“The Bleeding Heart”
“Lady Elizabeth Hatton was the toast of 17th Century London society. The widowed daughter-in-law of the famous merchant Sir Christopher Hatton (one-time consort of Queen Elizabeth 1), Lady Elizabeth was young, beautiful and very wealthy. Her suitors were many and varied, and included a leading London Bishop and a prominent European Ambassador. Invitations to her soirees in Hatton Garden were much sought after.
Her Annual Winter Ball, on January 26, 1662, was one of the highlights of the London social season. Halfway through the evening’s festivities, the doors to Lady Hatton’s grand ballroom were flung open. In strode a swarthy gentleman, slightly hunched of shoulder, with a clawed right hand. He took her by the hand, danced her once around the room and out through the double doors into the garden.
A buzz of gossip arose. Would Lady Elizabeth and the European Ambassador (for it was he) kiss and make up, or would she return alone? Neither was to be. The next morning her body was found in the cobblestone courtyard – torn limb from limb, with her heart still pumping blood onto the cobblestones. And from thenceforth the yard was to be known as The Bleeding Heart Yard.”
And why do I reproduce this graphic tale? It’s because today, for professional reasons, I had lunch in the wonderfully-named “Bleeding Heart Restaurant” in an unfamiliar corner of historic London. It’s French place and my lamb was so lightly-done French-style that there was a fair bit of blood on show.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Ah, but the best bit of the Bleeding Heart is that the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society (http://www.smws.co.uk) is based above it. Good bit of London around there, especially for meat eaters as Smithfields market so close.