The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-02
NOTABLE PLACES LABELED
By LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL
Homes of Dickens, DisraeIi, Pitt and Other Great
EngIshmen Are Marked for Recognition
by Trippers

Sdd memories Tor MIN ana eSSdDh3Sneu
his home at No. "a Wilton Ereaeent.
At Nc. 22 Theobald.s road. iHolborn,
a tablet has been placed Informing all
and sundry that Benjamin Disraeh,
earl of Beaeensfield. was born there In
1904. AS regards the actual birthplace
of the great premier, there has been
much controversy. DiSraeli himself
added to the general confusion on the
subject by mentioning at various times
three houses as the scene Of his birth
one at st. Mary Axe. another No. s
Bloomsbury square and a third in
Adelphi. There is no record that the
family ever lived in the st. Mary Axe
district; they did not move into the
Bloomsbury square house until Ben
jamin was thirteen years old; the
Adelphi house, No. James street, was
the residence of his father before his
marriage. The evidence collected
leaves little doubt that No. % Theo-
bald's road, known at the time of Isaac
Disraelfs tenancy as No. 6 Kings road,
was really the place where the astute
statesman first saw the light. The
house has undergone no substantial al
terations since.
In designating by tablet No IA York
place, Portnan square, as the residence
at one time of William Pitt,whom many
historians consider the greatest of all
county council is supported by indis-
putable evidence, although his oecu-
pancy of it was brief, for he lived there
only two years-1S03 and 1904. While
he made his home here it was shared
by his niece the brilliant and beauti-
full but eccentric Lady Hester Stan
hope, who afterwards took up her abode
on Mount Lebanan, and by the sheer
force of her remarkable personality
acquired an almost absolute authority
over the tribes OF the surrounding dis
triets. Lady Hester acted as her I'M
ele'S secretary. received his guests and
sat at the head of his table. Accord
ing to Pitts biographer, Stanhope, 'her
presence tended far reAthan his re-
turn TO power to cheer and brighten his
few remaining years.
Pitt was out of Office during the
whole of the time he lived at York
place, but it was during his residence
there that he delivered his memorable
speech on the renewal of the war with
France in May, 1903. 1t was Of this
speech that Fox, his great political
rival, said: 1T is speech which if
Demonsthenes had been present he
must have admired, and might have
envied."
While such houses still remain as
memorials of departed genius others
equally deserving Of preservation are
being sacrificed to the demands for
modern Improvement. No. 80 Cavendish
square, which, as the home of Romney
for twenty years, has long been a great
landmark in England's artistic annals
is undergoing demolition. 1t was in
IT'S that the great artist yielded to
the persuasions of his friends and
leased the house, which had become
vacant through the death of Francis
COtes, r. A. He had little money at
the time and 1t seemed for some months
as though his apprehensions of i'm
pending ruin had been only too we'll
founded. But at length the Duke of
Richmond came to his rescue and his
patronage turned the tide in the paint
ers favor In a little while fashion
was dividing her fayors between Rom
ney and Reynolds, much to Sir Josh
ua's wrath, who contemptuously des-
ignated his rival as 'the man in Cav
endish square"
'All the town. said Lord Thurlew,
lis divided into two factions, the Rey-
nolds and the Romney and | am of
the Romney faction" The world of art
has been similarly divided ever since,
and 1t Is likely long to remain a de-
batable question whether the caress-
ing brush Of the one was not equal in
its way to the more masculine and
vigorous genius Of the other the great
president or the Royal academy.
1t was in this Cavendish square stu
dio that Romney painted his famous Sc
ries Of portraits of Emma Hart, then
under the protection of his friend, the
Hon. Charles Greyille, and afterwards,
as all the world knows, the Lady Ham
ilton, whose beauty ensnared and sui
lied the fame of Lord Nelson. Rom
ney gave up the house only when 1t
became too small to cope with his ex-
travagant schemes which were the first
signs of the mental collapse that dark
ened the last years of his life.
For many years past workmen have
been busy pulling down the old houses
in Spring gardens to form a thorough
fare which will run from the gates of
Buckingham palace in an almost
straight line to Trafalgar square. That
it will be a great improvement there
can be no question, but it has involved
the destruction of much that is quaint
and picturesque and reminiscent of the
days of Good Queen Bess, when the
Spring Garden" as it was then called.
was popular pleasure resort Mhere.
according to one chronicier, there was
continual bibbing and drinking wine
all day under the trees. and two or
three QuarrelS every week.
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