Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cranbourn Alley today looks very different from when Jane Austen
came here window shopping.
In the eighteenth century the square was lined with aristocratic houses and the homes of
leading artists, including Hogarth and Sir Joshua Reynolds. By the time Jane Austen knew
it, shops and attractions had arrived including Mr Barker's Panorama, a rotunda 27 metres in
diameter on two floors. In 1807 he was showing views of Edinburgh and Gibraltar, in which,
according to
Portrait of London,
'the illusion is so complete, that the spectator may fairly
imagine he is present at the display of the real scenery.'
Also in the square was an 'Invisible Girl' trapped in a glass sphere. She could tell the
audience, who had paid 2s 6d admission, what they were holding in their hands, answer their
questions and even breathe on them. The Italian soprano Angelica Catalani performed here
and more sedate tourists could view Mary Linwood's gallery of needlework 'paintings'.
Leicester Square from Leicester Place. Ackermann's
Repository
Janu-
ary 1812.
Newton's the linen drapers on the corner of Leicester Square and
Coventry Street. The window is festooned with shawls, stockings and
pieces of fabric.
Continue into Coventry Street, which had good shops that were cheaper than those in
Mayfair. Newton's, where Jane and Fanny went that March morning, was an excellent linen
drapers and Jane visited regularly. In September 1813 she wrote that Fanny had bought Irish
