very nearly the course of the old Hog Lane,
later Crown Street, which bounded the parish on the east. St. Mary the
Virgin's Church is on the west side, and the building has had many
vicissitudes. In 1677 it was erected by the Greek congregation in Soho,
and had the distinction of being the first church of that community in
England. It was afterwards used by a French Protestant community, and
then by a body of Dissenters. In 1849 it stood in imminent peril of
being turned into a dancing-saloon, but was rescued and became Church of
England.

The very centre and nucleus of the parish has always been Soho Square,
which was built in the reign of Charles II., and was at first called
King Square--not in compliment to the monarch, but after a man named
Gregory King, who was associated with the earliest buildings. It is a
place of singular attractiveness, an oasis in a desert; many of the
houses are picturesque. The square garden is not large, but it is
planted with fine trees. From the very beginning the square was an
aristocratic locality, and the houses tenanted by the nobility; the most
important of these, Monmouth House, occupied the whole of the southern
side. This was architecturally a very extraordinary building, and the
interior was very magnificent. "The principal room on the ground-floor
was a dining-room, the carved and gilt panels of which contained
whole-length pictures. The principal room on the first-floor was lined
with blue satin superbly decorated with pheasants and other birds in
gold. The chimneypiece was richly ornamented with fruit and foliage; in
the centre, within a wreath of dark leaves, was a circular recess for a
bust" ("Nollekens and his Times").

The Duke of Monmouth obtained the site for this house in 1681, but he
did not long enjoy his possession, for four years later he suffered the
penalty of his pretensions and was executed. The house was later
occupied by successive French Ambassadors; it was demolished in 1773.
The houses at present standing at the south end of the square must have
been built immediately after the destruction of Monmouth House, and
possibly the materials of the older building were used in their
construction. The Hospital for Women shows some traces of former
grandeur in panelled rooms and decorative cornices. The hospital was
only established in these quarters in 1851, so the house may have had
fashionable tenants before.

On the same side is the Rectory House, which was p