82
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. IT. JULY so, *
is let into the wall of one of the houses, in
1647. About the same time Vere Street was
probably built, as it received its name from
Elizabeth, daughter of Horatio, Lord Vere of
Tilbury, and wife of the second earl. As this
lady did not die till 1683, she had probably
the pleasure of witnessing the dramatic per-
formances which took place in Gibbons's
Tennis Court in Vere Street, which was con-
verted into a theatre by Thomas Killigrew in
1660, and in which his company performed
till April, 1663, when the new theatre in
Drury Lane was ready to receive them. The
second earl was succeeded in 1665 by his son
Gilbert, who, according to an inscribed stone,
was responsible for the naming of Denzil
Street, which received its designation from
his uncle, the well-known Denzil, Lord Holies,
who died on 17 Feb., 1679/80, after having
earned a name in history as one of the Five
Members. After the third Earl of Clare was
named another disreputable court known as
Gilbert Passage, which was demolished several
years ago, and of which an admirable sketch
by Mr. J. P. Emslie, taken while the houses
were in process of destruction, will be found
in the 'Illustrated Topographical Record'
lately issued by the London Topographical
Society. Newcastle Street, which will also
be swept away to the advantage of the
morals of the community is a much older
thoroughfare, which received its latest de-
signation from the fourth earl, who succeeded
to the title on the death of his father, 16 Jan.,
1688/9, and was subsequently created Duke
of Newcastle. At his death in 1711 the
family of Holies became extinct in the male
line, and the dukedom passed to the family
of Pelham. It was this nobleman who pur-
chased from Lord Powis the commanding
mansion at the north-west angle of Lincoln's
Inn Fields, which is still known as Newcastle
House, and which was for a time the residence
of the great Whig Chancellor, Lord Somers.
The neighbouring Wych Street still retains some vestiges of early days in the tavern at the eastern end, the "Rising Sun," and in the dilapidated timber house which is associated in popular tradition with that predatory hero Jack Sheppard. From Wych Street there is a gateway into New Inn, which, despite its name, is said to be the oldest of the Inns of Chancery, and to have nurtured the early years of Thomas More. Although the existing houses in this Inn do not seem to date beyond the respectable days of the brick order of architecture favoured by the builders of William and Anne, it is impossible not to regret the approaching decease, for the re- freshing piece of greensward in the midst,
with its cooing pigeons, makes it a pleasant
aackwater in which one may escape for an
nstant from the flood of London traffic. In
meeting the fate of the neighbouring Lyon's
[nn- the erstwhile abode of Mr. William
Weare we may hope that it will serve as an
object lesson to those who are responsible for
carrying out the new scheme, and that in
bheir haste to secure "betterment" and other
financial advantages they will not forget the
store that Londoners place upon trees and
herbage. The theatres we shall lose the
Gaiety, the Globe, and the Olympic will
doubtless find homes elsewhere, out an open
space in London, once built over, is lost for
ver, and advantage should be taken of the
present opportunity to provide another play-
round for the thousands who will still
epend upon the Strand and its vicinity for
their means of livelihood. It may also be
hoped that in the nomenclature of the new
thoroughfare and its tributaries the ancient
associations of the district may not be entirely
forgotten. W. F. PKIDEAUX.
45, Pall Mall, S.W.
ANCIENT ZODIACS.
(Continued from p. 63. )
96. In the Villa Borghesi "a low marble cylinder, having the signs of the zodiac carved round its convex trunk, and the Dii Consentes round a hole in the top, is called
an altar of the Sun To me it appeared
rather the plinth or base of a temple can- delabrum." Forsyth, 'Italy,' 1835, p. 224.
97. On a globe, in a painting from Pompeii. Archceologia, xxxvi. 198 ; in 'Le Pitture Antiche d'Ercolano,' 1760, vii. 11.
98. "Muratori mentions the epitaph of a Roman, styled Gauncarius, holding in his left hand a book, charged with the signs of the zodiac. Query if it means a geographer?" Magas, 'Encycl. des Antiq.'; Fosbroke, i. 396.
99. On a fragment of white marble, " Tabula Iliaca. Capitoline Museum, Rome." " Thetis appears bearing the shield of Achilles (bk. xviii.), which differs from Homer in having a border with the signs of the zodiac engraved on it." Seven signs are visible, from Capricornus to Gemini. In Anderson, ' Atlas to Homer,' 1892, p. 3, pi. i. fig. 4.
100. On a round gem, enclosing Jupiter seated, above his eagle, Neptune below with trident, Mars with spear and shield, Mer- cury with caduceus, and Cupid. In Beger, ' Thesaurus Palatine,' Heidelbergae, 1685, p. 3.
101. Planisphere of Bianchini. Isaic hiero- glyphic table No. 232. White marble tablet
