In the distance of the print is the celebrated Strand maypole, although its situation there does not coincide with that marked out in more recent prints. The original of our Engraving is a scarce print, by Hollar, who died in 1677.
In the year 1650, an act was passed for the sale of the "honours, manors, and lands heretofore belonging to the late king, queen, and prince," for the payment of the army; and under that act were sold several tenements, &c. "belonging unto Somerset House." In this list were several signs, and it is remarkable, that the Red Lion, (opposite the Office of the Mirror, and at the corner of Catherine-street, in the Strand) is the only one which now remains. The Lion may still be seen on the front of the house. The Red Lion wine vaults, three doors from this corner was probably named from the above, since nearly every house formerly had its sign.
JERUSALEM.
(For the Mirror.)
City of God—thy palaces o'erthrown—
Thy nation branded—tribes o'er earth dispersed:
Thy temple ruin'd, and thy glory fled,—
Speak of thy impious crimes, thy daring guilt,
And tell a tale whose lines are traced in blood.