the other
end of the room, where three or four wits of the upper class were
rendezvous'd at a table, and were disturbing the ashes of the old poets
by perverting their sense.... At another table were seated a parcel of
young, raw, second-rate beaus and wits, who were conceited if they had
but the honour to dip a finger and thumb into Mr. Dryden's snuff-box"
(Cunningham, p. 555.).

Defoe, on the other hand, is more complimentary:--

"Now view the beaus at Will's, the men of wit,
By nature nice, and for discerning fit,
The finished fops, the men of wig and muff.
Knights of the famous oyster-barrel snuff."

At Button's there was a carved lion's head, of which the mouth was a
letter-box for contributions to the _Guardian_ and _Tatler_. This was
set up by Addison in 1713, and attracted much attention. It was removed
in 1731 to the Shakespeare Tavern, and later came into the possession of
the Duke of Bedford. Tom's was the last of the three famous houses. It
was started by a waiter from Will's, and managed to hold its own. It was
on the north side of the street, nearly opposite Button's.

The literary associations of the street are innumerable. Wycherley
lodged here, and after an illness was visited by Charles II., who gave
him L500 for a trip to France. The well-known Cock Tavern was just
opposite his rooms, and when Wycherley had married the Countess of
Drogheda he used to sit in the tavern with the windows open so that his
jealous wife could see there were no women in his company. This tavern
was the resort of the rakes and mohocks that for a while made the
neighbourhood a terror to decent people. Henry Fielding wrote "Tom
Jones" while living in this street. Grinling Gibbons died here. Edmund
Waller, the poet, lived here during the Commonwealth, and Robert Harley,
Earl of Oxford, was born here in 1661. Radcliffe, the Court physician,
was a resident in the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The streets opening out of the square can boast many interesting
associations.

Henrietta Street was named after Charles I.'s Queen. Samuel Cooper,
miniature-painter, lived here. The Castle Tavern, where Sheridan fought
with Mathews on account of Miss Linley, was in this street.

Maiden Lane can claim several illustrious names. It was the birthplace
of Turner; Andrew Marvell and Voltaire both lodged here.

Long Acre was originally an open field called the Elms, and later known
as Seven Acres, from a grant of