10 s. VIIL OCT. 28, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
337
was formed in continuation of Exeter Street,
and the other part, turning at a right angle,
was driven into the Strand. This alley
was known as Denmark Court for what
reason I know not, as Somerset House,
-which lay some way to the eastward, had
long lost its old designation of Denmark
House. Denmark Court was about a century
.afterwards thrown into Exeter Street. In
1830 Wellington Street was completed as
a line of approach to Waterloo Bridge, and
was constructed on the boundary between
the two old Strand Mansions Exeter House
and Wimbledon House. The Lyceum
Theatre occupies part of the gardens of
the former house, and the old Gaiety
Theatre, which was pulled down in 1903,
those of the latter. Exeter House occupied
the angle at which Burleigh Street meets
the Strand ; and after the house was pulled
down, Exeter 'Change, of which the history
is well known, was erected by Barbon in its
place. Exeter Hall, however, was built on
a site between Burleigh and Southampton
Streets on the Bedford, and not on the
Exeter, property. It derived its name, not
from Exeter House, but from Exeter Street,
which is situated in rear of it. Old maps
and plans show that Exeter House jutted
out considerably into the Strand, and no
improvement was made in this respect when
it was pulled down, as may be seen from the
view of Exeter 'Change and the Lyceum
Theatre which is given in Mr. Gordon's
" Old-Time Aldwych,' p. 186. Advantage
was taken of the demolition of the Exchange
in 1829 to make a proper alignment of the
street.
An interesting point in connexion with Exeter Hall is that the designer was the only Royal Academician who entered Parlia- ment while in the active practice of his profession. John Peter Gandy became known while a young man as the assistant of Sir William Gell in his ' Pompeiana.' In 1827 he inherited a large property in Buck- inghamshire, and changed his name to Deering. He was elected M.P. for Ayles- bury after the passing of the first Reform Bill', and was made High Sheriff of Bucking- hamshire in 1840, two years after his election -to the Academy. He died in 1850, at the age of sixty-three. W. F. PBIDEAUX.
ELECTION SUNDAY, WESTMINSTER SCHOOL {10 S. viii. 207). I think that MB. HAB- LAND-OXLEY is mistaken as to there being any " time-honoured custom " in the selec- tion of the preacher in the Abbey on Election Sunday. I was at the School from 1874 to
1880, and was present in the Abbey on five
Elections Sundays during that period, both
at morning and afternoon service. Cer-
tainly neither the Dean of Christ Church
(Liddell), nor the Master of Trinity (Thomp-
son), nor the Head Master (Scott) ever
preached ; and I do not think that the Dean
of Westminster (Stanley) ever did. The
practice of inviting some one connected with
the School to preach the morning sermon
(however laudable) is of recent origin, and
dates, I think, from the head-mastership of
the late Dr. Rutherford. The afternoon
sermon was preached by the canon in
residence, as now. What is described at
10 S. vi. 213 as a " large red and white
rosette " worn by the King's Scholars is
really nothing more than a flower worn in
the buttonhole in the usual way. The colour
in my time used to be white ; it is now
pink (the School colour).
There is one Election Sunday custom which none of your correspondents mention : the " major candidates " (i.e., the candidates for election to Oxford and Cambridge) have the right to select the music which is per- formed at the Abbey services on that day. I do not know the origin of this right, but it certainly existed more than fifty years ago, and the Precentor for the time being always recognizes it. I remember the Rev. S. Flood Jones making a courteous apology because some difficulty in con- nexion with the choir had arisen with regard to an anthem selected for Election Sunday in 1880, and asking me to choose another.
W. A. PECK. Lincoln's Inn.
LONDON REMAINS (10 S. viii. 226, 271). A few more instances may possibly be acceptable.
The (old) Great Bell at St. Paul's, which is now used only for tolling on the death of certain eminent persons, was originally cast temp. Edw. I., and hung for four centuries in Ralph de Hengham's tower in New Palace Yard, exactly opposite the main entrance to Westminster Hall. It was then known as " Edward of Westminster," and later as " Great Tom." The tower itself is well shown on the extreme right of Hollar's view of 1647. The bell was presented to the thep new Cathedral by William III., and wa taken there on New Year's Day in 1699. It weighed at that time 8, 27 lib.; but it has since been twice recast with additional metal, and now weighs ll,4741b.
The Elizabethan stone chimneypiece in the Queen's Closet at Kensington Palace was
