’s-street, stood one of the city portals, known as St. Werburgh’s-gate, or the “Pole-gate,” Through this gate, styled by the Norman rhymer “in dute del occident,” Richard de Cogan and his knights issued to attack the Northmen who besieged the city in 1171; and we find notices of stone buildings near the gate of St. Werburgh early in the 14th century. The building over the “Pole-gate” is described, about 1590, as a “sqware towre with two stories, the lower storie upon a vawte with three lowpes, and the upper storie a timber lofte, and the wall five foote thicke and fourteen foote sqware within, and the towre forty-six foote hie, besydes the garrettes from the foundacion of the wall, with a percullis for the same gate.” The first meeting of Quakers in Dublin was held at the chamber of Richard Fowkes, a tailor, near the Pole-gate, in 1655, in which year the first settled meeting of the “Society of Friends” in the city was held at George Latham’s, in the same locality.

It is difficult to determine at what exact period theatrical representations were first introduced into Dublin, An ancient custom “prevailed for a long time in the city, always against the great festivals of the year, to invite the Lord Deputy, the nobility, and other persons of quality and rank, to an entertainment, in which they first diverted them with stage plays, and then regaled them with a splendid banquet. The several corporations also, upon their patrons’ days, held themselves obliged to the like observances, which were, for a long time, very strictly kept up and practised.” In the accounts of the Cathedral of St. Patrick for the year 1509, iiis. id. are charged for Thomas Mayowe, ludenti cum vii luminibus at Christmas and Candlemas, and ivs. *viid. *for the *Players, “with the great and the small angel and the dragon at Whitsuntide.” These were, however, but representations of the nature of miracle plays. ‘The first notice of a regular dramatic piece performed in Dublin is to be found in a writer of the early part of the last century, who tells us that “Mr. Ogilby, the Master of the Revels in this kingdom (who had it from proper authority), informed Mr. Ashbury that plays had been often acted in the Castle of Dublin, when Blount, Lord Mountjoy, was Lord Lieutenant here in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. And Mr. Ashbury saw a bill for wax-tapers, dated the 7th day of September, 1601 (Queen Elizabeth’s birth-day), for the play of ‘Gorboduc’ done at the Castle, one and twenty shillings and two groats.” “But it is to be supposed,” adds the same author, “they were gentlemen of the Court that were the actors on this occasion.” The late J. C. Walker questioned the authority of this statement, because he was unable to discover the document referred to, which, however, may have been seen by Ashbury in some of the offices of the Government, with which he was connected for nearly 60 years. The “Black Book” of the King’s Inns contains an entry, in Hilary term 1630, of a payment of two pounds to the “Players for the grand day;” but the first play-house recorded to have been established in Dublin was a “little theatre” opened in St. Werburgh-street, by John Ogilby, who came over in 1633 in the train of the Lord Deputy Wentworth, *by whom he was occasionally employed as an amanuensis. An Act of Parliament, passed at Dublin 1636, denounced “common players of enterludes” as rogues and vagabonds, classing them and sturdy beggars with “persons, calling themselves schollers, going about begging, idle persons going about in any countrey, either begging, or using any subtile craft or unlawfull games or playes, or faigning themselves to have knowledge in phisignomie, palmestry, or other like crafty science, or pretending that they can tell destinyes, or such other like phantasticall imaginations, all person that be, or utter themselves to be proctor; procurers, patent gatherers, or collectors for gaoles, prisons, or hospitals: fencers, beare-wards, and minstrels wandring abroad; all juglers, all wandring persons, and common labourers, being persons able in body, using loytering, and refusing to worke for such reasonable wages, as is taxed and commonly given in such parts, where such persons doe, or shall happen to abide or dwell, not having living otherwise to maintaine themselves, all persons delivered out of gaoles, that beg for their fees, otherwise trawaile begging, all such as shall wander abroad, pretending loss by fire or otherwise, all such as wandring pretend themselves to bee Egyptians, or wander in the habite, forme, or attire of counterfeit Egyptians,” or Gipsies.

In 1637 Ogilby’s friend, James Shirley, came to Dublin, and appears to have taken considerable interest in the Werburgh-street theatre, where his tragi-comedy of the “Royal Master” was performed, as well as at the Castle, in the presence of the Earl of Strafford, “on new year’s day at night.” His plays of “The Doubtful Heir,” first styled “Rosania, or Love’s Victory,” “St. Patrick for Ireland,” and the “Constant Maid,” were likewise written for, and first performed at the theatre in Werburgh-street. About the same period, several of the plays of Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Middleton, were also acted there.

The prologues of various performances at this period in Werburgh-street are still extant; and from the following address of the players we learn the interval between the Parliament of 1635 and that of 1639 deprived the theatre of some of its best supporters in the persons of the members of the Houses of Peers and Commons:-

“We are sorry, gentlemen, that with all pains

To invite you hither, the wide house contains

No more. Call you this Term? if the courts were

So thin, I think ‘twould make your lawyers swear,

And curse men’s charity, on whose want they thrive,

Whilst we by it woo to be kept alive.

I tell you what a poet says; two year

He has liv’d in Dublin, yet he knows not where

To find the city: he observ’d each gate;

It could not run through them, they are too straight.

When he did live in England, he heard say

That here were men lov’d wit and a good play;

That here were gentlemen, and lords; a few

We’re bold to say; there were some ladies too.

This he believed; and though they are not found

Above, who knows what may be under ground.

But they do not appear; and, missing these,

He says he’ll not believe your chronicles

Hereafter, nor the maps, since all this while

Dublin’s invisible, and not Brasil;

And all that men can talk, he’ll think to be

A fiction now above all poetry.

But stay, you think he’s angry; no, he pray’d

Me tell you, he recants what he has said;

He’s pleas’d, so you shall be, yes, and confess

We have a way ‘bove wit of man to please;

For though we should despair to purchase it

By wit of man, this is a Woman’s wit”

“Woman’s Wit” here referred to, is supposed to have been Middleton’s comedy of “No Wit: No help like a Woman’s,” which was not printed till 1657. A parochial assessment of the year 1638 mentions “Thomas Cooke, player,” as resident on the Wood-Quay; and in a prologue to a play called the “General,” performed in Werburgh-street about the same time, the actors threatened, if not better supported, to change the scene

“Awhile to the country, leave the town to blush,

Not in ten days to see one cloak of plush.”

The ensuing prologue shows that Ogilby’s theatre was, as usual at the time in England, occasionally used as a place for bear-baiting an cudgelling:-

“Are there no more? and can the Muses’ sphere,

At such a time as this, so thin appear?

We did expect a session, and a train

So large, to make the benches crack again.

There was no summons, sure: yes, I did see

The writs abroad, and men with half an eye

Might read on every post- this day would sit

Phoebus himself and the whole court of wit.

Were there a pageant flow on foot, or some

Strange monster from Peru or Afric come,

Men would throng to it; any drum will bring

(That beats a bloodless prize or cudgelling)

Spectators *hither; *nay, the bears invite

Audience, and bagpipes can do more than wit.”

Shirley returned to England in 1638. His coming to Ireland has never been accounted for: it is not however, improbable that he had relations here. Sir George Shirley was Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in Ireland from 1620 to 1649; and Sir John Tracy, created by Charles I. Viscount of Rathcool, in the county of Dublin, was connected by marriage with the Shirleys of Sussex, whence the poet is supposed to have sprung. Payne Collier considers that both “Shirley’s tragedies and comedies will bear comparison with those of any of Shakspeare’s contemporaries,” and he is justly regarded as the last of the old English school of dramatists. Shirley appears to have been patronized by George, Earl of Kildare, “Baron of Oplialie, raid Premier Earl of the Kingdom of Ireland,” to whom he dedicated his “Royal Master.” “It was my happiness,” says the poet, “being a stranger in this kingdom, to kiss your Lordship’s hands, to which your nobleness and my own ambition encouraged me; nor was it without justice to your name to tender the first-fruits of my observance to your Lordship, whom this Island acknowledgeth her first native ornament and top branch of honour.”

In 1639 “Landgartha, a tragi-comedy,” was performed in the “new theatre in Dublin,” with great applause. This play was founded on the conquest of Frollo, King of Sweden, by Regner, King of Denmark, with the repudiation of Regner’s queen, Landgartha; the scene was laid in Suevia, or Suethland; and the prologue was spoken by an Amazon, with a battle-axe in her hand. Henry Burnell, author of “Landgartha,” also wrote other plays, which, having never been published, are not now accessible. Owing to the disturbed state of the country, the theatre in Werburgh-street was closed by order of the Puritanic Lords Justices in 1641; and Ogilby, having joined the royal army, narrowly escaped being killed by an explosion of gunpowder at Rathfarnham Castle.

On the southern side of St. Werburgh’s Church was located in the 17th century the “Main Guard” of the city, referred to in the following extracts from the official records of the proceedings of the courts-martial in Dublin during the Protectorate

“Att a Court Martiall held at the Castell 19 Martii, 1651.

“James Lutrill Informant; Evan Jones Defdt, soldier under Captain Hewlett:-

“This day the Defdt being convicted for stealing the iron and sockett of a pump worth 5s. of the informant’s goods, ordered, that he shall ride the wooden horse at the Main-guarde, with two musketts att each heele, with the iron and sockett att his necke and an inscription on his breaste for one hower.”

“Symon Dondan Informant. Thomas Worthen and Thomas Kardell Defdts. 2 Julii, 1652. The Defendants being accused for the violent taking of 5s. in money and 8s. worth of goods from the Informant and others in protection, and thereof founde guilty, it was ordered, that they should be whipt from the Main-guard to ye Gallows and backward againe to ye sd guard, each of them to receive 40 lashes, being first dismounted and reduced as foote souldiers into Captn Woodcock’s Company.”

The station of the Main Guard appears to have been afterwards used as a watch-house, but the vestiges of its original use were preserved in the name of “Gun-alley,” situated next the watch-house, and in which, at the commencement of the present century, the parish engines were kept. On the site of the present passage into the female school stood “Blue Coat Alley,” or “Blue Boar Alley,” which, together with “Gun-alley,” has been entirely erased by the erection of the modern parish schools on their site.

A copper token is extant, issued in the seventeenth century by Richard Chesses, merchant, “in St. Warber’s street;” we also find notice in 1690 of a large house here called the “George,” part of a larger house called the “Bagnio.” At the same period the Cock Tavern was held in this street, and the “Yellow Lyon Tavern” here was much frequented by Freemasons in the early part of the last century.

John Bowes, Solicitor-General, resided from 1730 to 1872 in Werburgh-street; where in 1732 died Edward Worth, One of the most eminent Dublin physicians of his day. Dr. Worth, satirized under the flame of “Sooterkin” in the “Swan Tripe Club,” and accused of being an atheist, was the most “curious” book collector in Ireland: he bequeathed to Steevens’ Hospital £1,000, his library, valued at £5,000, together with £100 for fitting it up. He also left 1,000 volumes to the University of Dublin, with an annuity of £10 for an oration in praise of academic learning, and made a bequest of one £120 per annum to Merton College, Oxford, where he had been educated. The “Goldsmiths’ Hall,” and office of the Assay Master and Receiver of duties upon plate, was held till late in the last century in the house nearly opposite to Hoey’s-court. William O’Reilly, a celebrated comic actor who died in 1791, had been apprenticed to Edmund Dillon, apothecary, of Werburgh-street, who was the most expert player at hurling in the city.

A passage extending from St. Werburgh’s-street, nearly opposite the church, to St. Nicholas’-street, was known at the close of the twelfth century as “Vicus Sutorum,” the Shoemakers’- street or “Le Sutter Lane;” it was also called St. Werburgh’s or St. Verberosse’s Lane; a name changed in the 15th century to “Le Hynd-street,” in reference to its position at the rere of Skinners’-row. This lane was built over about 1580, and at its entrance in St. Werburgh’s-street was erected the prison of the Four Courts Marshalsea, the office of Marshal of which was from 1546 associated with the Constableship of Dublin Castle. After the removal of the Marshalsea, a “fair house” was built on its site and inhabited by Crofts, deputy clerk of the Tholsel, about 1678. Towards the middle of the last century the “Phoenix Tavern,” kept mes Hocy in this edifice, was one of the most fashionable and most frequented houses of its time in Dublin. In 1749, in the height of the agitation of Charles Lucas, when conversation ran high on the rights of Ireland, the “free and independent citizens” who supported the indefatigable tribune used to hold political dinners here four times in the year. In 1752 it was frequented by the Grand Lodge of Freemasons, and was also at this time the resort of the gentlemen of the county of Roscommon, and the usual place for the great dinners of the Society of the Bar, who in 1755 entertained here the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, the Right Hon. Thomas Carter, the celebrated Anthony Malone, Bellingham Boyle, and other leaders of Irish politics at that time.

The Hibernian Society for the improvement of education in Ireland held their dinners and meetings at the “Phoenix’ in 1758: about the same period this was the place of meeting of the “Friendly Florist Society,” which gave the following prizes to “encourage the propagating and cultivating flowers in this kingdom:-

“To the person who shall raise the best polyanthus from seed, 16s. 3d.: for the second best ditto, 8s.; to the person who shall raise the best auricula, £1 10s. for the second best ditto, 15s.”

Here, in 1762, the “Prussian Club” used to dine on their anniversaries; dinner being then served at half-past three o’clock. In 1768, the “American Club” resorted to this house; as did also, in the succeeding year, the “Corsican Club,” formed in Dublin “to support the cause of liberty and Paoli.” In the year 1771, at eight o’clock on every Tuesday evening, the “Constitutional Society,” opposed to the government of Lord Townshend, used to meet in the great room of the Phoenix Tavern, to discuss political questions. The admission was by tickets sold at the bar for one shilling each, for which attendance was given and wine “moderately distributed.” This Society, founded by the Rev. Thomas Baldwin, of Parliament-street, who died in October, 1772, gave medals to the best speakers; and the attendance became so large and fashionable that it was found necessary to transfer the meetings to the Music Hall in Fishamble-street. About the same time the “Amicable Catch Club” held their meetings at the “Phoenix,” which appears to have been closed after the death of its proprietor, James Hoey, in 1773. The last tavern of any note in this locality was the establishment of Peter Daly, on the eastern side of Werburgh-street, which, down to the year 1818, was the meeting place of the principal lodges in Dublin.

On the western side of St. Werburgh’s-street stands “Darby square,” an oblong piece of ground, about 80 feet in length, and originally surrounded by 12 houses, which appear to have been erected by John Darby, “Butterer,” mentioned in an Inquisition of 1690 as holding property in this vicinity; and in 1729 we find notice of the death of Mr. Thomas Connor, “who married the widow Darby, owner of Darby-square.” During the early part of the 18th century many eminent lawyers resided in Darby-square, in which were kept the Examiner’s Office of the Court of Chancery, and the office of the Masters in Chancery, 1738-1743.

At the entrance from Werburgh-street was the shop of Samuel Dalton, bookseller and publisher, from 1730 to 1741. In the year 1785, a portion of the pavement of the Square suddenly gave way, and disclosed a cavern, 40 feet deep, containing a great quantity of coffins and bone - probably the *debris *of the old cemetery of St. Martin’s Church.

In the north-west corner of the Square is a door leading to a plot of ground, on which Astley erected his amphitheatre in 1787, the proprietors of the Theatre Royal having, with the object of obstructing his proceedings, taken every other vacant place in the city suitable for a circus. Immense numbers flocked here to witness the feats of horsemanship, and all the approaches to the circus were densely thronged from six to seven o’clock in the evenings. The box entrance was through the north side of Darby-square, where a portion of it is still visible: the admission to the pit was from “Salter’s-court,” now partially enclosed; and the gallery entrance was through “Wilme’s-court,” in ” Skinners’-row.” During the troubles of 1798, a corps of yeomanry, of about 200, principally inhabitants of the Liberties, and known as the “Liberty Rangers,” used to march to this green at twelve o’clock on Sundays, to perform their military evolutions. The costume of this corps was a blue coat with green facings, white breeches, and high laced buskins: their head-dress was a kind of helmet, afterwards exchanged for the regular infantry cap, and they were armed with rifles and bayonets. This body, dissolved in 1806, performed much of the outpost duty during 1798, for which they were regularly “told off” in the Weavers Hall, on the Coombe, which formed their head-quarters. The green off Darby-square was formerly almost level with the floor of the Square: owing,* *however, to the accumulation from dilapidated buildings, it has now attained an elevation nearly equal to the drawing-room storey of the neighbouring houses, and is at present a well-cultivated garden. Darby-square was originally lighted by five large globe lamps, which, with the iron gates of the Square, were taken down about the year 1820.

To Chapter 2. Gilbert Index