The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-10-06
BYWAYS OF LONDON.
SOME Old PLACES AND SoME
QUEER NAMES.
Also Some ReminIseences-VoIta in
England.

A correspondent who is fond of look
ing up old, out-of-the-way London has
been trying to. find Labour-in-Yain
Yard, a purIieu, which an old London
lady described to him as existing some
where about Cannon street in 1860 or
1862. His efforts to ind it have been
''labour in vain, and he asks for infor-
nation. I think can give it. When
my correspondent next walks down
Queen Victoria street from the bank
toward Blackfriars, let him note the
spot where Lambeth Hill descends to
Upper Thames street. Here, or here
about q fancy in the middle of Queen
Victoria street,, stood Labour-in-Vain
court, or yard. Queen Victoria street
was opened to traffic in 1871, so that the
Ereeollection of my correspondents in
formant would be correct. It was an
old court, and was certainly in exist
ence as early as 1850, and probably
much earlier. Its curious name be-
longs to a type Of homely designations
that has almost disappeared. Such a
name usually indicated descriptive
cul-de-sac (Which Labour-in-Vain court
was) like Turngain lane, now existing in
Harrington street. There is still La
bour-in-Vain street in ShadWell, off
Market Hill. Other curious old names
to which my correspondent may like to
turn his attention are Cut-Throat lane,
which we will find in Ivanhoe road,
Camberwell; Double-X place, which,
with luck he will discover in Globe road,
E.; Jacobs Wellpassage, Barbican, p.
| c.; and Noah's Ark alley, in Ratcliff,
and again, in Park street, Southwark.
The most remarkable London street
name which l am acquainted with is
Crooked Usage, in Chelsea. This very
old name probably dates from primitive
agricultural times, when the land was
divided into allotments, separated by
breadths of unturned grass. These
strips or 'usages'' We're naturally
straight, but there was one crooked
one, and the Crooked Usage, like the
/ Ugly Duekling has been favoredi 1t has
survived as the name Of twentieth
century London street.
/ had occasion the other day to jour
| ney UP to Camden Town, and from a
Great Portland street bus 1 looked
down with surprise on an extensive
scene of demolition. Bolsover street is
| yielding its west side to the 'improv-
ing" crowbar. This street runs south
from the Euston road, just east of
Portland Road station, In the eigh-
4 teenth century it was fashionable under
its old name Of Norton street. Many
great artists lived here. AT No. IL Sir
David Wilkie worked on his Blind Fid-
der" and here he painted his Village
\ Politicians Turner left this street,
/ after three years nominal residence,
just a hundred years ago. He was
then twenty-nine, and was travelling the
continent. 1t seems to me pretty GER
tain that in this street, at what was
1 then No. rs, Turner painted his Ca
lais Pier" now in the national gallery,
the picture which Ruskin recognized as
the first which bears the sign, manual
4 and sign mental Of Turner'S colossal
POWER" From Norton street, too, the
funeral of Sir William Chambers, the
architect of Somerset house, proceeded
1 to Westminster Abbey. To-day Bolso-
liver (Norton) street is dull, macadam-
lied by-street in whose once well in
habited houses such by-industries as
upholstering, steel cutting and glass
writing are carried on.
1t is difficult to think Of .Voltaire In
London. All the more interesting is it
to know that his experiences of Eng
land began very fayorably. The young
exile landed at Greenwich on a May
morning In 1926 It is possible that
Greenwich fair was in progress, for the
first spectacle that met his eyes was a
racecourse and vast concourse of peo-
lple. 1t was cloudless day, and he was
Intoxicated by the lovely climate and
| by the air Of liberty which he breathed.
He wrote afterwards:
| 81 fancied that I was transported to
1.-THE Olympian games; but the beauty
| Of the Thamts, the crowd Of vessels,
and the vast size of the city of London
soon made me blush for having dared to
liken Ellis to England. I was told that
at the same time a fight of gladiators
Ca prize fight, no doubt was In pro-
gress in London, and I Immediately
believed myself to be among the an
cient Romans. A courier from Den
mark, who had arrived that morning,
and who was fortunately returning to-
Denmark the same evening, was beside
me during the races. He seemed over
powered with joy and astonishment; he
believed that the entire nation was al
ways gay, that all the women We're
sprightly and beautiful, and that the
sky of England was always pure and
serene" 49,
There is a vain of banter here, and
Voltaire goes on to tell how next day
he found every one morose, and murder
abroad; the wind was in the east,
Greatly astonished by this change in
the manners Of the people he inquired
of court doctor, who told him that he
had nothing to be astonished at, and
that in November and March, if he
stayed, he would see people hang them
selves by the dozen-the wind being
then in the east. In those months, the
doctor told the astonished Frenchman,
EVERY one looks stern and cross, and
is disposed to fornl desperate resolu-
lions. 1t was precisely in an east wind
that Charles I. was beheaded and that
James III. was dethroned. Ifsyou have
any favor to ask at court, never go to
ask it unless the wind is in the west or,
SOUTH" Though much of Voltaire's
time in England was spent at Wands-
worth with his wealthy and generous
host, Sir Everard Falkener, he is known