Hanover Square

But most of the time, it's all right.

And there's a balance, isn't there, between what I would say benign things that we do, buy a nice office building in Hanover Square, for example, lovely.

and something very large like the Olympic Park or the Earl's Court or Elephant Castle.

And our education business that we were in very early on.

This means that if he displays good behavior during the next year, he will not have to go to prison, according to Good Morning America.

If you remember, this case stemmed from an incident that occurred at a club in Hanover Square in London on February 19th, 2023.

Brown's vocal coach, Amulu, was also accused of participating in the alleged incident.

Meanwhile, Brown was accused of using a glass bottle as a weapon to strike the victim's head twice.

How very delightful! End of Chapter 6 Read by Ellen Corcoran CHAPTER VII.

Our house was in Hanover Square, a few doors from the Queen's concert rooms.

There happened to be a morning concert on the first day of my arrival, and as one of the drawing-room windows, where I sat with my little lady mama, opened out upon the balcony, we could every now and then hear the trumpets and drums and one violin which squeaked so sweetly high above all the rest at four o'clock my new mamma went out for a drive in her carriage with her governess and chiefly to buy several things for me of course i went too first we drove to pay a visit to a young lady in grosvenor square and after this we drove to a toy-shop in oxford street and there the little lady flora bought me a cradle of delicate white basket-work with a mattress and pillow covered with cotton of pale pink and lilac stripes she wanted a feather bed but they had not got one the governess then bought a large handsome doll chosen by lady flora to send to my dear first mamma ellen plumy in exchange for me and also a nice cradle and one or two other things which i did not see we went down regent street and sent the very tall footman with the gold-headed cane and powdered hair into every shop that seemed likely to ask if they had a doll's feather bed but none of them had one young person however dressed in black with a pale face and her hair very nicely plaited came out to the carriage window and said they would be most happy to make a feather bed for the doll if her ladyship would allow them that honor my little lady mamma however said certainly not i thank you we passed the regent's quadrant after sending into two or three shops and then turned up piccadilly and got out at the burlington arcade but no such thing as a doll's feather bed could be found the little lady however brought me a small gold watch and chain which cost a shilling we then returned to the carriage drove down waterloo place and sent into several shops to inquire while we slowly drove toward the duke of york's column my lady mamma explained to me that the black doll on the top was once a great duke who was at the head of all the army when he was alive and in the same way that he was now at the top of that fine column the very tall footman presently returned saying he was very sorry to inform lady flora that he had not been so fortunate as to discover a doll's feather bed at any of the shops so we turned round and drove up bond street and tried at several shops with no better success then we passed again down oxford street and went to the soho bazaar there at the top of a long room on the left-hand side in a corner there at last we did find a doll's feather bed and of a very superior quality no doll in the world and particularly a wooden doll could have wished for anything softer at the same place there were also many articles of furniture such as dolls of the higher class are accustomed to have and some of these were bought for me that which i was most pleased with was a doll's wardrobe made of cedar wood with drawers for clothes in the middle and pegs to hang dresses upon at each side and all enclosed with enfolding doors and smelling so sweet all of these things being carefully packed up in silver paper and then placed one upon the other were given to the very tall footmen with powdered hair who receiving them with a serious face and carrying them balanced on the palm of one hand and holding up his long gold-headed cane in the other slowly walked behind us with his chin raised high out of his white neckcloth to the admiration of everybody in the bazaar as we returned to our carriage we now drove once more into regent street to a pastrycook's and there i was left lying upon the seat of the carriage all alone while lady flora and her governess went to have something nice but i did not care much about this as my mind was occupied with several thoughts in the first place the pastrycook's window though very elegant presented nothing like the brilliant appearance of mr plummey's shop window on twelfth night no that first impression exceeded anything else of the kind and was never to be effaced but there was one other thought that troubled me a little it was this i had been accustomed hitherto to think of myself not only very pretty but one of the very nicest and best dolls that could possibly be i had always understood that the celebrated mr spratte who had made me was one of the very first doll makers in england the master of the doll shop in holborn who had walked to and fro like neapolian bonaparte in a brown paper cocked hat had said so in my herring and i had believed it i naturally considered myself a charming doll but i had seen many other dolls of quite a different make in the soho bazaar dolls which i could not help fancying were superior to any of those made by poor mr spratte and therefore very superior to myself this thought hurt my vanity and humbled me of course i had been very vain and conceited what else could you expect of a doll but now i certainly felt much less vain for i plainly saw that there were other dolls in the world who were far prettier and better made than myself however as i had been already beloved by two mammas i soon became contented and felt no jealousy or envy of the prettiness or fineness of others and I also believed that if I was amiable and could become clever, I should never be without somebody to love me.

My mama and her governess now returned to the carriage, and we drove home.

when we got into the carriage lady flower sat on one side and my mamma and i on the other we seemed all silks and muslins and sparkles and feathers and appeared quite to fill the carriage so that there was not room for another doll out we got and passed through the crowds and the soldiers at the door and up the stone steps we went and through passages full of silks and muslins and lace and jewels and feathers and chattering and up more steps and along more passages till at last we were in a little box and looked around into a great place full of little boxes and deep down upon a crowd below and all the place was full of light and the same kind of silks and muslins and lace and sparkles and feathers and chattering as we had found in the passages and on the stairs all of which we saw better on account of the dark coats of the gentlemen who were like the shadows of this picture of a house of fine ladies lady flora was placed near the edge of the box as this was her first visit to the opera she held me in her arms with my head hanging a little over the edge oh how frightened i was as i looked down the height was dreadful there were indeed many rows above us but there were two below us and it looked a terrible distance down into the crowd at the bottom oh cried i to myself if my mamma would but hold me tighter i am so frightened well the opera commenced and it was very long my little lady mamma got quite tired and sleepy before it was half over and continually asked when the dancing would begin but the opera still went on and i saw with alarm that her eyes grew very heavy and every now and then were shut i saw in another box very near us another little lady of about my mamma's age who had an opera-glass in her hand and was also leaning over the edge of the box and i thought now if that small lady drops the opera-glass upon the head of some gentleman below in the pit it will only knock a bit off his head but if my small lady drops me i shall be knocked all into pieces i had scarcely finished this reflection when to my indescribable alarm i felt the hand that held me get looser and looser lady flora was fast asleep what feelings what thoughts were mine at the moment i cannot say for everything within me seemed mingled in confusion with everything that was around me and i did not know one thing from another the hand that held me got still looser oh dear me how shall i proceed it was a moment as the poet henry chorley observes when all that's feeble squeaks within the soul the next moment i felt all was over with me the hand of my sleeping mamma opened and down down i fell into the dark pit below as my head was of solid wood and heavy i fell head foremost but fortunate to relate the gentleman who was just underneath was holding up his hat which was a new one in order to prevent it from being crushed by the crowd and i fell straight into it with such a thump however that i half knocked off the crown and my head poked through a great crack on one side i was brought up to the box again by somebody I had not sufficiently recovered to know anything more, except that my little lady mama was still asleep, and now lay upon a small sofa at the back of the box, covered over with a large French shawl.

This, I think I may say, is having had a narrow escape.

chapter nine of memoirs of a london doll chapter nine doll's letters i had the next day a great joy it was the arrival of a letter from my dear ellen plummey which her brother thomas had brought and given to one of the housemaids saying it was a doll's letter the housemaid had given it to a page and the page had given it to the tall footman and he after some consideration had taken it to the governess who having opened it and read it and shown it to lady flowerdale had asked my little lady mamma if she would allow me to receive a letter as one had been sent for me by the little girl from whom she had received me lady flora was at first going to say no but suddenly she recollected the sad face of poor ellen when she placed me in her hands and then she said oh yes i should so like to read it this was the letter it was addressed on the outside to maria poppet my dearest maria i have never forgotten you though i have got another doll and often when i love this other doll i am thinking of it as if you were this i have also had a cradle sent me by the kind great lady and little lady both and some things for the bedding and a necklace of beads for myself besides a small painted work-box we get up at six o'clock to work as usual and go to bed at nine after bread and butter i am so glad to think you are happy and comfortable and that you have no hard needlework to do and the little lady is fond of you don't you remember the twelfth cake my brother tommy gave for you and how he laughed all the way we ran home at something that had happened in the doll shop about bonaparte and abernethy biscuits i often think of you i never forget you nor all who have been good to me and whom i love and i hope we may some day meet again and i also hope that your happy life among all the riches of the world will not make you quite forget your poor first mamma your affectionate ellen the little lady flora and the governess were all rather amused with this letter of my poor dear ellen's but lady flowerdale was very much pleased with it and said that however simple or foolish it might seem it showed a good and affectionate nature in the little girl who had sent it and she was of opinion that the doll should write an answer this idea of my writing an answer greatly delighted lady flora and she and her governess sat a whole morning thinking what to say and writing upon a slate and then rubbing it out because it would not do at the same time the governess was obliged to put a pen very often into my hand and teach me to write and she often seemed so vexed and tired but lady flora would never let her rest so that i really had in this manner an excellent lesson in writing at last a letter in answer was composed on a slate by the governess with lady flora's assistance and then a pen was put into my hand by the governess so that i wrote the letter it was then sent to lady flowerdale to know if she approved of it but she did not she said it wanted ease and simplicity and was not what a nursery letter ought to be nor like what a doll would say she then tried herself but she could not write one to her mind that same evening as she sat at the dinner with the earl her husband they happened to be alone lady flora was gone to bed but had left me sitting upright in one corner of the room having forgotten to take me upstairs with her her ladyship observing that lord flowerdale who was a cabinet minister was troubled with state of business sought to relieve his mind by telling him all about this letter to me and their difficulty in answering it the minister at first paid no attention to this triviality but when her ladyship related how the governess and lady flora had tried all morning to write a proper answer for the doll and how hard she herself had tried but could not the minister was amused and in the end quite laughed forgot the business of the state and actually became pleasant he desired to see the letter it was bought in by a footman placed upon a splendid silver salver and handed to the minister by the butler with a grave and important face the minister read the letter very attentively then smiled and laid it by the side of his plate on which was a slice of currant tart so said he flora and her governess have tried in vain to write a proper reply to this letter from the dahl and your ladyship has also tried in vain well i have a mind to write the reply myself i need not go down to the house meaning as i afterwards learnt the house of lords for ten minutes and if i do not eat this currant tart but write instead i can very well spare that time bring me my writing-desk the desk was brought and placed on a side table his lordship sat down and opening ellen plummey's letter began to write a reply for me he sat with his forehead full of lines frowning and screwing up his mouth and working very hard at it and only writing a few words at a time after studying ellen's letter which lay open before him three times a servant came to announce to his lordship that his carriage was at the door but he had not finished at last however it was done and he was about to read it when hearing the clock strike he found he had been three-quarters of an hour over it and jumping up hurried out of the room and i heard the carriage drive off at a great rate lady flowerdale with a face of smiling curiosity told one of the footmen to bring her what his lordship had been writing she cast her eyes over it laid it down then calmly desired all the servants to leave the room as soon as they were gone she took it up again hastily and read it aloud as if to enjoy it more fully it was as follows to miss e plummey hanover square july fifteenth my dear madam i have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind letter the date of which has been omitted no doubt by an oversight you have stated that i still hold a place in your memory although you have now got another doll and that your affection for this latter one is only by reason of your thoughts dwelling upon me you have also stated that you possess various little articles and i moreover notice sundry allusions to needlework and twelfth cake to your brother master thomas and to bonaparte and mr abernethey the purport of which is not necessary for me to discuss but i must frankly tell you that having now become the doll of another i cannot with propriety reciprocate that solicitude which you are pleased to entertain for me nor can i for the same reason address you in similar terms of affection at the same time my dear madame permit me to add that i cherish a lively sense of all the kindness you once showed me and i cannot doubt the sincerity of your present professions of respect and esteem i have the honor to be my dear madam very faithfully yours m p when the countess had concluded this letter she hastily put a cambric handkerchief up to her face and particularly over her mouth and laughed to herself for at least a minute i also laughed to myself what a polite unfeeling stupid reply to a kind tender-hearted little girl like ellen plummey Whatever knowledge the minister might have had of grown-up men and women, and the world and the affairs of state, it was certain he was not equal to enter into the mind of a doll who had a heart like mine.

It would have been so much better if his lordship, instead of writing that letter, had eaten his current tart and then gone to bed.

Father Sullivan convinces Nathaniel to take the contents of his safe with him, though Nathaniel is reticent.

Meanwhile, at Mrs. Radcliffe's finishing school for fine young ladies in Hanover Square, Alice Hawthorne meets with a fellow young lady and student, Lucy, who tells her that their matron, Mrs. Joanna Radcliffe, is looking for her.

Mrs. Radcliffe orders Alice to investigate the sightings and report back.

She hands Alice a small vial of pills before she leaves.

Listeners might have seen her work more recently in Wuthering Heights, where her installations of these creeping tendrils engulf the interiors of Heathcliff's home.

And for her current solo exhibit at Annalee Judah Fine Art, her work can be seen creeping up the gallery walls on Hanover Square in London.

There's this idea, I think, of subverting what home is and personal spaces being infiltrated, the outside coming in, which I think is really fascinating.

Sophie, you spoke to her.

I

mean, she's so intriguing and I think it would be wonderful to see her and Tadashi talking to each other because they have... such a compelling way of talking about objects almost creating their own art rather than doing anything which I thought was really striking about her and also just this sense of incredible dialogue with historical structures disrupting them and kind of communing with them, which is so compelling.

But as you say, she joined me in our studio at Midori House just as her exhibition was getting underway, and I began by asking her about the building at 16 Hanover Square in which her installation has taken over.

I was able to see it during the renovation process.

I think the West End is the two most hotly contested deals were Savile Row Police Station, which has just traded for just over 100 million and was bought by Perodo family, I think they're called, behind Perenco.

They own their own building in Hanover Square already.

But, you know, that's a major, major deal.

scheme delivering very high-quality products, but probably the most hotly contested was one in St. James's Square, where there's a big roster of bidders.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

THE WEST END OF TOWN Our house was in Hanover Square, a few doors from the Queen's concert rooms.

There happened to be a morning concert on the first day of my arrival, and as one of the drawing-room windows, where I sat with my little lady mama, opened out upon the balcony, we could every now and then hear the trumpets and drums and one violin which squeaked so sweetly high above all the rest at four o'clock my new mamma went out for a drive in her carriage with her governess and chiefly to buy several things for me of course i went too first we drove to pay a visit to a young lady in grosvenor square and after this we drove to a toy-shop in oxford street and there the little lady flora bought me a cradle of delicate white basket-work with a mattress and pillow covered with cotton of pale pink and lilac stripes she wanted a feather bed but they had not got one the governess then bought a large handsome doll chosen by lady flora to send to my dear first mamma ellen plumy in exchange for me and also a nice cradle and one or two other things which i did not see we went down regent street and sent the very tall footman with the gold-headed cane and powdered hair into every shop that seemed likely to ask if they had a doll's feather bed but none of them had one young person however dressed in black with a pale face and her hair very nicely plaited came out to the carriage window and said they would be most happy to make a feather bed for the doll if her ladyship would allow them that honor my little lady mamma however said certainly not i thank you we passed the regent's quadrant after sending into two or three shops and then turned up piccadilly and got out at the burlington arcade but no such thing as a doll's feather bed could be found

Every kickoff.

But coming back to the fabric of London a bit, we can see more development of these aristocratic estates.

We've got Hanover Square, which had already been started in our last episode, and St. George's Hanover Square, um, the church, and then also over on the sort of northwest of there, we've got the Grosvenor estate beginning to be developed and the great grandees and landowners realizing that as the Bedford estate had, that, that there is money to be made by developing these areas.

In speculative developments, which where they're the, the lease owner-

Yeah

I mean, obviously the Whigs wanted to make it very clear that 1688, Glorious Revolution, Hanoverian succession, everything's sorted out.

And to some extent it was because when George II became king, it was the first time in three reigns, in many people's living memory, that one king had simply succeeded, a Prince of Wales had succeeded the king, um, in an orderly manner.

But on the other hand, the ramifications of 1688, well they went arguably go on to the present day, but Hanover Square named obviously for the House of Hanover and all those big houses taken by the Whigs, whereas the Grosvenor estate, Cavendish Square and so on, which was much slower to develop, but taken by the Tories.

Yeah.