Part 13

In short, when the Auditors of the revenue have made schedules of such arrears, and transmitted them to the Remembrancer, the state of all imprest accounts, and all other accounts whatsoever, are entered in this office, as well as in that of the King’s Remembrancer. Both this and the other office are in the King’s gift. _Chamberlain’s Present State._

_Court of_ REQUESTS. See _Court of_ CONSCIENCE.

REYGATE, a large market town in Surry, situated in the valley of Holmsdale, twenty-four miles from London, and surrounded on each side with hills. It is an ancient borough, and had a castle, built by the Saxons, on the east side of the town, some ruins of which are still to be seen, particularly a long vault with a room at the end, large enough to hold 500 persons, where the Barons who took up arms against King John are said to have had their private meetings. Its market house was once a chapel dedicated to Thomas Becket. The neighbourhood abounds with fullers earth and medicinal plants.

On the south side of the town is a large house, formerly a priory: it belongs to the late Mr. Parsons’s family, and is beautified with plantations, and a large piece of water. It has two rooms, each fifty feet long, and of a proportionable breadth; but the ceilings are much too low. The house and gardens are on every side surrounded with hills, so as to render the prospect very romantic.

In this town the late celebrated Lord Shaftesbury had an house, to which he retired to seclude himself from company. It is now in the possession of a private gentleman, who has laid out and planted a small spot of ground, in so many parts, as to comprise whatever can be supposed in the most noble seats. It may properly be called a model, and is called by the inhabitants of Reygate, _The world in one acre_.

RHODES _yard_, Bishopsgate street.†

RICHARD’S _court_, Lime street, Leadenhall street.†

RICHBELL _court_, Red Lion street, Holborn.†

RICHMOND, a village in Surry, twelve miles from London. This is reckoned the finest village in the British dominions, and has therefore been termed the _Frescati_ of England. It was anciently the seat of our Monarchs, and the palace from its splendor was called _Shene_, which in the Saxon tongue signifies bright or shining; Here King Edward III. died of grief for the loss of his heroic son Edward the Black Prince; and here died Anne the wife of Richard II. who first taught the English women the use of the side saddle; for before her time they were used to ride astride; Richard, however, was so afflicted at her death, that it gave him such a dislike to the place where it happened, that he defaced the fine palace; but it was repaired and beautified afresh by King Henry V. who also founded near it three religious houses. In the year 1497, this palace was destroyed by fire, when King Henry VII. was there; but in 1501 that Prince caused it to be new built, and commanded that the village should be called Richmond; he having borne the title of Earl of Richmond, before he obtained the crown by the defeat and death of Richard III. Henry VII. died here; and here also his grand-daughter Queen Elizabeth breathed her last. On the ground where formerly stood a part of the old palace, the Earl of Cholmondeley has a seat, as has also Mr. Wray.

The present palace, which is finely situated, is a very plain edifice built by the Duke of Ormond, who received a grant of a considerable space of land about Richmond, from King William III. as a reward for his military services; but it devolved to the Crown on that Duke’s attainder, in the beginning of the reign of King George I. and this house was by his present Majesty confirmed to the late Queen Caroline, in case she became Queen Dowager of England.

His Majesty took great delight here, and made several improvements in the palace, while her Majesty amused herself at her royal dairy house, Merlin’s cave, the Hermitage, and the other improvements which she made in the park and gardens of this delightful retreat.

Though the palace is unsuitable to the dignity of a King of England, the gardens are extremely fine, without offering a violence to nature; and Pope’s advice with respect to planting, may be considered as a very accurate description of the beauties to be found here.

To build, to plant, whatever you intend, To rear the column, or the arch to bend; To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot, In all let Nature never be forgot: Consult the genius of the place in all, That tells the waters or to rise or fall; Or helps th’ ambitious hill the heav’ns to scale, Or scoops in circling theatres the vale; Calls in the country, catches op’ning glades, Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades; Now breaks, or now directs th’intending lines; Paints as you plant, and as you work, designs.

In short, almost every thing here has an agreeable wildness, and a pleasing irregularity, that cannot fail to charm all who are in love with nature, and afford a much higher and more lasting satisfaction than the stiff decorations of art, where the artist loses sight of nature which alone ought to direct his hand.

On entering these rural walks, you are conducted to the dairy, a neat but low brick building, to which there is an ascent by a flight of steps; in the front is a handsome angular pediment. The walls on the inside are covered with stucco, and the house is furnished suitably to a royal dairy, the utensils for the milk being of the most beautiful china.

Passing by the side of a canal, and thro’ a grove of trees, the temple presents itself to view, situated on a mount. It is a circular dome crowned with a ball, and supported by Tuscan columns, with a circular altar in the middle, and to this temple there is an ascent by very steep slopes.

Returning by the dairy, and crossing the gravel walk, which leads from the palace to the river, you come to a wood, which you enter by a walk terminated by the Queen’s pavilion, a neat elegant structure, wherein is seen a beautiful chimney-piece, taken from a design in the addition to Palladio, and a model of a palace intended to be built in this place.

In another part of the wood is the Duke’s summer house, which has a lofty arched entrance, and the roof rising to a point is terminated by a ball.

On leaving the wood you come to the summer house on the terrace, a light small building with very large and lofty windows, to give a better view of the country, and particularly of that noble seat called Sion house. In this edifice are two good pictures, representing the taking of Vigo by the Duke of Ormond.

Passing through a labyrinth, you see, near a pond, Merlin’s cave, a Gothic building thatched; within which are the following figures in wax, Merlin, an ancient British enchanter; the excellent and learned Queen Elizabeth, and a Queen of the Amazons; here is also a library consisting of a well chosen collection of the works of modern authors neatly bound in vellum.

On leaving this edifice, which has an antique and venerable appearance, you come to a large oval of above 500 feet in diameter, called the Forest oval, and turning from hence you have a view of the Hermitage, a grotesque building, which seems as if it had stood many hundred years, though it was built by order of her late Majesty. It has three arched doors, and the middle part which projects forward, is adorned with a kind of ruinous angular pediment; the stones of the whole edifice appear as if rudely laid together, and the venerable look of the whole is improved by the thickness of the solemn grove behind, and the little turret on the top with a bell, to which you may ascend by a winding walk. The inside is in the form of an octagon with niches, in which are the busts of the following truly great men, who by their writings were an honour not only to their country, but to human nature. The first on the right hand is the incomparable Sir Isaac Newton, and next to him the justly celebrated Mr. John Locke. The first on the left hand is Mr. Woolaston, the author of The Religion of Nature displayed; next to him is the reverend and learned Dr. Samuel Clarke, and in a kind of alcove is the truly honourable Mr. Robert Boyle.

Leaving this seat of contemplation, you pass through fields cloathed with grass; through corn fields, and a wild ground interspersed with broom and furze, which afford excellent shelter for hares and pheasants, and here there are great numbers of the latter very tame. From this pleasing variety, in which nature appears in all her forms of cultivation and barren wildness, you come to an amphitheatre formed by young elms, and a diagonal wilderness, through which you pass to the forest walk, which extends about half a mile, and then passing through a small wilderness, you leave the gardens.

At the extremity of the garden on the north east, is another house that belonged to her Majesty, and near it the house of his late Royal Highness Frederic Prince of Wales, which is on the inside adorned with stucco. Opposite the Prince’s house is the Princess Amelia’s, built by a Dutch architect, the outside of which is painted.

To the west of the gardens are seen the fine houses of several of the nobility and gentry, particularly the Lady Buckworth’s, and Mr. Geoffrey’s, and extending the view across the Thames, there appears Isleworth.

But to return to the village of Richmond. The Green is extremely pleasant, it being levelled and enclosed in a handsome manner; it is also surrounded with lofty elms, and adorned on each side with the houses of persons of distinction. A sun dial is here affixed in a pretty taste, encompassed with seats: this, and the railing in of the Green, were at the sole charge of her late Majesty.

Among the pretty seats on this spacious Green, is a handsome edifice that formerly belonged to Sir Charles Hedges, and since to Sir Matthew Decker, in the gardens of which is said to be the longest and highest hedge of holly that was ever seen, with several other hedges of evergreens; there are here also vistas cut through woods, grottos, fountains, a fine canal, a decoy, summer house and stove houses, in which the anana, or pine-apple, was first brought to maturity in this kingdom.

On the north east side of the Green is a fine house, which belonged to the late Mr. Heydigger, and a little beyond it that of the Duke of Cumberland; passing by which, you come to a small park belonging to his Majesty, well stocked with deer, and opposite to it is the entrance into the gardens.

The town runs up the hill above a mile from the village of East Shene, to the New Park, with the royal gardens sloping all the way towards the Thames; whose tide reaches to this village, though it is sixty miles from the sea; which is a greater distance than the tide is carried by any other river in Europe.

On the ascent of the hill are wells of a purging mineral water, frequented during the summer by a great deal of good company. On the top there is a most extensive and beautiful prospect of the country, interspersed with villages and inclosures; the Thames is seen running beneath, and the landscape is improved by the many fine seats that are scattered along its banks.

There is here an almshouse built by Dr. Duppa, Bishop of Winchester in the reign of King Charles II. for the support of ten poor widows, pursuant to a vow made by that Prelate during that Prince’s exile. There is another almshouse endowed with above 100_l._ a year, which, since its foundation, has been considerably increased by John Mitchell, Esq; Here are also two charity schools, one for fifty boys, and the other for fifty girls.

New Park, in Surry, is situated between Kingston and Richmond. This is one of the best parks in England; it was made in the reign of King Charles I. and inclosed with a brick wall, said to be eleven miles in compass. In this park there is a little hill cast up, called King Henry’s Mount, from which is a prospect of six counties, with a distant view of the city of London, and of Windsor Castle.

The new lodge in this park, built by the late Sir Robert Walpole Earl of Orford, is a very elegant edifice. It is built of stone in a square form, with wings on each side of brick. It stands on a rising ground, and commands a very good prospect of the park, especially of that fine piece of water which is in it, and which might be enlarged and brought across the vista which is in the front of the house, through a wood. This park is the largest of any within the environs of London, except that of Windsor, and the finest too; for though it has little more than a wild variety of natural beauties to shew, yet these are such as cannot fail to please those who are as much delighted with views in their rudest appearance, as in all the elegance of art and design. The Princess Amelia resides in the old lodge; the new lodge is not inhabited.

RICHMOND _buildings_, Dean street, Soho.†

RICHMOND’S _Almshouse_, in Goose alley, Sea coal lane, was erected by the company of Armourers, in the year 1559, pursuant to the will of Mr. John Richmond, for eight poor old men and women, who, according to the discretion of the company, receive from five to fifteen shillings _per annum_ each. _Maitland._

RICHMOND _street_, 1. Old Soho.† 2. Prince’s street, Soho.†

RICKINGTON’S _court_, Coleman street.†

RICKMAN’S _rents_, Narrow street, Limehouse.†

RICKMANSWORTH, a town in Hertfordshire, 22 miles from London, is situated in a low moorish soil on the borders of Buckinghamshire, near the river Coln. It has a market on Saturday, and is governed by a Constable and two Headboroughs. The several mills on the streams near this town cause a great quantity of wheat to be brought to it. Here is a charity school for twenty boys and ten girls, with an almshouse for five widows, and another for four. In the neighbourhood is a warren hill, where the sound of the trumpet is repeated twelve times by the echo.

RIDER’S _court_, 1. Little Newport street.† 2. Rider’s street.†

RIDER’S _street_, St. James’s street, Westminster.†

RIDER’S _yard_, Kent street, Southwark.†

RISEBY’S _walk_, Limehouse.†

RISING SUN _alley_, St. John’s street, Smithfield.*

RISING SUN _court_, St. John’s street, Smithfield.*

RISING SUN _passage_, Clement’s lane.*

RIVERS _street_, Savage Gardens; so called from the Lord Savage, Earl Rivers.

ROBERT’S _dock_, Rotherhith Wall.†

ROBERT’S _rents_, Brick lane.†

ROBIN HOOD _alley_, Blackman street, Southwark.*

ROBIN HOOD _court_, 1. Bell alley.* 2. Bow lane, Cheapside.* 3. Grub street, Fore street* 4. Near Morgan’s lane.* 5. Shoe lane.* 6. In the Strand.* 7. Thames street.* 8. Tooley street, Southwark.*

ROBIN HOOD _lane_, Poplar.*

ROBIN HOOD _yard_, 1. Charles street.* 2. Leather lane.*

ROBINSON’S _yard_, Friday street, Cheapside.†

ROCHESTER _row_, Tothill fields.

ROCHESTER _yard_, 1. Dirty lane. 2. Stony street.

ROEBUCK _alley_, Turnmill street.*

ROEHAMPTON, in Surry, is situated between Putney Heath and East Shene, and is one of the pleasantest villages near London, having many fine houses of merchants scattered about, so as not to resemble a street or regular town.

ROGERS’S _Almshouse_, in Hart street, near Cripplegate, was erected by the Lord Mayor and citizens of London, in the year 1612, pursuant to the will of Mr. Robert Rogers, citizen and leatherseller, for six poor men and their wives, who have an annual allowance of 4_l._ each couple. _Maitland._

ROGUES WELL, Stepney fields.

ROLLS OFFICE AND CHAPEL, in Chancery lane, a house founded by King Henry III. in the place where stood a Jew’s house forfeited to that Prince in the year 1233. In this chapel all such Jews and infidels as were converted to the Christian faith, were ordained, and in the buildings belonging to it, were appointed a sufficient maintenance: by which means a great number of converts were baptized, instructed in the doctrines of Christianity, and lived under a learned Christian appointed to govern them: but in the year 1290, all the Jews being banished, the number of converts decreased, and in the year 1377, the house with its chapel was annexed by patent to the Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery.

The chapel, which is of brick, pebbles and some freestone, is sixty feet long, and thirty-three in breadth; the doors and windows are Gothic, and the roof covered with slate. In this chapel the rolls are kept in presses fixed to the sides, and ornamented with columns and pilasters of the Ionic and Composite orders.

These rolls contain all the records, as charters, patents, &c. since the beginning of the reign of Richard III. those before that time being deposited in the Record Office in the Tower: and these being made up in rolls of parchment gave occasion to the name.

At the north west angle of this chapel is a bench, where the Master of the Rolls hears causes in Chancery. And attendance is daily given in this chapel from ten o’clock till twelve, for taking in and paying out money, according to order of court, and for giving an opportunity to those who come for that purpose to search the rolls.

The Minister of the chapel is appointed by the Master of the Rolls, and divine service is performed there on Sundays and holidays at about eleven and three.

On the walls are several old monuments, particularly at the East end is that of Dr. Young Master of the Rolls, who died in the year 1516. In a well wrought stone coffin lies the effigies of Dr. Young, in a scarlet gown; his hands lie across upon his breast, and a cap with corners covers his ears. On the wall just above him, our Saviour is looking down upon him, his head and shoulders appearing out of the clouds, accompanied by two angels.

The office of the Rolls is under the government of the Master of the Rolls, whose house is by the chapel, and has been lately rebuilt in a handsome manner at the public expence.

The place of Master of the Rolls is an office of great dignity, and is in the gift of the King, either for life, or during pleasure. He is always the principal Master in Chancery, and has in his gift the offices of the Six Clerks in Chancery; of the Two Examiners of the same court, and of the Clerk of the Chapel of the Rolls, who acts immediately under him in that office. He has several revenues belonging to the office of the Rolls, and by act of Parliament receives a salary of 1200_l._ _per annum_ out of the hanaper. _Stowe._ _Maitland._ _Chamberlain’s Present State._

ROLLS _buildings_, Fetter lane; so called from their belonging to the Rolls office.

ROLLS LIBERTY, a small district out of the government of the city. It begins at the corner of Cursitor’s alley, next to Chancery lane, taking in the south side to the Rose tavern, where it crosses into White’s alley, which it takes all in except two or three houses on each side, next to Fetter lane; and there it crosses into the Rolls garden, which it likewise takes in; and from thence running into Chancery lane, by Serjeant’s Inn, extends into Jack-a-napes lane, about the middle of which it crosses into Pope’s Head court, which it takes all in, as it does the east side of Bell yard, almost to the end next Temple Bar, except a few houses on the back side of Crown court, which is in the city liberty; and then crossing Bell yard, near Temple Bar, runs cross the houses into Sheer lane, taking in all the east side; and again crossing over to Lincoln’s Inn New Court, runs up to the pump by the iron rails, where it crosses over into Chancery lane, and thence to the corner of Cursitor’s alley. _Stowe._

ROOD _lane_, Fenchurch street; thus named from a holy rood or cross there.

ROOMLAND _lane_, Thames street.

ROPEMAKERS _alley_, Little Moorfields.

ROPEMAKERS _field_, Limehouse.

ROPER _lane_, Crucifix lane, Barnaby street, Southwark.

ROPE _walk_, 1. Near Cut throat lane, Upper Shadwell. 2. Near Elm row, Sun tavern fields. 3. Goswell street. 4. St. John street, Smithfield. 5. King David’s lane. 6. Knockfergus, near Rosemary lane. 7. Near Nightingale lane. 8. Petticoat lane. 9. Rotherhith. 10. Near Shad Thames. 11. Sun tavern fields. 12. Near Whitechapel.

ROSE _alley_, 1. Bank side, Southwark.* 2. Bishopsgate street without.* 3. East Smithfield.* 4. Fleet lane, Fleet market.* 5. Golden lane, Barbican.* 6. High Holborn.* 7. St. Martin’s lane, Charing Cross.* 8. Rose street, Long Acre.* 9. Saffron hill.* 10. Shoreditch.* 11. Sugarbaker’s lane, Duke’s Place.* 12. Tooley street, Southwark.* 13. Turnmill street.* 14. Widegate alley, Bishopsgate street without.*

ROSE AND BALL _court_, Addle hill, by Great Carter lane.*

ROSE AND CROWN _alley_, near Whitechapel.*

ROSE AND CROWN _court_, 1. Church lane.* 2. St. Catharine’s lane.* 3. Cock lane, Shoreditch.* 4. Fashion street, Artillery lane, Spitalfields.* 5. Foster lane, Cheapside.* 6. Gray’s Inn lane.* 7. Holiwell street.* 8. Houndsditch.* 9. Moorfields.* 10. Rosemary lane.* 11. Shoe lane, Fleet street.* 12. Sutton street.* 13. Whitechapel.*

ROSE AND CROWN _yard_, 1. St. Giles’s street.* 2. King street, St. James’s square.* 3. Long alley, Moorfields.* 4. Rotherhith.*

ROSE AND RAINBOW _court_, Aldersgate street.*

ROSE _court_, 1. Aldermanbury.* 2. Beer lane, Tower street.* 3. Bishopsgate street.* 4. Goddard’s rents.* 5. Rochester street.* 6. Thieving lane.* 7. Tower street.* 8. Bow lane.* 9. Wheeler street.*

ROSE _lane_, 1. Spitalfields.* 2. Whitehorse street.*

ROSE _street_, 1. Brick lane.* 2. Gravel lane.* 3. Hog lane, Shoreditch.* 4. Long Acre.* 5. St. Martin’s lane.* 6. Newgate street.* 7. Newport market.* 8. Spitalfields.*

ROSE _yard_, 1. Catharine wheel alley.* 2. Newington Butts.* 3. Whitehorse street.*

ROSEMARY BRANCH _alley_, Rosemary lane.*

ROSEMARY _lane_, extends from the bottom of the Minories to Wellclose square, and is chiefly taken up with old cloaths shops.

ROSEWELL’S _court_, Great White Lion street, Seven Dials.†

ROSEWELL’S _yard_, Barnaby street, Southwark.†

ROTHERHITH, vulgarly called Rederiff, was anciently a village on the south east of London, though it is now joined to Southwark, and as it is situated along the south bank of the Thames, is chiefly inhabited by masters of ships, and other seafaring people.

ROTHERHITH _School_ was founded in the year 1612, by Mr. Peter Hills and Mr. Robert Bell, who endowed it with 3_l._ a year, for the education of eight poor seamens children. _Maitland._

ROTHERHITH _wall_, Jacob street, Rotherhith.

ROTHERHITH WATER WORKS, situated at the upper end of Rotherhith Wall, and the lower end of Mill street, where the engine is wrought by water from the river Thames, which being brought in by the tide is contained in the canals in the neighbouring streets. By this engine a sufficient quantity of water is raised to supply two main pipes of a six inch bore, whereby the neighbourhood is plentifully supplied with Thames water.

ROTTEN _row_, Goswell street.

ROUND _court_, 1. Black Friars. 2. Black Lion yard. 3. Blue Boar’s Head court, Barbican. 4. Butler’s alley. 5. Jewin street. 6. St. Martin’s le Grand. 7. Moses and Aaron alley, Whitechapel. 8. Old Bethlem. 9. Onslow street, Vine street, Hatton Wall. 10. Sharp’s alley, Cow Cross. 11. In the Strand.

ROUND ABOUT _alley_, Wapping dock.

ROUND HOOP _court_, Whitecross street, Cripplegate.*

ROYAL EXCHANGE, Cornhill. This edifice, which is dedicated to the service of commerce, was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, a merchant distinguished by his abilities and great success in trade, who proposed, that if the city would prepare a proper spot, he would erect the building at his own expence. This proposal was accepted by the Lord Mayor and citizens, who purchased some houses between Cornhill and Threadneedle street, and having caused them to be pulled down and cleared away, the foundation of the new building was laid on the 7th of June 1566, and carried on with such expedition, that it was finished in November 1567.