n. Before
this time it appears that there had been one or two irregular buildings.
Inigo Jones conceived the curious idea of giving his square the exact
size of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and it is accordingly the largest
square in London. But when he had completed the west side only, the
unsettled state of the country hindered further progress, and for many
years the land lay waste, and was unenclosed save by wooden posts and
rails; during this period it was the daily and nightly haunt of all the
beggars, rogues, pickpockets, wrestlers, and vile vagrants in London.
Gay thus speaks of it:

"Where Lincoln's Inn, wide space, is rail'd around,
Cross not with venturous step; there oft is found
The lurking thief, who, while the daylight shone,
Made the walls echo with his begging tone:
That crutch, which late compassion moved, shall wound
Thy bleeding head, and fell thee to the ground.
Though thou art tempted by the linkman's call,
Yet trust him not along the lonely wall;
In the midway he'll quench the flaming brand,
And share the booty with the pilfering band.
Still keep the public streets where oily rays,
Shot from the crystal lamp, o'erspread the ways."

At this time three fields are mentioned as being included in the
square--namely, Purse Field, Fickett's Field, and Cap Field. In 1657 the
inhabitants made an agreement with Lincoln's Inn, to whom some of the
rights of the Templars seem to have descended (Parton), as to the
completion of the square. But even after the two further sides had been
added, the centre seems to have been left in a disorderly and pestilent
state, and it was not until 1735 that the place was properly laid out.
In Strype's map of 1720 the sides are marked Newman's Row North, the
Arch Row West, Portugal Row South, and the wall of Lincoln's Inn
completes the fourth side. Strype speaks of the first two as being of
large houses, generally taken by the nobility and gentry. The historical
event of prominence connected with the centre of the square is the
execution of William, Lord Russell, which took place here in 1683, on
accusation of high treason and complicity in the Rye House Plot. He was
beheaded in Lincoln's Inn Fields, lest the mob should rise and rescue
him were he conveyed to the more public Tower Hill. In spite of his
defiance of lawful authority, Russell's name has always been regarded as
that of a patriot. He and Algernon Sydney are remembe