NEVILL'S COURT, FETTER LANE MODERN "improvements" have encroached upon Nevill's Court on every side, and now and again notice boards. appeared within the court itself threatening the early demolition of its buildings, but the place remains untouched. Long may it survive, for here are gardens, and what are equally rare, old dwelling-houses still used as such, and not yet converted to office purposes, existing within the city's "square mile." True, the gardens are small and for a large part concealed, the entrance is cramped and the passage narrow, while some of the houses are the worse for decay; but Nevill's Court stands almost alone to tell us what the residential quarters of the city were like when people chose to live in them. The Great Fire of London swept up Fleet Street, and, extending northwards, raged about this little court, but one angle at least was saved. There are three houses in the north-east corner which almost certainly date before the Fire, now numbered 13, 14, and 15. They may at once be picked out by their plastered walls and projecting upper stories. The strip of garden in the front has not to this day been built over, and it was probably this open space which saved them from the flames. Internally the houses are comfortable, but the rooms are low. Of all its buildings, however, the particular glory of Nevill's Court is No. 10, the big house which figures in the centre of Mr. Fletcher's drawing. It is of later date than those already mentioned, having been erected near the close of the seventeenth century. It would be a striking piece of architecture anywhere, with its long windows lighting the well-proportioned rooms, the pretty casement lights of the roof attics, and the covered portico. This house was acquired by the Moravian Society in 1744, and for many years was used as their mission home and minister's residence. The history of the Moravians, or United Brethren, is indissolubly associated with Nevill's Court, which has been their headquarters since their first settlement in England. They trace their origin to John Huss, who suffered during the religious persecutions in Bohemia and Moravia about the middle of the fifteenth century. Count Zinzendorf became their leader, and visited London in 1731. From No. 10 Nevill's Court-" the great house in Neville's Alley" it was then called-the earliest account of the Moravian missions was issued in 1790. Among its residents have been Henry, 55th Count Reuss, and the Rev. C. J. la Trobe, an eminent divine, while the house gains further fame from having been the birthplace of the latter's son, Charles Joseph la Trobe, first Governor of the Colony of Victoria, who was born there in 1801. The Moravian congregation still have their chapel in Nevill's Court, with an entrance and offices in Fetter Lane. W. B. |