STACK 
 
 A Walk Down 
 
 treet
 
 A WALK DOWN 
 BOND STREET 
 
 THE 
 
 CENTENARY SOUVENIR 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HOUSE OF 
 
 ASHTON AND MITCHELL 
 
 1820 - 1920 
 
 BY 
 
 AUSTIN BRERETON 
 
 Seventeen Illustrations 
 
 LONDON : 
 21, YORK BUILDINGS, ADELPHI, W.C. 2
 
 Lord Dabcrly : But why don't you stand up ? 
 The boy rolls about like a porpus in a storm. 
 
 Dick Dowlas : That's the fashion, father ; that's 
 modern ease. A young fellow is nothing now, 
 without the Bond Street roll, a toothpick between his 
 teeth, and his knuckles cramm'd into his coat-pocket. 
 Then away you go, lounging lazily along! GEORGE 
 COLMAN the Younger's The Heir-at-Law, 1797.
 
 AUTHOR'S NOTE. 
 
 Little did Mr. George Ashton imagine, token he asked me to write a pamphlet 
 in connection with the re-organization of 33, Old Bond Street, that he was 
 about to confer upon me a great pleasure. Yet this is the fortunate result of 
 a friendship which dates from 1881. My own knowledge of london has been 
 vastly increased, so that I may now claim to an acquaintance -with Bond Street 
 "which approaches my intimacy with the Adelphi. More important still, I 
 have been enabled to add to the literature on London a volume which puts upon 
 record the story of one of the most interesting streets in the West-end, a street 
 which, for two hundred years, has been the recognised thoroughfare of fashion. 
 In the general view, Bond Street is synonymous with perfumes and laces and 
 " sweet pretty faces,"' 1 with millinery and mantles, with silver and gold and 
 precious stones, with seats for the opera and stalls for the play. It has, however, 
 a literature and a history of its own. John Evelyn saw it in the beginning, it 
 was early a residence of the " nobility and gentry" the lucky Lavinia Fenton 
 and the imfortunate Countess of Macclesfield lived in it, Gibbon, the historian, 
 passed "many solitary evenings'" in it, the author of" Tristram Shandy" died in 
 it. Here, Boswell entertained Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Joshita 
 Reynolds, and David Garrick at dinner on the memorable occasion when 
 Goldsmith " strutted about " in his new clothes ; here Sir Walter Scott saw Lord 
 Byron for the last time ; here Nelson lay in great suffering. In a later day, 
 Lady Blessing ton and " the last of the dandies'" came to Bond Street. Queen 
 Victoria visited the Royal library, otherwise the concert and ticket agency in 
 which this book has its origin. The greatest of the actors of the Victorian era 
 lived and moved and had his being in Bond Street. In other days, the libraries 
 really were such ; not only did they lend books ; they printed and published 
 them. In " A Walk Down Bond Street" Ashton and Mitchell return to the 
 original purpose of the Bond Street libraries. 
 
 In the production of this book, I have been given a free hand. If it contains 
 any errors of omission, the fault must be laid at my door. My researches have been 
 thoroiigh ; and, as is usual in dealing with an historical subject, much -matter 
 has been discarded as being superfluous. I have endeavoured to make a narrative 
 out of my " Walk Down Bond Street " a thoroughfare which, for its length, 580 
 feet, has one of the most interesting histories of any part of London. With few 
 exceptions, I have confined myself to the oldest portion of the street. The 
 beginning of New Bond Street dates from 1721, but the story of the extension of 
 the original street does not come into this book. As showing how a subject may be 
 expanded, and relevantly so, I may observe that in the admirable edition of 
 "London Past and Present," based upon Peter Cunningham's "Handbook of 
 London," by the late Henry B. Wheatley, Old Bond Street occupies one page. 
 More space is devoted to it in Mr. Wheatley 's "Round about Piccadilly and 
 Pall Mall,'" but, even there, the account is abridged to within three brief pages. 
 I am, therefore, indebted to the house of Ashton and Mitchell inasmtich as the 
 heads thereof have not restricted me in any respect whatever in the writing of this 
 souvenir of their centenary. 
 
 A. B. 
 May, 1920. 
 
 2046473
 
 yr ^ 
 
 HER MAJESTY 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 ~^} (iccornpanied by s^r- 
 H-R-M THE -PRINCESS-BEATRICE- 
 
 -<j/G\ attended -by /^jCsx- 
 
 D -LADY-CHURCHILL:^ 
 LORD BRIDPORT- 
 
 -^^NCS^GX and ,xt?saro 
 
 COLONEL PONSONBY- 
 
 HONORED -THIS -ESTABLISHMENT 
 ^ wil h- her-ppesenee /a 
 
 APRIL -9 -1369-
 
 From the r:iintinv; by Richard \\V-I 
 
 LORD BYRON
 
 A Walk Down Bond Street 
 
 [EFORE we join the " Bond Street loungers," who were 
 notorious two centuries ago, we must step back for a brief 
 space into the days of Charles the First and his son, the 
 " Merry Monarch." Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, who 
 did such splendid service for the two Kings and for his 
 country, was allowed to die, an old and worn man, in exile. 
 But for him, perchance, there had been no Bond Street. 
 Let us, therefore, see how he comes into this history. The 
 loyal friend and minister of King Charles in his most troublous times, he 
 followed Prince Charles to Scilly and Jersey, and ultimately remained with 
 him at the Hague and returned with him to England. As Secretary of State, 
 in 1651, he was the chief adviser to Charles II. Seven years later, he became 
 Lord Chancellor, a post which he retained until fate and his enemies drove him 
 from the land. of his birth. He was created Baron Hyde in 1660, Earl of 
 Clarendon in 1661. On June 13th, 1664, the King made him a grant of land 
 for his town house. His eight acres of ground were surrounded by a wall and 
 the building of Clarendon House began in August. Clarendon House stood 
 on the north side of Piccadilly, looking down upon St. James's Palace. The 
 stones used in the building of the house were originally intended for use in the 
 restoration of old St. Paul's. The populace were much . incensed by the mis- 
 use to which they were put. Clarendon was suspected, but unjustly, by the 
 people for his share in the Dutch war and for the sale, which he did not 
 initiate, but carried out, of Dunkirk. Consequently, Clarendon House was 
 called, by the mob, Dunkirk House, Holland House, and Tangier Hall. 
 
 From the Diary of that "honest and God-fearing" man, John Evelyn, we 
 get a vivid picture of Clarendon house, of its speedy sale, and of the 
 beginning of Bond Street. On October 5th, 1664, Evelyn dined at 
 The Great Worcester House, in the Strand, then the residence of the Earl. 
 Earl of "After dinner my Lord Chancellor and his lady carried me in their 
 Clarendon coach to see their palace building at the upper -end of St. James's 
 Streete, and to project the garden. In the evening, I presented 
 to him my book on Architecture, as before I had done to his Mat y . and y e 
 Queene Mother." On November 28th, 1666, Evelyn " went to see Clarendon 
 House, now almost finish'd, a goodly pile to see, but had many defects as to y e 
 architecture, yet plac'd most gracefully." That other great diarist, Samuel 
 Pepys, was mightily impressed by Clarendon House. On February 14th, 1665- 
 1666, he " took Mr. Hill to my Lord Chancellor's new house, that is building, 
 and went, with trouble, up to the top of it, and there's the noblest prospect 
 that ever I saw in my life, Greenwich being nothing to it ; and in everything 
 it is a beautiful house, and most strongly built in every respect ; and as if, as 
 it hath, it had the Chancellor for its master." Alas for the " \veakness 
 and vanity'' which Clarendon admits, in his autobiography, drew down upon 
 him "the gust of envy.'' Overthrown by court intrigues and the hostility of 
 parliament, Clarendon was dismissed from office in 1667, impeached, and
 
 8 
 
 banished. He spent the last six years of his life in tranquillity. From Rouen, 
 in 1674, he sent a most pathetic appeal to Charles for permission to " die in 
 his own country." His piteous entreaty was refused, and at Rouen he died, 
 on December the 9th. His remains were brought to England and laid in his 
 family vault in Westminster Abbey, but without a stone or name to mark the 
 spot, at the foot of the steps to Henry VII. 's chapel. It was not until 1867 
 that the name was added. 
 
 From the virtuous Lord Chancellor we pass to a lesser light, Sir Thomas 
 
 Bond. Clarendon House was sold, in 1675, to Christopher Monk, the second 
 
 and last Duke of Albemarle, whose extravagance was so great 
 
 Sir that he had to part with the property very soon after he had 
 
 Thomas purchased it. This famous house, which had helped in the 
 
 Bond downfall of its builder, was destroyed, and Bond Street came 
 
 into being. " After dinner," on the 18th of September, 1683, 
 
 Evelyn " walked to survey the sad demolition of Clarendon House, that costly 
 
 and only sumptuous palace of the late 
 Lord Chancellor Hyde, where I have 
 often been so cheerful with him. and 
 sometimes so sad." The ill-luck of 
 Clarendon House seems to have de- 
 scended to its purchaser. In a note, 
 Evelyn says : " Clarendon House, built 
 by Mr. Prat ; since quite demolished by 
 Sir Thomas Bond, &c., who purchased 
 it to build a street of tenements to his 
 undoing." Evelyn was well acquainted 
 with Bond and therefore likely to know- 
 all about his "undoing." In 1676, he 
 " went to see S r Tho. Bond's new and 
 fine house by Peckham." Again, in 
 1681, he " went to see S r Tho. Bond's 
 fine house and garden at Peckham." 
 Very little is known of Sir Thomas, 
 who has been dubbed " the first of 
 the company promoters." Bond was 
 a Roman Catholic ; he was comptroller 
 
 of the household to the Queen-Mother (Henrietta Maria) ; and he was created 
 a baronet in 1658, by Charles II., to whom, whilst in exile, he had advanced 
 large sums of money. He died, in 1685, soon after the purchase of 
 Clarendon House, and was buried at Camberwell, in which parish his "fine 
 house " was situated. 
 
 Little did the worthy citixen imagine that he was to be handed down to 
 fame by means of the most select and fashionable of all the shopping streets 
 in London. Although Bond Street was not built until 1686, it 
 soon achieved that celebrity which has clung to it through the 
 centuries. In 1708, it was described in Hatton's Xcw View of 
 London as " a line new street, mostly inhabited by nobility 
 and gentry, between Portugal Street and the Fields." At 
 that time, and for some sixteen years later, Lords Abington, Anglesey, 
 and Coningsby were residents of Bond Street. The " Bond Street 
 loungers," already alluded to, \vere noted as early as June 1st, 171 7, in the 
 
 EDWARD GIBBON 
 
 The 
 
 Nobility 
 and Gentry
 
 Weekly Journal.* Some of the most celebrated people of the world of 
 London have lived and moved and had their being in Bond Street. The 
 first Duke of St. Albans (the son of Charles II. and Nell Gwynne) died here 
 in 1726. In the London Gazette, in 1727, the following advertisement 
 
 appeared : "To be let or sold A house in Old Bond Street, Piccadilly, 
 
 of Four Rooms or a Floor with Closets, good Cellar, and all other con- 
 veniences. Being the house in which the late Duke of St. Albans lived." 
 Charles Jenkinson (1727-1808), the statesman, the first Earl of Liverpool, who 
 led the " King's friends '' after the retirement of Bute, lived in Bond Street in 
 1756. The elder William Pitt (1708-1778), the first Earl of Chatham, dated 
 from here in 1766, the year in which he accepted the earldom and took the 
 sinecure office of Lord Privy Seal. George Selwyn lodged here in 1751. 
 
 With but two exceptions, the celebrated residents of Bond Street have all 
 been men. In 1730, Lavinia Fenton, afterwards the Duchess of Bolton, then 
 in the first flush of her youth 
 
 The First and her triumph on the 
 Polly stage, came to live in Bond 
 
 Peachum Street, occupying the house 
 "in which the Lady Eliza- 
 beth Wentworth lived." Lavinia Fenton 
 was the original Polly Peachum in "The 
 Beggar's Opera/' which was produced at 
 the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in 
 1728, when Lavinia was twenty years of 
 age and her salary fifteen shillings a week. 
 She soon became the talk of the town. 
 Gay, the author, made a small fortune 
 out of it, and Rich, the manager, became 
 opulent. In that same year, Lavinia Fenton 
 appeared as Ophelia. " She was," says a 
 contemporary, " a very accomplished and 
 most agreeable companion ; had much 
 wit, strong good sense, and a just taste in 
 polite literature. Her person was agreeable 
 and well made, though I think she could 
 never be called a beauty.'' 
 
 The other female celebrity of Bond Street was the Countess of Maccles- 
 
 field, who was claimed as his mother by Richard Savage, the poet, and Queen 
 
 Caroline's " volunteer laureate " ; here she was besieged by her 
 
 An so-called son. Johnson, in his " Lives of the Poets," tells the 
 
 Unhappy story of this unfortunate incident in the life of the unhappy 
 
 Countess poet who, " disowned at birth by his mother,'' was " doomed to 
 
 poverty and obscurity, and launched upon the ocean of life only 
 
 that he might be swallowed by its quicksands or dashed upon its rocks. . . . 
 
 Mr. Savage, when he had discovered his birth, had an incessant desire to 
 
 " Could the builders have supposed their labours would have produced a place so 
 extremely fashionable, they might probably have deviated once at least from their usual 
 parsimony, by making the way rather wider ; as it is at present, coaches are greatly impeded 
 in the rapidity of their course, but this is a fortunate circumstance for the Bond Street Loungers, 
 who are by this defect granted glimpses of the fashionable and titled fair that pass and re-pass 
 from two till five o'clock." 
 
 LAURENCE STERNE
 
 10 
 
 speak to his mother, who always avoided him in public, and refused him 
 admission into her house. One evening, walking, as it was his custom, in the 
 street that she inhabited, he saw the door of the house by accident open ; he 
 entered it, and, finding no person in the passage to hinder him, went upstairs 
 to salute her. She discovered him before he entered the chamber, alarmed 
 the family with the most distressful outcries, and when she had by her 
 screams gathered them about her, ordered them to drive out of the house that 
 villain, who had forced himself in upon her, and endeavoured to murder her. 
 Savage, who had attempted with the most submissive tenderness to soften her 
 rage, hearing her utter so detestable an accusation, thought it prudent to 
 retire, and, I believe, never attempted afterwards to speak to her." In justice 
 to the lady, be it said that Savage himself was the sole authority for the claim 
 that he made as to his birth. He owes his reputation entirely to Johnson, 
 who knew Savage in his own struggling days, and, " moved by pity to 
 partiality, wrote what is, perhaps, the most perfect shorter 'Life' in English 
 
 literature." The "inherent improbabilities 
 and proved falsehoods " of Savage's story 
 were conclusively set at rest by the late 
 Moy Thomas, in 1858. The Countess 
 who was Anne, daughter of Sir Richard 
 Mason, and wife of Charles Gerard, the 
 second Earl of Macclesfield died in her 
 house in Bond Street on October llth, 
 1753, surviving by ten years, the man 
 who had caused her so much misery. 
 
 Apart from the first Polly Peachum 
 and the unfortunate Countess, the story 
 of Bond Street belongs to 
 A men only. One of its most 
 
 Famous illustrious inhabitants was 
 Historian the historian, Edward 
 Gibbon, who, born in 1737, 
 had passed five years in Switzerland 
 before he returned to London. Here, alas, 
 he found " crowds without company, and 
 dissipation without pleasure." He was 
 lodging in the street of this history in 1760. "While coaches were rattling 
 through Bond Street," he says, " I have passed many solitary evenings in my 
 lodgings with my books " dreaming, may be, of his attachment to Susanne 
 Lurched (afterwards Madame Necker). An inhabitant of lesser note was 
 Richard West (1716-1742), the poet, the school-friend of Thomas Gray at Eton. 
 He entered the Middle Temple in 1733. But he moved from there to Bond 
 Street. " I lived in the Temple till I was sick of it," he wrote to Gray, " it is 
 certain at least that I can study the law here as well as I could there." 
 Archibald Bower, the historian and religious turncoat, died in Bond Street, 
 in 1766. 
 
 Among the lesser notabilities of the thoroughfare in the eighteenth 
 century was Sir Luke Schaub, the diplomatist, a Swiss by birth. He held 
 many important posts on the Continent. In 1718, he was the English agent at 
 Madrid ; from 1721-24, he was our ambassador at Paris. Thanks to the 
 machinations of Lord Townshend, he was superseded in the latter post by 
 
 JAMES THOMSON
 
 11 
 
 Horatio Walpole, the first Baron Walpole, who was so much satirised for the 
 coarseness of his speech and manners. Sir Luke lived in Bond Street in 1746. 
 Another minor celebrity of the fashionable street was Thomas Hervey, the 
 second son of the first Earl of Bristol. The Hon. Thomas derives his fame 
 from Dr. Johnson, who remonstrated with him for his ill-usage of his wife. 
 This eccentric person wrote several crazy pamphlets, including " An answer to 
 a letter he received from Dr. Samuel Johnson to dissuade him from parting 
 with his supposed (second) wife," in 1763, when he was living in Bond Street. 
 
 Laurence Sterne did not live much in London. His chief association 
 with the metropolis was in his later days, and, curiously enough, it was in 
 London, and in Bond Street, that he died. When he did come 
 The Author to London, he enjoyed much popularity. In 1760, he was 
 of "Tristram lodging in Pall Mall, and, according to Dr. Johnson, had 
 Shandy " engagements for every day and night for three months ahead. 
 He died of pleurisy, on the 18th of March, 1768, in lodgings at 
 No. 41, Old Bond Street, "over the 
 silk- bag shop,'' at the age of fifty-rive. 
 His last moments are described by 
 John Macdonald, a gentleman's servant, 
 who became known as Beau Macdonald, 
 in his " Travels in Various Parts of 
 Europe, Asia, and Africa," published 
 in 1790. " About this time, Mr. Sterne, 
 the celebrated author, was taken ill 
 at the silk -bag shop in Old Bond 
 Street. ' John,' said my master, ' go 
 and enquire how Mr. Sterne is to-day.' 
 
 I went to Mr. Sterne's 
 
 lodgings ; the mistress opened the door ; 
 I enquired how he did. She told me 
 to go up to the nurse. I went into the 
 room, and he was just a-dying. I waited 
 ten minutes ; but in five he said, ' Now 
 it is come ! ' He put up his hand 
 as if to stop a blow, and died in a 
 minute." 
 
 Another literary inhabitant of Bond Street was James Thomson, the poet 
 
 of the seasons." Thomson, who came to London in 1725, when he was 
 
 twenty-five years old, lived at first in humble lodgings at 
 
 The "Poet Charing Cross, and, when he was writing portions of "Summer," 
 
 of the in Little Tower Street, East cheap. In later years, when his 
 Seasons** circumstances were comparatively affluent, he came to the 
 West-End. From Mrs. Piozzi's "Journey through ^ Italy," we 
 learn that " charming Thomson wrote from his lodgings, a milliner's in Bond 
 Street, where he seldom rose early enough to see the sun do more than glisten 
 on the opposite windows of the street.'' His first play, " Sophonisba, ' 
 produced in 1729, contained the well-known line, "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba 
 O," which resulted in the parody, " O Jemmy Thomson, Jemmy Thomson O," 
 and the immediate death of the tragedy. Thomson's best work, " The Castle 
 of Indolence," was published in May, 1748. He died, three months later, at 
 Richmond, a favourite resort of his. 
 
 JAMES BOSWELL
 
 12 
 
 The most glorious chapter in the literary annals of Bond Street is that 
 
 which tells the story of the dinner-party to which Boswell invited Dr. 
 
 Johnson, David Gairick, Oliver Goldsmith, and some others. 
 
 A Famous In the year 1769, Boswell was lodging in Old Bond Street. On 
 
 Dinner the 16th of October, a small but distinguished company 
 
 Party honoured him by their presence.* The giver of the feast was 
 
 the youngest, Johnson the oldest, of the group. James Boswell, 
 
 indeed, was only half the age of Johnson, for he was not yet thirty. He had 
 
 made the acquaintance of his hero some six years before. In the meantime, 
 
 he had studied civil law at Utrecht, had visited Berlin and Geneva, had met 
 
 Voltaire and Rousseau, had made the acquaintance of Wilkes in Italy, and 
 
 had been introduced to General Paoli in Corsica. His "Account of Corsica," 
 
 was published in 1768. In the following year the year of the dinner his 
 
 " Essays in Favour of the Brave Corsicans " was issued, and he took part in 
 
 the Shakespearean Jubilee Celebrations 
 which Garrick arranged at Stratford-on- 
 Avon. Johnson, of course, had come 
 into his own long before 1769. So, also, 
 had Garrick, whose supremacy on the 
 English stage had been undisputed for 
 many years. In 1769, he was within 
 seven years of his retirement. He 
 was fifty-one, but full of life and of 
 that vivacity which he derived from 
 his French father and his Irish 
 mother. Goldsmith, ten years Garrick's 
 junior, had been acquainted with 
 Johnson since 1761. Johnson's praise 
 of his " Traveller " did much to 
 enhance Goldsmith's earlier literary 
 reputation. It was Johnson who, in 
 1766, sold "The Vicar of Wake- 
 field " for Goldsmith, thus saving 
 him from arrest for debt. In 1769, 
 Goldsmith's " History of Rome '' 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON \vas published . The greatest celebrity 
 
 in his time in English art was still 
 
 a young man in 1769. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first president of the 
 Royal Academy 'founded in 1768, by George III.), had received the accolade 
 in April of the year of the dinner. He was then, at the age of forty-six, in the 
 zenith of his fame. His Discourses, which he delivered before the students of 
 the Academy, were fourteen in number. They were mostly orations on art 
 and they made it evident that the great painter was also entitled to a high 
 place in the literary ranks of his wonderful epoch. 
 
 *Boswell's dinner-party in Bond Street took place just two days after the production by 
 Garrick of his Shakespeare pageant at Drury Lane. His commemoration of the dramatist at 
 Stratford-on-Avon began on September 6th, 1769. In this, Boswell was a remarkable figure. 
 As the friend of Paoli. the Corsican patriot, lie appeared in a Corsican dress, with a scarlet 
 waistcoat, a stiletto in his belt, and a musket on his back. He wore a cap, with a blue feather, 
 and around it, in letters of gold, the words, "Viva la Liberia." He also wore his Corsican 
 costume in London. The celebration at Stratford was marred by terrible weather. In 
 London, the pageant was given for nearly a hundred nights at Old Drury.
 
 13 
 
 Johnson, Reynolds, Garrick, and Goldsmith were the bright, particular 
 
 stars on this joyous evening in Bond Street. The lesser luminaries, however, 
 
 deserve a note to themselves. Thomas Davies is an interesting 
 
 Minor figure. In 1769, Johnson being sixty, Davies was fifty-seven. 
 Celebrities It was through him that Boswell, in 1763, effected his meeting 
 
 at the with Johnson. At that time, Davies was a bookseller, who kept 
 
 Party a shop in Russell Street, Covent Garden.* A man of some 
 education, he began life as an actor, but was driven from 
 the stage by a cruel line in Churchill's " Rosciad." Boswell says that 
 Davies " was a man of good understanding and talents, with the advantage of 
 a liberal education. Though somewhat pompous, he was an entertaining 
 companion ; and his literary performances have no inconsiderable share of 
 merit. He was a friendly and very hospitable man ; both he and his wife 
 (who has been celebrated for her beauty), though upon the stage for many 
 years, maintained an uniform decency 
 of character, and Johnson esteemed 
 them, and lived in as easy an intimacy 
 with them as with any family which he 
 used to visit." The story of Boswell 
 sitting in Davies's back parlour, waiting 
 the approach of the Great Cham, is 
 vastly amusing, but, unfortunately, it has 
 no place in this history. Enough has 
 been said to show that Davies was held 
 in high esteem by Johnson. His " Life 
 of Garrick," published in 1780, is an 
 admirable biography. 
 
 The other members of the party were 
 two Irishmen, Arthur Murphy and Isaac 
 Bickerstaffe. The former, who was born 
 in 1727, was an author and an actor. 
 He went on the stage in 1754, and, as 
 a consequence, was refused admission to 
 the Middle Temple three years later, 
 but was admitted at Lincoln's Inn. He 
 edited Fielding's works in 1762, wrote 
 
 an "Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson" in 1792, and a 
 "Life of David Garrick" in 1801. He lived to be nearly eighty, and died 
 respected and in comfort. Less happy, in his old age, was Isaac Bickerstaffe. 
 He was born in Ireland, about 1735, and, at eleven, became page to Lord 
 Chesterfield, the Lord Lieutenant. Between 1756 and 1771 he produced 
 many successful pieces (the plot of which was invariably taken from other 
 plays). " The Maid of the Mill " and " Love in a Village " achieved 
 immense popularity. In 1769, he was a favourite writer and man about town, 
 little dreaming of the disgrace which was to befall him. He is supposed 
 to have died on the continent in or about the year 1821. 
 
 *"The very place where I was fortunate enough to he introduced to the illustrious 
 subject of this work, deserves to be particularly marked. I never pass by it without feeing 
 reverence and regret." Boswell. No. 8, Russell Street still stands, The upper part does not 
 seem to have been altered, but the ground-floor is now an open space used by a wholesale 
 green-grocer. A. B. 
 
 OLIVER GOLDSMITH
 
 Bosvvell gives us a lengthy account of this brilliant night in Bond Street. 
 
 Lengthy though it be, one could have wished that it had been complete. 
 
 Naturally, it centres around Johnson, and his side of the 
 
 Goldsmith's conversation is recorded with particular care. We get an 
 
 "Bloom- enchanting glimpse of Garrick and the immortal picture of 
 
 coloured" Goldsmith and his "bloom-coloured" coat. Garrick, we are 
 
 Coat told, " played round " Johnson " with a fond vivacity, taking 
 
 hold of the breasts of his coat, and, looking up in his face with 
 
 a lively archness, complimented him on the good health which he seemed then 
 
 to enjoy ; while the sage, shaking his head, beheld him with a gentle 
 
 complacency." Thus this memorable evening began. One of the company 
 
 not having arrived at the appointed hour, Boswell proposed that he should 
 
 order dinner to be served, adding " Ought six people to be kept waiting for 
 
 one ? " " Why, yes," answered Johnson, with a delicate humanity, "if the one 
 
 will suffer more by your sitting down than the six will do by waiting." In 
 
 order " to divert the tedious minutes," 
 Goldsmith " strutted about, bragging of 
 his dress, and I believe was seriously 
 vain of it, for his mind was wonderfully 
 prone to such impressions." So, also, 
 be it remarked, was Boswell himself, 
 for he had recently "strutted about" in 
 Corsican costume, and Forster reminds 
 us that he "was so proud of his ordinary 
 dress that he would show off, to the 
 smallest of printer's devils, his new 
 ruffles and sword." On the very day of 
 the dinner. Goldsmith's tailor had sent 
 home sundry clothes to the author of 
 "The Vicar of Wakefield." Here is 
 an extract from Mr. Filby's ledger, 
 under date October 16th, 1769 : 
 
 To making a half-dress suit of s - d - 
 ratteen, lined with satin ... 12 12 
 To a pair of silk stocking breeches 250 
 DAVID GARRICK To a pair of bloom-coloured ditto 146 
 
 No wonder that Goldsmith was proud of the new clothes which he had 
 donned for the occasion. "Come, come," rejoined Garrick, "You are perhaps 
 the \vorst-eh, eh ! " Goldsmith attempted to interrupt him, but Garrick went 
 on, laughing ironically. " Nay, you will always look like a gentleman, but I 
 am talking of being well or ill drest." "Well, let me tell you," replied 
 Goldsmith, "when my tailor brought home my bloom-coloured coat, he said, 
 ' Sir, I have a favour to beg of you. When anybody asks you who made your 
 clothes, be pleased to mention John Filby, at the Harrow, in Water Lane.' " 
 Johnson : " Why, sir, that was because he knew the strange colour would 
 attract crowds to gaze at it, and thus they might hear of him, and see how 
 well he could make a coat even of so absurd a colour." Mr. Filby deserves 
 the immortality bestowed upon him by the " bloom-coloured " coat. 
 Goldsmith, at his death, was indebted to his tailor in the sum of 79 14s. Od- 
 
 *Water Lane. Fleet Street, was changed to Whitefriars Street, in 1844, at the request 
 of the~freeholders of the lane.
 
 15 
 
 After dinner, the conversation turned upon Pope. His characters of men, 
 Johnson said, were admirably drawn, those of women not so well. He 
 repeated to the company, " in his forcible, melodious manner," the con- 
 cluding lines of the " Dunciad " : 
 
 " Lo ! thy dread empire, Chaos, is restored ! 
 Light dies before thy unrevealed word ; 
 Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall, 
 And universal darkness buries all ! " 
 
 While he was talking loudly in praise of those lines, " one of the company,'' 
 who is believed to have been Boswell, the host, ventured to say, " Too hne 
 for such a poem : a poem on what ? " Whereupon Johnson, with 
 Johnson a disdainful look, thundered at him : " Why, on dunces. It was 
 on worth while being a dunce then. Ah, Sir, hadst thou lived in 
 
 Dunces those days ! It is not worth while being a dunce now, when 
 there are no wits." From Pope and his Pastorals, which 
 Johnson considered " poor things, though 
 the versification was fine," the conver- 
 sation passed to Dryden. The mention 
 of Congreve provoked an exciting scene 
 between Garrick and Johnson. Johnson 
 said that the description of the temple 
 in "The Mourning Bride" was "the 
 finest poetical passage he had ever read.* 
 He recollected none in Shakespeare 
 equal to it." Boswell says that Garrick, 
 all alarmed for " the God of his idolatry/' 
 interposed with the remark, " we know 
 not the extent and variety of his 
 powers. We are to suppose that there 
 are such passages in his works. Shakes- 
 peare must not suffer from the badness 
 of our memories." Johnson, diverted by 
 this enthusiastic jealousy, went on with 
 great ardour : " No, Sir ; Congreve has 
 nature " (smiling on the tragic eagerness 
 of Garrick). Composing himself, he 
 added : " Sir, this is not comparing 
 Congreve on the whole with Shakespeare on the whole ; but only main- 
 taining that Congreve has one finer passage than any that can be found in 
 Shakespeare. Sir, a man may have no more than ten guineas in the 
 world, but he may have those ten guineas in one piece ; and so may have 
 a finer piece than a man who has ten thousand pounds : but, then, he 
 has only one ten guinea piece." The other members of the company 
 managed to get a word in edgewise in the after-dinner conversation, but 
 
 * " The Mourning Bride," 1697, is Congreve's only tragedy. The passage which 
 Johnson praised so highly is as follows : 
 
 " How reverend is the face of this tall pile, 
 Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads 
 To bear aloft its arch'd and ponderous roof, 
 By its own weight made steadfast and immovable 
 Looking tranquility ! It strikes an awe 
 And terror on my aching sight." 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS
 
 16 
 
 Garrick \vas the only one who could stand up to the Oracle. The actor 
 loved to provoke his old friend, and was always quietly poking fun at him 
 and leading him on. Speaking of an essay on Shakespeare written by a lady,* 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds observed : " I think that essay does her honour." To 
 which Johnson replied : " Yes, Sir, it does her honour, but it would do no one 
 else honour. I have, indeed, not read it all. But when I take up the end of 
 a web and rind it pack-thread, I do not expect, by looking further, to find 
 embroidery. Sir, I w r ill venture to say, there's not one sentence of true 
 criticism in her book." Garrick thought that, at least, it showed how much 
 Voltaire had mistaken Shakespeare, which nobody else had done. " Sir," 
 said Dr. Johnson, " nobody else has thought it worth while. And what merit 
 is there in that ? You may as well praise a schoolmaster for whipping a boy 
 who has construed ill. Xo, Sir, there's no real criticism in it : none showing 
 the beauty of thought, as formed on the workings of the human heart." It 
 
 was not possible for the evening to pass 
 without some allusions to the Scotch. 
 Praising the literary method of a certain 
 writer whom he dubbed " The Scotch- 
 man," Johnson concluded with his opinion 
 of the ballad of "Hardyknute," a "modern 
 antique," which was supposed to have 
 been written by Elizabeth Halket, after- 
 wards Lady Wardlaw. She was also the 
 reputed authoress of " Sir Patrick Spens " 
 and other ballads. ''Hardyknute" was 
 published in 1719. "The ballad," said 
 Johnson, " has no great merit, if it 
 be really ancient. People talk of nature. 
 But mere obvious nature may be exhi- 
 bited with very little power of mind."t 
 
 Samuel Johnson has a fascinating 
 influence over the London life of his 
 day, a topic from which it is difficult to 
 drag oneself away. Fleet Street was 
 his haunt. It was a fortunate circum- 
 stance that he came to Boswell's dinner 
 in Bond Street, for his visit discloses to us a glimpse of Johnson in the west 
 end which is as rare as it is interesting. % On the other hand, a great literary 
 
 *Mrs. Montagu (1720-1880), \vife of Edward Montagu, grandson of the first Earl of 
 Sandwich, the famous "blue stocking" and Society lady. She built Montagu House, 
 Portman Square. Her " Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear," in which she 
 attacked Voltaire, was published in 1769. 
 
 tA picture of Boswell's lodgings in Bond Street, a fancy scene, with portraits of the 
 celebrities at the dinner, was painted by \V. P. Frith, whose "Derby Day," "The Railway 
 Station," and "The Road to Ruin," brought him so much celebrity. His "Before Dinner at 
 Boswell's Lodgings," painted in 1868, was sold at Christie's in 1875, for 4,567, a larger sum 
 than had ever before been paid for a picture by an English artist during the lifetime of the 
 painter. 
 
 + Boswell lived but little amid the well-known haunts and habitations of Johnson. His 
 fancy inclined more to May fair. He prided himself upon the excellence of his dinners. In 
 1768, he had lodgings in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly. On May 14th, he wrote from there : 
 " I am really ilic great man uou' ... I give admirable dinners and good claret." The 
 "Life" was written in Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square. 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT
 
 17 
 
 man of a later age, the poet Byron, was associated with the London life of 
 
 St. James's Street and Piccadilly, and knew not the habitations of Johnson. 
 
 Byron also knew Jermyn Street, Bennet Street, the Albany, 
 
 Byron and Albemarle Street well. He frequently passed through 
 
 and Bond Street on his way from the Albany to the home of his 
 
 Scott publisher, Mr. Murray, in Albemarle Street. Moore, in his life 
 
 of Lord Byron, tells us that when, in 1811, at the house of 
 
 Samuel Rogers, No. 22, St. James's Place, Piccadilly, he first met Byron, he 
 
 was impressed by " the nobleness of his air, his beauty, the gentleness of his 
 
 voice and manners and what was naturally not the least attraction his 
 
 marked kindness to myself. Being in mourning for his mother, the colour, 
 
 as well as his dress, of, his glossy, curling, and picturesque hair gave more 
 
 effect to the pure, spiritual paleness of his features, in the expression of 
 
 which, when he spoke, there was a perpetual play of lively thought, though 
 
 melancholy was their habitual character 
 
 when in repose." 
 
 Sir Walter Scott met Lord Byron in 
 
 the spring of 1815. " Report," he wrote to 
 
 Moore, after Byron's death, " had pre- 
 pared me to meet a man of peculiar 
 
 habits and quick temper ; and I had some 
 
 doubts whether we were likely to suit 
 
 each other in society. I was most 
 
 agreeably disappointed in this respect. I 
 
 found Lord Byron in the highest degree 
 
 courteous and ever kind. We met for 
 
 an hour or two almost daily in Mr. 
 
 Murray's drawing-room, and found a 
 
 great deal to say to each other." It 
 
 was in Bond Street that Scott and Byron 
 
 saw each other, in 1815, for the last 
 
 time, after Sir Walter returned from 
 France : " He dined, or lunched, with me 
 
 at Long's, in Bond Street. I never saw 
 
 him so full of gayety or good-humour, 
 
 to which the presence of Mr. Mathews, 
 
 the comedian, added not a little. After one of the gayest parties I was ever 
 
 present at, I set off for Scotland, and I never saw Lord Byron again." A 
 
 few months later, and Byron had left England for ever. 
 
 " Mr. Mathews, the comedian," whose presence added not a little to the 
 gaiety of the last meeting between Byron and Scott, was the elder Mathews, 
 Charles, who, in 1815, was at the height of his fame. He was on a friendly 
 footing, not only with members of his own calling, but with Coleridge and 
 Charles Lamb. Leigh Hunt, Horace Smith, and Byron had the greatest 
 admiration for him. Born in 1776, he died in 1835. His son, Charles 
 James (1803-1878), a light comedian of the highest order, married, in 
 1838, the famous actress, Lucia Elizabeth Vestris. Their son, Sir 
 Charles Willie Mathews, born in 1850, is the Director of Public Prosecutions 
 of our day. 
 
 The annals of Bond Street take in the names of many other celebrities - 
 Swift, Johnson's friend, Bennet Langton, and Lady Hamilton among the 
 
 CHARLES MATHEWS
 
 18 
 
 number. But they belong to New Bond Street. Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
 
 however, lived at No. 24, Old Bond Street, before his election to the Royal 
 
 Academy, in 1791, and at No. 29, 
 after his election. Ozias 
 Nelson Humphrey, the miniature 
 and the painter, resided, in 1796, at 
 Mob No. 13. Nelson knew the 
 neighbourhood of Piccadilly 
 better than that of any other part of 
 London. It \vas at Nerot's Hotel, in 
 King Street, St. James's, that he separated 
 from Lady Nelson, in the winter of 1800- 
 1801. Some years before that, he was 
 lodging in New Bond Street, at No. 141. 
 This was in 1797, after the battle of 
 Cape St. Vincent, and the expedition 
 against Teneriffe, in which he lost his 
 right arm. His flag was hauled down 
 at Spithead on September 3rd. He 
 immediately joined his wife and father at 
 Bath, subsequently coming to London 
 to be invested with the Order of the 
 Bath by George III. The wound to his 
 arm caused him intense suffering. At 
 
 his earnest request, says Southey, Lady Nelson "attended the dressing 
 
 until she had acquired sufficient resolution and skill to dress it her- 
 self. One night, during this state of 
 
 suffering, after a day of constant pain, 
 
 Nelson retired early to bed, in hope of 
 
 enjoying some respite by means of 
 
 laudanum. He was at that time lodging 
 
 in Bond Street ; and the family was 
 
 soon disturbed by a mob knocking 
 
 loudly and violently at the door. The 
 
 news of Duncan's Victory * had been 
 
 made public, and the house was not 
 
 illuminated. But when the mob were 
 
 told that Admiral Nelson lay there in 
 
 bed, badly wounded, the foremost of 
 
 them made answer, ' You shall hear no 
 
 more from us to-night ' ; and, in fact, the 
 
 feeling of respect and sympathy was 
 
 communicated from one to another with 
 
 such effect, that, under the confusion of 
 
 such a night, the house was not molested 
 
 again." LORD NELSON 
 
 SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE 
 
 * _Adam, Viscount Duncan (1731-1804), Admiral and Commander-in-Chief in the North 
 Sea, 1795-1801. In 1797, when Nelson was lying ill in Bond Street, Duncan defeated the 
 Dutch Admiral, De Winter, off Camperdown.
 
 19 
 
 Let us retrace our steps to Old Bond Street and note the last of the 
 literary celebrities of the past who lived in this region of romance. At 
 No. 27 A, William Harrison Ainsworth resided from 1834 to 1841. 
 The Author It was in the hrst-namecl year that Ainsworth rose to fame 
 of "Jack with " Rookwood," which contains the stirring picture of Dick 
 Sheppard" Turpin's Ride to York. In 1839, came "Jack Sheppard," "The 
 Tower of London" followed in the next year. "Guy Fawkes" 
 and "Old St. Paul's" were published in 1841. When Harrison lived in Bond 
 Street, Lady Blessington 
 was holding her literary 
 assemblies at Gore House, 
 Kensington. The novelist 
 was one of her most as- 
 siduous correspondents, 
 many of his letters to her 
 being dated from No. 27A. 
 Marguerite, who afterwards 
 became the wife of the 
 first Earl of Blessington, 
 the daughter of a country 
 gentleman of small means, 
 was born at Knockbril, 
 near Clonmel, in the county 
 of Tipperary, in the year 
 1789. Her father was of a 
 fiery nature and half-mad. 
 At the age of fourteen 
 and a-half, she was mar- 
 ried to a captain in the 
 army, one Farmer, whose 
 sole gift seems to have been 
 a violent temper. She was 
 soon separated from him. 
 Marguerite's second hus- 
 band was Charles John 
 Gardiner, Earl of Bles- 
 sington, to whom she was 
 married when she was 
 twenty-eight. He was a 
 man who was "mad with 
 self-\vill," extravagant, and 
 fond of display. For some 
 
 eight years, Lord and Lady COUNT D'ORSAY 
 
 Blessington travelled on the 
 
 Continent, and resided for a considerable time in Italy. They were accom- 
 panied by a niece of her ladyship's, and by Count Alfred Guillaume Gabriel 
 D'Orsay, son of General Count D'Orsay, one of the old French noblesse. 
 
 Now, Alfred was a very plausible fellow, tall and handsome, some ten 
 years younger than the Countess. He first of all fascinated the Earl, who 
 insisted upon his marrying one of his daughters (" he did not care 
 which") by a former marriage. This event occurred at Naples, in 1827.
 
 20 
 
 Two years later, Lord Blessington died in Paris, of apoplexy. Soon 
 
 afterwards, his widow, and the Count and Countess Alfred, came to London. 
 
 In KS36. the younger people separated, and Lady Blessington set up house in 
 
 Kensington. Here, she gathered around her "poets and 
 
 Lady prose writers, both Tory and Whig, distinguished journalists, 
 
 Blessington Edinburgh and Quarterly reviewers, with actors, artists, travellers, 
 
 exiles, etc., Landor and Thomas Moore being the leaders among 
 
 the poets, and Prince Louis Napoleon at the head of the exiles. Every 
 
 Published hy Mitchell's Li hi 
 
 celebrated novelist, in particular, naturally made one of a circle, over which 
 presided the charming woman, who was herself a novelist." The ladies were 
 conspicuous by their absence from Gore House, for they looked askance at 
 one roof sheltering the beautiful widow and the Adonis who was so much 
 her junior in years. On his death-bed, the tears pouring down his face, the 
 Count declared that Lady Blessington "was to me as a mother ! a dear, dear 
 mother ! a true loving mother to me ! " Well, it may have been so. 
 
 But how, it may be asked, do Lady Blessington and the Count D'Orsay 
 come into this strange, eventful history ? The answer is simplicity itself. In 
 the hey-day of their success, they were customers at the earliest of
 
 21 
 
 the Bond Street libraries, and often stopped in their walks abroad to 
 
 purchase books and stationery, magazines of fashion, and boxes for the 
 
 opera, at No. 33. If Lady Blessington possessed the brains of the 
 
 couple she wrote novels, edited a " Book of Beauty," and, on its foundation, 
 
 contributed to the Daily News- -the- Count Alfred was the figure-head. "To 
 
 see D'Orsay coming up a lobby, or a drawing-room, was a sight ; his face was 
 
 so delicate, his figure so manly, and his white waistcoat so 
 
 "The Last ample and august," wrote Leigh Hunt, who "happened once 
 
 of the to see him and O'Connell sitting opposite one another, the latter 
 
 Dandies*' with a waistcoat to match, and" was "at a loss to think which 
 had the finer 'thorax' of the two the great Irishman, who 
 thundered across the channel, or the magnificent French Adonis, who seemed 
 to ennoble dandyism." In 1831, when Lady Blessington and Count Alfred and 
 his wife were living in May-fair, they had accounts as did most of the other 
 fashionable people of the time at the library of John Mitchell. These old 
 accounts are very interesting, throwing, as they do, an instructive light upon 
 bygone times and the useful purposes which the libraries of those days 
 served. Lady Blessington who had met Byron in Genoa was an ardent 
 purchaser of his works. On different dates in 1832, she bought at Mitchell's 
 seventeen volumes of Byron's works. Some of her other purchases here 
 are curious. They include Henderson's " Rules for Health," 6s. ; Moore's 
 "Dictionary of Quotations," 12s.; the "Law of Husband and Wife," 8s.; nnd 
 Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy," for 24s. Of her own "Book of Beauty/' 
 she bought many copies at a guinea each. Later on, she purchased several 
 copies of her "Conversations with Lord Byron," at 14s. On June 15th, 1832, 
 her ladyship paid ,6 6s. for a box at the opera on a benefit night, and, 
 on another occasion, she was debited with the sum of one shilling for 
 " hackney coach fares." 
 
 Even more interesting than the account of Lady Blessington is that 
 
 of the Count D'Orsay. For he appears to have obtained a vast quantity of 
 
 writing and drawing material from Mitchell's library ink, note 
 
 D'Orsay 's paper of various sorts, drawing pins and pencils, white drawing 
 Library paper, " whited brown " paper, in unlimited quantities. He 
 
 Account was perpetually buying cards, presumably visiting cards, 100 
 each time. He indulged in many boxes at the opera and at the 
 Adelphi, Astley's, and the Olympic theatres. His first account was 30 odd. 
 He paid 20 off this, and went on gaily again until he owed over 90. 
 What happened after this it is impossible to say. But the debit side of the 
 old library was a very heavy one. Unlimited credit was given, and most 
 people just gave an occasional 20, or 30, as it suited them.- Even the son 
 of the first John Mitchell had an account at No. 33 in the year 1832, mostly 
 for books. "John Mitchell, Esq., Junr., "devoured Byron and the early volumes 
 of Lardner's " Cyclopasdia " by the dozen. As for ink, blue black, and red, 
 he must have swallowed it. In one year, 1832, his bill for books and ink 
 and " 100 quills, extra best " was 33 10s. 8d. But he discharged it and 
 started on a fresh round of Byron, Lardner, and ink. 
 
 The libraries, as such, disappeared long ago, but the theatre ticket 
 offices of the West-end are spoken of to this day by that old-fashioned 
 appellation. Bond Street has been famous for its libraries for over a hundred 
 years. The libraries not only sold books and engravings. They published them. 
 Moreover, they indulged then, as now, in investing their money in the purchase
 
 22 
 
 of boxes at the opera for re-sale. One of the most noted of those old-time 
 librarians was John Ebers, who was born in London about the year 1785. Early 
 
 in life, he had a shop at No. 27, Old Bond Street. He is 
 "An alluded to in the chronicles of the time as "an opulent book- 
 
 Opulent seller." He went into that most dangerous of speculations, the 
 Bookseller*' management of Italian opera. For some years, he struggled 
 
 manfully against disaster, losing in that time 44,080. The end 
 was a heart-breaking affair. One outcome of it was a valuable contribution to 
 the history of Italian opera in this country. In 1828, Ebers published a book 
 " Seven Years of the King's Theatre " (the Italian Opera House in the 
 Haymarket) in which he set out his accounts in justification of himself. It is 
 an instructive book. His business in Old Bond Street bookseller, stationer, 
 and "opera agent " -was carried on until 1863. Ebers, who was the son of 
 German parents, died in 1830. 
 
 The most famous of the old librarians was John Mitchell the first, who 
 was born on April 21, 1806. In his youth, he was employed by William 
 
 Sams, who was the first to start the system of selling seats in the 
 
 A " libraries." He soon acquired an interest in the business. He 
 
 Noted continued in St. James's Street until the year 1834, when he 
 
 Librarian moved to new premises, No. 33, Old Bond Street, at the corner 
 
 of Stafford Street. Two years later, he began, at the Lyceum 
 Theatre, a season of Italian comic opera, under the name of " Opera Buffa." 
 Donizetti's opera, " L'Elisir cl'Amore," was given for the first time in England 
 under his direction at the Lyceum on December 10, 1836. To Mitchell 
 belongs the honour of introducing to London, in 1842, Rossini's " Stabat 
 Mater." In that year he became the lessee of the St. James's Theatre, a bold 
 experiment, for the house had a bad record of failure. Mitchell's management 
 lasted for twelve years. During that time he brought to London the best of 
 French players and companies Dejazet, Frederic Lemaitre, Ravel, Levasseur, 
 and Rachel. In 1853, he introduced a German company to the St. James's. 
 They gave " Faust " and several Shakespearean plays. In that year, also, 
 Mitchell brought the Cologne Choir to England. Mitchell, it is said on the 
 highest authority, " was held in great esteem and friendship by the leaders of 
 the stage and the concert room." He died in London on December 10, 1874, 
 in his 68th year. 
 
 Happily for this narrative the present head of the house came to Old 
 Bond Street as a boy. In the early 'seventies, George Ashton, after some 
 
 experience in a City office, came west, and had the good fortune 
 
 A to make an immediate and unexpected hit although not quite 
 
 Lucky in the orthodox manner. Much to his surprise, the duty 
 
 Fall devolved upon him of receiving the Prince of Wales (afterwards 
 
 Edward VII.) at the Court Theatre. He had no dress suit, and 
 had to borrow the clothes from a friend, who was much taller. The reception 
 passed off fairly well, but when the youthful attendant upon Royalty was 
 backing down the stairs at the end of the play, his fears and the bagginess 
 of his borrowed trousers overcame him, and down he fell, much to the 
 consternation of himself and the amusement of the Prince. A comical 
 introduction, but one that was fortunate, for Mr. Ashton has been in attendance 
 upon Royalty ever since in short, for nearly half a century. Not only has he 
 been in personal attendance upon the Sovereign at every theatre or place of 
 entertainment during that period, but to him has fallen the responsibility for
 
 23 
 
 the arrangements in connection with every "command" performance at 
 Windsor, Sandringham, and the various theatres visited by King Edward and 
 Queen Alexandra and by their present Majesties. 
 
 John Mitchell was succeeded in the business by his nephew, William 
 Stair Mitchell, upon whose death Mr. Ashton left No. 33, and started an 
 establishment of his own at No. 38, taking with him the patronage of the 
 Prince of Wales, with the result that, a few years later, he absorbed the old 
 firm into his own and returned to the office where he had started as a junior 
 clerk. He soon developed the business, and the name of Ashton and Mitchell 
 is as well known now in Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds where the firm 
 has branch offices as in London. By permission of King Edward, given in 
 1901, Ashton and Mitchell are entitled to use the prefix "Royal" in 
 describing their theatre and concert agency. In 1869, as will be seen from 
 the reproduction of a brass plate, which 
 records the event, the " library " was 
 visited by Queen Victoria. 
 
 One of the callers at No. 33 was 
 
 the great actor-manager of the Lyceum 
 
 Theatre, Henry Irving, who 
 
 Henry looked in on more than one 
 
 Irving occasion to have a chat with, 
 and maybe, to receive a 
 word of encouragement from Mr. Ashton. 
 During the most successful period of his 
 career, Irving lived a few yards away, at 
 No. ISA, Grafton Street, at the corner of 
 Bond Street, opposite what used to be 
 Long's Hotel. Just about the time 
 when Mr. Ashton was commencing his 
 career, Henry Irving had made his first 
 step on the ladder of fame. When he 
 took up his abode in the rooms which 
 he occupied for so many years, he had 
 played Digby Grant in "Two Roses," he 
 had thrilled a London audience by his 
 recital of " The Dream of Eugene 
 Aram," and he had electrified the playgoing world by- his performance of 
 Mathias in " The Bells." Irving occupied these chambers from 1873 until 
 1899, when, in search of sun, he moved to Stratton Street. The Grafton 
 Street rooms were somewhat gloomy, but, during his occupation of them, 
 Henry Irving came to the summit of his fame. He was a great thinker, 
 and much of his work for the stage was accomplished in this corner house. 
 Here he entertained his personal friends, not only with a lavishness which 
 sometimes ran to extremes, but with, more valuable than mere generosity, 
 a consideration which made him a prince among his fellows. Here he 
 came after his great triumphs. Here he lived his lonely life : here he 
 received the knighthood by which his calling was honoured. 
 
 SIR HENRY IRVING
 
 BOND STREET 
 1831 
 
 Dear Street ! where at a certain hour 
 Man's follies bud forth into flower ! 
 Where the gay minor sighs for fashion ; 
 Where majors live that minors cash on ; 
 Where each who wills may suit his wish, 
 Here choose a Guido there his fish : 
 Or where, if woman's love beguiles, 
 The ugliest dog is sure of smiles. 
 
 LORD LYTTON T : The Siamese Twins. 
 
 J. MILES & Co. Ltd., Printers to H.M. The King, 68-70, Wardour Street, VV.
 
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