Clare Court

Clare Court, a very handsome open Place with a Passage into Blackmore Street; and another into White Horse Yard; It hath very good new built Houses fit for good Inhabitants, and is handsomely paved with Freestone.

Clare court, Drury lane. †

Clare-Court, Clare-Market, at 104, Drury-lane, leading to Whitehorse-yard and 20, Blackmore-st.

Clare-Ct., Clare-market, turns off at No. 104, Drury-lane, and leads into White-horse-yard and Blackmore-street.

Clare Court, or Clare House Court, on the east side of Drury Lane, next Blackmoor Street, was so called after John Holles, second Earl of Clare, whose town house stood at the end of this court. Here was Johnson's Hotel, celebrated for upwards of seventy years for its à la mode beef. Towards the end of the last century the fortunes of Drury Lane Theatre being very low, a melodrama called The Driver and his Dog was put into rehearsal, and a wonderfully trained dog of Jack Bannister's was expected to astonish the town by its acting. The animal acquitted himself to perfection in the rehearsals up to the night of performance, but, on being suddenly introduced to the footlights and the crowded and expectant audience, was seized with stage fright and bolted. The management was in dismay, when one of the biped actors remembered that Mr. Johnson, the proprietor of the à la mode house, was possessed of a very sagacious dog named Carlo. Johnson and Carlo were hurried off to the theatre, "cast" at the shortest notice for their parts, and the piece went off with the utmost éclat, ran for ninety-nine nights, and replenished the treasury. Tavern licences were not then easy to be obtained, but Sheridan's gratitude induced him to procure one for Mr. Johnson, and he and his descendants occupied the tavern until quite recently, preserving as a cherished treasure a portrait of the dog that had laid the foundation of their prosperity.