ROMANCE OF TEMPLE BAR.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2845, 28 March 1878, Page 2

ROMANCE OF TEMPLE BAR.

' Thorigh tome writers wouldtfy to per* made us otherwise, then ii Terr little* if any, real romance connected with the last of the City gates, whioh is now' "slowlj bat surely coming io the ground. Hard by, howerer, if we linger we may find something to suit the palate of ut lofer of the romantic. The ezaet date iff; . the established of Meant Child aad Co/i Bank is not known, but H if oa reeori thet Nell Gwynn did business then prr vious to her death in 1687, and that the bank knew as customers Olirer Cromwell and William 111. and his Queen Mary. In 1689, owing to a rumor getting abroad that a run was about to be made ion the bank, its position for a time, it is said, was critical; This rumor, how* orer, reached the ears of Lady Churchill* - who collected all. the gold she could gat rtnong her friends, and- carried it in her coach to the bank, thus enabling it to meet whateror demands wore made upon it. Hogarth considered ..this erect • worthy object for his pencil. There is •, sketch of his showing, her' ladyship*! coach stopping at Temple "Bar, and another sketch portraying her ladyship superintendingporters carrying bags of gold into the bank. Lady Churchill, as the reader will know,, afterwards became Duchess of Marlborougb.' Another • erent which,may be said to come under the head of\romance is connected with the celebrated banking establishment of Messrs Child snd Co. Lord Westmoreland, it is,reported, was dining one day with Mr' Child, when he asked htm to suppose himself in lore with a girl, and her father refusing his consent to the union. " Ym," srid Mr Child. " Well, what yon dof" queried the lord. " Why,.run away with her| of course," promptly '' replied' Mr' Child. The time night Lord Weitaon* land ran away with Mr Child's daughter. Mr Child pursued the couple, and oame up with tkem in Northumberland when the gallant lord, m order to get ahead, stood up in his carriage and shot thf leading horse in Mr Child's chaise* " which," according to MiHon Price, "caused the whole Tehicle to capsise." Lord Westmoreland then got across the border, the blacksmith .was in readiness, md the ptlr were icVrited iv Gretna Green before Mr Child could interfere with the ceremony."—European Mill.