CHAPTER XI

The York Water-Gate-Inigo Jones' Beautiful Work-Built for the Duke of Buckingham-The Proposal for its RemovalSatires on the Subject-The Gate Neglected-Its Restoration - The Water Tower - The West-end supplied with Water from Here - The Steam Engine - Samuel Pepys resides in Buckingham Street-William Etty and Clarkson Stanfield Peter the Great Lodges Here-His Love of Strong Drink The Witty Earl of Dorset-David Hume and Jean Jacques Rousseau-Moore writes to his Publisher Here The Father of Modern Geology-A Great Actor dies Here-The Original of Smollett's Hugh Strap-David Copperfield's Chambers-Evelyn lives in Villiers StreetSir Richard Steele-Zara acted Here-Mrs Cibber-Misstatement by " Anthony Pasquin.”

ALTHOUGH every trace of York House itself has been long ago obliterated, there still remains the water-gate, one of the most interesting historical relics in London. Peter the Great's house, which formerly overlooked it, has given place only this year to a new building, but the "stairs" which were erected for the first Duke of Buckingham are still here to remind us of many celebrities who came to this hallowed spot from the days of "Steenie" until the beginning of the last century.

The architect of this charming piece of work was Inigo Jones (1573-1652), and the date of its erection can safely be attributed to the year 1625. One Nicholas Stone (1586-1647) has been wrongly credited with the design. In his Account Book of Workes, which is in the library of Sir John Soane's Museum, it is said: "The Water-gate at York House hee dessined and built; and ye right hand lion hee did, fronting ye Thames. Mr Kearne, a Jarman, his brother by marrying, did ye Shee lion." But Stone-whose best work was in tombs, those of Bodley at Oxford and Donne in St Paul's being his most celebrated-carried out many of the designs of Inigo Jones, and, from this cause, I fancy, came his claim to the York water-gate. These "stairs," as they were commonly called, have been described as "unquestionably the most perfect piece of building that does honour to the name of Inigo Jones-planned in so exquisite a taste, formed of such equal and harmonious parts, and adorned with such proper and elegant decorations, that nothing can be censured or added. It is at once happy in its situation, beyond comparison, and fancied in a style exactly suited to that situation. The rock-work, or rustic, can never be better introduced than in buildings by the side of water ; and, indeed, it is a great question whether it ought to be made use of any where else." The arms of the Villiers family-now the worse for wear,

YORK WATER-GATE

but still visible-appear on the side facing the Thames, and, on the reverse, is to be seen their motto: Fidei Coticula Crux-the Cross is the Touch-stone of Faith. The terrace on this side was planted with lime-trees, and, less than a century ago, was "supported by a rate raised upon the houses in the neighbouring streets; and, being enclosed from the public, forms an agreeable promenade for the inhabitants."

This famous water-gate has had its vicissitudes. In 1767, there was a proposal for its removal, but, fortunately, this act of vandalism was not allowed to take place. The suggestion gave rise to various protests, one of which took the following form :

"Sacred

to the Memory and Reputation of
INIGO JONES.

Let no Hand attempt to remove me :
A Mind improved by Taste
Will consider me as a bulwark
To controul the Waves,
Repel the Flood,

And buffet the Western Blasts that annoy
The Inhabitant.

I am the only perfect Building of the Kind
In England;

An search Europe thro', none excell me.
Who

Seek to destroy me,

Repentance shall o'er-take.

Genius shall hunt them from Society,

Contempt shall mark them for her own."

Whether the sinful souls who had thought to

execute their fell purpose ever repented or were hunted "from Society," is not recorded. Another satire was in more lively strain :

"A strange hubble bubble
Confusion and trouble

Has been about York Buildings Gate;
And some gentlemen swear

It shall not stand there,

It's a thing, above all, that they hate.

Tho' 'twas Inigo Jones

Plan'd the piling these stones,

And superb is the architecture;

But alas! some so say

It does stand in the way

Of one that's a Terras director.

Must this building at length

Render up all its strength,

That's withstood the tempestuous billows;

Even rain, storms of hail,

Stood secure from each gale,

To please some testy old fellows.

Last Wedn❜sday at night

With all malice and spite

Poor Inigo's fame they did sully;

Till a member arose

And opposed his foes

Verbatim he spoke like a Tully.

Some the cause did maintain,

That it should there remain,

Or where can we go helter-skelter?

At a time when it rains,

Without trouble or pains

The ladies go there for a shelter.

THE WATER TOWER

And from Phœbus's Rays,
In hot, sultry days,

To be free from intenseness of heat;

Such a prospect it gains

O'er the river of Thames,

There's not a more pleasing retreat.

T. B."

The gate had become so neglected in 1823 that it was necessary to repair the roof and stone-work and to renew the iron-work. This was done at a cost of £300, defrayed by a rate levied on the occupants of York Buildings. Thirteen years later, however, I find a complaint that the gate had been allowed "from neglect, to be almost smothered in river mud." Again, in 1854, it was said to be "in a ruinous state"-a view of the case which is somewhat exaggerated, for the gate is still in wonderful preservation, considering its age and the destructive nature of the London climate. The gate, and the terrace behind, are now under the control of the London County Council. It is a pity that the "stairs" are so hidden in the hollow of the gardens, but this cannot be avoided. The terrace, which leads from Villiers Street to York Buildings, with an entrance from Buckingham Street, is well-kept, and, very properly, it is only open during the day.

In the frontispiece to this volume, and in some of the other illustrations, there is to be seen, to the left of the water-gate, a strange-looking " octangular