now 22, Theobald's Road, that Benjamin Disraeli is
supposed to have been born; but many other places in the neighbourhood
also claim to be his birthplace, though not with so much authority.
There was a cockpit in this Road in the eighteenth century.
We are now in the diminutive parish of St. George the Martyr, carved out
of that of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and originally including Red Lion
Square and the streets adjacent.
Gloucester Street was named after Queen Anne's sickly little son, the
only one of her seventeen children who survived infancy. Robert Nelson,
author of "Fasts and Festivals," was at one time a resident. The street
is narrow and dirty, lined by old brick houses; here and there is a
carved doorway with brackets, showing that, like most streets in the
vicinity, it was better built than now inhabited, and it is probable
that where sickly children now sprawl on doorsteps stately ladies in
hoops and silken skirts once stepped forth. St. George's National
Schools are here, and a public-house with the odd name of Hole in the
Wall, a name adopted by Mr. Morrison in his recent novel about Wapping.
Queen Square was built in Queen Anne's reign, and named in her honour,
but it is a statue of Queen Charlotte that stands beneath the
plane-trees in the centre.
When it was first built, much eulogy was bestowed upon it, because of
the beautiful view to the Hampstead and Highgate Hills, for which reason
the north side was left open; it is still open, but the prospect it
commands is only the further side of Guilford Street. The Square is a
favourite place for charitable institutions. On the east side was, until
1902, a College for Working Men and Women, designed to aid by evening
classes the studies of those who are busy all day.
The Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy is on the same side. This was
instituted in 1859, but the present building was in 1885 opened by the
Prince of Wales, and is a memorial to the Duke of Albany, and a very
splendid memorial it is. The building, which occupies a very large space
along the side of the Square, is ornately built of red brick and
terra-cotta, with handsome balconies and a porch of the latter material.
There are four wards for men and five for women, with two small surgical
wards; also two contributing wards for patients who can afford to pay
something toward their expenses.
Almost exactly opposite, across the Square, is a new red-brick building.
This is the Alexandra Hos
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