ts, which were originally named the _Elms_,
and afterwards _Seven Acres_, and _Long Acre_, having reverted to the town
at the Dissolution, was given by Edward the Sixth to his ill-fated uncle,
the Duke of Somerset; after whose attainder, as appears from the original
_Minutes_ of the Privy Council, there was a patent granted in March, 1552,
to John Russell, Earl of Bedford, and Lord Privy Seal, _per Bill. Dom.
Regis_ 'of the gift of the Covent, or Convent Garden, lying in the parish
of St. Martin in the Fields, near Charing Cross, with seven acres, called
_Long Acre_, of the yearly value of 6_l_. 6_s_. 8_d_., parcel of
the possessions of the late Duke of Somerset, to have to him and his heirs,
reserving a tenure to the King's Majesty in _socage_, and not in _capite_.'
Shortly after, the Earl of Bedford erected a mansion, principally of wood,
for his town residence, near the bottom of what is now Southampton
Street;[1] and that building, which obtained the name of _Bedford House_,
remained till the year 1704: it was inclosed by a brick wall, and had a
large garden extending northward, nearly to the site of the present
market-place."

The Engraving scarcely requires further explanation. The Royal Procession
to the Convent in the distance, with the young King, Edward VI. beneath a
canopy, has a picturesque, if not imposing effect. By the way, a
Correspondent, who appears to delight in the quaint sublime, tells us that
in digging the foundation of the Market just erected in Covent Garden, a
quantity of human bones were dug from a rich black mould, at the depth of
five feet from the surface, opposite James-street. "The Irish labourers
threw them forth, and the sun again gleamed upon the probable particles of
holy nuns, till the heavy feet of costermongers, &c. scattered them, and
carried the crumbling relics sticking to their muddy heels, throughout the
town. This northern portion of the market might probably have been the
Convent burial-ground."

A general descriptive outline of the Strand will assist the second view.
Malcolm tells us that "the Strand _once_ consisted of palaces for the
Monarch, Archbishop, Bishops, a Royal Hospital, and mansions of the
nobility. Yet a complaint occurs in the rolls of parliament of the high
road between the Temple and the village of Charing being so deep and miry
as to be almost impassable." Mr. Brayley, in his interesting _Londiniana_,
gives the following:--

"In ancient times the STRAND