St. Martin's Street

St. Martin's street fronts upon Leicester Fields, and falleth into Hedge lane, a handsome open Place, with very good Buildings for the Generality, and well inhabited. At the upper End is Chapel Court; which hath a small Passage through an Entry into Green-street, against Leicester Fields. This Court hath a good Row of new Buildings, the other Side being a dead Wall.

St. Martin's Street, Leicester-Sq.—at 33, about the middle of the S. side, leading to Whitcomb st.

St. Martin's-Street, Leicester-square, is the middle of the south side, leading to Whitcomb-street.

Martin's (St.) Street, Leicester Square, south-west comer, to Orange Street. Sir Isaac Newton lived from 1710 till 1727, the year of his death, in a large plain built brick house next Orange Street ChapeL In 1709 (the year before Newton took it) the house was inhabited by the Envoy of Denmark. Sir Isaac built a small observatory at the top. In 1727 his name is scored out of the parish books, and "Empty" written against the house. The next inhabitant was Paul Docminique, Esq. Dr. Burney, author of the History of Music, took it in 1779; and here his daughter, Fanny Bumey, wrote her novel of Evelina.

At this time "the Observatory, which overlooked all London, still remained in the same simple state in which it had been left by Sir Isaac; namely encompassed completely by windows of small old-fashioned panes of glass, so crowded as to leave no exclusion of the glazier, save what was seized for a small chimney and fire-place, and a cupboard probably for instruments. Another cupboard was borrowed from the little landing-place for coals."—D'Arblay's Memoirs of Dr, Bumey, vol. i. p. 290.

The lady goes on to tell us, in that strange tongue which in her old age she imagined to be English, that "St. Martin's Street was situated in the populous closeness of the midst of things," and, "though not narrow, except at its entrance from Leicester Square, was dirty, ill-built, and vulgarly peopled;" nevertheless, as Macaulay says, "few nobles could assemble in the most stately mansions of Grosvenor Square or Saint James's Square, a society so various and so brilliant as was sometimes to be found in Dr. Burney's cabin." The " house is still well known, and will continue to be well known as long as our island retains any trace of civilisation; for it was the dwelling of Newton, and the square turret which distinguishes it from all the surrounding buildings was Newton's observatory."¹ The prediction was falsified soon after it was uttered. In 1849 the brick front was covered with stucco; then a few years after the observatory—the distinctive feature of the building—was removed; a Society of Arts tablet is placed upon the front of the house.

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¹ Macauley's "Review of Madame D'Arblay's Diary," Essays.