panion both to
the Foreigner and Native, in their Tours through the Cities of London
and Westminster' (1763), contains the following passage:--"Queen's
Square, which is pleasantly situated at the extreme part of the town,
has a fine open view of the country, and is handsomely built, as are
likewise the neighboring streets--viz., Southampton Row, Ormond Street,
&c. In this last is Powis House, so named from the Marquis of Powis, who
built the present stately structure in the year 1713. It is now the town
residence of the Earl of Hardwicke, late Lord Chancellor. The
apartments are noble, and the whole edifice is commendable for its
situation, and the fine prospect of the country. Not far from thence is
Bloomsbury Square. This square is commendable for its situation and
largeness. On the North side is the house of the Duke of Bedford. This
building was erected from a design of Inigo Jones, and is very elegant
and spacious." From the duke's house in Bloomsbury Square and his
surrounding property, the political party, of which he was the Chief,
obtained the nickname of the Bloomsbury Gang.

Chief Justice Holt died March 5, 1710, at his house[3] in Bedford Row.
In Red Lion Square Chief Justice Raymond had the town mansion wherein he
died on April 15, 1733; twelve years after Sir John Pratt, Lord Camden's
father, died at his house in Ormond Street. On December 15, 1761, Chief
Justice Willes died at his house in Bloomsbury Square. Chagrin at
missing the seals through his own arrogance, when they had been actually
offered to him, was supposed to be a principal cause of the Chief
Justice's death. His friends represented that he died of a broken heart;
to which assertion flippant enemies responded that no man ever had a
heart after living seventy-four years. Murray for many years inhabited a
handsome house in Lincoln's Inn Fields; but his name is more generally
associated with Bloomsbury Square, where stood the house which was
sacked and burnt by the Gordon rioters. In Bloomsbury Square our
grandfathers used to lounge, watching the house of Edward Law,
subsequently Lord Ellenborough, in the hope of seeing Mrs. Law, as she
watered the flowers of her balcony. Mrs. Law's maiden name was Towry,
and, as a beauty, she remained for years the rage of London. Even at
this date there remain a few aged gentlemen whose eyes sparkle and whose
checks flush when they recall the charms of the lovely creature who
became the wife of ungainly Edward