literary associations, this street, though perhaps the largest in Europe, is singularly deficient in interest, and the few objects or names of any importance with which it is connected, may be summed up in a few words. Not the least interesting spot is the once fashionable place of amusement, the "Pantheon," now converted into the purposes of a bazaar. The original building was erected in 1771, after a design by Wyatt, and was opened to the public, as a kind of "town Ranelagh," on the 27th of January, 1772. "Near two thousand persons," we are told, "of the highest rank and fashion assembled on this occasion to admire the splendid structure, which contained fourteen rooms, exclusive of the Rotunda." Boswell mentions his visiting it with Dr. Johnson shortly after it was opened. "We walked," he says, "to the Pantheon. The first view of it did not strike us as much as Ranelagh, of which he said, the coup d'œil was the finest thing he had ever seen. However, as Johnson said, we saw the Pantheon in a time of mourning, when there was a dull uniformity; whereas we had seen Ranelagh, when the view was enlivened with a gay profusion of colours." The original building was burnt down, and being rebuilt on a smaller scale, was again used for masquerades and concerts, but being deserted by persons of fashion, it remained closed for several years, when it was converted to its present purpose. At No. 64, Wells Street, Oxford Street, within a short distance from Berners Street, lived at one time Dr. James Beattie, the author of "The Minstrel." Newman Street, a little to the east, is also interesting from having contained the residence of several eminent artists, by which class of persons it has long been colonized. Among the most distinguished persons who have lived here may be mentioned West, the painter, and the younger Bacon, the sculptor. Running parallel with Newman Street is Rathbone Place, apparently, in former days, a favourite resort of the Scottish nobility and gentry, for we find it, at different times, the place of residence of the unfortunate Lords Lovat, Balmerino, and Kilmarnock, who suffered on the scaffold for their share in the Rebellion of 1745. In Hanway Street, close by, is a public-house, known as the "Blue Posts," which was kept by the once celebrated chess-player, Sturges, the author of a treatise on the game; and, lastly, in Tottenham Court Road, stands the tabernacle built by the famous preacher, George Whitfield, in 1756. COVENT GARDEN. 29 COVENT GARDEN. GOVENT GARDEN MARKET." OLD HUMMUMS."-ST. PAUL'S COVENT GARDEN. RUSSELL STREET AND ITS COFFEE HOUSES.-BOW, JAMES, KING, ROSE, BEDFORD, and HENRIETTA STREETS.—MAIDEN LANE.-SOUTHAMPTON AND TAVISTOCK STREETS. COVENT GARDEN, or rather Convent Garden, derives its name from occupying the site of what was anciently a vast garden, belonging to the Abbey and Convent of Westminster, and which extended as far west as St. Martin's Church. Behind the houses on the north side of York Street, stone coffins, and other relics of the dead, have from time to time been discovered, which would lead us to presume that on this spot was the cemetery of the ancient monks. After the dissolution of the monasteries, Convent Garden was bestowed by Edward the Sixth on his uncle, the great Protector, Edward, Duke of Somerset, and on his attainder was transferred to John, Earl of Bedford. It is almost needless to remark, that from this family,-in whom the valuable property, once the site of the fair gardens of the monks of Westminster, is still vested,- Bedford Street, Bedfordbury, Russell Street, and Tavistock Street, derive their names. It appears by a plan of London, printed in 1560, that Covent Garden was then an open area sur rounded by meadows and lanes, with the exception of the south side where it was bounded by the gardens of Bedford House. A market appears to have been first established here in 1634, about which time Francis, fourth Earl of Bedford, employed Inigo Jones to erect the present piazzas on the north and east sides. It was originally intended to continue them round the whole square; and, indeed, it appears by a print of Hollar's now before me, that the piazza formerly extended along the east side, where the "Hummums" now stand: this part, however, was burnt down, not many years after its erection. At the close of the seventeenth century we find the 'prentices of London resorting here to play at cricket under the porticos, and from Gray's "Trivia" we learn, that, at a somewhat later period, the manly game of foot-ball used to be played in the area where the market now stands : Where Covent Garden's famous temple stands, The 'prentice quits his shop to join the crew, To those who are intimate with, and delight in, the literary history of their country;- to those to whom the haunts of departed genius are as hallowed ground, there is no spot in London replete with associations of such deep interest as Covent Garden and the streets with which it is intersected. It is remarkable, that Sir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and the celebrated landscape painter, Richard Wilson, should have been occupants, at different THE "OLD HUMMUMS." 31 times, of the same apartments, on the north side of Covent Garden. In 1716, I find Nicholas Rowe, the dramatic poet, dating his letters from Covent Garden, and close by lived Thomas Southern, the author of "Oroonoko," and of the "Fatal Marriage." Oldys tells us in his MS. notes to Langbaine;"I remember him a grave and venerable old gentleman. He lived near Covent Garden, and used often to frequent the evening prayers there, always neat and decently dressed, commonly in black, with his silver sword and silver locks; but latterly, it seems, he resided at Westminster." In Covent Garden, died, in 1702, John Zachary Kneller, the elder brother of Sir Godfrey, and himself a painter of some merit. The "Old Hummums," Covent Garden, was the scene of what Dr. Johnson called the "best accredited ghost-story" he had ever heard. The person, whose ghost was supposed to have appeared here, was Ford, a relation of Johnson's, and said to be the riotous parson of Hogarth's "Midnight modern Conversation." The story, as related by Johnson to Boswell, is as follows:-"A waiter at the Hummums, in which Ford died, had been absent for some time, and returned, not knowing that Ford was dead. Going down to the cellar, according to the story, he met him; going down again, he met him a second time. When he came up, he asked some of the people of the house what Ford could be doing there? They told him Ford was dead. The waiter took a fever, in which he lay for some |