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Article EARLY HAUNTS OF FREEMASONRY. ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Early Haunts Of Freemasonry.
Garth , & c . ; Colley Cibber , the poet laureate , reciting his Court odes in the Apollo Chamber . Hence the epigram :
* When laureates make odes , do you ask of what sort ? Do you ask if they ' re good or are evil ? You may judge ; from the ' Devil' they come to the Court , And go from the Court to the ' Devil . ' Here also Dr . Kenrick delivered lectures on Shakespeare ; and here ,
in 1776 , was established a club , with , having regard to the name of the tavern , a most suitable title , namely , that of the Pandemonium Club . That the Devil should have set up his quarters as nearly opposite as possible to a church dedicated to his ancient and redoubtable enemy , St . Dunstan , of pious and immortal memory , must
be looked upon as rather chiming in with the natural fitness of things than a passing coincidence . However , he was wary enough to let there be a good roadway between , so that his votaries and those of the Saint might not fall seriously foul of each other . At all events , the proximity of this church and the tavern brings to mind the old legend of St . Dunstan and his diabolical antagonist , notwithstanding
it is close on a centuiy since the latter s z'eputed abode has gone the way of most bricks and mortar ; and that the church dedicated to the former has the very reverse of a belligerent appearance . As to the edifice , it is of modern construction , having been erected as recently as 1831 . Its immediate predecessor was , in one particular , one of the
sights of London . " On one side of it , " writes the chronicler , " in a handsome frame of architecture , are placed in a standing posture two savages or Hercules , with clubs erect , which quarterly sti-ike on two bells hanging there . " These were set up in 1677 by Thomas Harrys , who received in payment the sum of £ 35 and the old clock .
They were purchased in 1830 for £ 200 b y the late Marquis of Hertford , and are still preserved in the residence in Regent ' s Park of the present owner of the title . An excellent idea of this unusual adornment in ecclesiastical architecture may be gained any day of the week from the similar decoration placed over the shop of Bz * o . Sir John Bennett , just opposite King-street . But to return to St . Dunstan ' s in the West . There was a St . Dunstan ' s Church on the
site of the present one anterior to 1237 , and the nei ghbourhood , as we have already pointed out , appears to have found favour in the sight of the booksellers and publishers . Of other buidings in the vicinit y there are the Cock with its old carved chimney-piece of the time of James I . Two doors west of old Chancery-lane stoodin
, 1824 , a milliner ' s shop kept by Izaak Walton , who a few years later—1632—went to live seven doors up the lane on the west side , and U
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Early Haunts Of Freemasonry.
Garth , & c . ; Colley Cibber , the poet laureate , reciting his Court odes in the Apollo Chamber . Hence the epigram :
* When laureates make odes , do you ask of what sort ? Do you ask if they ' re good or are evil ? You may judge ; from the ' Devil' they come to the Court , And go from the Court to the ' Devil . ' Here also Dr . Kenrick delivered lectures on Shakespeare ; and here ,
in 1776 , was established a club , with , having regard to the name of the tavern , a most suitable title , namely , that of the Pandemonium Club . That the Devil should have set up his quarters as nearly opposite as possible to a church dedicated to his ancient and redoubtable enemy , St . Dunstan , of pious and immortal memory , must
be looked upon as rather chiming in with the natural fitness of things than a passing coincidence . However , he was wary enough to let there be a good roadway between , so that his votaries and those of the Saint might not fall seriously foul of each other . At all events , the proximity of this church and the tavern brings to mind the old legend of St . Dunstan and his diabolical antagonist , notwithstanding
it is close on a centuiy since the latter s z'eputed abode has gone the way of most bricks and mortar ; and that the church dedicated to the former has the very reverse of a belligerent appearance . As to the edifice , it is of modern construction , having been erected as recently as 1831 . Its immediate predecessor was , in one particular , one of the
sights of London . " On one side of it , " writes the chronicler , " in a handsome frame of architecture , are placed in a standing posture two savages or Hercules , with clubs erect , which quarterly sti-ike on two bells hanging there . " These were set up in 1677 by Thomas Harrys , who received in payment the sum of £ 35 and the old clock .
They were purchased in 1830 for £ 200 b y the late Marquis of Hertford , and are still preserved in the residence in Regent ' s Park of the present owner of the title . An excellent idea of this unusual adornment in ecclesiastical architecture may be gained any day of the week from the similar decoration placed over the shop of Bz * o . Sir John Bennett , just opposite King-street . But to return to St . Dunstan ' s in the West . There was a St . Dunstan ' s Church on the
site of the present one anterior to 1237 , and the nei ghbourhood , as we have already pointed out , appears to have found favour in the sight of the booksellers and publishers . Of other buidings in the vicinit y there are the Cock with its old carved chimney-piece of the time of James I . Two doors west of old Chancery-lane stoodin
, 1824 , a milliner ' s shop kept by Izaak Walton , who a few years later—1632—went to live seven doors up the lane on the west side , and U