hat through London to Westminster Abbey. One of the Pike Gardens belonged to Philip Henslowe, as well as the two gardens appertaining to the Little Rose estate. But "the Queenes Pike Garden" (according to Letters Patent of 1618) was reserved in the lease granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1595. The pike-ponds are marked in Norden's map, included in the present edition of this book. They appear more clearly in a plan of 1572.* The name Love Lane bore possibly some sarcastic reference to the "Stews," or "Bordello," which existed near this spot. Camden tells an interesting anecdote concerning the pike-ponds, and his opinion as to the origin of the term "Stews" was probably correct (pp. 226, 227).

From Bankside there is a fine view of St Paul's, and the barges with their brown sails are decidedly picturesque. Cardinal Cap Alley runs between the British Lion Wharf and Phoenix Iron Wharf, a very narrow way, with a large iron post in the pavement before the opening. At the corner of Pike Gardens, opposite the dome of St Paul's, a new Refreshment House, with the appropriate name of The Waterman's Arms, has been erected.

* See Frontispiece, Early London Theatres.

At the end of Bankside we emerge upon Holland Street, and this name brings us into touch with the old manor-house of Paris Garden, the site of which is marked on the accompanying plan.

In 1632, when the house had sunk to disreputable uses, a pamphlet was published with the title "Holland's Leaguer," which contains a curious passage relating to the Bankside playhouses:"There are pleasant walks and a concourse of strangers. Three famous amphitheatres can be seen

resort

from the turrets: one, the continent of the world [i.e. the Globe], to which half the year [i.e. in summer] a world of beauties and of brave spirits -a building of excellent Hope [the later name of the Bear Garden] for players, wild beasts and gladiators and one other, that the lady of the Leaguer, or fortress, could almost shake hands with, now fallen to decay, and, like a dying swanne [i.e. the Swan playhouse] hangs her head and sings her own dirge."

The manor of Paris Garden corresponds with the present parish of Christchurch, lying between the parish of St Saviour's and Lambeth. In the time of Shakespeare it was surrounded by a stream and thickly wooded. Here stood the Swan Theatre (pp. 81, 227). The eastward fork of Holland Street and its continuation, the existing Gravel Lane, mark the boundary between the two ancient liberties which divided this region in the era of the playhouses-the liberty of the Bishop of Winchester, more generally known as the Liberty of the Clink, on the one hand, and the liberty of the manor of Paris Garden on the other. Along by the stream which ran up from the Thames was the ancient way to St George's Fields— the predecessor of the present road, which is several

feet more to the west. At the end of this ancient way, on the river-bank, was the landing stage called Paris Garden Stairs. The turret of the manor-house commanded a view of all the playhouses between Paris Garden and St Saviour's Church.

On Bankside stood the Falcon Inn: the Cocoa factory of Messrs Epps occupies the site. This was one of the famous inns of Shakespeare's London. It is commemorated in the existing Falcon Draw Dock. A few steps further west is Rennie's wharf, extending to the railway bridge. Rennie's wharf covers the site of the ancient Paris Garden Stairs. Under our feet, in the form of a sewer, the stream which formerly bounded Paris Garden runs into the river between Rennie's wharf and Falcon Dock. The associations of the Falcon Inn have been elsewhere described by the author in a passage which may be quoted in conclusion of this perambulation of Bankside:- *

"The Surrey side was a favourite place of residence with the players and playwrights of that great period. On Bankside dwelt famous Ned Alleyn and shrewd Philip Henslowe, and several of the actors in the plays they produced; near the Bear Garden at one * Early London Theatres, pp. 275-278.