CHAPTER VI. RED LION SQUARE, GREAT ORMOND STREET, BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, ETC. Burning of Cromwell's Supposed Grave in Red Lion Square Lamb's- sell Street FORMERLY there existed a favourite tradition among the inhabitants of Red Lion Square and its vicinity, that the body of Oliver Cromwell was buried in the centre of their square, beneath an obelisk which stood there till within a few years. The likelihood of such a fact strikes us, 'Pennant speaks of the " clumsy obelisk" in Red Lion Square, and mentions that it was inscribed with the following lines: "Obtusum Obtusioris Ingenii Monumentum. Quid me respicis, viator?" Vade. Could this quaint inscription have any hidden reference to the bones of Cromwell lying beneath it? We think not; but they are meant to mystify, and what, therefore, do they mean? at first thought, as improbable enough, and yet, on consideration, we are inclined to think that beneath this spot not improbably moulder, not only the bones of the great Protector, but also those of Ireton and Bradshaw, whose remains were disinterred at the same time from Westminster Abbey, and exposed on the same gallows. As regards the last resting-place of these remarkable men, the contemporary accounts simply inform us that on the anniversary of the death of Charles the First their bodies were borne on sledges to Tyburn, and after hanging till sunset, they were cut down and beheaded; that their bodies were then flung into a hole at the foot of the gallows, and their heads fixed upon poles on the roof of Westminster Hall. From the word Tyburn being here so distinctly laid down, it has usually been taken for granted that it was intended to designate the well-known place for executing criminals, nearly at the north end of Park Lane, or, as it was anciently styled, Tyburn Lane. As has been already mentioned, however, when we read of a criminal in old times having been executed at Tyburn, we are not necessarily to presume that it was at this particular spot; the gallows having unquestionably been shifted at times from place to place, and the word Tyburn having been given indiscriminately, for the time being, to each distinct spot. For instance, sixty years before the death of Cromwell, the gallows were frequently erected at the extremity of St. Giles's parish, near the end of the present Tottenham Court Road; while, for nearly two centuries, the Holborn end of Fetter Lane, within a short distance of Red Lion Square, was no less frequently the place of execution. Indeed, in 1643, only a few years before the exhumation and gibbeting of Cromwell, we find Nathaniel Tomkins executed at this spot for his share in Waller's plot to surprise the city. In addition, however, to these surmises, is the curious fact of the bodies of Cromwell and Ireton having been brought in carts, on the night previous to their exposure on the gibbet, to the Red Lion Inn, Holborn, from which Red Lion Square derives its name, where they rested during the night. In taking this step it is surely not unreasonable to presume that the government had in view the selection of a house in the immediate vicinity of the scaffold, in order that the bodies might be in readiness for the disgusting exhibition of the following morning. Supposing this to have been the case, the place of their exposure and interment could scarcely have been the end of Tyburn Lane, inasmuch as the distance thither from Westminster is actually shorter than the distance from Westminster to Red Lion Square. The object of the government could hardly have been to create a sensation by parading the bodies along a populous thoroughfare, inasmuch as the ground between St. Giles's Pound and Tyburn, a distance of a mile and a half, was at this period almost entirely open country. The author has dwelt longer, perhaps, on the subject than such vague surmises may seem to deserve. The question, however, is not altogether an uninteresting one, and there may be others, probably, who may have the means of, and who may take a pleasure in, further elucidating it. In Bedford Row, running parallel with Red Lion Street, Bishop Warburton was residing in 1750; and here, at No. 14, lived the eminent surgeon, John Abernethy. Lamb's-Conduit Street derives its name from one William Lamb, an eminent cloth-worker, who erected a water conduit on its site in 1577.' It was taken down in 1746. As late as the reign of Queen Anne, Lamb's-Conduit Fields formed a favourite promenade for the citizens of London, on a portion of the site of which was erected, in 1739, the present Foundling Hospital for the reception of "exposed and deserted children." The founder was Capt. Thomas Coram, a merchantseaman, from whom Great Coram Street derives its name. This excellent person, having passed 'This munificent individual purchased and bequeathed to the Cloth-workers the hermitage of St. James-in-the-Wall, situated at the north corner of Monkwell Street, Cripplegate. He died in 1577. Stow styles him "one of the gentlemen of the king's chapel, citizen and cloth-worker of London." a long life in the performance of acts of charity and benevolence, found himself in his old age reduced to comparative penury. Under these circumstances the object of his friends was to raise a subscription for him, but fearful of offending him, they inquired of him in the first instance whether he was averse to such a measure. The reply was worthy of the man. "I have not wasted," he said, "the little wealth of which I was formerly possessed in self-indulgence or vain expenses, and am not ashamed to confess that in my old age I am poor." This excellent man, whose death took place on the 29th March, 1751, at his lodgings near Leicester Square, by his own wish was buried in the vaults under the chapel of the Foundling Hospital. The Foundling Hospital contains some very interesting pictures by Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, and others, and is altogether well worthy of a visit. In Doughty Street, Foundling Hospital, the Rev. Sydney Smith, the wit, was residing in 1805. Lamb's-Conduit Street leads us into Great Ormond Street, the site of which was formerly occupied by Powys House, the residence in the reign of William the Third of the Herberts, Marquises of Powys. Their name is still preserved in Powys Place. In the reign of Queen Anne, Powys House was occupied by the French am bassador, the Duc d'Aumont, and having been |