New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-02
THE HISTORIC STRAND.
SOME OF IT'S THEATRICAL ASSOCIATIONS
THE PLAY STILL THE THING-A
NEW PEG WOFFINGTON.


associations and haunted by benignant ghosts
for those with eyes to sec them With two
beautiful old churches and the New Law Courts
at the bottom, II Is not without historic land
marks and beauty Of architecture: but in the
main It Is an unplcturesque street OF shops and
theatres. with a few hotels set back upon the
| Embanknent. 1t has not always lacked an air
Of distinction and pride. At frs, It was o
winding brdlepath through marshes and fields
and then It was a riverside road leading from
London to Westminster. through the village Of
Charing Cross; but under the Pantagenets and
in Elizabethan days it was transformed INTO .
splendid street Of baronal palaces. with gar
! dens sloping to the waters edge. This old
time Belgravia has vanished from sight, and
upon It's ruins has been built the prosalc
Strand OF playhouses and shops. nanked by
narrow. dingy streets
The water-gate Of York House and the old
Savoy Chapel are almost the only relics Of this
bygone splendor for the Somerset House OF the
Inland Revenue and probate records is not the
famous palace where neglected Queens fretted
with ennuL The Savoy Palace. Burlcigh South.
ampton. Arundel. Northumberland and the other
great houses Of the feudal lords and court
favorites have disappeared The sites OF the
splendid mansions with their traditions Of
pageantry and intrigue. can no longer be identk
fed in the modern maze Of the brisk and stir.
ring Strand The only memorials OF the mag.
| nfcence and power of the barons are the names
OF the side streets. which make up a fairly
complete record OF the older peerage. These
are still names to conjure with in a dreamland
| Of flashing cavalcadeS and cOurtierS in velvet
and cloth-Or-gold, where trumpets are sounding
] yb nd
Wosey sweeps by in triumph to Whitehall and
Sir Walter Raleigh muses., and Lady Jane Grey
| is carried off a prisoner to the Tower and tho
Duke Of Buckingham is puissant in audacty.
| The Strand, with all the countless changes Of
scenic setting, remains the unique triumpha
way where Elizabeth has passed after the
Armada. Charles II after the Restoration.
Queen Anne after Benheim and Victoria in her
Jubilee year. Now mean and almost shabby
street, 1t has witnessed the most glorious scenes
of English history.
ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE STAGE.
The Strand lacks the imperishable literary
"reminiscences of Floet-st. but It has the storied
associations Of the stage. 1t is street Of play
houses, the natural centre of the modern drama
and for two centuries the great figures Of the
English stage have known and loved IL. and
lived IN the narrow lanes leading into II. X has
been the scene Of their triumphs and SORROWS,
as we'll as OF royal glory and shame. Some Of
the strangest romances OF the stage have been
enacted there without the glitter Of footlignts.
In the coffee-hOuses and taverns their lishtest
comic byplay has been witnessed BY boon conn
panons. Incidents more tragic than the lramae
lists art could invent have checkered the
reers OF the beauties of the stage. and In some
Of the old fashioned houses now crumbl.ng into
ruins Hawthornes unmannerly scene-sh,fter,
Death. has suddenly rung down the curtain.
One does not think of these things az mid
night when the theatres and concert halls are
cmptyng their audiences into the Strand. with
its thousands Of lights and babel Of voices. and
when the maddening whrl Of carriages and ham
SONS toward the West End has begun But by
daylight there is full leisure for remin.sc,nces
and sensibility Standing at the upper end Of
the Strand, near Eeanor's Cross, one may hear
once week the bells Of ST. Martin-in-thc Fields
ringing in accordance with Nell Gwynnes be-
quest; and lower down in the tangie of .anes
near Holywell-st., with its gabled houses, he
can recall Samuel Pepyss diary entry Of
joyous Mayday: TO Westminster in tie way
meeting many mlknaids with their gdriands
upon their pals. dancing with a fiddler ucfore
them. and saw pretty Nelly G"ynhe sitndihs
at her lodging door in Drury Court 10 her
smock sleeves and bodice looking upon me;
she seemed a mighty pretty creature There
was a high Maypole then standing where 10
now the beautiful little Church OF 81 Mary-le-
Strand.
Not far away on the opposite side Of the
Strand Is the lite Of Mrs. Bracegirdlos house
In Howard st. one OF the innumerabo COM
pany of her infatuated admirers. having pressed
his suit in vain. resolved TO carry the fortress
by storm Captain Hill. waiting with a con-
federate Lord Mohun near the entrance Of