Part 9

We shall conclude our account with observing, that the whole palace consists of three quadrangles. The first and second are Gothic, but in the latter is a most beautiful colonade of the Ionic order, the columns in couplets, built by Sir Christopher Wren. Through this, as was before observed, you pass into the third court or quadrangle, in which are the royal apartments, which are magnificently built of brick and stone by King William III. The print shews two sides of these new buildings. The gardens are not in the present natural stile, but in that which prevailed some years ago, when mathematical figures were preferred to natural forms.

HANAPER _Office_, an office in Chancery under the direction of the Master of the Hanaper, his deputy, the clerk, sometimes called the Warden of the Hanaper, and the six clerks in Chancery for the time being, who are comptrollers of the Hanaper. The clerk of the Hanaper receives all money due for charters, patents, commissions, and writs; attends the Lord Keeper daily in term time, and at all times of sealing, with leather bags, in which are put all sealed charters, patents, and the like; and delivered to the comptroller of the Hanaper. Mr. Chamberlain supposes, that instead of leather bags the clerk of the Hanaper formerly carried a hamper, and that from thence he was called the clerk of the Hamper or Hanaper.

HAND _alley_, 1. High Holborn.* 2. Long alley, Moorfields.* 3. Norfolk street.* 4. Petticoat lane and Bishopsgate street.* 5. Snow hill.* 6. Wormwood street.*

HAND AND CROWN _alley_, Cow Cross.*

HAND AND PEN _alley_, Tower hill.*

HAND _court_, 1. Petticoat lane.* 2. Philip lane, London Wall.* 3. Near the Steel yard, Thames street.*

HAND AND CROWN _court_, 1. Chiswell street.* 2. Gravel lane.* 3. Orchard street.*

HAND AND HOLYBUSH _court_, St. Clement’s.*

HAND AND PEN _court_, 1. Barbican.* 2. Great Tower hill.* 3. Leadenhall street.*

HANDCOCK’S _yard_, Brown’s lane, Spitalfields.*

HAND IN HAND _alley_, St. Olave’s street.*

HAND IN HAND FIRE OFFICE, in Angel court, Snow hill, opposite St. Sepulchre’s church, for insuring only houses, was erected in the year 1696, by about one hundred persons, who entering into a mutual agreement to insure each other from losses by having their houses consumed by fire, formed a deed of settlement for that purpose, which was inrolled in Chancery on the 24th of January 1698, and this deed being signed by every person desirous of becoming a member, he or she is by this means admitted into the joint copartnership, and becomes an equal sharer in the profit and loss, in proportion to his or her respective insurance.

The conditions of insurance are, two shillings _per cent._ premium, and ten shillings _per cent._ deposit on brick houses, and double those sums on timber houses in the cities of London and Westminster, and within five computed miles from the same, to be paid on insuring for a term not exceeding seven years.

Houses in the country, beyond five, and so far as twenty computed miles from the said cities are to pay an additional premium of one shilling _per cent._ on brick, and double on timber; and beyond twenty so far as thirty computed miles from the said cities, being the limits of insurance by this office, an additional premium of two shillings _per cent._ on brick, and double on timber, the deposit being the same in all places. Houses with party-walls of brick or stone are to be accounted brick, and those which have not such party-walls to be accounted timber houses. Thatched are not to be insured.

Any number of contiguous houses, not exceeding the value of three hundred pounds, may be insured in one policy.

No more than two thousand pounds can be insured on one house in a policy: but halls, hospitals, and other large buildings, divided by brick or stone partitions, may each be insured in several policies.

At the expiration of policies, or whatever time the property in their houses ceases, all persons may on application to the office, receive the deposit, together with the dividends of profit made every year from the premium and interest of money, after the charges of the office are paid, deducting their proportion of contributions towards losses, during the time they have been insured.

Hence it plainly appears, that the whole money paid on insuring, both premium and deposit, is in effect only deposited, to make good losses by fire and the charges of the office; it being all returned, except what is applied to those purposes.

Contributions are laid when fires happen, and dividends made every year by the Directors, which are registered in tables hung up in the office, to be perused by the members.

All the members or persons insured, have the liberty of examining all the books and papers of the office, at seasonable hours, gratis.

No person insured is obliged to pay above ten shillings _per cent._ Contribution for brick, and double for timber houses, more than the money first deposited. This being now upwards of 80,000_l._ valuing the public securities at _Par_, must all be exhausted by losses happening almost together, before any call can be made from the members.

The affairs of the office are managed by twenty-four Directors, without any salary or reward, who are chosen by balloting for three years, from amongst, and by the persons insured, in the way of an annual rotation, eight new ones every year, on the three days immediately preceding the general meeting in November. They meet at the office in Angel court on Snow hill, to transact business, every Tuesday at three in the afternoon.

Every house before it can be insured, must be surveyed by a person employed by the office, and in case of a loss or damage, is to be put into the condition it was in before the fire, allowing not more than three shillings a yard for painting, nor above thirty pounds for any chimney piece; or else the whole sum insured is to be paid to the sufferer without any deduction.

Nothing is more evident than that the profits of insurance, which in the offices insuring for gain are divided on their capital stock, are here, together with the salaries of the Directors, applied to the benefit of the insured. The consequence of which is, that this office having paid above two hundred and fifty thousand pounds for losses; the charge to the injured from its beginning in the year 1696, has been at a medium under nine-pence a year for one hundred pounds insured on brick houses.

The surveyors are to survey houses with all convenient expedition after directions are left, without any fee or reward.

The clerks give constant attendance at the office, from eight in the morning to six in the evening. _The proposals delivered by the Office, October 10, 1758._

This company keep in their service thirty firemen, who are annually clothed, and have each a badge, on which are two hands joined and a crown over them.

HAND IN HAND _yard_, Old Horselydown lane.*

HAND _yard_, Thames street.*

HANGING LION _yard_, Nightingale lane, East Smithfield.*

HANGING SWORD _alley_, 1. Quaker street.* 2. Water lane, Fleet street.*

HANGING SWORD _court_, Water lane, Fleet street.*

HANGMAN’S _acre_, King David’s fort, near Bluegate fields.

HANGMAN’S GAINS, St. Catherines. Mr. Strype observes, that the towns of Calais, Hammes, and Guisnes, being lost in the reign of Queen Mary, many of the inhabitants fled to England, and wanting habitations, a part of St. Catharine’s where this lane is now built, was allowed them, which from the countries whence they came was called Hammes and Guisnes, which at length by a vulgar corruption was changed to Hangman’s gains.

HANGMAN’S GAINS _alley_, St. Catharine’s.

HANNOWAY _street_, Tottenham Court road.†

HANOVER _court_, 1. Grub street. 2. Houndsditch. 3. In the Minories.

HANOVER _square_, so called in compliment to the present royal family, has Oxford road on the north; Swallow street in the east; Conduit street on the south; and New Bond street on the west. The area of the square contains about two acres of ground, in the middle of which is a garden inclosed with rails; the houses are new built in the modern taste; they make a grand appearance, and are inhabited by noblemen and gentlemen of distinguished rank.

The author of the Review of the public buildings remarks, that the upper end of Great George street towards Hanover square is laid out so considerably wider than at the other end, that it quite reverses the perspective, and shews the end of the vista broader than the beginning; which was calculated to give a noble view of this square from its entrance, and a better prospect down the street from the other side, and both way the effects answer the intention. He adds, that the view down George street, from the upper side of the square, is one of the most entertaining in this whole city: the sides of the square, the area in the middle, the breaks of building that form the entrance of the vista, the vista itself, but above all, the beautiful projection of the portico of St. George’s church, are all circumstances that unite in beauty, and render the scene perfect.

HANOVER _street_, 1. Hanover square. 2. Long Acre. 3. Rotherhith Wall.

HANOVER _stairs_, Hanover street, Rotherhith.

HANOVER _yard_, St. Giles’s.

HANSON’S _alley_, St. Giles’s Broad street.†

HARCOURT’S _buildings_, Inner Temple.†

HARDING’S _alley_, Petty France, Westminster.†

HARE _alley_, Shoreditch.*

HARE _court_, 1. Aldersgate street.* 2. Hare street, Spitalfields.* 3. Inner Temple.* 4. Little Knightrider’s street.* 5. Petticoat lane.* 6. Upper Ground.*

HARE COURT _buildings_, Inner Temple.*

HAREFIELD, a village in Middlesex, near the river Coln, between Rickmansworth and Uxbridge, about twenty miles from London. _Harefield Place_ is the seat of Sir Roger Newdigate, Bart. Here also George Cooke, Esq; the present member for the county of Middlesex, has a handsome seat and park.

HARE _marsh_, Hare street.*

HARE _street_, Brick lane, Spitalfields.*

HARE _yard_, Hoxton.*

HARLEY _street_, as does most of the other streets near it, took its name from the late Earl of Oxford, the ground landlord, who left it to his lady. This is a noble new street, extending northward from Cavendish square where Sir Richard Littleton’s house is at the corner.

HARP _alley_, 1. Grub street.* 2. Little Knightrider’s street.* 3. Saffron hill.* 4. Shoe lane.*

HARP _court_, Little Knightrider’s street.*

HARP _lane_, Tower street.*

HARP _yard_, Black horse yard, Fleet street.*

HARPER’S _alley_, Fore street, Lambeth.†

HARPER’S _walk_, Fore street, Lambeth.†

HARRIE’S _gun wharf_, Millbank.†

HARRISON’S _court_, Brook street.†

HARRIS’S _court_, Ratcliff Highway.†

HARRIS’S _rents_, Rosemary lane.†

HARROLD’S _court_, Coal yard.†

HARROW _alley_, 1. St. Catharine’s.* 2. Holborn.* 3. Mint street.* 4. Old Gravel lane.* 5. Old street.* 6. Petticoat lane.* 7. Whitechapel.*

HARROW _corner_, 1. Bennet’s hill.* 2. Deadman’s place.* 3. Fleet lane.* 4. Long lane.*

HARROW _dunghil_, Mint street.*

HARROW _dunghil yard_, Old Horselydown.*

HARROW _yard_, Ropemakers fields.*

HARROW ON THE HILL, is situated in Middlesex, fifteen miles N. W. from London, on the highest hill in the county, on the summit of which stands the church, which has a very high spire. This parish is famous for a free school founded by Mr. John Lyons in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and every 4th of August a select number of the scholars, dressed in the habit of archers, come with their bows, and shoot at a mark for a silver arrow.

HARTFORD, or HERTFORD, the county town of Hartfordshire, is situated on the river Lea, twenty-three miles from London, and is a place of great antiquity. It is said to have been of some note even in the time of the ancient Britons; here the Saxon Kings frequently kept their courts, and here King Alfred built a castle, by which he destroyed the Danish vessels that passed from the Thames up the river Lea. The town had its first charter granted by Queen Mary, by which it was made a corporation, and King James I. granted it a new one. The town is pleasantly situated in a dry and healthful vale, and built in the form of a Y with a castle in the middle of the two horns. It is governed by a High Steward, who is generally a nobleman, and by a Mayor, nine Aldermen, a Recorder, a Town Clerk, a Chamberlain, ten capital Burgesses, with sixteen Assistants, and two serjeants at mace. Here were five churches, which are reduced to two. In that of St. Andrew’s there is not only a seat for the Mayor and Aldermen, but another for the Governors of Christ Church hospital in London, and a gallery, in which 200 of the children of that hospital may be accommodated; for the Governors have erected an handsome house in the town for such children, as either wanted health, or are too young for that hospital. Here is also a handsome free school, and three charity schools; but tho’ the splendor of the town is much diminished, since the north road from London was turned through Ware, yet the county jail is still kept here, and the jail delivery in the castle. This town has the honour of giving the title of Earl to the Duke of Somerset, and of sending two members to parliament. The chief commodities of its market are wool, wheat, and malt, and it is said to send 5000 quarters of malt weekly to London by the river Lea.

Near this town is a seat of the late Governor Harrison, pleasantly situated on a hill that commands a fine prospect of the country all around; and its neighbourhood is a seat of the Clarks, which also enjoys a delightful situation.

HARTINGFORDBURY, a village a little to the west of Hartford, near which the Earl Cowper has a handsome seat, built by his father, the Lord Chancellor of that name.

HART _alley_, Grub street, Fore street.*

HART _court_, Little Knightrider’s street.*

HART ROW _street_, without Newgate.*

HART _street_, 1. Bloomsbury. 2. By Bow street, Covent Garden. 3. Cripplegate. 4. Duke street. 5. Mark lane, Fenchurch street.

HARTSHORN _court_, 1. Golden lane. 2. Moor lane.

HARTSHORN _lane_, in the Strand, lately by Northumberland house, leading down from the Strand to the water side; but it is now demolished, and a handsome street building in its room, which, it is said, will be called Northumberland street, from the present Earl of Northumberland to whom it belongs.

HARVEY’S _court_, in the Strand.†

HARWAR’S _Almshouse_, in Kingsland road, was founded by Mr. Samuel Harwar, citizen and draper, in the year 1713, for twelve single men and women, six of whom are to be put in by the company of Drapers, and the other six by the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch: each of whom is allowed six shillings a month, and eighteen bushels of coals a year.

HARWOOD’S _court_, 1. Wellclose square. 2. Well street.

HARWOOD’S _yard_, Holiwell street.*

HASS _park_, Wheeler street.

HASTEWOOD’S _court_, Blue Anchor alley.†

HASTING’S _court_, 1. Ratcliff Highway.† 2. Upper Shadwell.†

HAT AND MITRE _court_, St. John’s street.*

HATBANDMAKERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by King Charles I. in the year 1638. They have a Master, two Wardens, and twelve Assistants; but have neither livery nor hall.

This fraternity during the wear of rich hatbands, was in a flourishing condition; but this part of dress having been many years out of fashion, the trade of making hatbands is almost dwindled to nothing, so that there are at present but two or three of the company who are really hatbandmakers. _Maitland._

HATCHET _alley_, 1. Church lane, Whitechapel. 2. East Smithfield. 3. Little Britain. 4. Little Tower hill.

HATE _street_, Greek street, Soho.

HATFIELD, a town in Hertfordshire, twenty miles from London, was called Bishops-Hatfield, from its belonging to the Bishops of Ely. Here Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury held a synod, against the Eutychean opinions; and here was once a royal palace, from whence both Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth were conducted to the throne. The rectory, which is in the Earl of Salisbury’s gift, is computed at 800_l._ a year.

The Earl of Salisbury has here a noble seat built by the great Lord Burleigh, called Hatfield House. The park and gardens, in which is a vineyard, is watered by the river Lea.

HATFIELD _street_, Goswell street.

HATTON _court_, 1. Saffron hill. 2. Thread-needle street.

HATTON _garden_, Holborn, a broad straight and long street, in which the houses are pretty lofty; but tho’ they are plain and unadorned on the outside, yet there being something like regularity in the buildings, they appear to great advantage; and the street affording a fine vista, may justly be reckoned among the handsomest within the liberties of the city. Mr. Strype observes, that here was anciently situated the mansion house of the Bishop of Ely; adjoining to it was an orchard and pasture of about forty acres inclosed with a wall, which falling to the Crown at the death of Bishop Cox, she granted it to the Lord Chancellor Hatton, and his heirs for ever. Upon which the house was pulled down, and Hatton Garden, and several other streets erected on this estate. _Strype’s Stow._

HATTON _wall_, at the end of Hatton garden; probably so called from its being at the extremity of the wall of the garden in which the street called Hatton Garden was built. See the preceding article.

HATTON _yard_, Hatton Wall.†

HAVILAND’S _rents_, St. Catharine’s.†

HAUNCH OF VENSION _yard_, Brook street.*

HAWKERS AND PEDLERS _Office_, for granting licences to the hawkers and pedlers, is kept in Holborn court, Grays Inn. These belong to this office three commissioners, a comptroller, a cashier, nine riding surveyors, and a supernumerary riding surveyor, each of whom has a salary of 100_l._ a year. There are besides a few other officers with smaller salaries.

HAWS’S _Almshouse_, in Bow lane, Poplar, was founded in the year 1686, for six poor women, who besides a room have thirty shillings a year each.

HAY _court_, near Newport market.

HAY _hill_, Dover street.

HAYMARKET, Pall Mall, a pretty long and spacious street, in which there is the opera house on one side, and a small theatre on the other. It received its name from there being a market here for hay and straw, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

HAZELWOOD _court_, Bunhill row.*

HEATHCOCK _court_, in the Strand.*

HEATH’S _Almshouse_, in Almshouse row,* in the Lower street, Islington, was founded by John Heath, Esq; in the year 1648, for the reception of ten decayed members of the clothworkers company, who annually receive from their corporation, who are trustees for this foundation, the sum 6_l._ each. _Maitland._

HEATH’S _rents_, Church lane, Rag Fair.†

HEDDON’S _court_, Swallow street.†

HEDDON’S _street_, Swallow street.†

HEDGE _alley_, Barnaby street.

HEDGE _lane_, Charing Cross, so called from its being formerly inclosed all along between two hedges. _Maitland._

HEDGERS _court_, St. Thomas’s, Southwark.

HEDLEY, a village in Surry, three miles from Epsom.

_St._ HELEN’S _Church_, situated in a spacious court, on the east side of Bishopsgate street, called Little St. Helen’s, is thus denominated from its dedication to St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. This church escaped the flames in 1666, and is no ill monument of the taste of the time in which it was erected. It is a Gothic structure of the lighter kind; and consists of a plain body, with large windows not too much encumbered with ornaments. It has a tower wrought with rustic at the corners, and crowned with a turret and dome in which is a bell.

In this church was formerly a figure of the Trinity, and a high altar of St. Helena, to which much devotion was paid. The church is now a vicarage in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s.

In the north isle is the following inscription, on a large handsome piece of black marble, under which are placed the remains of the wife, son, and daughter of Mr. Thomas Payne, bookseller.

Silent grave, to thee I trust These precious piles of lovely dust; Keep them safely, sacred tomb, Till a father asks for room.

_Priory of St._ HELEN’S, was a convent of Black Nuns, founded in the reign of Henry III. by the above church; but was surrendered to the Crown in the thirteenth year of the reign of Henry VIII. The nuns hall, and other houses belonging to the priory, have been since purchased by the leathersellers company, and is their common hall.

HELMET _alley_, Fore street, Cripplegate.*

HELMET _court_, 1. Butcher Row, Temple Bar.* 2. Near Catharine street, in the Strand.* 3. Fore street, Cripplegate.* 4. London Wall.* 5. In the Minories.* 6. Thames street.* 7. Wormwood street.*

HELMET _row_, Old street.*

HEMLOCK _court_, Carey street, Lincoln’s Inn fields.

HEMMING’S _row_, St. Martin’s lane, Charing Cross.†

HEMP _yard_, 1. Creechurch lane. 2. Petticoat lane. 3. Seething lane.

HEMPSTED, or HEMEL-HEMPSTED, a town in Hertfordshire, situated about eight miles to the west of St. Alban’s, is esteemed one of the greatest markets for wheat in this county, if not in England: it is kept on Thursday, and 20,0001. a week is often returned in it for meal only. Eleven mills stand within four miles of the place, which bring a great trade to it; but by this means the road is so continually torn, that it is one of the worst turnpike ways round London.

HEN _court_, Golden lane.*

HEN AND CHICKENS _court_, Fleet street.*

HENNAGE _lane_, Duke’s Place.

HENRIETTA _street_, 1. Cavendish square. 2. Covent Garden.

HENRY _street_, Old street.

HEPPER’S _wharf_, near Puddle dock, Thames street.†

HEPWORTH’S _alley_, Dancing Bridge.†

HERALDS _Office_, or the _College of Arms_, is situated upon St. Bennet’s hill, near Doctors Commons, at the south west end of St. Paul’s cathedral. This office was destroyed by the dreadful conflagration in 1666, and rebuilt about three years after. It is a square, inclosed by regular brick buildings, which are extremely neat without expensive decorations. The floors are raised above the level of the ground, and there is an ascent to them by flights of plain steps. The principal front is in the lower story ornamented with rustic, upon which are placed four Ionic pilasters, that support an angular pediment. The sides which are conformable to this have arched pediments, that are also supported by Ionic pilasters. On the inside is a large room for keeping the court of honour; a library; with houses and apartments for the King’s Heralds and Pursuivants.

This corporation consists of thirteen members, viz. three Kings at arms, six Heralds at arms, and four Pursuivants at arms; who are nominated by the Earl Marshal of England, as ministers subordinate to him in the execution of their offices, and hold their places by patent, during their good behaviour. They are all the King’s servants in ordinary, and therefore in the vacancy of the office of Earl Marshal, have been sworn into their offices by the Lord Chamberlain. Their meetings are termed chapters, which they hold the first Thursday in every month, or oftener, if necessary, wherein all matters are determined by a majority of voices of the Kings and Heralds, each King having two voices.