Maps of Old London

Front matter

MAPS OF OLD LONDON

| I. | | WYNGAERDE (IN THREE SECTIONS)

| II. | | AGAS

Ralph Agas - Civitas Londinum

CIVITAS LONDINUM

Description.—This is the earliest map of London known to be in existence, for though Wyngaerde's survey preceded it in date, as we have seen, that is a panorama and not a map proper. The present map, which is known as that of Ralph Agas, itself has a good deal more of the panoramic nature than would be allowed in a modern one, and is on that account all the more interesting. The first to connect Agas's name with this map was Vertue (1648-1756), and he stated its date to be 1560; but, as will be seen in the description of the next plate, Vertue's claims to strict veracity have now been shaken, therefore his testimony must be accepted with caution.

Designer.—Ralph Agas, land surveyor and engraver, died in 1621, and he is described in the register as "an aged." Of course, it is possible that Agas lived to the age of eighty-five or over, in which case he might not have been too young to execute this work in 1560, and he himself says, in a document dated 1606, which has been preserved, that he had been in work as a surveyor for upwards of forty years. There are two branches into which the enquiry now resolves itself. First, did Agas really make the map? And, second, if he did, at what date did he make it? There is no conclusive evidence on either hand. There is a survey of Oxford, similar in character, signed by him, and though this is not dated, it is known to have been completed in 1578, and published ten years later. On the original copy of this, which is at the Bodleian, there are the following lines:

"Neare tenn yeares paste the author made a doubt Whether to print or lay this worke aside Untill he firste had London plotted out Which still he craves, although he be denied He thinkes the Citie now in hiest pride, And would make showe how it was beste beseene The thirtieth yeare of our moste noble queene."

Original.—The two earliest known copies of the Agas map, which was first engraved on wood, are both of the same issue; one is at the Pepysian Library, Magdalen College, Oxford, and the other at the Guildhall. Edward J. Francis made a careful reproduction of that at the Guildhall in 1874, and it is from that our present plate is taken. It is, of course, reduced, for the original is 6 feet and ½ inch long, by 2 feet 4½ inches wide. The notes attached to this issue are by W. H. Overall, F.S.A., one of the leading authorities on the question. He doubts Agas's connection with the map, but thinks if he were the originator it could not have been done before 1591. The arms in the corner on the two oldest extant maps are those of James I., but as the arms on the royal barge in the river are those of Elizabeth, it has been conjectured that the maps are themselves copies of a later edition, wherein the arms were altered in conformity with conventional opinion. The chief points which give data from internal evidence are as follows: St. Paul's Cathedral is bereft of its spire. This was struck by lightning in 1561, so the map must be subsequent to that date. The Royal Exchange is apparently built. This was opened in 1570. Northumberland House, built about 1605, has not been begun. We may take it, therefore, generally that the original map, which was engraved on wooden blocks, was made some time in the latter half of Elizabeth's reign, and it is probable that it was done by Agas.

Details.—The map abounds in interesting detail.

Beginning in the extreme left-hand lower corner, we see St. Margaret's Church, St. Stephen's Chapel, and Westminster Hall. In the river are swans of monstrous size. King Street, now merged in Whitehall, is very clearly shown, also the two heavy gates barring the way. The most northern of these, designed by Holbein, was called after him, and stood until the middle of the eighteenth century. North of it, on the west, is the tilting-ground; and stags browse in St. James's Park. Between the gates, on the east, are the Privy Gardens, overlooked by the Palace of Whitehall—most unpalatial in appearance.

Piccadilly is "the Waye to Redinge," and Oxford Street "the Waye to Uxbridge." Near Whitcomb Lane and the Haymarket women are spreading clothes in the fields to dry, while cows as large as houses graze around. St. Martin's Lane leads up to St. Giles, more particularly dealt with in the description of the next plate. The irregular buildings of St. Mary Rouncevall, a religious house, had not yet been taken down to make way for Northumberland House, itself to be replaced by Northumberland Avenue. The houses of great nobles, with their magnificent gardens stretching down to the waterside, are still in evidence. North of the well-laid-out Covent Garden, owned by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, are nothing but trees and fields. Passing on quickly down the Strand, we find Temple Bar blocking the way to the City. This is the old Temple Bar, replaced after the Great Fire by the one much more familiar to us, which stood until 1878. A very fine illustration of the old one is given in Sir Walter Besant's London in the Time of the Tudors, p. 245. This book should certainly be studied by anyone desirous of understanding the map. From Temple Bar past the back of St. Clement's Church runs a broad road roughly corresponding with our new Kingsway. Further eastward the Fleet River still flows strongly down from its northern heights, crossed by many bridges, and just where it joins the Thames is Bridewell Prison. Further along, on the other side, is Baynard's Castle, and in front of it, in the river, the Queen's barge, with the royal arms of Elizabeth in the centre. Some way back from Baynard's Castle a bridge crosses a street, and is marked "The Wardrop." This was in very truth the wardrobe or repository of the royal clothes! Drawing a line northward for some way, we come to Smithfield, where tilting is represented as in animated progress. Not far northward is St. John's, Clerkenwell, and its neighbouring nunnery; to the west is the Charterhouse. Turning south again, past St. Bartholomew's Church, we see the building of Christ's Hospital, founded by Edward VI. This, it may be noted, is one of the buildings erected since Wyngaerde's time. Then we come to St. Paul's, shorn of its spire, with St. Gregory's Church, quite recognizable, in front of it. There were continual edicts against building in the Tudor and Stuart reigns, for it was feared London would grow out of hand; but, in spite of this, houses have enormously increased since Wyngaerde made his survey. The battlemented wall still encloses the City, but hamlets have sprung up outside, notably at Cripplegate.

But within the wall there are still some fine gardens and open spaces, one of which remains to this day in Finsbury Circus. Many roads meet in the heart of London, where now the Bank, Mansion House, and Royal Exchange stare across at each other. It is difficult to make out from the medley of buildings in the map if Gresham's first Royal Exchange is there or not, but it seems to be so. This was opened in 1570 by the Queen in person. St. Christopher le Stock's square tower may be seen on the ground now absorbed by the Bank of England.

Crossing over now to the Surrey side, we see conspicuously the two round pens for bull- and bear-baiting respectively. There are many pleasure-gardens, for the Surrey side was for long the recreation-ground of the Londoner. On the river there are innumerable wherries, and below the bridge at Billingsgate many ships cluster; one has even managed to get above the bridge. Off the Steelyard and at the Tower are men and horses in the water. This is a most interesting point. In those at the Tower it may be clearly seen that the man is filling the water-casks on the animals' backs with a ladle. This gives a glimpse into the discomforts endured by our ancestors before water-pipes were laid on as a matter of course to all houses. In the eighteenth-century reproductions of this map, oddly enough, in one instance this detail has disappeared, and in the other it is turned into a man driving cows into the water with a whip; thus doing away with all its significance. Far to the north in Spitalfields men are practising archery; while Aldgate, for long the home of Geoffrey Chaucer, is conspicuous a little north of the Tower.

As became a man living in days of the Reformation, Agas does not point out the religious houses then falling into decay or occupied by laymen, yet what a number of them must have been still in existence! Standing on the White Tower, and looking north and to the right hand, there must have been visible outside the wall St. Katherine's by the Tower, Eastminster, and the Sorores Minores, whose name still remains in the Minories, here marked. Within the City was Holy Trinity, close to Aldgate—of this a couple of most rare and interesting plans and a full account may be found in Mediæval London, vol. ii.—and not far off was St. Helen's Nunnery; also Crutched Friars, Austin Friars, Grey Friars, and, in the extreme west, near the Fleet, Blackfriars. Of these and many others full accounts may be found in the volume indicated above.

Ralph Agas - The Parish of St. Giles in the Fields

THE PARISH OF ST. GILES IN THE FIELDS

Description.—This plate, on being compared with the preceding one, shows a strong general resemblance, with a considerable difference in detail. Also, below are two churches, one of which is marked, "Present St. Giles's Church, built anno 1734," which shows that the map was made not earlier than that date. It is, in fact, a part of one of a set of eighteenth-century maps based on that of Agas, and not only differing from it in detail, but also differing slightly one from another. Some of these are unsigned, and some are signed "G. Vertue," and were specifically claimed by Vertue as having been made by him, and based upon Agas's map of 1560. Recently, however, doubts have been raised as to Vertue's share in the transaction, and it is now very commonly believed that he did no more than procure some maps, engraved on pewter and made in Holland, based on that of Agas. These he altered a little in detail, and then claimed as his own work. The original pewter plates are in possession of the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House. The present example differs in some small particulars from these. Copies of the maps are not rare, and can be seen at the British Museum and elsewhere.

Details.—The bit of London here represented is of exceptional interest. It shows the corner of Tottenham Court Road when High Street and Broad Street, St. Giles, were the main highway, long before the cutting through of New Oxford Street. It shows, further, the descent of Holborn into the valley of the Fleet, the "heavy hill" along which criminals were brought from Newgate to the place of execution. It shows the site where the gallows stood for some time, about 1413, before being definitely set up at Tyburn. Close to this was the Bowl tavern, where the condemned man was allowed his last draft of ale. The most interesting old hospital for lepers is clearly shown. (See "Holborn," Fascination of London Series.)

Faithorne and Newcourt

FAITHORNE AND NEWCOURT

Description.—This map generally goes by the name of Faithorne, the engraver, but in reality the credit is due quite as much to Richard Newcourt the elder (d. 1679), who was the draughtsman. It is selected for a place here because, the date being 1658, it shows the City as it was before the Fire, and therefore forms a supplement to the map of Ogilby which follows, and shows the City as it was when rebuilt after the Fire.

Engraver.—William Faithorne the elder was born in 1616, and was an engraver and portrait painter. He engraved numerous portraits, book-plates, maps, and title-pages. Among his works are two large maps, entitled "Cities of London and Westminster," and of "Virginia and Maryland."

Original.—The only two copies of the original issue known to be extant are in the Print Rooms, British Museum, and in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris. The map here given is taken from a sheet of that in the British Museum, and is on the same scale.

Details.—It will be noticed that the sheet chosen for inclusion in this atlas shows very nearly the same area as the map of Ogilby which follows, but does not go quite so far eastward as the Tower. The City wall is clearly shown along the north side of the City, and the bastion near Cripplegate stands out; the town ditch can be traced just beyond this corner running southward. It was the curious and apparently meaningless angle that the wall makes here which led Sir Walter Besant to suggest that it may have been designed to exclude the ancient Roman amphitheatre, of which the site is now lost (see Early London, p. 85). The Fleet River is shown still open and crossed by bridges, of which there are no fewer than five from Holborn to the mouth. That at Fleet Street shows, indeed, a continuous line of houses. St. Paul's is very clearly delineated. The figures within the City refer to the old churches, of which a list is given below. Notice the gable roofs, still the chief style of domestic architecture. The lines of the streets in the heart of the City remain wonderfully the same to our own day. Outside the walls the City is stretching out great arms into the country. There is one such arm made by the continuous houses fringing Bishopsgate Street as far as the extreme northern limit of the map. Then there is a gap between this and Moorgate Street, including all the ground known at Moorfields and Finsbury. A few scattered houses and some cultivated fields cover this space, and in one corner is "Bedlame."

A mass of houses lies westward, running on to the Charter House, northward of which are open fields, and so to "Clarkin Well."

The Severall Chvrches within the Walles of London Distinguished by seuerall Figures, By which allsoe the Eye may partly be guided to the Eminent Streets in or neere which they stand, which could not well be otherwise demonstrated, in regard of the small Scale by which this Mapp is described.

| 1. Albans in Woodstreet 2. Alhallows Barkin nere Tower hill 3. Alhallows in Bread street 4. Alhallows ye Greate in Thamas streete 5. Alhallows the Lessedo.do. 6. Alhallows in Hony lane nere Chepside 7. Alhallows in Lumber street 8. Alhallows Stayninge nere Fanshawes street 9. Alhallows in ye Wall nere Moorefeilds 10. Alphage by ye Wall nere Cripple gate 11. Andrew Hubard by Philpot lan 12. Andrew Vndershaft 13. Andrew in ye Wardrop aboue Pudle wharfe 14. Ann at Alders gate 15. Ann in Black friers 16. Antholins in Watling streete 17. Austins nere Paules church 18. Bartholomew by ye Exchange 19. Bennet Finch 20. Bennet Grace church neer Gracious streete 21. Bennet at Paules wharfe 22. Bennet Sherehogg nere Bucklers berry 23. Bottolph at Billings-gate 24. Christs Church by Newgate streete 25. Christophers in Thredneedle streete 26. Clements in East chepe 27. Dennis back Church nere Eāshastreete 28. Dunstanes in ye East nere Tower street 29. Edmonds in Lumber streete 30. Ethelborough in Bishops gate street 31. Faith under Paules 32. Foster in Foster lane nere Chepside 65. French Church in Third needle street | | 33. Gabriell in Fanshawes streete 34. Georges in Bottolph lane 35. Gregories by Paules 36. Hellins nere Bishops gate 37. Iames Dukes place nere Aldgat 38. Iames Garlick hill by Bow lane 39. Iohn Baptist nere Dow gate street 40. Iohn Euangelist nere Friday street 41. Iohn Zachary nere Foster lane 42. Katherin Coleman nere Fanshawes stret 43. Katherin Cree church nere Aldgate 44. Lawrence Iury nere Guild hall 45. Lawrence Poultney nere Eastchepe 46. Leonarde in East-chepe 47. Leonarde in Foster lane 48. Magnus by the Bridge 49. Margrett in Lothberry 50. Margrett Moses next Friday street 51. Margrett in new Fishstreete 52. Margrett in Rood lane 53. Mary Abchurch Lane 54. Mary Aldermanberry 55. Mary Aldermary nere Watling streete 56. Mary le Bow in Chepside 57. Mary Bothaw in Cannon streete 58. Mary Cole church in Chepside 59. Mary Hill aboue Billings gate 60. Mary Mounthaw aboue Broken warfe 61. Mary Somersett nere Broken wharfe 62. Mary Staynings nere Alders gate 63. Mary Woollchurch nere ye Stocks 64. Mary Woollnoth in Lumber streete 66. Martins Iremonger lane nere Chepside 67. Martins within Ludgate | | 68. Martins Orgars nere Eastcheape 69. Martins Outwitch next Bishopsgate stret 70. Martins Vintree neere ye 3 Cranes 71. Mathews in Friday Street 72. Maudlins milke strēt neere Chepside 73. Maudlins in Old Fishstreete 74. Michaell Bashaw behind Guildhall 75. Michaell in Cornhill 76. Michaell Crooked Lane neere N Fish'trete 77. Michaell att Quene Hith 78. Michaell ye Querne vper end of Chepside 79. Michaell Royall att Colledge Hill 80. Michaell in Woodstreet nere Chepside 81. Mildred in Bred streete nere Chepside 82. Mildred in the Poultry 83. Nicholas Acons Nicholas lane nere Lūberstreet 84. Nicholas Cole Abby in old Fishstreet 85. Nicholas Olaves in Breadstreet 86. Olaues in Hart street nere Cruched friers 87. Olaues in old Iury at ye lower end of Chepside 88. Olaues in Silver streete 89. Pancras in Soper lane nere Bucklerbery 90. Peters nere Chepside 91. Peters in Cornehill 92. Peters nere Paules wharfe 93. Peters ye poore nere Brod streete 94. Steven in Coleman streete nere Moregate 95. Steven in Wallbrooke 96. Swithens in Canon streete by London stone 97. Thomas ye Apostle 98. Trinitie Church aboue Quene Hith 99. Dutch Church nere Brodstreete

Hoefnagel - Londinum Feracissimi Angliæ Regni Metropolis

"LONDINUM FERACISSIMI ANGLIÆ REGNI METROPOLIS"

By HOEFNAGEL

Description.—This map seems at first sight to be much less interesting than those which have preceded it, but that is due chiefly to its small size. The probable date is 1572, and even if otherwise unknown, it might have been judged approximately by the costumes of the figures in the foreground. It must have been contemporary with, or even earlier than, Agas, with whose work it is interesting to compare it. This map was made by Hoefnagel, and is taken from Braun and Hogenburg's work, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, in which Braun wrote the text, while Hogenburg and Hoefnagel engraved the maps. In the left-hand top corner are the arms of Elizabeth, and in the right-hand corner those of the City. In the later editions the delicately drawn figures in the foreground are omitted. In his notes on Old London Maps in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. vi., Mr. W. H. Overall says it cannot be supposed that all the cities of the world engraved in Braun and Hogenburg's work were freshly surveyed for the purpose; and there are several points—such, for instance, as the inclusion of the steeple of St. Paul's, destroyed in 1561—which point to the fact that this version was probably taken from existing surveys. The original is 19 inches by 12¾ inches. The bull- and bear-baiting pits on the Surrey side are quite conspicuous, and so is the royal barge, in very much the same position in the river as it is in Agas's map. Here is a detailed account of it in Sir Walter Besant's own words:

Details.—"This is in some respects more exact than the better-known map attributed to Agas. The streets, gardens, and fields are laid down with greater precision, and there is no serious attempt to combine, as Agas does, a picture or a panorama with a map. At the same time, the surveyor has been unable to resist the fashion of his time to consider the map as laid down from a bird's-eye view, so that he thinks it necessary to give something of elevation.

"I will take that part of the map which lies outside the walls. The precinct of St. Katherine stands beside the Tower, with its chapel, court, and gardens; there are a few houses near it, apparently farmhouses. The convent of Eastminster had entirely vanished. Nothing indicates the site of the nunnery in the Minories, yet there were ruins of these buildings standing here till the end of the eighteenth century. Outside Bishopsgate houses extended past St. Mary's Spital, some of whose buildings were still apparently standing. On the west side St. Mary of Bethlehem stood, exactly on the site of Liverpool Street Station, but not covering nearly so large an area; it appears to have occupied a single court, and was probably what we should now consider a very pretty little cottage, like St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford.

"Outside Cripplegate the houses begin again, leaving between the Lower Moorfields dotted with ponds; there are houses lining the road outside Aldersgate. The courts are still standing of St. Bartholomew's Priory, Charterhouse, St. John's Priory, and the Clerkenwell nunnery; Smithfield is surrounded with houses; Bridewell, with its two square courts, stands upon the river bank; Fleet Street is irregular in shape, the houses being nowhere in line; the courts of Whitefriars are still remaining. The Strand has all its great houses facing the river; their backs open upon a broad street, with a line of mean houses on the north side. On the south of the river there is a line of houses on the High Street, a line of houses along the river bank on either side, and another one running near Bermondsey Abbey.

"Within the walls we observe that some of the religious houses have quite disappeared—Crutched Friars, for instance. There is a vacant space, which is probably one of the courts of St. Helen's. The Priory of the Holy Trinity preserves its courts, but there is no sign of the church. There are still visible the courts and gardens of Austin Friars. There is still the great court of the Grey Friars, but the buildings of Blackfriars seem to have vanished entirely" (London in the Time of the Tudors, p. 185).

Norden's Maps of London and Westminster

NORDEN'S MAPS OF LONDON AND WESTMINSTER

Designer.—Being on a very small scale, these maps are not so attractive as some that have been already discussed. John Norden, the designer, was born about 1548, and seems to have had from the first an extraordinary gift of delicate penmanship, which he turned to much account in map-making. He projected a whole "Speculum Britanniæ," but during his lifetime only managed to publish books on two counties—namely, Middlesex and Hertfordshire. He left behind him the results of his labours on many other counties in manuscript, and these have since been published. Norden was appointed Surveyor of His Majesty's Woods in 1609. The engraving of the Middlesex maps was done by Peter Van den Keere.

Originals.—The reproductions are taken from those which appear in Norden's Middlesex, dated 1593. Each map is 9½ inches by 6¾ inches. The wonderful delicacy of Norden's work makes these maps peculiarly appreciated by students of London cartography.

Ogilby's Map of London

OGILBY'S MAP OF LONDON

Description.—This is more exclusively a plan of the City than any we have yet considered. It runs roughly from the Tower to Lincoln's Inn Fields, and the reason why it is thus limited is that it was made as a survey to assist in the plotting out of land in the City after the Fire.

Designer.—John Ogilby was born about 1600, and did not turn his attention to surveying until he was about sixty-six, when he secured the appointment as "King's Cosmographer and Geographical Printer." He died in 1676, the year before his map was published. He was assisted in the work by William Morgan, his wife's grandson, and most of the actual engraving of the map was done by Hollar.

Original.—The original is 8 feet 5 inches by 4 feet 7 inches, and is in twenty sheets. It is on the scale of 100 feet to the inch. It may be seen in the British Museum (Crace Collection) and in the Guildhall. The two examples differ a little, and that in the Guildhall has an additional sheet. The reproduction here given is taken from that made by the London and Middlesex Archæological Society from the British Museum copy. The arms of the City are in the left-hand top corner, and those of Sir Thomas Davies, Lord Mayor 1676-77, in the right-hand corner.

Details.—Beginning at the left-hand top corner, we find pastures, bowling-greens, and market-gardens. Aylesbury House, next to St. John Street, has magnificent private gardens, and beyond the Charterhouse bowling-green there is a wood. Further east the Honourable Artillery Company, which had been revived by Cromwell, can be seen, with their equipment and tents. This company is directly descended from the Finsbury Archers, whom we noted in the last map, and it is interesting to know that the actual ground on which they are here depicted is still reserved for their use. Moorfields is neatly laid out and planned, and south of it is new Bethlehem Hospital, now transferred across the river. Eastward, again, there is a large open space at Devonshire House Garden, and southward innumerable gardens can be seen, some of which are preserved to this day behind City halls, etc., but so hidden that no one who did not know of their existence could possibly find them.

On tracing the line of the City wall on the north side we see how some of the churches, notably St. Giles's and St. Botolph's, have taken a part of the town ditch for the enlargement of their churchyards; near St. Bartholomew's the town ditch is still marked. This ditch caused the Mayor and Council as much worry as the increase of houses, because it was the receptacle for every kind of filth, and its cleansing annually swallowed up a large sum of money. The Fleet River is shown flowing down in the open, and is called the New Canal. It is crossed by a bridge at Holborn and another at Fleet Street. We can mark the sinuous line of the great thoroughfare of Holborn as it was before the viaduct and approaches were made. The Strand outside Temple Bar shows the obstructions which have only finally been removed in our own time. Butcher Row disappeared first in 1813; other streets followed to make way for the new Law Courts, and with the destruction of Holywell Row and the opening of Kingsway the improvements here may be considered complete.

To the south are the great houses of Essex and Arundel, with their gardens; their names are preserved in the streets that flow over their sites. Somerset House, the Protector's palace, was then standing, and did not make way for its present representative for another hundred years. The river is covered with wherries, clustered as thickly as ants. It is still the main highway for most people, though there were hackney coaches for hire. There was still only London Bridge by which to get across the river on foot, and the boats were used as ferries. There were tilt-boats, too, as well as the smaller wherries; these ran at stated intervals, like our own omnibuses, and were protected by an awning. Near the Fleet mouth is Bridewell, once a palace, and the scene of the meeting of Parliament, but given by Edward VI. to be a prison. On the east is a blank space, where is now the station of the London Chatham and Dover Railway Co., who purchased it in 1844. The site of St. Paul's was plotted out, but not yet built upon. In fact, the rebuilding of the houses was the first consideration, and was done with remarkable promptness, for in the meantime the poor houseless wretches were camping on Moorfields. The churches and city halls were therefore left to the last; yet even so we may see that, though only eleven years had elapsed since the destruction of the City, about twenty churches had been rebuilt out of the eighty-seven that were destroyed. The picturesque Old London of the gable-ends and overhanging stories was gone, never to return; but gone also was a great deal of rubbish and an insanitariness never afterwards quite so bad. As for the overcrowding, we must see what Sir Walter Besant says:

"If we look into Ogilby's map, we see plainly that as regards the streets and courts London after the Fire was very much the same as London before the Fire; there were the same narrow streets, the same crowded alleys, the same courts and yards. Take, for instance, the small area lying between Bread Street Hill on the west and Garlick Hill on the east, between Trinity Lane on the north and Thames Street on the south: is it possible to crowd more courts and alleys into this area? Can we believe that after the Fire London was relieved of its narrow courts with this map before us? Look at the closely-shut-in places marked on the maps—'1 g., m. 46, m. 47, m. 48, m. 40.' These are respectively Jack Alley, Newman's Rents, Sugar-Loaf Court, Three Cranes Court, and Cowden's Rents. Some of these courts survive to this day. They were formed, as the demand for land grew, by running narrow lanes between the backs of houses and swallowing up the gardens. There were 479 such courts in Ogilby's London of 1677, 472 alleys, and 172 yards, besides 128 inns, each of which, with its open courts for the standing of vehicles and its galleries, stood retired from the street on a spot which had once been the fair garden of a citizen's house" (London in the Time of the Stuarts, p. 280).