BOOK III Temple, which makes a neat appearance from the road, is of pointed architecture, and belongs to the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg. It has a gallery round three sides of the interior, and a good organ. Cobourg At the angle formed by the Waterloo road crossing the New cut is the Royal Cobourg Theatre. The project of building this theatre originated under the following circumstances: Mr. Jones, the leaseholder of the Surrey theatre (then the Royal Circus), having become insolvent, the lease came into the hands of five persons, his assignees and trustees. They let the house to Mr. Elliston for two thousand two hundred guineas; and three persons took it at two thousand guineas after he left it, at Lady-day, 1814. One of this latter firm died soon after, another became a bankrupt, and the third continued until the expiration of the agreement, which was also the termination of Mr. Jones's lease. The property then reverted to the ground landlord, Temple West, Esq. who asked four thousand two hundred pounds per annum. The old ground rent was two hundred guineas. Jones, with the last renter, came forward at Lady-day, 1816, hoping to obtain the theatre, and offered six hundred pounds for what had been last let for two thousand two hundred guineas, and for which was now required four thousand two hundred pounds. So trifling a sum was refused, with an intimation that a proper offer would be attended to. The license, which was from Michaelmas, was held by the assignees for the lessee, and Mr. West offered them six hundred pounds for the unexpired part of it (the license could only be used at the Royal Circus). This, however, they declined, and refused to make any further offer. They thought, by holding the license, to bring Mr. West to their terms; but he, applying to parliament, obtained an act to perform at the Royal CHAP 1. Circus from Easter to Michaelmas, 1816, although the assignees held the license for that period. The leaseholders now stripped the Circus of every thing the law would allow, and immediately projected building a new theatre. Few subscribers came forward to back the scheme, which originated with Jones; Dunn, the last tenant of the Circus; and one Serres, a marine painter. The first, on the strength of his former connexion with the Circus, and procuration of the ground; the second having a stock of scenery, dresses, &c.; and the third having made interest with Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg and the Princess Charlotte to procure a license, which was issued at the Surrey Quarter Sessions, Oct. 16, 1816. The ground being extremely swampy, the projectors of the theatre purchased the materials of the old Savoy palace in the Strand (pulled down in 1817, to form an opening to Waterloo Bridge), with which they constructed the foundation. The building, however, from want of money, proceeded but slowly, till the spring of 1817, when Mr. Glossop, sen. a tallow-chandler, advanced a few hundred pounds, on account of his son. The workmen then proceeded till the day before Good Friday, 1817, when they struck, and carried off the scaffolding. In this state the shell continued till the autumn, and it was expected ever to remain so, when Mr. Glossop, jun. made arrangements with the before-mentioned persons for taking the management of it into his hands, proceeded speedily with the building, and opened it on Whit-Monday, May 11, 1818, but in an unfinished state, and it was not completed for several weeks after. BOOK III. Subsequently he obtained the whole interest, and on the 8th of Nov. 1822, assigned it to J. W. Arkenstall, Esq. certain trusts. upon On the 8th of July, 1824, it was let by Mr. Arkenstall to Messrs. Davidge, Bengough, and Le Clercq, and subsequently the former has become the sole lessee. The front of the theatre, which is plain, is built of brick and stuccoed, stands on the south side of the New Cut, and adjoining the Waterloo road. The boxes and pit are entered by doors in the front of the house, the gallery by a door in the Waterloo road; the stage door is on the opposite side of the house. On the front of the house, in raised letters, is "Royal Cobourg Theatre." An extensive portico has recently been added to the front, from which the boxes are approached by a handsome vestibule. A double staircase in the middle leads to the dress circle, or first tier of boxes, another staircase on the left side of the vestibule leads to the second tier or upper circle. The first tier of boxes is enclosed, and has a lobby all round. Attached to the lobby of the first circle is a spacious saloon, elegantly fitted up. The gallery is above this circle, and extends all round the auditory, with an extensive lobby at the back. The pit, which is entered by the door next the box entrance on the left, is commodious, and surrounded at the back by a partition of about four feet in height, which during the winter season is completely boarded up, and makes the house considerably warmer. The proscenium is in height about twenty-six feet. A cut-glass lustre is suspended over the pit, and one on each side of the proscenium, all lighted by gas, which is in general use over the whole of the theatre. The stage, which is extensive and better fitted up than any minor house in England, is in depth, from the lights to the wall, ninety-four feet, and in width, from stage CHAP. I. door to stage door, thirty-two feet. It gradually descends from the wall to the pit. The house holds three hundred and twenty-five pounds. The proximity of this theatre to the Strand, Covent garden, Fleet street, Charing cross, and the western parts of the metropolis, gives it a decided advantage over the other Surrey theatres; and in proportion as the buildings in the Bridge road proceed, in like proportion will the chance of success attend this establish ment. From the Cobourg theatre a road proceeds to the right and left; the right, which is called Lambeth marsh, extends to the Westminster road; the left, which is called the New cut, leads to the Blackfriars road. In a street leading from it, on the left, proceeding towards the last-mentioned road, are Church-street Almshouses: Church a neat brick building, erected in 1824, for ten poor street members of Mr. Upton's particular baptist society, in houses. Church street, Blackfriars road. house. In Lambeth marsh stood, until the beginning of July, Bonner's 1823, when it was taken down, an ancient fragment of a building called Bonner's house, though much mutilated and altered from what it appeared a few years before. This is traditionally said to have been part of a residence of Bishop Bonner, which formerly extended a considerable way further in front. There is nothing in the history of this place to prove that it belonged to any of the bishops of London, except by an entry of an ordination in Strype's "Memorials of Cranmer," which mentions the same to have taken place "in the chapel of my lord the bishop of London in the Lower Marsh, Lambeth." Lying-in In the Westminster road is a brick building, formerly hospital. BOOK III. used as a general lying-in hospital, previously called the Westminster Lying-in Hospital. This charity was instituted in the year 1765, by the humane exertions of the late Dr. John Leake, an eminent writer on the diseases of women. It was principally intended as an asylum for the wives of poor industrious tradesmen, and distressed housekeepers, who, either from unavoidable misfortunes or from the burden of large families, are reduced to want, and rendered incapable of bearing the expenses incident to the pregnant and lying-in state, and also for the wives of indigent soldiers and seamen; but the governors, in the spirit of true philanthropy, have extended the benefits of this institution to unmarried females, restricting this indulgence, however, to the first instance of misconduct. The benefits of this institution are also extended to pregnant women who prefer remaining with their families, or who cannot conveniently be removed, and are supplied with all necessary medicines and medical assistance. This benefit cannot be extended farther than to such as reside within certain limits, viz. Vauxhall, Kennington, and Kent street turnpikes; Tower hill, Cornhill, the turnpikes at the end of St. John street, Goswell street, Gray's inn lane, Tottenham court road, Paddington, Tyburn, Hyde park, and Pimlico. Subsequently the benefits of this institution have been extended generally. Proper midwives are appointed in the various districts to such women. A chaplain baptizes the children, keeps the register, churches the women, and administers the communion. This institution has been recently removed into a very handsome building on the east side of York road: the front towards which exhibits, in the centre, a recessed portico of four Ionic columns, within which is |