16. _Soho Square._ Mr. Cunningham has not corrected his mistake about
Mrs. Cornelys's house in this square, (see "Notes and Queries," vol. i.,
pp. 244, 450.). _D'Almaine's_, which Mr. Cunningham confounds with Mrs.
Cornelys's, was at a former period tenanted by the Duke of Argyll; then
by the Earl of Bradford; and, at a later time, by the celebrated Onslow,
who held his parliamentary levees in the principal drawing-room. The
ceilings of the best rooms are adorned with paintings by Rebecca and
Angelica Kauffman.

Mr. Cunningham has taken some pains to destroy the _Pennant_ tradition
concerning the name of this square, but he has not given us one
important piece of information, i.e. that between the years 1674 and
1681, the ground was surveyed by _Gregory King_, an eminent architect of
those days, who projected the square with the adjacent streets. Query,
Did it not take the name of _King's_ Square from the architect? This
seems very probable; more especially as the statue of Charles I. was not
placed in the square until the beginning of the next century. The centre
space was originally occupied by a splendid fountain, (the work of
Colley Cibber's father), an estimate of the "cost and charges" of which
is now before me.

Among the eminent inhabitants of this square, not noticed by Mr.
Cunningham, were the following:--Lord {228} Berkely, Lord Byron, Lord
Grimstone, Lord Howard, Lord Leicester, Sir Thomas Mansel, Lord Morpeth,
Lord Nottingham, Lord Peterborough, Lord Pierrepoint, Lord Pigot, Dudley
North, the Earl of Dartmouth, the Duchess of Cleveland, the Duchess of
Wharton, &c. These names appear in the books of the parish of St. Anne,
between the years of 1708 and 1772.